4 ms·

This seems to happen a lot in these sorts of circles. My dad has a classic car and if you want a certain refurbished part, you basically have to order it from t

by dagw 5y ago

This seems to happen a lot in these sorts of circles. My dad has a classic car and if you want a certain refurbished part, you basically have to order it from this one dude in Australia who doesn't answer email, rarely answers the phone and has a delivery time of 2 weeks - 6 month. However everybody who has successfully ordered from him agree that his refurbishment jobs are the best you'll get, so everybody kind of puts up with it.

znpy 5y ago
But then again, keeping a classic car is asking for this kind of problems.
- dagw 5y ago
  Classic cars and classic consoles appear to have lot in common.
  - bruce343434 5y ago
    Try classic music
    - ehutch79 5y ago
      Like Nirvana or Pearl Jam?
  - TillE 5y ago
    Far fewer moving parts in consoles. I deal with vintage SNES consoles, and as long as you replace the capacitors and the 7805 voltage regulator, the vast majority work perfectly. All these parts are trivially sourced brand new, of course. I guess the original proprietary ICs won't last literally forever, but probably long enough for anyone to still care.
monkeydreams 5y ago
If you're talking Datsuns, I know that guy.
jhgb 5y ago
So, what's the succession plan for that guy?
- Aeronwen 5y ago
  You're SOL unless someone else decides to take up the mantle of the last guy. So basically every 90's comic book reboot, except they turn into a jaded parts guy instead of jaded super hero.
- prova_modena 5y ago
  There a few patterns I have observed in the vintage car parts industry, depending on the demand for the parts (tied to collector demand for the cars). I'm sure these apply to other industries like the Atari guy. Consistent demand, med-high value: the business' inventory is bought up by a larger business that supplies a related niche as part of an expansion plan. This can result in poorer availability/service as the tribal knowledge of inventory organization and item details is lost in transition. High value but demand is inconsistent/slow: parts bought up by a collector or restorer, they go off the market into storage in order to keep a specific collection going. They may in theory sell parts to others but usually difficult to deal with and almost always requires an "in". Low demand low value: Scrapped, or stored in indifferent conditions (outside or piled up in storage units) until everything degrades. Of course, if another "that guy" appears there is a possibility for a stable transition. But as other commenters alluded to, these folks tend to have idiosyncratic personalities and lifestyles so that happens very rarely in my experience.
mysterydip 5y ago
In a way this parallels IT, with the cranky old person as the old time mainframe/old system admin, the only one left with the tribal knowledge accumulated to know how to keep it running, so the company just puts up with them.
- the-dude 5y ago
  We have a name : BOFH If we don't like you, we'll make you hurt.
  - skylanh 5y ago
    No, the BOFH is a ancient, self-indulgent series of comedic writings done partially as self-help.
Loughla 5y ago
Vintage/Antique woodworking tools are like that, too. To get a piece for a tool I'm restoring, I had to figure out the cell number of a guy who bought the property that had the warehouse from a defunct dealer on it, and beg him to go through it for me. He runs an actual business, and bought the warehouse as somewhere to store his day-job machinery, not realizing it was the go-to for this particular brand of vintage machinery.
- chevill 5y ago
  I've run into some interesting business practices since I've gotten into Woodworking/woodcarving. There's a business I buy carving wood from where his process is you place an order, he ships you the items, and then also mails you an invoice and then you have to send a check or money order.
  - Loughla 5y ago
    The most fun experience I've had was when I ordered a Vega fence for my tablesaw. I'm like 98% sure the guy in Illinois that I talked to is also the guy who owns the company, makes the fences, packages them, and physically walks them to the UPS store. It was legitimately interesting to hear his perspective when I had an issue with my shipment. He literally remembered my order off the top of his head and helped troubleshoot without any sort of reference material. Woodworkers are an odd bunch.
kirse 5y ago
Yes it's amazing how much of the automotive industry runs on word of mouth, ancient web forums, and "call this number" type deals. I've got some old Subaru transmissions that I use in rally and there's basically one guy in Japan who speaks just enough English to help you source OEM gear replacements for it. It's always cool beneath all the corporate conglomerate 1-800 hustle-and-bustle that there's so many small businesses and underground connections that drive the economy.
busterarm 5y ago
Anything newer than 1975 generally happens on Facebook Marketplace now. Even a lot of the enthusiast forums have been dying and seeing their traffic move to Facebook groups. Probably half of the rotary Mazda parts/car sales happen on Facebook now. Sucks for those of us who choose not to have Facebook accounts.
robotnikman 5y ago
Same with my dad and his car, he is restoring an old Ford and its taken him at least 6 years to get all the parts from a wide variety of sources all over the country. He was very lucky to find some of the OEM trim for the car from a guy a few towns over, in basically new condition. Apparently said guy has a huge collection of parts for old Ford vehicles.

by dagw 5y ago

znpy 5y ago

But then again, keeping a classic car is asking for this kind of problems.

dagw 5y ago
Classic cars and classic consoles appear to have lot in common.
- bruce343434 5y ago
  Try classic music
  - ehutch79 5y ago
    Like Nirvana or Pearl Jam?
- TillE 5y ago
  Far fewer moving parts in consoles. I deal with vintage SNES consoles, and as long as you replace the capacitors and the 7805 voltage regulator, the vast majority work perfectly. All these parts are trivially sourced brand new, of course. I guess the original proprietary ICs won't last literally forever, but probably long enough for anyone to still care.

monkeydreams 5y ago

If you're talking Datsuns, I know that guy.

jhgb 5y ago

So, what's the succession plan for that guy?

Aeronwen 5y ago
You're SOL unless someone else decides to take up the mantle of the last guy. So basically every 90's comic book reboot, except they turn into a jaded parts guy instead of jaded super hero.
prova_modena 5y ago
There a few patterns I have observed in the vintage car parts industry, depending on the demand for the parts (tied to collector demand for the cars). I'm sure these apply to other industries like the Atari guy. Consistent demand, med-high value: the business' inventory is bought up by a larger business that supplies a related niche as part of an expansion plan. This can result in poorer availability/service as the tribal knowledge of inventory organization and item details is lost in transition. High value but demand is inconsistent/slow: parts bought up by a collector or restorer, they go off the market into storage in order to keep a specific collection going. They may in theory sell parts to others but usually difficult to deal with and almost always requires an "in". Low demand low value: Scrapped, or stored in indifferent conditions (outside or piled up in storage units) until everything degrades. Of course, if another "that guy" appears there is a possibility for a stable transition. But as other commenters alluded to, these folks tend to have idiosyncratic personalities and lifestyles so that happens very rarely in my experience.

mysterydip 5y ago

In a way this parallels IT, with the cranky old person as the old time mainframe/old system admin, the only one left with the tribal knowledge accumulated to know how to keep it running, so the company just puts up with them.

the-dude 5y ago
We have a name : BOFH If we don't like you, we'll make you hurt.
- skylanh 5y ago
  No, the BOFH is a ancient, self-indulgent series of comedic writings done partially as self-help.

Loughla 5y ago

Vintage/Antique woodworking tools are like that, too. To get a piece for a tool I'm restoring, I had to figure out the cell number of a guy who bought the property that had the warehouse from a defunct dealer on it, and beg him to go through it for me. He runs an actual business, and bought the warehouse as somewhere to store his day-job machinery, not realizing it was the go-to for this particular brand of vintage machinery.

chevill 5y ago
I've run into some interesting business practices since I've gotten into Woodworking/woodcarving. There's a business I buy carving wood from where his process is you place an order, he ships you the items, and then also mails you an invoice and then you have to send a check or money order.
- Loughla 5y ago
  The most fun experience I've had was when I ordered a Vega fence for my tablesaw. I'm like 98% sure the guy in Illinois that I talked to is also the guy who owns the company, makes the fences, packages them, and physically walks them to the UPS store. It was legitimately interesting to hear his perspective when I had an issue with my shipment. He literally remembered my order off the top of his head and helped troubleshoot without any sort of reference material. Woodworkers are an odd bunch.

kirse 5y ago

Yes it's amazing how much of the automotive industry runs on word of mouth, ancient web forums, and "call this number" type deals. I've got some old Subaru transmissions that I use in rally and there's basically one guy in Japan who speaks just enough English to help you source OEM gear replacements for it. It's always cool beneath all the corporate conglomerate 1-800 hustle-and-bustle that there's so many small businesses and underground connections that drive the economy.

busterarm 5y ago

Anything newer than 1975 generally happens on Facebook Marketplace now. Even a lot of the enthusiast forums have been dying and seeing their traffic move to Facebook groups. Probably half of the rotary Mazda parts/car sales happen on Facebook now. Sucks for those of us who choose not to have Facebook accounts.

robotnikman 5y ago

Same with my dad and his car, he is restoring an old Ford and its taken him at least 6 years to get all the parts from a wide variety of sources all over the country. He was very lucky to find some of the OEM trim for the car from a guy a few towns over, in basically new condition. Apparently said guy has a huge collection of parts for old Ford vehicles.