It's not car parts, but I had something like this happen to me yesterday in a physical Walmart location where their website said the phone I wanted was in stock, and on isle such, and such, so I walk into the store, picked up one of the several tags off the rack happy as could be, walked up to the cash register to find someone to pull it out for me, waited a few minutes, she comes back, offers me a phone nearly 4 times the price, and says we don't have that in stock. I said y'all should update your website, and take the tags for purchase off the dang rack, and walked away disgusted. So even if a website says something of high demand is in stock at a big box physical store like Walmart(I've found Targets website to be far more accurate), make sure to call first, and see if they actually have it!!
Jay leno, the guy with a 450 million (estimated net worth) in which 150 million of that (estimated net worth) is an estimated car collection net worth? That guy?, oh yah he must made some of that net worth by doing car restoration without making money. Even if that's true who's doing restrictions like that? I got a couple vintage & modern vehicles that needs a no making money garage or person or whatever to do them. Hook me up PLEASE.
@@bigkhona9723 A car's net worth is not what puts money in your bank account. A car's net worth is based on how much money it would take to duplicate that car in case of loss for insurance purposes. The real value is based on what the car is worth after restoration and is sold. Having a "barn find" car, paying someone to restore it, and selling it, is very risky and often loses money. Just watch a Barrett-Jackson Auction. Doing the restoration yourself helps even the odds, but no guarantee you'll make money.
Thank you for explaining how a repair shop works. Most people do not understand why cars are there for so long. You explained it very well. From one shop owner to another , Thank you!
Hi Car Wizard! I'm from Italy and I can tell you that even in Italy parts for old Alfa, Fiat, Lancia are becoming very rare. Most of the items were discontinued by Fiat (which owns Alfa and Lancia). And you are going to have a very hard time finding some good parts from dealerships, because in the 90's Fiat used to force all authorized mechanics and dealerships to buy stocks and stocks of parts, unlike Mercedes or BMW, where the mechanic used to list what he needed to finish a car and then contact directly Stuttgart or Munich to buy just the parts he needed. Italian Fiat, Alfa and Lancia mechanics had to have a bunch of parts laying around the shop for practically everything and, as the years passed and the space was getting thinner and thinner in the storage, since they did own those parts, because they bought them from Fiat, they just unloaded the oldest parts, selling them at a discount to whoever was interested and dispersing them. In Italy it is easier for you to find parts for an old Alfa at a car and bike flea market than trying and get a hold of them contacting Fiat directly. I can't imagine how hard it is for americans!
@@vw5056 It's not an EV conspiracy, but yeah, it's so people will buy new vehicles. If someone keep a car on the road for over 10 years, that guy won't buy a new car, which mean no money from those persons.
Something is also going on with Skoda/Wolkswagen group, spare parts have +year long delivery times for 4-5 year old cars. its fishy as hell. You will own nothing and you will be happy; Santa Klaus Schwab, WEF
"I'm going to name Hoovies 9-11 'stink-bug'" Seriously, knowing him, he'll be ecstatic Mrs. Car Wizard named it & will embrace it on a future ep of Cartrek.
i can concur on old Alfa parts... i have a '88 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce and parts can be challenging to find. that being said its TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!! Like Jeremy Clarkson said on TopGear "you can't be a true petrolhead until you've owned an Alfa Romeo"
I had Alfa Romeo 156 V6 (1998) few years ago (In Finland, Europe...) and it broke crankshaft pulley. Simple part to get from local part shop? No. No with Alfa parts. Only where I could find part (back in around 2011, so no c-vid) was directly from factory, with 2 months lead time. Geesh, thanks... So getting parts any a bit older Alfa is a troublesome even in Europe.
It might be a boring subject for a video, but it might be educational for some to realize how much money it takes coming through the door to keep the lights on. I'm getting to old and decrepit to do my own wrenching, so I frequent my local AC Delco shop. They are not cheap by any means. But they use quality parts and stand by their work. Kudos to Mrs. Wizard. My late wife was a high school teacher. Teaching is a calling, not a profession. Merry Christmas!
Well, normally, when I see a car in the background for a while, I think: a) It's Wizard's and that's the place where he keeps this car, or he hasn't have enough time to work on his own vehicles and that's why it's still there b) they're waiting on parts 'cuz of how things are working right now due to the whole Covid deal.
I don't really get in a hurry either. If there's not time to do it right, how will here be time to do it over? It's important to be efficient, and "hustle while you wait". While I don't procrastinate, it always helps to have a deadline to really get motivated!
People need to realize that a mechanic’s vehicles are usually the very last to get worked on, because the mechanic is busy fixing everyone else’s vehicles. So when you see one of the Wizard’s cars sitting in the same spot for a long time, you know why.
Great job, Wizard. I know all about waiting on parts. My daily, and only, driver is a 1990 Volvo 240 wagon with 610,000 kilometers on the clock. Parts mostly come from IPD, with FCPEuro, Wagonmeister, and Swedish Car Parts, all of which parts houses are across an international border!
I worked at a small euro shop. We had a 62-63 (yes 62-63) p1800 that took years and 10s of k's of dollars. Replaced almost everything you can think of. A lady wanted her fathers car just like it was when he had it in the 70s. Shed come in and write a big check every 3 or 6 months and it was crazy but the lil swedish corvette was neat!
For what it's worth. I've an 89 164 here near Venice. Parts are easy with the exception of struts. PITA to find. NOS satisfies my needs for the oddball stuff. I frequently provide parts for my 164 buds back in the US. Great cars!
7:36 when a company takes your money via credit card...and cannot deliver. Regardless of if they refund your money...you need to dispute the charge. When you dispute the charge you are made whole with the interest. This also punishes the seller big time. Each dispute costs them $40 or more from the credit card company. Given a few disputes they will no longer be able to use that charge card, or their fees increase! If someone causes me harm, I make sure they do get the feedback they deserve and the punitive damages I can give.
Y’all hear that? THE PATIENT CUSTOMER IS THE ONE THE CAR WIZARD LIKES BEST. Please remember that the next time you drop your car off with any service department. Most of the time, you’ll be glad you did. Take care, and thanks for the video.
Yeah I agree on the rarity of parts on the 164s. After all, Alfa only made about 77000 of them and I think there's about less than half of them still on the road if not less. Actually alot of regular Italian cars of the 90s (Fiat Tempra, Fiat Uno, Lancia Thema, etc...) are actually much harder to find parts than the exotics of the period.
As someone who has a 91 Alfa 164L sitting at my shop I understand the struggle on that car all too well, if one thing breaks get ready to wait. Currently I'm waiting for a rear subframe from England for it.
Hi Dave, this is one of your best videos and I've been following you for years and seen them all. You're just telling it like it is as always. Honesty never gets old, same as smiling at your wife behind the camera. We can see it. That smile she gives you is like the first time she really looked at you and thought, Oh. It's a lifetime smile. There's and old saying which I'll reverse. In front of every amazing woman is a man who knows that he can barely believe he found the girl he thought he would never find. The one. Love you two... Hug that girl David. Hold her tight with all your girthy might. Haha
The TH-400 is actually a 3L80. GM didn't come out with that nomenclature system until 1990. So for example, the 700R4 & the 4L60 is the same transmission, the 700R4 just started being called the 4L60 in 1990. The transmissions where not fully electronically controlled until the 1992 M.Y; pre-1992 M.Y had the kickdown cable.
The gearbox in that Malibu is a 4L80e though, since thats the only gearbox you could get with the 6L v12 introduced in 92. I'm sure a getrag 290 5 speed manual would fit just fine though, if one was in the mood for manual shifting.
Your '66 Chevelle looks exactly like my very first car I got in 1985 when I was 15 years old. I was told I had to share it with my little brother but by the time we had both gotten our licenses we both joined the Army and our idiot parents had the car junked without talking to us. My Chevelle was a '67 Chevelle Malibu with a 283 that smoked oil like a chimney. It was even the same color as yours! I was told by the friend of the family that gave it to me that if we were going to fix it up we would need to have the frame reinforced in the middle between the front and rear doors on both sides as that model of Chevelle, being a 4-door, was notorious for its frame snapping in the middle due to weight/corrosion/bad design and my friend on the local volunteer fire department even told me they had had two similar models of Chevelle 4-Doors that did snap their frames like that get donated to the fire department for car fire/rescue practice. So I hope your frame is ok. I'm told the 2-Door versions of those cars are worth far more than the 4 door but I loved my 4-door.
I personally took up Wizard's challenge to locate a heater core for the yellow Jeep he punched a hole for. After locating 4 "in stock" parts and indeed, they are not in stock. I called around a few junkyards and if they had that model Jeep. They didn't know and wanted me to walk around to see if I could find one. It would be cool if Wizard had a list on a website of "unable to locate" parts. He can let the power of social media do some of that search work for him. Wizard would establish the rules to acquisition and he would be able to get the unobtainable.
When customers tell me "no big hurry" I always ask what kind of time frame they define as "no big hurry". I have found that some people define it as by the next year while others define it as by the end of the day.
indeed, the biggest on-line retailers for new car parts can be a bit sketchy to work with, these days... Not only on the stock situation, but I've heard a few cases where there were unrequested replacements for "equivalent parts", where you'd be expecting a Lemforder suspension arm, and you end up receiving a Febi, because "we assumed you would prefer to receive the parts sooner".. Anyway, about the Alfa Romeo 164, Around Here in Portugal, Spain and Italy, it's usually simple to find used parts for 164s, when looking for parts, try to search in Spanish, Italian or Portuguese around the internet, and you'll likely found more stuff (but truth be told, there are a lot of breakers in Lithuania that are working very well these days). Alfa Romeo leather seats are usually very nice seats. The work on those seats seem to be really to notch.
You seem like the kind of mechanic, that's kind of hard to find, you fix EVERYTHING which is rare and you are honest and straight forward keep ir up you videos are very good.
When I worked for a retail auto parts store, I had a guy ask for GM Blue, and he told me I was the only one who knew what he was asking for. We didn't have it in stock and couldn't get it either, but all the other shops didn't even bother looking for it because the people there insisted it was Cadillac Blue, Ford Blue or Chevy Orange. I suggested he look in a restoration / hot rodding catalog, like Mid-America Corvettes or Summit Racing or some other specialty store.
Lots of love for the Lark; I remember riding in mom's 63 2 door, dark green in and out, six with 3:upon the tree; I can still feel the ride of that car, which was wonderful.
Correct. Right around 1975/76ish GM changed the name of their Chevy Small Block to the Corporate Block. Hence, the GM Corporate Blue. The reasoning was GM's move away from each brand having their own engine design, and consolidating them down to just a few V8s, etc.
..my dad had a 59 lark wagon in the same color - white sand - we had it until 68, lots of memories with these cars..Happy New Year to you and your family!
The Jag Malibu cracks me up . I think this will be a lot of work only to have less power than a 350 - and worse fuel mileage! The Wizard didn’t talk about the ‘38 Oldsmobile, so I guess that project is under new ownership.
We used to get 12 to the gallon (UK) out of my old V12 5.3L Jag and it would cruise at 145, not that we ever did that :) (Newcastle to London in 1.75 Hours in 1978)
You have obviously never driven a V12 powered car. Chevy 350 farmyard engines are garbage by comparison. Fuel efficiency on a car like this isn't a concern. You think he'll drive it 200 miles a day or something?
@@vw5056 Well actually I also own a '76 XJ12L which has been under longtime Chevy 350 V8 power since the Jaaag V12 expired in spectacular fashion in 1993. Its only among purists that I've ever heard of the Chevy engine called farmyard/agricultural mostly because they consider the interracial union of a Chevy V8 in place of the Jag V12 an automotive sin. I guarantee the car doesn't know or care. At least the lowly 350 does not immerse the head studs in the cooling sytem the way the "superior" Jag V12 does. I've already double dared the Wizard to do a video of trying to remove the cylinder heads off his first corroded lump of a V12. It would be hilarious because I already know that it wouldn't be the first time a Jag V12 didn't want to give up one or both of its cylinder heads. Seriously it is one reason why the Jag V12 has a poor reputation among non-purists. A regular 350 is a smooth-running engine. Granted it has a burble to the exhaust note compared with the hum of a Jag V12., I've enjoyed both. Properly rebuilding the Jag V12 is economic madness. All the quality shops capable of a proper Jag V12 build are race shops and its easy for the cost to exceed $14,000 U.S. dollars. Check out Harry's Garage on TH-cam: his beautiful restoration of his manual trans XJ12C: I believe Harry spent in the range of $16,000 to $20,000 to get less than 400 horsepower - but it really is lovely.
This is all familiar to me. I was fortunate to grow up around car folks. I drove lots of antiques and classics... V-12 Cadillacs, Lincolns, Jaguars. They worked on anything, so I never picked up a one brand prejudice. We had cars around for years at times, getting slowly worked on in between the daily dash.
For having so many projects, your shop is clean and well run. Hope you don't get even more popular or you'll need a flatbed car hauler and a storage garage...
The parts situation is part of why I absolutely enjoy dealing with some companies when ordering parts as there’s one that will send me a text within an hour if there’s an issue with an order and give other options and ask if I’m willing to wait and that company will continue to get my business just based on their communication skills and customer service.
With all those beautiful cars sitting there, you could have a showroom just to store cars that are finished or wait for parts. Every single one of those are so nice. The time it takes you to hunt for parts or people to rebuild/refurbish things, you could probably get a dedicated person just hunting for those :*(
Unwarranted tip coming up: When it comes to parts availability on the Alfa 164, do you regularly check whether parts for other "tipo 4" cars are interchangeable? This car was co-developed with all the (then) Fiat brands and Saab, so many small creeks and foibles might actually be salvageable with parts from these models of cars: Fiat Croma Lancia Thema Saab 9000
Funny thing Wizard; all those beautiful, high-end cars in the shop and that Studebaker is the best-looking of the lot. The styling on that car really is timeless.👌 I hope you and Mrs Wizard have a lovely Christmas. All the Best from here in Scotland, Cheers for now, Dougie.
"We are not a Firestone" Oooo Wizard burn, you could do a whole video on why quick lube places or tune up shops are a super bad idea no matter what car you drive.
I have read that 1977 was the first year that GM engines were blue in color. I have a 1977 mini motorhome on a Chevy G30 chassis with a very reliable 350 small block and that engine was painted blue from the factory. Thank you for the great content and updates!
We've had quite a number of Alfa 164s here in Germany as well, as an Italian car it was quite prevalent throughout Europe. Unforatunately, it's also an Italian car, which means few to none have survived until today, and therefore no wrecker cares for stocking parts for them.
This stude is so cool. You do it right...if I want to get my Oldtimer right done, i would give you the time that is needed. I just wonder, how the Alfa Romeo 164 found his way in the states? I didn't knew and never saw them in the background of any videos. I have to watch the episode you've done about it. Awesome! Those Alfas are also very rare in Germany too. Wow. The S-class reminds me to my long gone Mercedes. Same model, same color - it was an amazing car.
I have to say - the wizard has this humble manner of defining his character and what kind of human being he is, fair, honest and forthright. A good man. A generous man.
I once had to accept a car as my work car, which had been sitting in a shop for 11 months with the driverside window sligtly open. It was a terrible mess inside - thick dust everywhere. It took me and my then employer 2 hours to make it clean enough for me to sit in, and it took me two weeks to make it presentable and comfortable to sit in. I know why you leave the windows of your costumers cars open, but does it not affect the inside of the car? Most cars won't be in your shop for 11 months, but it must be noticeable on some of the high-end cars you have for an extended period of time. I've also noticed a dust cover on a Lamborghini from time to time, but is it enough?
My dad owned an auto restoration business for over 30 years before retiring. Some cars would be there for over a year and they would all be covered with heavy duty plastic and/or moving blankets when not being actively worked on. It kept them safe from dust and damage.
Most websites are not actually run by the store that supposedly has the product. I learned this real quick with Walmart. The site says they have a certain quantity I'm stock but then when you go to get your product ...they don't have any and there happy to tell you that the website is handled by someone else.
Heck, even my supermarket has trouble keeping their inventory up-to-date on their website. I order food, and there's always something showing as "In stock" that's not available. I really love that Lark. It reminds me of a '63 Rambler American 330 that I had as a teen. I paid $125 for it from a co-worker. Sure, it needed work, but it was a solid running car, and fun to drive with it's 327 engine (factory stock).
I've noticed the same on the Wal-Mart app. If they have an item they normally stock up it'll say what isle its supposed to b in and then u get there and that spots totally empty.
Really is a major issue with spare parts for late 80's to late 90's Alfa/Lancia/Fiat, most of spares are gone in Italy, some are shared between models but most are discontinued so we too have to rely on foreign market for some old stock part or aftermarket stuff. I needed new shocks and sprigs for my Lancia and i had to buy those from Poland.
Same thing with getting parts for a Citroën CX, there are a bunch of enthusiasts in Poland that have more parts lying around then Citroën itself seems to and custom fab new solutions. Getting parts from France was a nightmare, practically nothing available or priced out of this universe.
ran into parts availability issues when i would look for recon parts for used cars when I was a parts guy. Sometimes people would advertise they had a part, but it was when they worked at a car dealership at one time and thought they had it hidden well. Hummer jacks were always fun to search for.
I wouldn’t mind seeing that pretty, pretty DB7 in the background in every video; those DB7s are simply beautiful. By the way, the fact that a car comes back is usually a good thing since that tells us the owner is happy with the work the Wizard and his team do. Whenever they need something, they know they can count on the Wizard to solve it.
Wizard. Great eye on the '79 nova orig engine color! it took me MONTHS to figure out my engine color/finding codes for my 1979 Pontiac Lemans with the 231 Buick V6 in it, finally got it installed in the car. Dupli-color was the ONLY brand I could find who still made the color quite hard to find. I bought the last 6 cans from my local auto parts stores. Heard it was being ready to get discontinued...
When I have had to move for my company & have my 1971 Boss 351 mustang shipped, they come & get it within 3 days & it is at my new home (Atlanta to Dallas) within 2 days.....
I can attest to the Nova correct engine color. We had a 1977 Oldsmobile Omega (Olds version of the Nova) with that same color engine. It was a 350 4V. Dad had to sign paperwork agreement/verified that it was a Chevrolet engine. Apparently during that build cycle, Oldsmobile was unable to provide their own motors. Excellent car. Other than the interior plastic crumbling, and blue metallic paint haze/dissolved. Replacement interior from a better Nova, color paint to match ours. And a new 2 tone exterior paint, with nice pinstripe. Dad wished he never sold. Best car ever. NEVER a breakdown.
Beat me to the comment. My stepfather spent thousands at a local firestone with crazy, blatant rip offs. But he liked the guy at the front desk, said he seemed trustworthy. Still gets my blood pressure up years later.
I looked forward to the chevelle ever since you first git it. I own a 66 chevelle 4 door hardtop and videos on them are far and few. I understand that it's your personal project and customers cars will always take priority. Out of all the projects I do look forward to it the most.
Did groceries on friday and came across an Aston Martin Vanquish on dealer test drive plates in the parking garage. Passed it up close, wondering wth it was. When i got out the guy who drove it got into it and i got to hear it start. It was loud even a couple of rows away in a noisy parking garage of some size.
My neighbor has a built 78 Nova in that same orange. He painted the hardtop orange instead of white and it looks great. He jammed a huge crate motor in it.
It would be a real nice Christmas present if the Car Wizards would make a continuous loop video of him just walking around. His walk is the coolest on TH-cam!
![ตีสิบเดย์ [FULL] | เปิดใจ "อาจารย์ เบียร์ ฅนตื่นธรรม" นักสนทนาธรรมสายดุดัน!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vqaBI_mnoDk/mqdefault.jpg)
Absolutely correct Dave, GM also has a blue
Car Wizard, you definitely made a great decision when you bought such a large building as your shop.
Wise Old Owl 🦉
@@928gto He doesn't seem old?
"In stock now!" seems to mean "Thanks for floating some funds our way for a few weeks".
Yeah, I believe some of these online companies are going to go down.
That is why call to verify not trust a website that might not have been updated in months.
Just a way to drive business to their site.
@@serge4856 "from"
It's not car parts, but I had something like this happen to me yesterday in a physical Walmart location where their website said the phone I wanted was in stock, and on isle such, and such, so I walk into the store, picked up one of the several tags off the rack happy as could be, walked up to the cash register to find someone to pull it out for me, waited a few minutes, she comes back, offers me a phone nearly 4 times the price, and says we don't have that in stock. I said y'all should update your website, and take the tags for purchase off the dang rack, and walked away disgusted. So even if a website says something of high demand is in stock at a big box physical store like Walmart(I've found Targets website to be far more accurate), make sure to call first, and see if they actually have it!!
Great video update. Jay Leno recently said, "If you're making money on a car restoration, you're not doing it right."
Jay leno, the guy with a 450 million (estimated net worth) in which 150 million of that (estimated net worth) is an estimated car collection net worth? That guy?, oh yah he must made some of that net worth by doing car restoration without making money. Even if that's true who's doing restrictions like that? I got a couple vintage & modern vehicles that needs a no making money garage or person or whatever to do them. Hook me up PLEASE.
@@bigkhona9723 A car's net worth is not what puts money in your bank account. A car's net worth is based on how much money it would take to duplicate that car in case of loss for insurance purposes. The real value is based on what the car is worth after restoration and is sold. Having a "barn find" car, paying someone to restore it, and selling it, is very risky and often loses money. Just watch a Barrett-Jackson Auction. Doing the restoration yourself helps even the odds, but no guarantee you'll make money.
@@bigkhona9723 Wow you got highly upset. Lol.
Thank you for explaining how a repair shop works. Most people do not understand why cars are there for so long. You explained it very well. From one shop owner to another , Thank you!
yeah parts are normally a major part of the hold up, and there's some morons literally think that their car is the only car in the shop lol
Ah yes, nothing quite like a Sunday video from the Wizzard. Always makes my days better
Hi Car Wizard! I'm from Italy and I can tell you that even in Italy parts for old Alfa, Fiat, Lancia are becoming very rare. Most of the items were discontinued by Fiat (which owns Alfa and Lancia). And you are going to have a very hard time finding some good parts from dealerships, because in the 90's Fiat used to force all authorized mechanics and dealerships to buy stocks and stocks of parts, unlike Mercedes or BMW, where the mechanic used to list what he needed to finish a car and then contact directly Stuttgart or Munich to buy just the parts he needed. Italian Fiat, Alfa and Lancia mechanics had to have a bunch of parts laying around the shop for practically everything and, as the years passed and the space was getting thinner and thinner in the storage, since they did own those parts, because they bought them from Fiat, they just unloaded the oldest parts, selling them at a discount to whoever was interested and dispersing them. In Italy it is easier for you to find parts for an old Alfa at a car and bike flea market than trying and get a hold of them contacting Fiat directly. I can't imagine how hard it is for americans!
In America the big three have discontinued many parts for older models. I suspect it is a conspiracy to get them off the road and buy EV's.
Rolls Royce automobiles DO NOT break down, they fail to proceed
@@vw5056 It's not an EV conspiracy, but yeah, it's so people will buy new vehicles. If someone keep a car on the road for over 10 years, that guy won't buy a new car, which mean no money from those persons.
Something is also going on with Skoda/Wolkswagen group, spare parts have +year long delivery times for 4-5 year old cars. its fishy as hell.
You will own nothing and you will be happy; Santa Klaus Schwab, WEF
@@chassegallerie2910 then why did this part discontinuation start recently, right when EV's started getting pushed?
"I'm going to name Hoovies 9-11 'stink-bug'" Seriously, knowing him, he'll be ecstatic Mrs. Car Wizard named it & will embrace it on a future ep of Cartrek.
"This is not a Firestone".....ouch!!!
When the customer says, “Good luck with the parts.” That should be big, fat, red flag right there! 😬
i can concur on old Alfa parts... i have a '88 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce and parts can be challenging to find. that being said its TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!! Like Jeremy Clarkson said on TopGear "you can't be a true petrolhead until you've owned an Alfa Romeo"
I had Alfa Romeo 156 V6 (1998) few years ago (In Finland, Europe...) and it broke crankshaft pulley. Simple part to get from local part shop? No. No with Alfa parts. Only where I could find part (back in around 2011, so no c-vid) was directly from factory, with 2 months lead time. Geesh, thanks... So getting parts any a bit older Alfa is a troublesome even in Europe.
CW should've handed the keys back to the customer and said, "Good luck finding a gopher. "
It might be a boring subject for a video, but it might be educational for some to realize how much money it takes coming through the door to keep the lights on. I'm getting to old and decrepit to do my own wrenching, so I frequent my local AC Delco shop. They are not cheap by any means. But they use quality parts and stand by their work. Kudos to Mrs. Wizard. My late wife was a high school teacher. Teaching is a calling, not a profession. Merry Christmas!
Well, normally, when I see a car in the background for a while, I think:
a) It's Wizard's and that's the place where he keeps this car, or he hasn't have enough time to work on his own vehicles and that's why it's still there
b) they're waiting on parts 'cuz of how things are working right now due to the whole Covid deal.
I don't really get in a hurry either. If there's not time to do it right, how will here be time to do it over?
It's important to be efficient, and "hustle while you wait". While I don't procrastinate, it always helps to have a deadline to really get motivated!
How will *there be time to do it over :)
People need to realize that a mechanic’s vehicles are usually the very last to get worked on, because the mechanic is busy fixing everyone else’s vehicles. So when you see one of the Wizard’s cars sitting in the same spot for a
long time, you know why.
Great job, Wizard. I know all about waiting on parts. My daily, and only, driver is a 1990 Volvo 240 wagon with 610,000 kilometers on the clock. Parts mostly come from IPD, with FCPEuro, Wagonmeister, and Swedish Car Parts, all of which parts houses are across an international border!
I like the fact that there are no fake deadlines like so many tv car shows.
That Aston is SOOOOOOOO good looking.
My number 1 priority on this channel is the Jagibu
12:29 You are supposed to say "BUY A TOYOTA!" and wave your hands about when you pop out the trunk like that.
"This is not a Firestone" made me laugh out loud , because of your dry since of humor 😂🤣
I worked at a small euro shop. We had a 62-63 (yes 62-63) p1800 that took years and 10s of k's of dollars. Replaced almost everything you can think of. A lady wanted her fathers car just like it was when he had it in the 70s. Shed come in and write a big check every 3 or 6 months and it was crazy but the lil swedish corvette was neat!
I love how matter of fact you are. Always a pleasure, wizard. Glad to hear your business is booming. You deserve it!
"Do you even have this part Bro?" - definitely a T-shirt
For what it's worth. I've an 89 164 here near Venice. Parts are easy with the exception of struts. PITA to find. NOS satisfies my needs for the oddball stuff. I frequently provide parts for my 164 buds back in the US. Great cars!
Alfa forever :)
7:36 when a company takes your money via credit card...and cannot deliver. Regardless of if they refund your money...you need to dispute the charge. When you dispute the charge you are made whole with the interest. This also punishes the seller big time. Each dispute costs them $40 or more from the credit card company. Given a few disputes they will no longer be able to use that charge card, or their fees increase! If someone causes me harm, I make sure they do get the feedback they deserve and the punitive damages I can give.
Y’all hear that? THE PATIENT CUSTOMER IS THE ONE THE CAR WIZARD LIKES BEST. Please remember that the next time you drop your car off with any service department. Most of the time, you’ll be glad you did. Take care, and thanks for the video.
"We don't do the hurry up stuff here." Exactly and its refreshing to hear and Merry Christmas everyone.
Yeah I agree on the rarity of parts on the 164s. After all, Alfa only made about 77000 of them and I think there's about less than half of them still on the road if not less.
Actually alot of regular Italian cars of the 90s (Fiat Tempra, Fiat Uno, Lancia Thema, etc...) are actually much harder to find parts than the exotics of the period.
As someone who has a 91 Alfa 164L sitting at my shop I understand the struggle on that car all too well, if one thing breaks get ready to wait. Currently I'm waiting for a rear subframe from England for it.
I've passed on a couple of really good cheap cars just thinking about that. Why own a vehicle that you can't get parts for
I had that problem with sites saying they have parts they don't well before Covid. Its like damn, hire someone to run and update your freaking site.
Hi Dave, this is one of your best videos and I've been following you for years and seen them all. You're just telling it like it is as always. Honesty never gets old, same as smiling at your wife behind the camera. We can see it. That smile she gives you is like the first time she really looked at you and thought, Oh. It's a lifetime smile. There's and old saying which I'll reverse. In front of every amazing woman is a man who knows that he can barely believe he found the girl he thought he would never find. The one. Love you two...
Hug that girl David. Hold her tight with all your girthy might. Haha
There is a saying, “you can get your job done quickly, well done and cheap”, “pick two”.
THANK YOU for this video! Nice to see an update on some of the more (executive) cars in your shop. Seeing the Chevelle makes me smile :)
Basically, in this country, the Alfa 164 is the "bastard stepchild". IIRC it was the last car they imported before abandoning the U.S. market in 1995.
Even here in Italy it's very difficult to find parts for old Alfa and others italian cars.
The TH-400 is actually a 3L80. GM didn't come out with that nomenclature system until 1990. So for example, the 700R4 & the 4L60 is the same transmission, the 700R4 just started being called the 4L60 in 1990. The transmissions where not fully electronically controlled until the 1992 M.Y; pre-1992 M.Y had the kickdown cable.
The gearbox in that Malibu is a 4L80e though, since thats the only gearbox you could get with the 6L v12 introduced in 92.
I'm sure a getrag 290 5 speed manual would fit just fine though, if one was in the mood for manual shifting.
Your '66 Chevelle looks exactly like my very first car I got in 1985 when I was 15 years old. I was told I had to share it with my little brother but by the time we had both gotten our licenses we both joined the Army and our idiot parents had the car junked without talking to us. My Chevelle was a '67 Chevelle Malibu with a 283 that smoked oil like a chimney. It was even the same color as yours!
I was told by the friend of the family that gave it to me that if we were going to fix it up we would need to have the frame reinforced in the middle between the front and rear doors on both sides as that model of Chevelle, being a 4-door, was notorious for its frame snapping in the middle due to weight/corrosion/bad design and my friend on the local volunteer fire department even told me they had had two similar models of Chevelle 4-Doors that did snap their frames like that get donated to the fire department for car fire/rescue practice. So I hope your frame is ok.
I'm told the 2-Door versions of those cars are worth far more than the 4 door but I loved my 4-door.
Wow. So basically going back to the 60's GM made garbage. Sad.
@@vw5056 yes... that's the takeaway that I intended. Garbage that on average for a nice restoration is going for over $100k these days.
And VW has been building garbage since its inception
I personally took up Wizard's challenge to locate a heater core for the yellow Jeep he punched a hole for. After locating 4 "in stock" parts and indeed, they are not in stock. I called around a few junkyards and if they had that model Jeep. They didn't know and wanted me to walk around to see if I could find one. It would be cool if Wizard had a list on a website of "unable to locate" parts. He can let the power of social media do some of that search work for him. Wizard would establish the rules to acquisition and he would be able to get the unobtainable.
When customers tell me "no big hurry" I always ask what kind of time frame they define as "no big hurry". I have found that some people define it as by the next year while others define it as by the end of the day.
I used to own an 81 Corvette and the engine was GM blue. I rebuilt it and used that exact paint.
thank you for the shop update. SO many words to explain so many simple things. SO MUCH WHINING
indeed, the biggest on-line retailers for new car parts can be a bit sketchy to work with, these days... Not only on the stock situation, but I've heard a few cases where there were unrequested replacements for "equivalent parts", where you'd be expecting a Lemforder suspension arm, and you end up receiving a Febi, because "we assumed you would prefer to receive the parts sooner"..
Anyway, about the Alfa Romeo 164, Around Here in Portugal, Spain and Italy, it's usually simple to find used parts for 164s, when looking for parts, try to search in Spanish, Italian or Portuguese around the internet, and you'll likely found more stuff (but truth be told, there are a lot of breakers in Lithuania that are working very well these days). Alfa Romeo leather seats are usually very nice seats. The work on those seats seem to be really to notch.
You seem like the kind of mechanic, that's kind of hard to find, you fix EVERYTHING which is rare and you are honest and straight forward keep ir up you videos are very good.
When I worked for a retail auto parts store, I had a guy ask for GM Blue, and he told me I was the only one who knew what he was asking for. We didn't have it in stock and couldn't get it either, but all the other shops didn't even bother looking for it because the people there insisted it was Cadillac Blue, Ford Blue or Chevy Orange. I suggested he look in a restoration / hot rodding catalog, like Mid-America Corvettes or Summit Racing or some other specialty store.
The upholstery shop absolutely knocked it out of the park with the Alfa
Lots of love for the Lark; I remember riding in mom's 63 2 door, dark green in and out, six with 3:upon the tree; I can still feel the ride of that car, which was wonderful.
Correct. Right around 1975/76ish GM changed the name of their Chevy Small Block to the Corporate Block. Hence, the GM Corporate Blue. The reasoning was GM's move away from each brand having their own engine design, and consolidating them down to just a few V8s, etc.
Also around this same time, the Corvette had both colors, the L82 was blue and the L48 was the old orange color.
..my dad had a 59 lark wagon in the same color - white sand - we had it until 68, lots of memories with these cars..Happy New Year to you and your family!
The Jag Malibu cracks me up . I think this will be a lot of work only to have less power than a 350 - and worse fuel mileage! The Wizard didn’t talk about the ‘38 Oldsmobile, so I guess that project is under new ownership.
We used to get 12 to the gallon (UK) out of my old V12 5.3L Jag and it would cruise at 145, not that we ever did that :) (Newcastle to London in 1.75 Hours in 1978)
You have obviously never driven a V12 powered car. Chevy 350 farmyard engines are garbage by comparison. Fuel efficiency on a car like this isn't a concern. You think he'll drive it 200 miles a day or something?
Jaguars are absolute trash
@@21Piloteer tell that to Jay Leno and every other serious car collector.
@@vw5056 Well actually I also own a '76 XJ12L which has been under longtime Chevy 350 V8 power since the Jaaag V12 expired in spectacular fashion in 1993. Its only among purists that I've ever heard of the Chevy engine called farmyard/agricultural mostly because they consider the interracial union of a Chevy V8 in place of the Jag V12 an automotive sin. I guarantee the car doesn't know or care. At least the lowly 350 does not immerse the head studs in the cooling sytem the way the "superior" Jag V12 does. I've already double dared the Wizard to do a video of trying to remove the cylinder heads off his first corroded lump of a V12. It would be hilarious because I already know that it wouldn't be the first time a Jag V12 didn't want to give up one or both of its cylinder heads. Seriously it is one reason why the Jag V12 has a poor reputation among non-purists. A regular 350 is a smooth-running engine. Granted it has a burble to the exhaust note compared with the hum of a Jag V12., I've enjoyed both. Properly rebuilding the Jag V12 is economic madness. All the quality shops capable of a proper Jag V12 build are race shops and its easy for the cost to exceed $14,000 U.S. dollars. Check out Harry's Garage on TH-cam: his beautiful restoration of his manual trans XJ12C: I believe Harry spent in the range of $16,000 to $20,000 to get less than 400 horsepower - but it really is lovely.
The original engine in my 1980 El Camino was GM blue.
This is all familiar to me. I was fortunate to grow up around car folks. I drove lots of antiques and classics... V-12 Cadillacs, Lincolns, Jaguars. They worked on anything, so I never picked up a one brand prejudice. We had cars around for years at times, getting slowly worked on in between the daily dash.
Watching Car Wizard makes me want to move to Kansas, just so I can have a good mechanic!
Heck with moving. I would not mind driving from Minnesota. Kansas doesn't have enough snow.
I want to buy my dream BMW, an E38, and move next door to Ninja's shop.
"This is not a Firestone" 🤣😂😅. Classic...
Thanks for the update, and happy holidays to you, your family, and crew.
For having so many projects, your shop is clean and well run. Hope you don't get even more popular or you'll need a flatbed car hauler and a storage garage...
Thanks Wizard and Mrs. Great to get a shop update. Not that we are not listening to you, but eyes wander to cars in the background.
The parts situation is part of why I absolutely enjoy dealing with some companies when ordering parts as there’s one that will send me a text within an hour if there’s an issue with an order and give other options and ask if I’m willing to wait and that company will continue to get my business just based on their communication skills and customer service.
I’m just happy to see the 164 in the back. Im lucky enough to have a white 164 at my local junkyard for parts for mine.
The Wizard breaks out his Scotty Kilmer imitation! A nice addition to his skill set! Just need to get him a big bell!😃
Thank you fire making these videos for us.
That was a tease on the euro w126 but at least we will be getting a video on it!
With all those beautiful cars sitting there, you could have a showroom just to store cars that are finished or wait for parts. Every single one of those are so nice.
The time it takes you to hunt for parts or people to rebuild/refurbish things, you could probably get a dedicated person just hunting for those :*(
Unwarranted tip coming up: When it comes to parts availability on the Alfa 164, do you regularly check whether parts for other "tipo 4" cars are interchangeable? This car was co-developed with all the (then) Fiat brands and Saab, so many small creeks and foibles might actually be salvageable with parts from these models of cars:
Fiat Croma
Lancia Thema
Saab 9000
Funny thing Wizard; all those beautiful, high-end cars in the shop and that Studebaker is the best-looking of the lot. The styling on that car really is timeless.👌
I hope you and Mrs Wizard have a lovely Christmas.
All the Best from here in Scotland,
Cheers for now,
Dougie.
A Mrs. Wizard and Hoovie's wife episode would also be cool. A tell all
they should do a collab!
I wanna see a hub episode.
"We are not a Firestone" Oooo Wizard burn, you could do a whole video on why quick lube places or tune up shops are a super bad idea no matter what car you drive.
Ouch! This is not a FIRESTONE! 😂 Great line.
If it doesn't ship out within 3 days call and cancel the order
Gets old when you have to do this 3 times to find someone who actually HAS the part
More V12 Chevelle please. It is a wonderful engine.
I have read that 1977 was the first year that GM engines were blue in color. I have a 1977 mini motorhome on a Chevy G30 chassis with a very reliable 350 small block and that engine was painted blue from the factory. Thank you for the great content and updates!
And you skipped right over. The Harley setting next to the nova.
We've had quite a number of Alfa 164s here in Germany as well, as an Italian car it was quite prevalent throughout Europe. Unforatunately, it's also an Italian car, which means few to none have survived until today, and therefore no wrecker cares for stocking parts for them.
This stude is so cool. You do it right...if I want to get my Oldtimer right done, i would give you the time that is needed.
I just wonder, how the Alfa Romeo 164 found his way in the states? I didn't knew and never saw them in the background of any videos. I have to watch the episode you've done about it. Awesome! Those Alfas are also very rare in Germany too. Wow.
The S-class reminds me to my long gone Mercedes. Same model, same color - it was an amazing car.
I have to say - the wizard has this humble manner of defining his character and what kind of human being he is, fair, honest and forthright. A good man. A generous man.
I once had to accept a car as my work car, which had been sitting in a shop for 11 months with the driverside window sligtly open. It was a terrible mess inside - thick dust everywhere. It took me and my then employer 2 hours to make it clean enough for me to sit in, and it took me two weeks to make it presentable and comfortable to sit in.
I know why you leave the windows of your costumers cars open, but does it not affect the inside of the car? Most cars won't be in your shop for 11 months, but it must be noticeable on some of the high-end cars you have for an extended period of time. I've also noticed a dust cover on a Lamborghini from time to time, but is it enough?
My dad owned an auto restoration business for over 30 years before retiring. Some cars would be there for over a year and they would all be covered with heavy duty plastic and/or moving blankets when not being actively worked on. It kept them safe from dust and damage.
I just reported that first beyond negative comment. Mr and Mrs Wizard rock!
Most websites are not actually run by the store that supposedly has the product. I learned this real quick with Walmart. The site says they have a certain quantity I'm stock but then when you go to get your product ...they don't have any and there happy to tell you that the website is handled by someone else.
Heck, even my supermarket has trouble keeping their inventory up-to-date on their website. I order food, and there's always something showing as "In stock" that's not available. I really love that Lark. It reminds me of a '63 Rambler American 330 that I had as a teen. I paid $125 for it from a co-worker. Sure, it needed work, but it was a solid running car, and fun to drive with it's 327 engine (factory stock).
I've noticed the same on the Wal-Mart app. If they have an item they normally stock up it'll say what isle its supposed to b in and then u get there and that spots totally empty.
Really is a major issue with spare parts for late 80's to late 90's Alfa/Lancia/Fiat, most of spares are gone in Italy, some are shared between models but most are discontinued so we too have to rely on foreign market for some old stock part or aftermarket stuff. I needed new shocks and sprigs for my Lancia and i had to buy those from Poland.
Same thing with getting parts for a Citroën CX, there are a bunch of enthusiasts in Poland that have more parts lying around then Citroën itself seems to and custom fab new solutions. Getting parts from France was a nightmare, practically nothing available or priced out of this universe.
ran into parts availability issues when i would look for recon parts for used cars when I was a parts guy. Sometimes people would advertise they had a part, but it was when they worked at a car dealership at one time and thought they had it hidden well. Hummer jacks were always fun to search for.
I wouldn’t mind seeing that pretty, pretty DB7 in the background in every video; those DB7s are simply beautiful.
By the way, the fact that a car comes back is usually a good thing since that tells us the owner is happy with the work the Wizard and his team do. Whenever they need something, they know they can count on the Wizard to solve it.
Wizard. Great eye on the '79 nova orig engine color! it took me MONTHS to figure out my engine color/finding codes for my 1979 Pontiac Lemans with the 231 Buick V6 in it, finally got it installed in the car. Dupli-color was the ONLY brand I could find who still made the color quite hard to find. I bought the last 6 cans from my local auto parts stores. Heard it was being ready to get discontinued...
When I have had to move for my company & have my 1971 Boss 351 mustang shipped, they come & get it within 3 days & it is at my new home (Atlanta to Dallas) within 2 days.....
For the Alfa you can also find parts in Brazil, we had our share of these alfas. :)
I can attest to the Nova correct engine color. We had a 1977 Oldsmobile Omega (Olds version of the Nova) with that same color engine.
It was a 350 4V.
Dad had to sign paperwork agreement/verified that it was a Chevrolet engine. Apparently during that build cycle, Oldsmobile was unable to provide their own motors.
Excellent car. Other than the interior plastic crumbling, and blue metallic paint haze/dissolved.
Replacement interior from a better Nova, color paint to match ours. And a new 2 tone exterior paint, with nice pinstripe.
Dad wished he never sold. Best car ever. NEVER a breakdown.
WiZards shop looks like a restoration shop it’s as large as one ☝️
People can’t realize how hard it is to get parts wait till they need a part
Most people don't usually buy vehicles that are over 10 years old either
Not even worth replacing dust shields for brakes especially in the rust belt
I’m a big fan of the Alfa 164, I had one as a company car for a while.
“ we don’t rush here, we’re not a Firestone “
Lol I spit out my soda when he said that.
The wizard always cracks me up on the most non chalant stuff!
Beat me to the comment. My stepfather spent thousands at a local firestone with crazy, blatant rip offs. But he liked the guy at the front desk, said he seemed trustworthy. Still gets my blood pressure up years later.
The Benz is probably my favorite car in the shop. Looks to be a W126 chassis? Someday I'd like to get one.
I looked forward to the chevelle ever since you first git it. I own a 66 chevelle 4 door hardtop and videos on them are far and few. I understand that it's your personal project and customers cars will always take priority. Out of all the projects I do look forward to it the most.
I like the advice you gave about getting the CVT service done at 45000 miles instead of waiting until the manufacturer says to do it Car Wizard !!
Did groceries on friday and came across an Aston Martin Vanquish on dealer test drive plates in the parking garage. Passed it up close, wondering wth it was. When i got out the guy who drove it got into it and i got to hear it start. It was loud even a couple of rows away in a noisy parking garage of some size.
When you say Bro it cracks me up. Cheers.
Wow Car Wizzard is looking for parts in Lithuania and Latvia? nice to see home mentioned lol
Not surprising. These old Alfas were not sold in big numbers in the US when they were new. Now 30yrs later....
That Lark customer got a sweet deal on safe, dry storage along with getting it fixed right at a reasonable price. Smart.
My neighbor has a built 78 Nova in that same orange. He painted the hardtop orange instead of white and it looks great. He jammed a huge crate motor in it.
You’re a good mechanic brother
It would be a real nice Christmas present if the Car Wizards would make a continuous loop video of him just walking around. His walk is the coolest on TH-cam!
You need a psychiatrist.
lmao