69 Rallye Parts Car?

[lazybrother]

Greetings to all from your basic salvage scrounger. Let me start off by thanking the creators of this bulletin board. I would have not even stopped to look at the 1969 Kadette Rallye that I came upon last week in one of my local U-Pull-It yards had I not already known that this site existed.

Even though I suspect these 69 Rallye cars are pretty rare, I think that this one could be best used as a parts donor rather than a restoration contender based on it's overall condition which is as follows;
faded original yellow paint with black stripes, fog lamps gone, wrinkled grille, bumper & left fender, mostly decent complete black interior, cracked steering wheel, rusty floors & lower sections, incomplete single carb motor, four speed gearbox, limited slip rear with wide mag wheels and thick sway bar mounted, stock wheels & hubcaps up front & in the trunk, trunklid pried open.

I am a huge Buick fan but also totally opel ignorant so I have come here looking for any help in trying to gauge the amount of interest in and/or the value of of the pieces worth salvaging from the car.I would like to know if it would be worth my effort before I decide tear into this car or something else instead. I knew enough to yank the accessory gauge cluster along with the horn cap and all the remaining inside/outside emblems.

Let me know what you are looking for. I would prefer to procure items that I have received requests for rather than try to rely on my own judgment as to what is or would be wanted or even needed.

I should have some photos of it tomorrow in case anyone wants to see some.

Thanks!

[tomking]

What would the purchase price be for the rear end? And shipping to 64834? Thanks.

[Opelmn70]

I have been looking for a tach for the Kadett but they always elude me on ebay, and the last one was given away before I knew I needed it. Email me with cost and shipping to Milwaukee, Wi
Thanks, Gerry

[Mike Preble]

I am also interested in the rear end. PM me or email me at mjpreble@earthlink.net . I can also pick parts up as we travel to SoCal a couple times a year.

Mike

[tekenaar]

Greetings to all from your basic salvage scrounger. Let me start off by thanking the creators of this bulletin board. I would have not even stopped to look at the 1969 Kadette Rallye that I came upon last week in one of my local U-Pull-It yards had I not already known that this site existed.

Even though I suspect these 69 Rallye cars are pretty rare, . . .

I am a huge Buick fan but also totally opel ignorant . . .

Let me know what you are looking for. I would prefer to procure items that I have received requests for rather than try to rely on my own judgment as to what is or would be wanted or even needed.

I should have some photos of it tomorrow in case anyone wants to see some.

Thanks!

. . . uh, pics would really help . . . please!

[lazybrother]

I probably should have kept on walking instead of stopping to look.
It was my hope that someone who read my post might be willing to help me determine some fair market values for the more popular parts but it doesn't look like that is likely to happen.
Heading back over there right now just to shoot some photos seems like it would be a big waste of my fuel and time.
I guess I will need to resort to the eBay marketplace once again in order to establish some real numbers unless something or someone can convince me otherwise.

[2 Fast 4 U]

I probably should have kept on walking instead of stopping to look.
It was my hope that someone who read my post might be willing to help me determine some fair market values for the more popular parts but it doesn't look like that is likely to happen.

If nobody knows what there is, how can someone tell you what it's worth??

Heading back over there right now just to shoot some photos seems like it would be a big waste of my fuel and time.

you offered to make photos yourself, read your own words:

I should have some photos of it tomorrow in case anyone wants to see some.

Thanks!

Sorry guys had to put this down
just as mr lazybrother holds a piece of meat in front of you, and you have your teeth in it he wants to pull the meat away from you.
mr lazybrother: If you can't miss the meat don't show it

[opelspyder]

I have some Rallye spares, like complete rear end, cluster, I basically parted out a 1969 model, and have another I am restoring that I will be replacing a lot of parts from it for NOS parts. What do you really need?
I will take pictures if needed
Keith
keithlundholm@yahoo.com
parts are in TN

[Mike Preble]

I probably should have kept on walking instead of stopping to look.
It was my hope that someone who read my post might be willing to help me determine some fair market values for the more popular parts but it doesn't look like that is likely to happen.
Heading back over there right now just to shoot some photos seems like it would be a big waste of my fuel and time.
I guess I will need to resort to the eBay marketplace once again in order to establish some real numbers unless something or someone can convince me otherwise.

Darn, and I was just about to send you a lot of money through Paypal for the parts without even knowing what was there. Just the thought of owning some rare rusty, dented parts from an equally rare 69 Kadett had me all excited. My loss.

Mike

[kwilford]

Moderator Note: Please continue to keep this civil, from all sides, or this thread will be closed and the appropriate measures enacted.

[opelwasp]

I probably should have kept on walking instead of stopping to look.

Huh, not sure where this came from?

It was my hope that someone who read my post might be willing to help me determine some fair market values for the more popular parts but it doesn't look like that is likely to happen.

Let's see, let's ask a bunch of people who want the parts what their worth. It's kind of like a car salesman what the customer wants to pay, a bit disingenuous I think.
Heading back over there right now just to shoot some photos seems like it would be a big waste of my fuel and time.

Wow, that attitude will surely spur interest.

I guess I will need to resort to the eBay marketplace once again in order to establish some real numbers unless something or someone can convince me otherwise.

eBay has never been know for "real" number. Only numbers people are willing to pay at any given time. An item one person will pay $1000 for on day will only go for $100 the next. Even if they are exactly the same item in the same shape. I know I get deals like this all the time. Gotta love eBay.

If you have an ammount you want then just post it not beat around the bush, then insult our inteligence to boot.

[opelnut10]

First of all, I doubt a Rallye Kadett is sitting anywhere on the planet with a limited slip rearend still under the car (unless the spyder gears have been welded together) and if it is rusted beyond practical repair then the entire car may be worth $250-$300 for a spare parts car. I guess I just can't see buying an unknown from an unknown and parting with a lot of money not knowing what is coming, I think I had rather play the lottery

[GTJIM]

Hmmmm - maybe 'Luxury' Buick owners' need to remember Opels were 'economy' cars back when Buick dealers sold them .... and Opelers are still 'frugal' compared to Buick owners!!

[lazybrother]

In retrospect I suppose that this is the sort of reaction that I thought might happen here and I hold myself personally responsible for it. It was my mistake to think that just because Opels were sold by Buick dealers it did not mean that the online community of Opel enthusiasts would necessarily act anything like their classic Buick counterparts.
The difference is like night and day. Honest and accurate information is freely exchanged whenever anyone posts their questions concerning item values over at the popular Buick bulletin boards (and even a few devoted to the other GM divisions) regardless of who they are or whether there are pretty pictures included to look at or not.
When it became apparent yesterday that this place was not the proper venue for me to receive any sort of appraisals, my efforts were channeled into something more profitable to me than that Kadette and it happened to be located at a different yard in the opposite direction. After all, I am in the business of scrounging parts so time is money, as the old saying goes. Just like almost anyone else out there in business the bottom line takes priority or you do not remain in business very long. Since I could not occupy two different locations simultaneously (I am working on that) I had to go where the most money was to be made. I am sure that most of you would have made the same choice given identical circumstances.
Just for the record, photos were never promised. They were merely offered. By sheer coincidence today I had to drop by the yard right next door to the one with that thing to rescue a nicely restore-able '67 Eldorado from becoming their next demolition derby entry.
Here...

[lazybrother]

Here's more...

[lazybrother]

Is a few more going to be enough?

[opelspyder]

You gotta love those pull-a-parts. The cars are up in the air ready to strip. The car doesn't have too much left, but the little pieces sometimes makes it worth having in a local yard. Unfortunetly most of those type of yards I have been to do not sell the complete car. In most cases they are beaten up and left for dead too. Although I have seen cars in those yards that could be an excellent driver out of the yard, if they didn't stab the gas tank and paint lot numbers all over them. In Lazybrother's defense, he stepped up and provided adequate pictures, you all just have to deside about dealing with a middle man or not
Keith

[opelbits]

I'm sorry, but that car looks in better structural shape...nix that...better shape overall! than the GT I am driving!

I'd be real interested to see just how much rust there actually is. You southwest guys are spoiled...

[oldopelguy]

Honest and accurate information is freely exchanged whenever anyone posts their questions concerning item values over at the popular Buick bulletin boards (and even a few devoted to the other GM divisions) regardless of who they are or whether there are pretty pictures included to look at or not.

I belong to a few of those other boards, and they aren't always that great either. There's primarilly two issues that make Opel owners different than their Buick counterparts:

1) Opel owners are cheapskates. No need to sugar coat it, people with real $ can afford nicer cars. Opels are not particularly valuable, so the buy-in is low, and as a result there is a lot of folks who are just treading water with their cars trying to get by cheaply until they can afford to one day "do it right." These folks want and need their parts cheap, and are going to try and get stuff for as little cash as possible.

2) Opel owners were abandoned by Buick (GM) in the 80's and have had little to no aftermarket support ever since. If I had a classic Buick and I walked into a dealership to ask for parts they might actually try to look something up. With an Opel if I go into a Buick dealership I get laughed at, and sometimes put down for my choice in car. In fact, for me "Buick" was essentially a swear word for a decade or so from the mid-80's to mid-90's.

With a Buick I can crack open a Year One catalog and look up the price of a replacement part for almost everything on the car. Since some things used are going to be worth more due to rarity or less due to lack of interest, it's pretty easy to take the catalog prices as benchmarks and adjust either up or down and get into a reasonable ball-park for what a used part would be worth. For Opels here in the US, and Kadetts worst of all, there is no such book, no supplier of the majority of the replacement or weird parts that might be or have been available for the cars. That means there is no consistent benchmark to reference against and every parts deal is stand-alone.



When it comes to Kadetts there's only a few folks who really know their values well enough to help you out. Thing is, even though the cars aren't very common, they really aren't worth much. As recently as 3 years ago I hauled 2 Kadetts, one in almost the exact same shape as that one and another in better shape and 10 times as rare from New Mexico to the midwest. Neither car was purchased for over $125 complete, and the highest I have even heard of a Kadett selling for here recently is still well under $10k. For anyone but a real collector it's hard to justify spending more on some pieces from a junk car than you spent on the whole car, and there aren't more than 20 or so real collectors of Kadetts out there. Since none of the others have spoken up, and I might be as close as you're going to get to a Kadett "expert" here's my take on the car:

From that Kadett, things I would remove for re-sale would include:

-The rear sway bar and all it's bracketry The sway bar will bolt up to a GT even, so there is some market for it, and the bracketry isn't super easy to find. Cut the welded-on ears for the sway bar off the axle if you can and as a package you should be able to get $75-100 for the assembly.

-The rear differential. In this case the entire axle is worth less than the actual pieces inside it because the axle itself is an early one and replacement bearings are no longer being produced. The cost to ship the whole thing would be more than it's value. It should have 3.67 gears in the back, though, which is a popular and desirable upgrade, and there is a tiny chance it does actually have a limited slip. Pull the gears and carrier and as a package it's probably worth $75-150 depending on how many people want it. If it's really a limited slip, though, that could easily be $350-500.

-The front sway bar and/or it's bracketry, if the car has one. While lots of Kadetts had rear sway bars, none of them in the US were delivered with front sway bars unless they were special ordered that way. If it has one, and you get all the brackets to mount it including the ones on the a-arms (or whole arms if it's the welded-on ones) then you should get $125-175 for the assembly without much trouble. If you manage to nab just the brackets from the frame you should be able to clear $25-50 for them without much trouble.

-Front fenders. Rust-free ones are getting harder to find, and those look pretty good. I've been buying good Kadett fenders as spares for $60-$100 each lately on E-bay and would certainly give that much for those, some other folks might give more if someone really needed a set.

-You already grabbed the gauge cluster, those typically sell for $20-50 unless they're cracked or broken, then they may only go for $10-20.

-The tachometer. Real Rallyes had tachometers, and they aren't really all that common. Figure $45-80 for it if you can prove it works, $20-40 if you can't.

-Driving light wiring harness. If the harness is still there, including the relay, it's a stand-alone harness added-in in addition to the main loom and should come out easily enough. For anyone wanting a "correct" install it would probably be worth $30-100 depending on just how nice it comes out and if no wires are cut.

-Lights, including the side reflectors. They really don't go for much, probably not much more than $15 for each light, but if you put a whole set up for sale and all the lights and reflectors are usable you might do all-right. I myself wouldn't hesitate to drop $20 each for the taillights, but when I have to ship them individually for another $10 each it's less worthwhile. The side reflectors are a one-year only thing too, and while they aren't actually all that popular someone might be looking for them. I'd expect to get $50-85 for a lot with every lens and housing. (I could really use a spare set of taillights myself...)

-The rear mag wheels. Check them closely, though, to make sure they are actually 4x100mm bolt pattern and not the 4x4" Vega/MG bolt pattern. Opel ones that wide would probably sell for $15-40 each, Vega/MG ones a bit less.

-Trunk and glove box lights, switches, and wiring. These aren't going to get you much, probably not $20 for the both if the car has them, but I'd sure like to get a set myself and I'm probably not the only one.

You might look at the exhaust manifold too, to see if it's connected to the intake manifold by 4 bolts under the carb. From the pictures it looks like it isn't, and if so it would have the "sprint" exhaust manifold that usually fetches $125-200.

Most the rest of the stuff is common enough that unless it's truely spectacular you're probably not going to get much for it. Soft stuff out there is going to be shot anyway, so most of that's not worth pulling.

Hope that helps, and thanks for thinking of us. I'd like some of the stuff myself if you do make it back over there, but if there's not enough in it for your time and fuel that's easy enough to understand.

[opelspyder]

I don't recall a glove box light.
Reflectors were a (2) year thing-1968,69
Also check to see if the front lower a-arms have the brackets for the factory sway bar attached. Some do, but don't think you would get what it cost to pull them off for the parts. The only other thing is i think the rear end assembly is worth more than that, but it is a pain to ship.

Also oldopelguy (Kadett Expert)...did you ever get a chance to see if 1900 seats would fit in a Kadett without mods?
Thanks
Keith