jchaussee

Ricks Camaro. Has anybody seen their prices? Really? I feel violated after going through their web site. 9 dollars for a seat belt bolt. 149 for a console lid. Come on now. Our cars are not rare corvettes that are going to keep on going up in value. Just to redo plastics runs well over 1000 dollars

1991_305RS

Those prices are pretty fair for the going rate of car parts. Seat belt bolts need to be premium high strength bolts.
Imagine the sheer force of the belt pulling across on the bolt by your body, as you smash into a cement wall. Would you want to take the chance of the bolt snapping because you opted for low grade bolts?

Rick's is probably getting the console lids from the same company that supplies them to hawks third gen, as far as I know there is only one supplier(discontinued from GM). So you will not find new console lids for less than that (from a retailer).

As for the the plastics, also discontinued from GM. I remember seeing the prices for them awhile back when they were still available, and the long piece on the drivers side with the compartment in it was around 500+ IIRC. You would be surprised whats in the junkyard thats 20 years old and still in great shape.

I would definitely say shop around on the net, in some cases only one aftermarket company will make a particular part, so they have pretty much got you by the *****. The one thing that gets me about living up here in canada is that I pretty much end up paying around double the listed price all said and done. I get raped on brokerage fees.

jchaussee

Yeah, I understand what you are saying. I was just browsing around and could not believe what I saw. I know that the cost to make them is probaly around 2 % of what they are sold for. I guess my point is that 3rd gen camaros are not C 2 corvettes, so therefor I believe the price of reprodution parts should reflect that. Whenever I can get towards Seattle/ Everette area I will look at junk yards. The only one in my area is one of these fancy online ones that like to charge 85% of new. I guess in my mind used parts should be 50% or less then new.

91phoenix

iTrader: (5)

The prices may seem high but I always compare to c-3 prices and have found everything new to be somewhat comparable. I know it may sound bad but the truth is that is is the same or cheaper to do a C3 Vette. At least they have full interior kits w/ door panel seat covers and carpeting etc. Our options are much slimmer so we must take what we can get and for a great many of us that means scrounging the junk yards due to new prices.

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

Not singling you out, or anyone else on this site, so don't take offense...

...but this is why nobody makes parts for our cars. Nobody wants to pay for parts, and everybody just wants 50 cent parts for their $3 shitboxes. This is why our cars will never be worth anything, because the large majority of owners don't give a crap about the cars and certainly aren't willing to spend the money to have a really nice build. This is also why the reproductions out there--the few that there are, like the horrible seat covers--are garbage--because to the average thirdgen dumpster diver, they are "more than good enough".

I mean just look how many cars get painted outside under trees on a patch of dirt behind the trailer still...I thought after 20-30 years this kind of stuff would've gone out and the ones left on the road would be nice, but nope--For every one I see painted in a proper paint booth, I see 6-8 painted in a garage or outside.

Unfortunately our cars by and large still seem to be the preference in the trailer parks, true to their stereotype, and it saddens me.

jchaussee

I am doing a nice job, but 160 dollars for a shifter cover. Come on. Again our cars are very common and they are not worth a lot, unless we have a rare or lpw milage original owner. I just think 3000% markup is just rediculas. Just my opinion.

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

$160 seems reasonable if the quality of the reproduction is restoration-grade (no idea if it is).

It's like that guy here who wants to make hoods for our cars--specifically the Japanese reverse cowl hood.

Everybody is like "Oh yeah, we want this, I'd definitely buy this, etc etc" but when it comes down to it nobody is/will be willing to fork out the $600 for it when it's made, and the guy is going to get burned.

I remember someone here saying something about getting a contact in Japan to buy the real deal here since the company here in Japan has zero interest dealing with shipping/selling overseas, and then when the topic of several hundred dollars for shipping came up they balked that it was a massive ripoff. Sure, nobody wants to pay several hundred dollars in shipping for an item, but living in Japan I can tell you right now that hood would run about $2000 to ship; when my sister sends me a pathetic little box of stuff from home (think 6-8 pounds, 12x12x8 inches) it costs over $50. I shipped a boxed up Macbook Air--a very compact computer in a very compact box--and the only people who would touch it were FedEx, and it cost me $230 to ship it to Canada.

Perhaps I digress, but the point still stands that almost nobody with these cars is willing to pay for anything, so there is zero incentive for companies to make parts for our cars. Almost better to let them rot out in trailer parks and just skip them entirely, they weren't good cars to begin with (but we still love them). They were junk quality, junk performance, and they made millions of them.

While I'd love to see restoration-grade parts left and right, you'd really have to look at who is willing to buy them, and that is pretty much nobody in my experience.

91phoenix

iTrader: (5)

In my area these cars are getting fewer apart, a good thing, however until the prices go up there will always be many of our cars as beaters.

As for the prices of parts they are generally in line with other cars like vettes. Unfortunately unlike vettes we do not have many choices due to the very limited manufacturers of these parts. That is why some of the reproductions can be poor quality. As long as the prices are inline with other cars then we should not complain. Personally when I bought my Bird I thought, big mistake, I would be able to find reproduction interiors for 1000 - 1500 dollars. Sorry but they are not made. At least we can still get them done.

When prices go up more then we will have more options but probably not many more. Unfortunately if a person checks closely you will find that Vettes, early Mustangs, and early Camaros and Birds is where the main emphasis is in aftermarket repro parts. I have looked into T Birds, I have a suicide door, and Galaxies, Torinos, And even many Dodges from the 60's and 70's and parts are not generally available.

In the end this will evntually drive the very few real nice third gens prices up but it will take a while yet. Many other cars that are rarer still only command an average of 8 - 15 thousand.

Unfortunately for now we either accept this or buy a different car. A thanks goes out to places like Hawks who sell many new parts. Yes some prices are high but most are reasonable considering.

kd5icr

iTrader: (2)

While I agree that in most cases we have no other option but to pay a high price, a lot of these parts interchange with other cars besides other 3rd gens, so there are other options when looking for a lower price. Yes I balk at some prices, it doesnt mean I wont get it. See puma1552 it really isnt so much price as it is about the quality of the part., when you buy a new front nose piece for 500 dollars or whatever, you expect it to fit right but in a lot of cases it doesnt. As for the shipping price a lot of places like 1A have free shipping for those of us here in the states, and if it is high they really dont have control of that. And besides shipping boxes and packing isnt free to anybody. As for these cars here, I disagree with you that they are crap, almost every car here is in very good shape.

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

Ricks camaro is Ecklers camaro, and anyone who has looked around at other parts catalog's knows Ecklers was on the more expensive side of the Parts catalog's i have, my wife ordered my ABS headliner from Ecklers and i kind of got upset when i saw that what she paid before shipping is the same price that Year one offered it shipped, and now 1A is offering the set of headliner visors and sails for the same as ecklers had just for the headliner

Rick's(Ecklers) is a very good company, their prices are still considered fair even if they are on the higher end, they even offer some parts that other companies dont, it all comes down to shopping around, if you dont like the price move on to a different company who may or may not have a better price

jchaussee

Ya I think you are missing my point. Camaros are an entry levelcar for those of us getting into customising and restoring. Therfpr part should reflect that. The thing is that these are not first gens,, corvettes, or chargers. They will never be worth close the money, yet the prices of restoration parts are on par with those cars I mentioned. The parts are cheap to make , yet expensive to buy. That is why you see so many hacked up. It will be cheaper for me to find a decent 2000 one then strip interir and scrap the rest

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

I don't know that I'd agree with calling a Camaro an "entry level" car, but I guess if you do, then you also have to expect "entry level" quality resto parts.

Quality resto parts are NOT cheap to make, because they have to get licensing from GM.

So you'll either have to pay the high prices for the good parts, or pay low prices for cheaper parts of lower quality. It just depends which market companies think is bigger. So far it's definitely seeming to be the latter.

91phoenix

iTrader: (5)

Most of the cars on here are the better ones as to what is out there. Most of the members are trying to have nicer cars. Mine I know isn't yet but I hope to get it there. (Let's get it running first.) I know that despite what a person reads on these messages that a great deal of us are on budgets. I respect what most of us on here are trying to do. Yes I posted about expecting to find the seatcovers etc. When I bought the Firebird I was of the impression that repro parts were available the same as for Corvettes. I was wrong, I blame me for assuming. I wish that more parts were available but I still stand behind me buying the bird. I am not going to say that members on here would want to pay $1500 or that that is cheap. It certainly isn't for me. I just feel that that is a comparable price to what I have seen for Vettes and called that fair. (I used to have a C3).
Yes there are a lot of beaters out there but most of those drivers/owners are not on these forums. Most of us on here are trying harder to have a car we can be proud of. Those beaters out there are becoming projects and parts cars as more time goes on.
I have no reason to doubt but if Ricks Camaros is Ecklers then I am familiar with them from my C3 days. Yes the prices may be slightly high but I was always pleased with their service. I did not order much from them but sometimes they had what nobody else had.

jchaussee

My point was just made. Yes they are cheap parts, but expensive for what they are. As far as GM licencing. Those can be had for pretty cheap now. Anywyas I just started this thread to make a point. I won't buy parts from those catolpgs, I will scury around junk yards and craigslist adds and be happy with slighty warn original parts

jchaussee

And as far as entry level. To me it is a good start of many projects to come. This is my first non daily driver that I can enjoy. I have three young kids so it will not break the bank. I am more of a vette guy but for me this is as close as I will get for ten years , because a drivable corvette project will put be back 10 grand vs the 1k that my z28 cost me. So I will enjoy what I have

kd5icr

iTrader: (2)

Puma1552, And my point is, not everybody can afford top of the line parts each and every thime something is needed. It doesnt matter what the part is or who makes it. Not everybody is an engineer and they sure dont get paid like some do, so some have to do more with less. As for the paint and why he didnt use a booth maybe they wouldnt let him, did you think of that? Now about the prices some companies charge for parts. If it is a used part, and most are, to charge top dollar and the very high end of cost to ship makes a lot of things hard to afford, like what the OP talked about as far as what was seeing what they wanted to charge for a set belt attaching bolt, that is to high for it,I am sure he could find one at a local junk yard. But thats not the point, the point is, there is no reason at all that can justify such a high price for something like that. Again these cars are not going to sell for that same as a vette from the same time period. And lets just add, that the quality of a lot of these parts that are made are bad at best. Look at all the people that went and got an aftermarket hood to replace a beat to hell one,They paid 800.00 for it just to see that they had to either send it back (out of thier pocket both ways) or had to modify it so it would fit. The same goes for any other body part. I agree do it right of not at all. But as I said not all of us can afford top dollar, does that mean get a different car? hell no, keep shopping around somebody somewere has the part and they wont take you arm and leg for it. As for how long either of us has been here, I wasnt talking about join date, I was talking about amount of posting.I dont care how long you have been here. You say ten years longer, that doesnt matter to me one little bit, but I digress. It still comes down to what a person can spend on any part. There are things that just have to cost a lot to get but for smaller stuff can be priced within reason. Thats the point. Like the interior hex screws. I see them going for 5 dollars for 2 or 3, I have a ton of them and could make good money from them, but I wont do that, I will give a few to somebody before I charge 5 bucks for them. I have to a few people here as it is. Would you? I was not offended at all by what you said and I was not bad mouthing you, I am better than that. But you seem to have bad mouthed those that just want a good part at a good price. Whats wrong with wanting that?

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

Puma1552 let me ask you this, and this is how I see it, would you rather someone do good body work and paint the car cheap even if it looks like crap, just to save the body from further deterioration? That's what I'm doing with mine, I plan on getting a quality paint job when I can afford to, but for now it will be cheap and good enough to save my car

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

I agree with all of you, and I'm not badmouthing anybody.

I guess we just have different ideas of what a fair price is for a quality part, and that's probably all there is to it. I'm not talking about used parts, I'm talking about new parts and have been the whole time. I think NOS tails at $200/lense is a steal because when they were available from the dealer, I was quoted $240/lense, without housings. You also have to consider there is more to it than the part itself; there is the cost of market research, the cost of R&D, the cost of materials and product testing, packaging, and the cost of advertising and paying all of the people who made it, and still turn enough of a profit on enough units to make it worth bothering developing the tooling to build it. While I too think it sucks that we have to pay $3 for interior plastic screws, at least they are available to be had.

As for a body degrading, it actually won't if you take care of it; I drove a 325i that was rusting out on the rocker panels underneath (where you couldn't see it, right behind the wheels where it got hammered with salt all day long) for four years through Minnesota salt but because I kept the car washed and hand waxed, in four years that rust didn't spread, and it was fairly significant to begin with, it just happened to be out of sight so the car still looked great. Sure cancer is cancer, but you'd be surprised how far weekly coin washes and GOOD regular waxing will go.

Truthfully IMO if money is enough of an issue where it's a "temporary" job or not, then it's even more of a waste to paint the car poorly because you are still out more money in the long run and if money is tight enough to need to do temporary jobs as the best you can do, then I'd just wait and stash that cash and take as good of care of the car as you can in the meantime. Believe me, there were many times where I thought of doing this or that to my car, but then didn't because truthfully I just didn't have the money to do it right; it's why I still have a 350 shortblock from 2000 sitting in the garage. Realized that at the time, even if I could get those aluminum AFR heads, I couldn't really afford the proper TPI setup that I wanted, and even if I did get that, then I didn't want to stick that motor in the car in front of the old stock 700R4 and lousy 2.73 10-bolt. Hence, I didn't finish it and today still drive an almost 100% stocker, right down to the wheels (only mods are lowering springs, 10* advanced timing, and an open element air cleaner). Truthfully I feel my lowering springs are a hackjob because I didn't get the LCA relocation brackets or panhard bar; this bothers me.

I guess the way I see it is that these cars really shouldn't be daily drivers in the first place at this point.

The point is though, all the above aside, thirdgen owners simply aren't willing to pay the going prices for the parts. Maybe the prices are unfair, maybe they are fair, whatever--it doesn't matter the reasoning--bottom line is nobody wants to pay for the parts and that's why nobody bothers with our cars because companies likely feel that even to the majority of owners these cars are throwaways if the hackjobs you see (not talking necessarily about this site) are any indicator--you'd almost think 90% of thirdgen owners have no pride in their cars.

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

I have no problems with budget builds, not at all. I certainly have limited funds. If I didn't, why would my car be stock 12 years later? There's always something else to pay for and the Camaro always takes a back seat as a luxury.

I'm just saying if nobody is willing to support the companies that are making a few parts for our cars, and instead of paying $150 for a really nice, clean, new repro shift plate would rather pay $10 for one at the junkyard which is still pretty much in crap condition, then don't complain when nobody makes parts for our cars at all, and the junk yards dry up and there's just plain nothing to do with our throw away cars but actually throw them away.

It's a sad state, but that's where our cars are headed with the current lack of people willing to support the companies making parts.

92 Formula

iTrader: (2)

This thread went completely, or almost completely, off topic from having to do with Ricks Camaro's as an Aftermarket Vendor Review.

I'm locking it and may clean it up and re-open it very soon. PM with any questions or comments.

-----------------------------------

Okay, I "cleaned" it up a little and would like to re-open this as I hate to lock threads. Please keep any further comments on this thread strictly reviewing Rick's as a vendor.

Sorry to have locked it for a couple of days and I send everyone of you my best wishes.

KITT1983

iTrader: (3)

does anyone have link to ricks camaro?

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

http://www.rickscamaros.com/

KITT1983

iTrader: (3)

thanks