Scrapping a comet, what's worth saving?

In the process of scraping a 72 comet and being the hoarder I am and hate throwing away something usefull, just curious what are worthwhile parts to save, pulled off the fenders and hood when I pulled the motor, the grill and headlight trim I needed for my other comet so that's already being used. In short what would you save?

 

I would save any parts that are still good.

 

Man let me tell you there are so many parts worth keeping, that 72 4 door parts car of ours has helped people with everything from seatbelts to control knobs to trim parts and I just pulled the wiring harness for a guy.....I assure you once it's gone you'll think of plenty of items....I ask in the general comments section what anyone needed and looked in the section "parts wanted"....good place to start

 

Save the 8" punpkin or whole rear if it's five lug but wouldn't bother with a four lug...

 

Car was a originally a 200 straight six with column shift but later on was converted to a gt clone, I got it for the motor/tranny and a few small parts as that's essentially what my other comet is, still gonna pull the 5 lug rear and do a switcheroo as well, so I have no need for a lot of the larger bits like fenders and hood. I'll probably keep the glass and other small bitsjust in case but larger bits like the bumper, hood,fenders and doors I'm not sure what to do with,

 

Definitly keep the glass, the trim and the little clips that hold it all on. If you have the space...Keep the doors, fenders, hood and deck lid. If the quarters are good and you dont mind cutting em off for someone. Post em in the parts for sale section and cut em once sold. Any good sheetmetal on the car will sell if you have the space and time to store it, cut it up etc...Post the stuff up for sale...You will get buyers.

 

with some heavy duty rubbing compound that should buff right out...

 

Being a 72 the bumpers should be an easy sale along with the valances and associated brackets. Where are you located?

 

I would save as many parts that you have the storage room for - structure parts like good torque boxes, cowls, rear/front frame rails, rockers realizing that not everyone has the room to save a complete field stripped car

 

Quarter panels are pretty rotten, frame rails on the driver side have pretty well rotted away to nothing, looking at the doors not sure if there still usable to anyone out there, pretty rusty....

 

Well that narrows it down a bit

 

A lot of guys with later cars switch the big bumpers to the 71-72 style, so there is a big call for those items. The rear bumper is the same as Maverick. Even if the bumpers look bad, there are shops that can resurrect them. Be sure to get the bumper brackets front and rear. Comets have an extra pair inboard to support the middle of the front bumper, the outer front brackets are same as Maverick. The regular rear fender caps are a good find if they have the chrome trim inboard, along with trunk lid chrome (these tend to be Comet-only in early cars). Be sure to get the goofy little pieces that bridge the endcap and bumper. Many folks want them for bumper swaps. Front and rear valances, too.

A good Comet grille can be hard to find. There is a bracket for the hood latch/grille/ valance ... grab that. It is different than later ones in that the valance is supported, good for Mavs, too. Also there is a plastic extension for the middle of the grille, just for Comets, and most of those will be broken. If it is good, that is hard to find.

A Comet hood that is solid is a tough find. Most rot by the front trim. If the trim is good, that will sell.

If the car has bucket seats, the seat tracks are very high demand. A good dash pad is hard to find. Sports mirrors and hood scoop if the car was a GT. Door panel inserts (careful removing those ... tutorial in tech here), rear interior side panels if not flaky.

The thing about these cars is that very little is reproduced, and a fair amount of folks still restoring them, so if it looks good, grab it.

You don't happen to have a console in that Monarch do you? We love them. Same thing with the disc brake spindles.

 

Save the tail light sockets and wires. They are hard to find. Ask me how I know.

 

GM sockets work. i bought new ones for my lights, local parts store has a rack of them and they go right in, nice snug fit.

but yes, keep everything you can, especially the front bumper...hard to find one.