When Mercedes proposed today’s Ask, my mind instantly went to the Cadillac XLR and its infamous taillights. After a quick Googling, I can confirm the XLT tails are still going for a pretty penny, with a low of about a grand and a high of $3,000 or so. But they’re out there, so not exactly unobtanium. More like “unobtanium without a lot of cashium.”
Some parts, however, are much harder to find, at any price.
Mercedes has this tale of woe:
For me, it’s this damn wheel:
I’m trying to restore my 2012 Smart to as close to factory condition as possible. It shipped new with these wheels. As it turns out, very few Smarts ever came with these wheels in America
I should never have sold mine!
There’s a set for sale in Tampa, but the guy refuses to ship and didn’t even respond to my message, anyway.
All the others are in Germany and are like $400 per wheel, plus shipping and import duties, and that’s a hell to the no.
I occasionally find entire Smarts for sale with these wheels, but I don’t feel like buying a whole car just to steal its wheels.
I feel you, Merc.
How about you? Have you encountered a required part that was so Unobtanium it may as well have been mined from Pandora? See you in the comments!
Top graphic image: GM
If you look under the passenger seat of a first generation Boxster, you may find a 2nd seat belt latch. This latch engaged with the buckle on their fancy Porsche branded car seat. More than just a place to secure to, that buckle sends a signal to disable the passenger airbag, which is absolutely essential if you’re going to install a car seat in the passenger seat.
The official seats are long gone, and you wouldn’t want to use a 20+ year old car seat anyway. Modern car seats can attach safely with just the seat belt, in fact I’ve test fitted ours. But without the airbag deactivation it is a death trap.
I’ve learned that the same buckle was used as the rear seat buckle in 1990s Fiat Punto’s (and probably other European cars) and I’ve even found those buckles for sale on eBay. But nobody is shipping to the US right now for…reasons. So they might as well be 24 carat unobtainium!
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Pretty much any part for an International K/KB series truck (41-49 model years). Not listed in any parts catalog (even paper ones). I needed steering components… Nothing available. Drum brake parts? Some pieces were similar enough to Ford that they interchanged, but most didn’t.
There is a modern interchange book out there.
The more rare production is for mechanical parts, the more likely crossover is.
Rack and pinion bearings in particular.
You’d be surprised, there really isn’t. A few parts sure, but most you cannot get new, and good used are hard to come by.
A friend found that his bosses luxury middle eastern Mercedes, which stumped every tech in the area, and factory dismissed as grey market, had Chrysler ignition parts.
When I was rebuilding a steering rack, an engineer told me the proper bearings are so costly to make there are very few out there.
I ordered a European Ford bearing for an American model, just at random otherwise.
It was a match, though made by a different manufacturer.
Original was FAG or SKF.
I don’t know how pervasive this is.
For newer cars this is pretty common. Old ones not so much.
That was around 1980, on a Lancia.
To me that’s still a new car.
For 2005-2009 Outbacks with the dual-zone HVAC controls, if your radio goes out or the HVAC control board develops a short, your only hope is the used market. For a while you could get the JDM kit to replace the controls and add an aftermarket stereo, but those seem to be out of production now.
2005 Pontiac GTO front and rear bumpers can be quite problematic. Every Monaro market got something a little different.
I have a few, on a former car and a current car.
Former car: 2006 Dodge Magnum SRT8. The front and rear bumpers (unique to the SRT8) are practically unobtanium. Also, the passenger side dash vent with the SRT8 badge is non-existent.
Current car: 2001 Mustang Bullitt. Side scoop deletes are no longer made and are a pretty penny to get used. I ended up purchasing my former 01 GT convertible that I had previously installed a set on to replace one missing on my Bullitt. The rocker panels are also unobtainium. The heater hoses for the Bullitt are unique to that engine and havent been produced in about 10 years now. I had to replace mine with a cut up standard GT version. So far holding up nicely.
Came here to bring up Magnum SRT8 parts.
1st gen Chevy Volt owner, it’s getting a bit tough for anything that isn’t from the Cruze. So far we have:
-Batteries
-Charging Port
-Anything Transmission related
-Infotainment Screen and Controls
-Most Body parts
-Most interior parts that are Volt specific
-Coolant Pumps and Cooling system parts
There’s a few more I can’t think of but basically any major repair could turn my car into a brick. Thankfully it’s the most reliable GM produced vehicle of the 21st century.
I learned DJ-5 gas tanks are basically impossible to find. Thought they would use the same as the CJ’s but that’s not the case apparently. Other than limiting my departure angle pretty badly the homemade abomination that it came with serves its purpose.
any parts forward of the A pillar on a C55. I totaled one close to 10 years ago by rear ending a lifted Jeep. messed up the left wing, headlight, grille and hood. the parts to repair the car was 4 times the value of the vehicle at the time because there were so few available. I though you could use facelift CLK parts, but was told the part numbers are different and there are a slight differences to the parts.
I have a 1989 Nissan 240SX with the head-sup display. From the factory, there is a rectangle of film laminated between the glass to reflect the HUD image. Those windshields have been unavailable for more than 20 years. Mine is still factory, hopefully it doesn’t break.
I had a heads up that used a plastic adjustable piece as screen.
Maybe there’s a compatible part out there?
People have been able to apply some film to the inside of the windshield to maintain functionality, but there is no way to get a factory-like replacement windshield.
I never knew this sort of thing required a special windshield.
ZJ 5.9 Limited-grille, driver’s seat, interior fake wood trim. All of them are in decent shape, but all 1 year/model only parts.
77 Cutlass Salon-almost everything from 73-77 is not remanned. 72 and older, or 78 and up, you an practically order a new car. 73-77, not so much….
I’ve got a 2005 facelift (series 2.5) Hyundai Coupe/Tiburon. Some absolute helmet knocked the drivers door mirror off mine trying to squeeze though an impossible gap at 50mph on a very tight country lane. So I tried Hyundai, they don’t stock them, tried everywhere I could think of locally, scrap yard, motor factors etc, finally got got a Series 2 wing mirror off Ebay (from a 2003 car).
Dead easy to fit – only 2 bolts and it fitted! Only thing is, it turns out that the wing mirrors were ever so slightly changed from the Series 2 to the facelift so it doesn’t fit with the top of the wing mirror sitting horizontally – it sits with the mirror sloping up away from the car. Only slightly, and only what a car nerd would notice, but it really, really annoys me as it doesn’t match the passenger side. This was around 4 years ago I fitted it and am still looking for a Series 2.5 wing mirror, in silver. They just don’t seem to exist (in the UK anyway)
The idle air valve and the freaking blower fan. 1975 Merdeces W114, so there’ll be more but those are two most annoying broken things in mine.
The blower was a failure point on the Volvo 240.
I talked to a guy with a bad one and no more supply.
I suggested high performance muffin fans, a fairly expensive cure.
In short order, he had done this and called me back, said it was wildly successful.
More airflow and quieter.
Later I persuaded IPD to have the blower manufactured.
My current fleet is well supported although some modern Fiat 500 stuff is hard to come by like a complete spare tire kit. I haven’t been able to find hubcaps for my 98 F150 wheels but worst case I can pay to have the tires remounted on the set that does have hubcaps. Even my son’s old Toyotas are supported as long as you pay shipping. His 79 Corolla’s bumpers came from the UAE and in Japan HiAce parts are everywhere.
Motorcycles are the problem, the green face Motometer gauges for a 78 R100S were unobtanium 20 years ago, which is why my voltmeter is VDO, and part of why it has a Corbin seat is the cost of an OEM one in 2003
I previously had a 1998 Honda City.
Rubber door seals were super hard to come by, and expensive.
Nowadays, any 90’s Honda would be difficult or expensive to find parts for.
Here’s a really anal one for you – original “IH” stamped key blanks for pre ’70 International Scouts, Travelalls and pickups. Completely unobtainable.
2007 Toyota Solara SLE convertible
I’ve personally been responsible for toyotapartsdeal site changing the following parts from Available to Not Available when I attempted to order them.
Driver fender rear insert (molded foam piece that seals the rear space between the body and the fender edge, without it you can look directly at the inner fender liner each time you open the door).
Passenger side hood/fender weatherstripping.
Rear seatbelt latches for convertibles left and right.
Front passenger and driver seatbelt latches.
(Mine are badly faded to pink buttons, wanted new latches in the non faded original red button)
Lumbar support seat switch driver side
Leather shift knob automatic transmission.
That said, toyotapartsdeal site has come through on many oddball parts needed to help put my Solara back to original condition.
Unobtainable items
Convertible drain trough, since 2017 Toyota has listed it as currently unavailable according to Toyota forums. These started giving out about 10 years into the 2004-2008 Solara convertible’s existence, the seam threads rotting away or the rubber trough cracking allowing water into the trunk or rear seat area. This is not an easy or inexpensive fix with an auto upholstery shop having to reconstruct the whole drain trough.
I’ve found some of these parts on eBay, etc.. and visiting pick and pull salvage yards.
Living on Guam, the distinct lack of salvage yards plus very few Solara’s running around or even in a salvage yard makes parts acquisitions, with many mainland USA sellers refusing to ship here, challenging at best.