The Critical Issue of Parts Supply

I am sure that some owners have a good think and do some research when purchasing a classic / retro car with regards to the parts availability especially when it's a vehicle that requires repair or restoration - it's fine when it is a popular classic that in it's day was extensively mass produced and remains within the market in volume so vehicles like MGB, MG Midget, Triumph Stags, Mini, Ford Escort, Morris Minor, Land Rover etc are all very well catered for with an extensive range of parts and even bodyshells available for most models - has you creep into the more expensive end of the market you will also find that well catered for - Porsche, Jaguar, Mercedes etc have a wide range of specialists available to supply a vast amount of parts in order to restore & maintain these vehicles and once you enter the exotic end of the market even if the parts are not available the vehicle value alone supports the commission of specialist engineers to manufacture parts from scratch.

So what happens at the bottom end of the market with vehicles that are low in value? - well if it's a popular make / model you are probably lucky in the respect of second hand parts availability / parts donor vehicles along with parts interchanged across model ranges that became popular through the 70's & 80's - it gets more difficult with things like body panels that all suffer from rust ingress in certain areas or mechanical parts that held a short working lifespan but I am aware of many owners that can maintain a retro / classic utilising this principle (there's quite a number of you on this very forum) - I am also aware of the ingenuity of some members / owners in the remaking / adapting of parts from different makes / models in order maintain / restore / build a vehicle.

There is another sector of retro / classic ownership though where a vehicle has been long out of production, where the marque / models are sought after but don't demand overly strong prices and to others whilst they may admire the cars style and technical aspects - said car does not appear on the said admirers wish list / bucket list of a dream fleet. Parts for said vehicles tend to be unique & not shared with other manufactures with the exception of some electrical / fuel / brake items manufactured by the likes of Delco / Lucas / Girling etc. So how do you ensure the parts supply when you are not in a position or it is uneconomical to manufacture items has one off items for vehicles that are just not in the silly money league.

Best place to start is a owners club - having been a member of several over a long period they can be an acquired taste and some can be painful dependant upon the membership - some operate in small circles / cliques etc - but you may well have to live with that if the owners club has identified that without ensuring the parts supply the vehicles can not be maintained / restored and without the vehicles the club can not exist. So there are some clubs out there that run their own parts department - no commercial organisation will get involved in the parts supply has the volume on slow moving parts which have to be manufactured in small batches is just not worth it. It means that parts that are no longer available have to be manufactured from scratch sometimes having to invest thousands of pounds in casting moulds, testing, machining etc before a batch of six can be stored on a shelf to be sold at the rate of 2 per annum. It also means having to make the most of whatever comes your way has used / second hand parts can be restored / refurbished before being offered to the membership. So to cut the chase after being offered a car by a former member which was very close to being scrapped and finding a home for it



We were then offered a parts haul by the same former member





















So Monday morning had me driving a hired Luton box van with tail lift from Newbury to Bath to meet fellow Jowett Car Club member Theo, first problem being was that we could not get the Luton down the long drive due to the overhang on the house gutters



So we ended up loading Theo's smaller van several times and then running that out to the road and trans shipping everything into the Luton









The yield included 5 complete engines, 4 disassembled engines, 12 cylinder heads, 12 gearboxes, 3 rear axles, a few body panels, some trim / chrome, some boxed NOS brake parts / engine bearings etc along with boxes upon boxes of numerous small parts - well over a ton in weight

Along with enough parts for Theo to reassemble the Javelin that we saved from the scrapman



Including a rare wooden dashboard (requiring work)



So once loaded I headed on the long trip up to Bradford where the clubs parts department is situated for the unloading - timing had to be correct has the parts dept only opens on a Monday evening has it is all run by voluntary members - got unloaded with help from fellow members by 21.00 hours - the parts will all now be checked / stripped / cleaned /sent for reconditioning / labelled / racked & added to the inventory - some of the parts recovered are pure scrap - others will yield useful parts within them whilst others can go straight onto the shelf. With a marque that closed it's factory doors in 1954 it's critical that whatever we can save / acquire / reuse remains a fundamental policy in order to preserve the future of the club - so for me clubs should be measured on how they support the members not by how many shiny trailer show queens they can amass on a club stand at a show.

The Jowett Car Club parts department 'Jowett Car Spares' supplies parts for all Jowett Models built from 1910 to 1954 and long may it continue to do so!