[Lynn]

Yes, there is some ridiculous pricing. But for the most part, no one is buying if it is truly ridiculous. Guy has had a DZ block on ebay for several years priced at $8,000.

I am not a pro parts picker, but stumble upon good pieces from time to time, and have come across the proverbial "steal". Some I have used. Some I have sold for a profit to help fund other projects. I have also sold parts at almost no profit, some at a loss, and some just given away to help out a real "car guy".

Sold a DZ block to a guy on this site because it matched his POP. He had seen a pic of the pad stamp (posted on another site comparing real and fake stamps) and sent me an email, asking if I would sell it. I can't remember if it was $1500 or $1600, but it was very close to what I had in it. I knew it was for his own car. I could tell on the phone he was about to wet himself when I gave him a price. Could I have held him ransom? Sure.

OTH I had a pair of NOS roof rail weatherstrips for which I paid about $40. Didn't bat an eyelash when asking $2000 for the pair. They went to a restorer on this site. I knew he was passing the cost on to the customer, who was having a high dollar car professionally restored. Does that make me a bad guy? I don't think so. They went on one of the $150k+ cars where they belonged. Find another pair of NOS for that price.

I would like a correct PS brake hose bracket for my 69 Z/28. I am just not willing to spend $400 right now. The only ones I have seen lately are on ebay for $349 and $399. Unbelievably, neither includes free shipping. My car is mostly original, and it is one of the few pieces I am missing. Charley stumbled across one a while back. I sent him a PM offering to purchase. The bastard (er... gentleman) didn't want to play favorites, so he put it on ebay. I am sure he got several other PM offers. I wasn't high bidder, so I didn't get it. No hard feelings. I have no bracket there right now, and refuse to put a repop on there. I hate repop parts. Actually, I am working on a letter from the original owner stating that the car came that way... never had the bracket. Then it doesn't matter, right?

But I digress. There is a place for those guys that do this for a living. While I don't always agree with their pricing, the answer is simple; I don't have to buy that part. Some parts are just hard to come by, and they are very desirable. If the pros weren't out there beating the bushes, spending countless hours pouring through loads of crap to find a few gems, many of these parts wouldn't be brought to the light of day, and wouldn't be available... at any price.