News:

Due to a technical issue, some recently uploaded pictures have been lost. We are investigating why this happened but the issue has been resolved so that future uploads should be safe.  You can also Modify your post (MORE...) and re-upload the pictures in your post.

Main Menu

The "Great Jetaway Experiment" Has Failed.

Started by John Morris #23947, November 07, 2009, 11:48:10 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

John Morris #23947

Well, my attempt to market excellent 56-63 Jetaway parts via Ebay was a dismal non-success. Only 5 out of 17 items sold too cheap. Auctions were well presented, fancy pictures, group & part numbers. I have dozens of these trannys which add up to a lot of nice hard parts. The 1st one of these I took apart years ago amazed me with the large amount of engineering and machining. I was scrapping them before. It is hard to think all these parts are not worth anything. Maybe some of you fellows who have for years been restoring these cars can tell me, are there people out there who need these parts occasionally?

http://completed.shop.ebay.com/zonzloid/m.html?_nkw=&LH_Complete=1&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=50&_sop=1
71 Olds 98 LS, 66 Fairlane 500 XL Convertible, 55 Packard Clipper Super, 58 Edsel Ranger, 72 Cheyenne Super, many 49-60 parts cars, abandoned "House Of Doom" full of 49-60 parts. Huge piles of engine parts, brackets, tin, Hydramatic & Jetaway parts,  thousands of stainless moldings, dozens of perfect sedan doors.

The Tassie Devil(le)

Wouldn't go as far as saying "Failed".

But, not as productive as expected.

Have a chat to a few Transmission Shops that concentrate on repairing the old cars.   These parts are getting hard to get hold on, and finding the replacement parts has lead to a lot of unrepaird transmissions, which end up being "Parts Houses" for more transmissions.

Bruce. >:D
'72 Eldorado Convertible (LHD)
'70 Ranchero Squire (RHD)
'74 Chris Craft Gull Wing (SH)
'02 VX Series II Holden Commodore SS Sedan
(Past President Modified Chapter)

Past Cars of significance - to me
1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe
1936 Ford 5 Window Coupe
1937 Chevrolet Sports Coupe
1955 Chevrolet Convertible
1959 Ford Fairlane Ranch Wagon
1960 Cadillac CDV
1972 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe

Otto Skorzeny

John, I think there are very few people who work on these transmissions themselves and only a handful that repair them professionally.

Unless someone who is currently rebuilding one happens to see your auction and needed the exact part, I don't think there is anyone who would by them on speculation. Most folks don't even know what those things are or what function the3y serve in the transmission itself.

It's not like a front bumper that they can visualize being damaged in fender bender or something.

If someone does recognize one of those parts as something he needs, chances are there probably wouldn't be anyone else bidding against him.
fward

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for YOURSELF

HUGE VENDOR LIST CLICK HERE

Eric S. Maypother #15104

Hi,
I agree with what the other posters said, plus I'll add on, I also sell car parts on eBay, mostly 10-15 year old headlights, tail lights, mirrors, I find you can have zero bidders 1 week on an item then next week have 3, though most stuff that sells is sold within the first or second auction listing sometimes it's just a matter of waiting till the right person who needs that item to come along, it may be worth your while to open an eBay store, it's like $18 a month, then the items that don't sell on auction can be listed their indefinitely and for a $24.99 item it's 3 cents a month instead of 55 cents a week on auction, I set starting price at the least I'd sell it for on auction, some people have a theory the cheaper the starting price the more the ended sale will be but when your dealing with parts that maybe 1 person in the world needs that week it doesn't work out that way.
Good Luck,
Eric :)
1990 Cadillac Brougham

Doug Houston

If you're selling complete transmissions as wellas parts, there may be a market for those as well.

I have a '56 Cadillac, and would someday like to find a '58 transmission, and a '56 rear housing and shaft. But, the shipping on something like this will be messy at best. So, I haven't pursued it, but it's something that I do need to do.
38-6019S
38-9039
39-9057B
41-6227D
41-6019SF
41-6229D
41-6267D
56-6267
70-DeV Conv
41-Chev 41-1167
41 Olds 41-3929

Chris Conklin

I think you have a very limited and specific market and you gave it very large exposure. A lot of what you have will likely sit until that very specific need arises and gets posted here.
Chris Conklin

The Tassie Devil(le)

The trouble is that a lot of people playing around with these older parts, probably don't have a Computer, let alone use Ebay.

Personally, I would be trying the Self Starter, or even Hemmings.

Bruce. >:D
'72 Eldorado Convertible (LHD)
'70 Ranchero Squire (RHD)
'74 Chris Craft Gull Wing (SH)
'02 VX Series II Holden Commodore SS Sedan
(Past President Modified Chapter)

Past Cars of significance - to me
1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe
1936 Ford 5 Window Coupe
1937 Chevrolet Sports Coupe
1955 Chevrolet Convertible
1959 Ford Fairlane Ranch Wagon
1960 Cadillac CDV
1972 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe

Roger Zimmermann

As I do repair and overhaul these transmissions (about 2 per year) as an "entertainment" I know which parts are going bad over the time. I was the the sucessfull bider for 2 items which had to be cheap because shipping costs to Switzerland are almost as expensive as the parts themselves. Anyway, the two items I bought will be stored until one of the transmissions I will rebuild will need them...It's like speculation which can work to me only if the procuct is not too expensive.
John had other parts I would never buy "just in case" because I never had to replace them.
Years ago, I went to flea markets with spare parts. The result was deceiving because people almost never buy parts "in case". Over the time, I switched to paper (owner's manuals, catalogs, shop manuals) and some business can be done because a catalog is a piece interesting to look at, event if the real car is an impossible dream for the buyer.

Roger
1956 Sedan de Ville (sold)
1956 Eldorado Biarritz
1957 Eldorado Brougham (sold)
1972 Coupe de Ville
2011 DTS
CLCMRC benefactor #101

John Morris #23947

The idea is to compete with Fatsco, not provide him a profit. Selling at 50% their price would tickle me pink. They likely buy whole core trannys and pay scrap weight for the parts. I wanted to supplement my income, and wholesaling these splendid parts is just making someone else money. Hey Roger, I was always wondering which Jetaway parts never wear.Like any machine, it will have some parts that wear out, and others that never need replaced.Some of these assembles look very expensive to build.
71 Olds 98 LS, 66 Fairlane 500 XL Convertible, 55 Packard Clipper Super, 58 Edsel Ranger, 72 Cheyenne Super, many 49-60 parts cars, abandoned "House Of Doom" full of 49-60 parts. Huge piles of engine parts, brackets, tin, Hydramatic & Jetaway parts,  thousands of stainless moldings, dozens of perfect sedan doors.

Roger Zimmermann

A governor...Sure, it may fail, but unlikely. The rear gear set: here too, there can be too much play in the pinions requesting replacement. On the transmissions I had to repair, these parts were good. However, I had 2 bad oil pumps and 2 or 3 bad fluid couplings. The central support can go wrong, but I have a NOS in stock.
If you are known as a good supplier for transmission parts you will sell them, but I have doubts that you can succeed on eBay. Don't forget that Pontiac and Oldsmobile had the same transmissions!

Roger
1956 Sedan de Ville (sold)
1956 Eldorado Biarritz
1957 Eldorado Brougham (sold)
1972 Coupe de Ville
2011 DTS
CLCMRC benefactor #101

mgrab

The governor in my Olds failed....well sort of.  Car was going about 60-65 mph on bridge and car dropped out of gear.  Apparently a loose bolt wedged itself against the governor and housing causing drive key to shear apart.  I lucked out I found a NOS one for $3 in the original wrapper.  Only time it ever broke down...

If I were to buy transmission parts I would look for NOS first then used as a last resort.....lot of work to tear back down if part is bad.  I would love to have a spare, but as stated above....logistics is a nightmare and real pain to shuffle around the garage....and personally I don't buy on speculation either.  These transmissions are very tough....I wait for the problem to come my way first.
1941 Cadillac 6267D
1948 Packard Custom Eight Victoria
1956 Oldsmobile 88 Sedan

Walter Youshock

My '57 broke a front sprag less than a mile from my house.  I got the car home in 2nd gear and then drove it to the trans shop before the clutch plates burned up. 

NOS was the only way to go for those parts.
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham