St Charles online Parts Catalog is dead :(

[vt_maverick]

That's a nice sentiment and all but it's hardly practical, in fact I'd say it's exactly backwards from the right logic. Let's explore the options for someone with a blown engine but no cosmetic issues:

1. Buy an engine for $1-3K+ depending on whether you go new/aftermarket/used
   
   1. If you're mechanically inclined do the work yourself
   2. For 99% of owners who are not that mechanically inclined, spend $2K or more at a shop
2. Sell it "as a whole to someone who wanted to FIX it"
   
   1. Finding a non-owner who is willing to buy a car that they're completely unfamiliar with and which has zero factory support will be nearly impossible, and they'll give you practically nothing for it
   2. Finding someone who currently has or previously had a VX gives you a better chance at a higher sales price, but finding someone already contending with one rare vehicle who has the spare change to buy yours will be very difficult
3. Part out the cosmetic pieces and any major healthy mechanicals (transmission for example) and crush the rest
   
   1. Cosmetic pieces will only increase in value from here on, to the point that shipping costs will be less relevant in relation to the sales price itself. In other words a national market emerges, driving up prices.
   2. Selling the vehicle for parts or parting it out yourself will cost nothing out of pocket and bring you far more than selling it with a blown engine
   3. Selling your cosmetic pieces helps keep other VX's in circulation. It's a zero sum game now that parts are unavailable, so refusing to part out your VX's cosmetic pieces just forces another VX owner to either drive around with permanent damage or junk their truck instead. The bottom line is that part-outs are the ONLY thing that will keep our community in existence over the long haul, with the sole exception of those VX's that remain "garage queens."

I share your sentiment in wanting to see as many VX's live on as possible - I just think part-outs, rather than whole-truck sales to well-intended mechanics, are what will keep us going.

[evillecutter]

That's a nice sentiment and all but it's hardly practical, in fact I'd say it's exactly backwards from the right logic. Let's explore the options for someone with a blown engine but no cosmetic issues:

1. Buy an engine for $1-3K+ depending on whether you go new/aftermarket/used
   
   1. If you're mechanically inclined do the work yourself
   2. For 99% of owners who are not that mechanically inclined, spend $2K or more at a shop
2. Sell it "as a whole to someone who wanted to FIX it"
   
   1. Finding a non-owner who is willing to buy a car that they're completely unfamiliar with and which has zero factory support will be nearly impossible, and they'll give you practically nothing for it
   2. Finding someone who currently has or previously had a VX gives you a better chance at a higher sales price, but finding someone already contending with one rare vehicle who has the spare change to buy yours will be very difficult
3. Part out the cosmetic pieces and any major healthy mechanicals (transmission for example) and crush the rest
   
   1. Cosmetic pieces will only increase in value from here on, to the point that shipping costs will be less relevant in relation to the sales price itself. In other words a national market emerges, driving up prices.
   2. Selling the vehicle for parts or parting it out yourself will cost nothing out of pocket and bring you far more than selling it with a blown engine
   3. Selling your cosmetic pieces helps keep other VX's in circulation. It's a zero sum game now that parts are unavailable, so refusing to part out your VX's cosmetic pieces just forces another VX owner to either drive around with permanent damage or junk their truck instead. The bottom line is that part-outs are the ONLY thing that will keep our community in existence over the long haul, with the sole exception of those VX's that remain "garage queens."

I share your sentiment in wanting to see as many VX's live on as possible - I just think part-outs, rather than whole-truck sales to well-intended mechanics, are what will keep us going.

very well said