Gernot :
I agree, it's unbelievable, but it really is true : a working OD is worth
more than a parts car in the US. In fact, I've bought 2 parts cars just to
get the OD !
I see several reasons : OD never was as popular in the US as the UK. Even
the US cars that offered it as an option are almost never found with it,
and most didn't offer it, due to the mass dis-interest. Probably something
to do with petrol prices (OD got a lot more common after our 'gas crisis'
back in '74). Of course, OD on LBCs also added a lot of complexity to cars
that were unreliable to begin with.
Since LBCs in general were pretty rare (compared to US cars), and the OD
trannys were even rarer, most junk yards (breakers) don't recognize them as
being special. And since most junk yards don't keep the cars forever, I'm
afraid many of them were recycled into beer cans.
New repair parts are also quite expensive, when they are available at all.
($130 for a lousy solenoid !)
Now, it seems everyone with a LBC wants an OD in it, so we squabble and
fight over the few units left. Demand is high, supply is low, prices go up
(and up, and up ...).
What we really need is for some enterprising soul to collect up a whole
container-load of A and J type ODs in the UK, ship them to the US, and then
go into the business of manufacturing mainshafts (pure unobtainium) to fit
them to LBCs.
Any takers ?
Randall
On Friday, July 30, 1999 6:20 AM, Gernot Vonhoegen
[SMTP:gernot.vonhoegen@stir.ac.uk] wrote:
>
> you folks sound unbelievable (in the sense that I can't really get it.
> You talk about parts cars for 300-400$$, and then you flog od trannys for
> lots of bucks.
> Situation here is the other way round. I get an od tranny for say 150??
but
> have to pay say at least 1000?? for a parts car. Sounds to me this is the
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