I realize classic industries and year one have a few things but not compared to 67-81 parts. I understand I can buy used things but its hard to find aftermarket fenders unless you wanna pay $400 per fender through classic industries. How come you can't buy anything from GM anymore?

 

man you must not be looking real hard...google and ebay are your friend, not to mention every site sponsor that is on here

your better most of the time getting the used body parts as they will actually "bolt" on, most aftermarket stuff no matter the price is crap or needs work

 

Exactly what he said. Most aftermarket stuff fits like crap. A freind of mine had his fender replaced on his 86 bird when it got backed into. The body guy went through 3 different aftermarket ones before he finally ended up getting a junkyard one since it fit perfect. He said every aftermarket fender fit like crap and he refused to use them.

I will agree however that compared to say, 80's fox body stangs, our third gens don't have squat for aftermarket replacement parts. Your pretty much on your own for stuff like interior parts or some body parts. Just try to find nice used ones. I'm sure in time stuff will become more readily available.

 

one thing you have to keep in mind - parts only get made: 1. if there's demand 2. if there's money. making up tooling for parts can be pretty pricey. our cars have very good aftermarket coverage compared to many others i've sold parts for. you see more parts becoming available for the old classics because there's people willing to spend biiiig money to restore these vehicles since there are no other options (try finding a good piece of sheet metal for something more than 20 years old in new england; its impossible).

once the boneyards dry up and the surplus of usable used parts begin to dry up, you'll start seeing an increase in companies looking to get into the game

 

I personally think it boils down to, Thirdgenners are cheap.

Hawks makes a very nice fiberglass wrap around wing replica, which people wanted for years. Now everyone complains about the (imho) rather modest price of it. People scream about not having parts, then scream about the price of those parts when they are made.

 

BINGO!

What's really disgusting is being on other forums and seeing how things work for other enthusiasts and their cars compared to ours. The Fox body Mustang guys can get any number of reproduction and aftermarket performance parts for their cars. They happily spend the money to get the parts they want or need. Over here you see people complaining about the simple replacement parts that they need to make their car drivable. There's always someone complaining about the price of a part they want. Worse yet if you really want to see how bad it is, try to sell something to a thirdgen owner. It's aggravating the BS you have to tolerate to make the sale. It's not even close to being worth the trouble.

The other side of the coin is that there are tons of parts available for our cars from many different sources. Most people just don't know where to look for them or they're too cheap to buy what they want when it's available. When we don't support the companies that support us, they go away.

 

I think it's basically because third gen guys are generally cheapo's or broke. How many nice fox bodies do you see? How many nice third gens do you see? See my point, haha. At least I can feel confident that there will be no shortage of mustangs but Maybe third gens will become rare someday due to the lack of love.

 

Man oh man cheap is right.
short version of this story..
I recently had a young man wanting to buy a set of roller tip rockers I have 4 sale from me for 50 bux.
He wanted a shipping quote so I took the lil box down to the PO and got it. It was something like 11-12-15$ depending on how he wanted it shipped or with ins. Plus the 3% Paypal.
I told him that and he instantly proceded to tell me that he had just shipped a set out individually bubble wrapped and it cost him 10.70 in a flat rate box.
I said ok, this is what i was told by my PO and that if wanted to b a D (im not)
i could charge 4 my time/gas/box.
(I think my PO told me the cheapest was 10.78)
He told me to keep my parts that he didnt wana be screwd over. (that tells me he doesnt have money 4 the parts)
So he was upset that I over quoted by .22-.30cents?
I mean really ??

 

I know I'm willing to spend money for quality replacement parts. I am somewhat unimpressed with some of the aftermarket trim parts I've bought so far. I purchased from 1AAuto a carpet and headliner set for my RS. All I can say is, I'm happy my IROC and Trans Am don't need either one.

The carpet was a royal PITA to trim to fit, and I'm still not happy with the rear passenger footwells. It doesn't mold to the floor like I'd like. As for the headliner, everything except the RR corner where the trim goes over the t-top receiver fits well. In that spot, the ABS plastic is bowed up too much and leaves a gap between the trim and the headliner.

That was after the first headliner that was sent to me was WAY off. 1AAuto was great to get the second one expedited, and I'm living with the gap in the new one because its in the RR. Its just dissapointing. No one makes leather seat covers for third gens (I refuse to buy vinyl replacements), and the cloth replacements don't match the best, either.

Until these cars are more sought after, this is what we're stuck with. I'm elated my Trans Am needs a steering wheel, a little console work (what Firebird doesn't??), and some small tears in the top of the back seat fixed...and that's all inside. If it needed more, I wouldn't have bought it...I'm too much of a perfectionist for what the aftermarket currently offers.

 

And then they post, after all the cheap fixes, asking how much is my Thirdgen worth.

 

If you are looking for covers for the GTA seats talk to Jim85IROC he has a source. I got a bunch of stuff through him