This is a good source for Model T parts:
Even with very common cars some parts can be scarce. Chevy trucks/SUVs are everywhere, but the antilock brake system went out on my 95 Tahoe, the parts haven’t been made since 1996. All the ones in the junkyards are worn out. But, since I learned/grew up on cars with no antilock I just live with it.
Plastic body parts have the same problem. Old, brittle, cracks and falls off. The ones in the junkyard are no better. That’s just what 30 years does to plastic.
Engine and transmission parts on the other hand are readily available everywhere.
for a WW2 Jeep, all parts are available, - most remanufactured by now, some still original.
Thanks to all those who provided answers and advice in this thread.
I thought some of you might like to know that I ended getting a 2002 Toyota Corolla with about 290,000 km, and it cost me only a few thousand dollars. I had pulled the vehicle’s history report and it’s had no major accidents and has never been registered any place where they salt the roads. The interior and exterior are in very good condition. The private seller had taken it to a mechanic for its mandatory pre-sales safety inspection, which it passed. I also took it to a mechanic of my own, who found a few issues that were missed during the safety inspection but were easily fixable for a few hundred dollars; he said the car is otherwise in great condition. The previous owner even left in an aftermarket audio/video entertainment centre with an integrated Bluetooth audio/phone connection and backup camera. I’ve been driving the car for a couple weeks now with no issues. Hopefully it will last several more years without needing repairs beyond what I’ve budgeted.
Before I settled on this car, though, I avoided getting scammed on a different one. I test-drove a 2008 Honda Accord, from a private seller who said he was a mechanic. The car was seemingly in great condition, with very low mileage, and with a clean registration title. I pulled the vehicle history, which revealed that the car had actually been declared a wreck in 2010, after which it was re-registered with rebuilt status, and then inexplicably, after a few years, the title was suddenly clean again. Not only that, but it had a very long and detailed service record (oil changes and the like) that showed steadily increasing odometer readings up until the very last one, from a couple years ago, when the reading suddenly decreased by about 60,000 km. Judging from the time gap between the last two odometer readings, I’m guessing the actual decrease was 100,000 km. (The car’s current odometer reading is still much lower than the highest reported reading from the service record.)
I asked the seller about these discrepancies and he claimed to know nothing about them. I called the government agency responsible for vehicle registrations and they told me there’s no way a car’s title can go from “rebuilt” back to “normal”, even if the engine is replaced. They also said the odometer history was suspicious, pointing to it having been rolled back. Unfortunately, they say there’s nothing they or the police can do about it since the laws concerning inaccurate titles and odometer readings don’t apply to private sellers.
You dodged a bullet with that Accord. You can bet that somebody who came after you took it in the shorts with that one.
It’s called “title washing,” if you care to search and read about it. Fraud and tricks are used to get a clean title reissued. Often it is as simple as applying to the authorities for a new title, and withholding information about the old salvage title. Sometimes it is a forged or altered title, so when you go to register you find out the real history, and the seller is long gone.
Good job avoiding the scam.
Sounds like you got a great car.