By Robert Emslie
One of the challenges of maintaing older cars is finding replacements for the parts that wear out – or in the case of some classics – fall off. Finding unique parts is frustrating enough, and I remember having a discussion with the owner of a lovely Triumph Italia who bemoaned the search for replacement glass during the car’s restoration. Perhaps even more concerning to a broader group is the ongoing extinction of a number of more common but equally consumable parts, such as sealed beam headlamps and those kinds of tiny tires that small cars of the seventies and eighties used to require.
As many of these parts fade into obscurity car owners are forced to make compromises. In the case of sealed beams, composite lights do exist that mimic the form and can be used in their stead. In other cases – brake pads, crazy coolant hoses, etc – their unique nature simply can’t be had with a near match.
If you are like me, you have at least one old car for which you are responsible for maintaining. If that’s the case then I’m sure you have run into, or are seeing looming on the horizon, a part or parts that when your current units wear out will be a pain in the neck to replace. Which of those parts gives you the greatest concern?
Image source: Mopar Muscle
Jeff Glucker