Finding Elusive Parts for Your Bullnose Restoration

Hey folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. Today we are on the way to, uh, pick up some parts. Anybody who’s done any vehicle restoration, especially of an older vehicle, knows that parts are very important. In fact, they’re one of the hardest parts of restoring a vehicle. So actually, the parts that I’m going to pick up today are some interior parts for the inside of the Bullnose: um, door pillars, visors, and actually, uh, the whole dash piece. It’s not the gauge or any of the trim, but it’s the actual dash, big plastic piece itself. And, uh, you can’t find those. You can’t buy them online anymore. They don’t even reproduce them. So the only place to get them is from old vehicles. And I happen to have somebody here in town who does sort of the same thing that I do, and he goes out and gets old vehicles, tears them down, strips them for parts, and then sells those parts on Facebook Marketplace, which is where I found him. And he’s already got the parts to our part. All I got to do is go pick them up. So that’s what I’m doing now.

As anybody who’s done an old vehicle restoration can tell you, sometimes the hardest thing is parts. In fact, I would wager a guess that the hardest thing is parts. Not just sometimes. A lot of these old vehicles, some parts you can get reproduced, but a lot of them you can’t. Again, in my case, I can’t find these door pillars, and the ones in my truck aren’t that bad, but they’re cracked. And if I wanted to try to repair that, I’d have to, I don’t know, do some plastic work or fiberglass or something, and I don’t want to do that. It’s much easier for me to find the parts that come out of another truck. Now, you can sometimes go online to find these parts, places like LMC Truck for this particular truck or CarParts.com, used to be JC Whitney. Sometimes you can get them from eBay. Sometimes you can get them from Amazon, although you don’t usually get the older parts from Amazon. But so far, my best resource has actually been the guy I’m going to see right now.

So if you can somehow forge a relationship with somebody in your area that has the kind of part that you need, then you’re golden. You can always go to a pull-apart. In my area, there’s not a whole lot of pull-aparts around. Now, there’s a lot of yards that have old vehicles, but they don’t advertise, and you have to just kind of drive up and hope that somebody’s there. And the pull-apart parts don’t tend to have vehicles that are as old as my Bullnose. Sometimes they do, but you got to get in there really quick. So again, I have found that the best place really is Facebook Marketplace. Another great option that you have, and one that I will almost certainly use, is finding a parts vehicle. That is, finding a vehicle that is the same general make and model as the one that you’re trying to restore. In my case, it’s an ’80 to an ’86 F-150, 250, 350, or maybe a Bronco. Finding one that’s going for a cheap price because either it doesn’t run or it’s got some other kind of a mechanical issue, and you load that thing up on a trailer, you tow it home, and then you can scavenge the parts that you need out of that. In a lot of cases, that’s going to be about the only place that you can find the kind of parts that you’re going to need. And if you’ve got a vehicle that’s more or less complete that way, then you can pull everything off of it, and then whatever you don’t need, you can sell.

For me, I’m both lucky and unlucky to live where I live. I live in the Southwest, so vehicles don’t really rot down here. They last forever. You know, the truck that I have is from ’85, doesn’t have a spot of rust on it. A whole lot of vehicles you see driving around are really old and vintage because they just don’t rust down here. But that does mean that the interiors wear out, and also especially the dashes get cracked really bad because the sun shines in and just destroys any kind of plastic or anything really down here that the UV can get. You know, especially on the older vehicles that don’t have the same UV protection in the glass that the newer vehicles do. So it’s sort of a double-edged sword. I can find great bodies and great frames, really nice metal parts, but all the plastic is just destroyed, and a lot of the trim on the outside of the vehicles is also that way, also destroyed by the sun. So it kind of depends on where you live as to what you can find and what you can’t in a junkyard or from a local dealer. And that’s where you may have to go on to eBay. But what’s nice is that if you live in a place like the Southwest where I could find a great body, maybe not such great interior bits, but a great body, then what I can do is I can pull off the parts that I need and then turn around and sell the parts that are nice that I don’t need because my other vehicle is also nice. I can sell those on eBay to somebody from the North who needs rust-free parts, and that just gives me more money to play with.

Let’s take a look at some of the parts that I got, and I’ll use them to kind of go over some of the things that I think are going to be important to finding parts for older vehicles or for restoration vehicles. So we’ll start with these door pillars. These are the door pillars that I got from that guy locally. They look pretty good on first inspection. They’re the same color as the interior of my truck, and the pictures online look fantastic. But if you look real close, I’m not sure you can see this or not, but there’s a crack right there, and that’s exactly the same that the door pillars in my truck are cracked. And that’s the entire reason I went to go pick these up was because I needed to find a way to get that crack fixed. And the easiest way is to find old stock, so that’s something to note. One thing is understand that if you find old parts in a junkyard or from someone on Facebook in a vehicle that’s already been on the road, it’s gonna be used. There’s nothing you can do about that. The pictures on Facebook aren’t going to pick this stuff up. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even really notice it until I got home. Now, it was still a good price, so I don’t regret buying it because it’s always good to have a backup, which is another good tip. Always have a backup of the parts, especially parts that you can’t find anywhere else because if I want to try to maybe paint this or fix this with some super glue or some epoxy or something, I can do that, and if I screw it up, I’ve still got my original. It’s in my truck, so that’s not a big deal.

One thing to note about parts that you can’t find online and you have to go somewhere to get, like an older truck or an older vehicle, is that a lot of these parts always fail the same way. For example, these here, this crack right there, this one here, exact same crack in the exact same place, and both of my pillars in my truck have cracks in this exact same way, in this exact same place. So a lot of these parts fail the exact same way, whether it’s a weak design or just the way that people take them on and put them off. For whatever reason, a lot of parts tend to fail the same way, so be on the lookout for that.

Another part that I got was these visors. Now, these visors actually are in quite a bit better shape than the ones that I have in my truck. And again, what’s great about these is that if I need to, I could probably take this all apart and redo it. You know, I don’t know if you reupholster visors, but put new coverings on them. And then if I screw them up, well, I’m only out the money that I use to buy this stuff, so, and it wasn’t that much. I got a good deal on it.

The last thing that I got was this interior complete interior dash piece, which is nice because it’s got the glove box, it’s got the AC vents, it’s got the entire AC duct work behind it. Now, it’s got the environmental controls, but these don’t match my truck because this one’s got a selector switch for front and rear gas tank, and my truck’s only got one gas tank, so I can’t use this. But I might be able to pull this off and sell it, or even in the condition that this one’s in, probably more likely give it to somebody who’s going to need it, and then I can forge a friendship with someone who needs the same kind of parts that I do.

Another good thing to note, which I don’t have an example for here, although the AC unit controls here is kind of an example of this, is just because the part fits a year that comes off of your vehicle or a generation, maybe the same truck. For example, I believe these parts probably came out of a Bronco, which is the same generation as my truck and generally has the same interior pieces. But just because they came off the exact same vehicle, the exact same year, doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to fit. So you got to make sure that you buy parts that you know are going to fit your vehicle. So these parts that you need, just, yeah, if you need to take them off your vehicle first and inspect them to make sure that they’re the right fit. You could, uh, a lot of times these parts have part numbers on the back. I don’t know if you can see that right there, but there’s part numbers right there, and those part numbers will tell you exactly what part you’re looking for. So always be, uh, cognizant of that. That just because it comes off a vehicle the same make and model and maybe even same year doesn’t always mean that it’s going to fit. On the other hand, some parts from vehicles of a completely different generation may fit yours. So for example, this is an ’85 F-150. The generation goes from ’80 to ’86, but the following generation of trucks from ’87 to ’91, a lot of times parts and pieces from those trucks will fit directly into this truck. Parts of the chassis, parts of the suspension, the interior parts like seats, that kind of stuff sometimes just a basically direct swap.

So learn in your vehicle what different generations parts are interchangeable. A lot of times, uh, especially, you know, for this truck here, there’s a site called Gary’s Garage Mahal that has a lot of interchangeability information, and, uh, those sites are really invaluable. So if you can find a site like that that has interchangeability information for your vehicle to other vehicles of the same make and model but different generations, that’s a great resource when you do find parts that are hard to find for your vehicles. And if you can get a good deal on them, even if they’re not perfect, you may want to go ahead and grab them because there’s a lot of ways that you can refinish parts like this. Even with the crack, you know, I could super glue this crack. I could perhaps put some epoxy in here. Um, I could repaint this whole thing, and if you get textured spray paint, then you cover this up and never even know the crack was there. And as long as you seal the crack well enough so that it doesn’t reappear when you put your screw in, then you’re good. You could put fabric over top of this. I’ve looked at doing maybe some canvas or some other kind of fabric that you can get some spray adhesive and spray on and then roll on top of this. And again, if I’ve got an extra piece and I screw it up, oh well, I’ve got the original still in my truck. Pieces like these visors, you could cover these with basically whatever you wanted. I could go get some denim and cover them with denim. You can make the look in your vehicle whatever you want. Now, unless you’re going for specifically the OE original equipment look, then your options are more limited. But I’m not really doing that. I’m just kind of going for what I think looks cool, so I could cover these with anything I want.

Another option that you have, especially for plastic parts, is to dip them. So I may, I’m not sure yet, but I might dip my dash. Dipping is a really cool procedure where you have a film that goes on top of a tub of water, and you dip a plastic part into the film, and the film attaches to the plastic and then wraps around it. If you’ve never seen any videos of it, it’s really cool. You should check that out. I’m definitely thinking about maybe doing that for some parts in my dash.

So I talked earlier about how I got these parts from Facebook Marketplace, and there’s a reason why Facebook Marketplace is my favorite place to get old parts. We’ll get into that in just a little bit, but before I do, let’s go over some of the places where you can get new parts for trucks, especially like the ’85 F-150 behind me. So you can go to LMC Truck. It’s lmctruck.com. They’ve got parts for Ford, Chevy, GMC, Dodge, all these different kind of older trucks, and they’re a fantastic place to get whatever parts you can that are reproduced. You can usually find them at LMC. You can also go to Rock Auto. Rock Auto is a good place to get, uh, automotive parts, more mechanical parts. Usually, you can go to CarParts.com, it’s formerly JC Whitney. I’ve already said that. Of course, eBay is a fairly decent place to get parts, especially you can get new or used parts from eBay. eBay is the place where I would go to sell parts if I parted out a vehicle because you could also go to Craigslist, but your local area usually, especially in a smaller area like I live, you don’t have a lot of options to sell especially specialty parts for older vehicles. So eBay is usually your best bet there. It’s also your best bet to find those parts because of that same reason. You can go to Amazon. Amazon sells basically everything except for old used parts you can’t find anywhere else. Um, of course, there’s the old standbys: AutoZone, O’Reilly’s, Napa, those kind of places, but you’re probably not going to find vintage parts there. That’s for things like, you know, oil filters and spark plugs, that kind of stuff. Um, if you’re doing a performance build, then you can look at places like Summit Racing or Jegs to get your performance parts. And, uh, there’s always, again, the option of going to a pick-apart, although I’m not a huge fan of pick-a-parts. Again, because the ones around here especially don’t have vehicles that really match the years and generations that I’m looking for. And then you have to bring a bunch of tools with you. You’ve got to go into the yard. Sometimes it’s muddy and dirty and nasty and disgusting. You got to crawl around, and you have to know, which is kind of a downside for me, is you have to know how to get to the part that you want. I’m a rank amateur at this stuff, so even though I know where the part is and what the part is, it may be hard for me out in the field to know exactly how to get it out. And I don’t necessarily want to go take a Sawzall to somebody’s, you know, junk or truck, even though it’s a junker truck, just to get the part that I need. So I tend not to go to pick-a-parts unless I really, really need a specific part that I can’t find anywhere else. And then, of course, like I said before, there is Facebook.

So let me give you an idea of why I think Facebook is really, right now, as of October 2020, the best place to find some of these old parts. Now, the complaint that I had earlier about Craigslist was that it’s only good for the local area, and you may say, ‘Well, Ed, that’s the same problem with Facebook Marketplace.’ You only get results from your local area, and that’s true. You do only get results from your local area. But Facebook has something that you really should take advantage of if you’re restoring an older vehicle, and that’s Facebook groups. Because I guarantee you, no matter what vehicle you’re trying to restore, there is a Facebook group for your vehicle. There is at least half a dozen Facebook groups for this truck right behind me. There’s a Bullnose group, there’s a Ford truck group, there’s a group for the engine that I’m using, there’s probably a group for whether or not the truck is lifted, there’s a group probably for the color of the truck. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but there’s a group basically for anything, and there’s new groups being started all the time on Facebook. If you join these groups, you’re going to get together with a bunch of people who are like-minded, who have the same sort of passion for that vehicle that you do, and they probably know collectively way more than you’ll ever know. Even if you’re an expert, you can always ask the group questions to get answers to, you know, whatever problems you may be facing with your vehicle. And if you’re looking for a specific part, nobody’s going to know how to find that part better than this humongous group of people who work specifically on that kind of truck out of a passion for that. Well, I said truck, but whatever vehicle it is, right? I deal with trucks, so I say truck. But, you know, in my case, if I was looking for, for instance, the trim. Now, I’ve got a chrome trim around my wheel wells here, but there are a lot of these F-150s and Broncos that have trim up on the side or they come down a little bit further down, and a lot of that trim they don’t reproduce, and it’s almost impossible to find. Trucks that did have that trim a lot of times didn’t survive, and the ones that did have the trim and did survive, the trim can be in really bad shape. So maybe somebody removed it. Trucks like that in a junkyard, the guys that know that this trim is worth a lot of money go and scavenge that trim pretty much right away. If you need that kind of a trim or that kind of a part for your vehicle, the only place that you’re going to be able to find it with any kind of reliability is going to be these groups. Now, you may have to pay a pretty penny for it, but I have been shocked at the number of times that I have seen someone ask for a part that is incredibly rare or incredibly strange or something I’ve never even knew came standard on some of these trucks, and I’m thinking, ‘Man, they’re never going to find that part.’ And within a couple of hours, somebody responds and says, ‘Yeah, I got one of those in my shed. I got one of those in my garage. PM me and we’ll get together.’ That stuff happens all the time. So if you’re restoring a vehicle and you’re looking for these parts, join a group. Join a group on Facebook. Even if you don’t have a Facebook, I mean, who doesn’t have a Facebook? But even if you don’t have a Facebook, it’s worth joining Facebook just for one of these groups. Learn how to use it. Learn how to do it because if there’s a part you’re looking for specifically, that’s where you’re going to find it, is one of these Facebook groups.

There you go, guys. Parts, you need them, you want them, you got to have them, and those are the only ways that I know how to get them. Now, I’m sure there are other ways, and if you know other ways or better ways, please let me know. Drop it in the comments, send me a private message, whatever you got to do, and I’ll, you know, make a video about it later. But yeah, let me know what your best way to get parts are. For me, these are the ways that I know how to get them. So as I said before, parts for these old vehicles, sometimes they’re the hardest part. Now come on, I’m a new dad. I gotta be able to make dad jokes. That’s just part of who I am now. So if you don’t like puns, you’re probably on the wrong channel. All right, guys, as always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, stick them below. Thanks again for watching, and we’ll see you next time.