vintage car parts

[105m]

Can anyone here tell me why when I try to find a part for my vintage automobile I have to look through every part listed for every make and model, of every year of vintage auto? Putting in the exact year, make , and model, as well as the exact part I'm looking for makes no difference. I still have to look through every part listed for older cars.

[eburtonlab]

What are you searching for and how are you searching?

Most likely there are ways to change your search to limit your results to the items you are interested in and avoid items you are not.

Some unscrupulous automotive parts sellers have been known to include lists of unrelated keywords in their listings' item-specifics hoping to get their listings to appear in as many searches as possible.

If your search problem is related to this, there are still things you can do to avoid those keyword-spamming listings when searching.

For automotive listings, just pick a make, model or year that has absolutely nothing to do with your search from that list, and exclude that keyword using a minus sign in front of that keyword you want to exclude. Since keyword spammers are lazy, they quite often reuse the same list and copy from other spammers. Any listing with that keyword in the item specifics will be excluded from your results, including any listing by that item-specific spamming seller.

[mudshark61369]

@105m,

What your search results will return may depend on how your search is worded, the rarity of the part, they year of your car's Mfr. and what part of a vehicle it is. Depending on the years a specific model was made changes may have been made to a part's design or its supplier. Some parts may have been used through out a model's production run, while others may have only been used on specific sub genres or engine sizes of a model.

  Before searching for parts it may be wise to get an original OEM shop manual for your car and also to see if there were any supplemental manuals issued for it. Many of the newer copies of the manuals do not include information that was updated/changed during the years a vehicle was made.  The actual nomenclature for the part should be given in OEM manuals, which may aid in your search.  Sometimes doing a VIN lookup for your car can give you information you may need to find the right part.

[105m]

    I just went to the ebay home page and typed in the search 1947 buick super rear bumper. I think that is as well as the part can be described.   You should go to the ebay home page yourself and enter 1947 buick super rear bumper and see what you get .

[eburtonlab]

I just went to the ebay home page and typed in the search 1947 buick super rear bumper. I think that is as well as the part can be described.

That is a good place to start. From there, you should narrow the category to the Bumpers & Reinforcements subcategory, and eliminate all the items there that are in "new" condition:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/33640/i.html?_nkw=1947+buick+super+rear+bumper&rt=nc&LH_ItemCondition=2500%...

Alternatively, try this buick-super search to ensure those two keywords appear consecutively:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=1947+buick-super+rear+bumper&_sacat=33640&rt=nc

[mudshark61369]

@105m,

Early post war automotive body parts didn't change much until 1949 for most manufacturers, because they were busy shifting from war production to post war production, and even then deliveries were slow because of a shortage of steel.   Knowing that, would it surprise you to learn that the rear bumpers on the `47, Specials & Road masters were the same for model years 46-48, except for the station wagons? Just in case you end up needing one,  Buick Flying wing front bumpers were the same into the early 50s. 

[105m]

I appreciate you help with this, but you really don< t have to school me on Buicks . When I bought this car 38years ago it was completely torn apart. I pretty much know what fits what on this car. Therefor I'm pretty sure things like Ford fenders,  Pontiac tail lights, Dodge window crank handles, and aftermarket rear view mirrors  are not interchangeable with a 1947 Buick Super rear bumpers.

[mudshark61369]

@105m,

I know those things are not what you want to see when doing searches and I sympathize with you. I was only offering suggestions on how you might be able to find the bumper, by not limiting your search to just one year or one model of 46-48 Buicks, using the suggestions offered by eburtonlab.

To tell the truth I gave up on trying to find parts for my 2 vintage Chevys on ebay several years ago. Partly because of the search results issues, but also because of issues with the items I did find.

[adamcartwright]

@105m 

There's a ton of search manipulation in violation of eBay listing practices by auto parts sellers, and eBay doesn't seem to care.

It hurts not only buyers, but also those of us who list auto parts honestly.

[105m]

  Ebay used to be the first place I would look for hard to find parts. Now it's my absolute last resort simply because of the time it take to search through every part listed for every make listed.   Ebay has given a whole new meaning to "hard to find parts".