Finding Parts To Restore Your Classic American Muscle Car

The early American muscle cars are some of the most sought after and restored cars around. These classic cars have beautiful body lines and a lot of different options but the parts are becoming harder to find. If you are starting work on an older American classic car, you have a few options for parts--such as checking out a place like Reggie's Garage--and if you are resourceful you may find others that are not even listed here.

Original Equipment Parts

When you start searching for parts you may get lucky and find some OEM (or Original Equipment Manufacturer) parts around but they will be few and far between. The parts, sometimes called new old stock, are often found in places that might surprise you. Sometimes it will be a private seller, a flea market or parts swap meet, or occasionally they will be discovered in a dealers inventory. If you can find these parts, they will cost a little more but they will fit the car precisely because they were made when the car was made to be used on these cars as replacement parts.

Used Parts

The most common way to get parts for your classic car is to buy used parts from a salvage yard or a private seller. Sometimes you can find them listed online for sale as well. The parts may be in good shape or may need some work but if you can not get the part you need any other way, buying used parts and restoring the part to original condition might be the best option. Keep in mind, if the part is damaged, you may not be able to use it so check used parts over very well before you buy them. If the part just needs some paint or polishing, you can do that easily but a door handle missing parts, for example, may not be that easy to fix unless you have some of the parts in your collection of pieces.

Aftermarket Reproduction Parts

There are many different levels of reproduction parts (often called repop parts by enthusiasts) available to use on your car as well. Keep in mind that they parts are made to fit the car but since they are made with different tooling and parts, they specifications may be off slightly and they may not fit perfectly. They are usually pretty close but you may have to make adjustments to them to make them fit just right. They are still a great option as long as you understand that they may not be an exact fit right out of the box. If you have the skills to restore a classic car, you more than likely can make these parts work for you and they are a good alternative when you can not find the part you need anywhere else.