VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Question about E-Bay

How does you go about finding parts on E-BAY for a 1937 chevrolet master deluxe?? Seems all I ever get is stuff for modern cars! Any help will be appreciated.
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joes37

The problem is there are just no parts available (or very few) for prewar cars. I have been in the club for 48 years and folks have been buying parts for those older models for longer than that. Yhey just don't exist any more. That being said there are more reproduction parts available today that we did not have 50 years ago.
Years ago you could go to a large swap meet and see a lot of NOS prewar car parts. Today if you do see any thing it is used rusted junk or the price is so high you can't believe it.

Joe, If you type in ebay motors, that will take you to the car part section. I then type in "1937 chevy parts". This is what came up for me. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...mp;_nkw=1937+chevy+parts&_sacat=6000


If you are looking for a SPECIFIC part ...... such as a ash tray, type in "1937 chevy master ashtray" on the search line at the top of the ebay motors page.

Happy hunting.

There are a fair number of parts listed but the biggest issue I find is that some vendors do what Ebay calls "Browse Manipulation - Keyword Spamming". You can complain to Ebay but they ignore you.

It looks like this: Every day you search for the latest listings for "1937 Chev" as an example. You will get 200 legitimate listings but these are buried among 8000 garbage listings. There is one guy that lists literally 5000 ads for aftermarket rims and electric 12v fuel pumps every single day. There are a half dozen vendors that drive me nuts with crap like rubber antennas, rims,colored dash inserts, HID headlight kits, etc and NONE of them should show up in a search for a 1937 Chev. This is due to "keyword Spamming" and their keywords include every make, model and year vehicle so you get parts totally unrelated to your search.

You can specify that the search does not contain certain annoying vendors but Ebay sometimes will return zero results unless you include some of these annoying vendors in your search as they are a higher profile vendor and Ebay kisses their butts..

Yeah, I'm far from an Ebay expert, but it seems like they started doing that a while back. It sure can be a pain. I've also noticed that if you search for a part calling it a different name, more of what you are looking for will show up, and yes, with more "garbage" to boot, lol.

I'm just a browser though. I haven't bought anything from there in many, many years.

I buy spare parts for my 1933 Master every few months and do a search of "1933 Chevrolet" every few days.

What is strange is I always use "1933 Chevrolet" for the search with "All Categories" selected and most of the time I get mostly vintage parts for the car. Other times when I do the search I get a lot of things like modern alloy wheels, and other modern car parts mixed in.

It seems to go thru cycles on how much modern stuff is mixed in.

Another option is to select advanced just to the right of the Search button and if you notice any words that are common to the items you don't want to view is to add them to the "Exclude words from search" and that crap won't show up in your search.

Years ago, Hemmings was a great source for finding parts, but a lot has changed in the last 25-years. I always thought that trim parts were the toughest to find (in addition to sheet metal of course).

Thanks Guys, this has been a HUGE HELP to a guy that is not that computer savy!!
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joes37

"How does you go about finding parts on E-BAY for a 1937 chevrolet master deluxe??"

Joe,

Like you I'm not skilled in computer use however I've found a lot of very useful stuff for my '36 PU on ebay over the years. I find it's like going to swap meets. If you're looking for one very particular item the chances of finding that item on any particular day are slim. But if you're going regularly just to see generally what's there 2 good things happen. You see what the stuff you're interested in is generally selling for and occasionally somebody will list an item you can use for way below what it generally sells for.

So if expectations are kept low successes will happen.

Ray W

If you are currently looking for a specific part, let us know, we can assist with your search.

Joe,
You can custom design a search to find parts for your car. I don't use a 1 year search because parts for other years also fit my cars. I am willing to look at a wide variety of stuff and I will decide if it is correct for my car.
My search covers several years in the 30s so that it covers my '35 car, my '36, '38 and '39 trucks. You can tell the search not to show you certain items by excluding MIB which means "mint in box" a term frequently used to describe toy cars, and car banks. You can also eliminate them by excluding some of the common scale size references used to describe toys. You can continue to refine your search as more things pop up to annoy you.
You can find guidelines for creating a search somewhere on eBay. It has been too long ago for me to remember the details. No search will be foolproof but you can eliminate a bunch of stuff.
On a different note, I have a small stash of 30s vintage, mostly mechanical, NOS and used parts. If you or anyone has a specific need, PM me and I will see if I can help. I am moving sometime soon and you could help me by reducing my inventory.

Mike
Columbia, MO

I call it GREEDBAY because a lot of the numbers are absolutely nuts, and the part will just end up in the scrap metal bin. They won't even think about entertaining a realistic number.

Hey Joe,
Ebay has been great for me! I have found parts that I would never have found otherwise. You will need to open a paypal account which is pretty simple. There is a way to set up notifications if a part fitting your description matches your search. I love it more as a buyer then a seller. I have not gotten Hemmings in years and very seldom look at printed classified ads any more for parts.

That is true for cars of the '50's and up but not for pre-war cars.

What is not true for pre-war cars, they don't allow for notifications? or they don't require paypal?

I have found several parts for my 38 on ebay here in Aus, today I received a set of new brake hydraulic hoses and last week a set of timing gears (actually turned out to be the same seller) but there were others advertising and all were priced close to similar parts for newer cars.
Tony

Those parts are still being made and are available from our parts houses.
The timing gear fits 1937-1962 216-235 engines and the brake hoses go from 1936-1950 with three for each car or small truck so there is still a good market for all.

I'm with John on this one. I check my eBay search a couple of time each day and always find newly listed items for 30s Chevys. Part of my search is that new items appear first.
Some stuff is described wrong, some stuff is over priced, some stuff I just don't need, but good useful items at a fair starting price or "buy it now" price show up every day.
I made my living , for about 5 years, selling NOS parts on eBay. In the early years there was fantastic stuff to be had but most of those stashes have been liquidated so now we are looking at more mundane items, as a rule. eBay is so seller oriented now days that you are almost guaranteed a refund if you are not satisfied with your purchase. I have lost freight costs on a couple of small items.
The key to finding the right stuff for your project is the wording of your search. No search is perfect and no search will find every item, even when it is within the parameters of your search.
Another important thing is to know what is correct for your car. DO NOT rely on the seller. Some might be intentionally misleading, others just not informed. I AM THE ULTIMATE DECISION MAKER as to what fits my application.
Like John, I have some cool stuff for my vehicles that I would never have gotten were it not for eBay.
I will be happy to help anyone design a search.

Mike

All very good info, 35 Mike.

Just did an ebay search "1937 1938 chevy chevrolet" all categories and results showed thousands of vintage parts. Lots of really good stuff and some bargain prices like an NOS 1937 1938 1939 Chevrolet GMC Trans Clutch Ring 4.380 602339 2nd, 3rd Speed for BIN $70.00. I've had very good luck with ebay buy and sell.