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Never really noticed before but did anyone else realize just how expensive some stuff is? I know it's expensive for a reason but I was still caught off guard 😂

Obviously these are cherry-picked examples. But true.

P.S. The context is that my uncle has a 67 Mustang and is thinking about reviving it. Would be a very similar project to my Clipper in terms of scope and goal.

Economies of Scale - there are a lot more Mustangs out there than Packards. Small lot sizes/runs come at a premium. You have a lot of downtime changing over tooling and once you drop below a certain number it can become a loss for the manufacturer quickly. At a plant I once worked at we manufactured a component at a loss only because it complimented 12 other components that were profitable. I'm sure there is some tax associated with it being Packard but, doubt that is the real driver.
Mike

Yes, I mean there's always going to be some price difference if you buy it from a Packard retailer vs. say, Rockauto where I got all the other prices. But of course, for things like engine and Ultra seals, someone has make the tooling and reference the drawings to make it and that's extremely difficult to do affordably at a small scale

Even for rare stuff like say, A/C vents, no one is going to spend 10k on injection mold tooling so they can pump out 10,000 at $10 apiece. Would need to be 3D printed AND cleaned AND custom painted which is a non-trivial cost per piece. Same thing with other rare parts like the starter bezels.

Interesting thought as I've felt the same way at times. But I think the reality is just the result of supply and demand.

Between April 1964 and the end of the model year 1970, Ford produced over 2.5 million Mustangs. For those keeping score, that's 2.5 million cars in just six years and more than Packard produced in total. On top of that, the Mustang also shared many parts with the Falcon, Fairlane and Torino as well as their Mercury cousins. Add in all of the trucks and standard Fords and Mercs that shared powertrain components and the numbers increase exponentially. For that matter, numerous first-generation Mustang parts interchanged with Ford products all the way into the late 70's. Simply put, you have total parts production figures that simply dwarf what all of the independents produced in total.

Also, having worked extensively on a '68 Mustang, I can tell you first-hand that there is a huge variation in the quality of aftermarket parts for these cars. Can you get a $30 oil pump for your small Ford? You bet. Would you want to use it in your recently rebuilt 289? Likely not. Thus far, I have yet to experience that with Packard parts. While I'm sure there are some less than stellar products floating around, I've generally felt that I've received fair quality relative to the cost paid.

Since you're discussing parts for your '55, I would think that a better comparison would be with parts for a contemporary Studebaker or even Mopars of similar vintage. Their numbers were certainly greater than Packard's but neither cranked out the numbers that Ford or GM did at the time.

I tend to feel more pain buying all of the small pieces. the larger parts for our cars I have found are relatively fair price.

Yes. Example: I've bought multiple Ultramatics for like $35-75 yet it costs almost a grand in parts to rebuild one.

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I think the price is reasonable. Producing such small parts will be quite expensive, especially for small-scale production.

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I worked for Ford Motor Company on the first Mustangs and I have restored a pile of them over the years. One of the cheapest and easiest vintage cars to restore. AND there is re-popped everything available on these cars. As well as endless used parts.

There were a jillion Mustangs made and still in existence. And Mustangs shared parts with other FoMoCo products. So a lot of the parts are not really all that special.

Either way, V-8 Packard parts prices are not all that high for what one gets... and for the relative scarcity and time gone by.

You want premium prices? Try re-doing a transmission for a Mercedes-Benz 230 SL. Or a 280 SL. I owned both and the prices for parts on these cars can be ginormous. Compare this to your Clipper.

I also owned a FIAT Dino Spyder and FIAT Dino Coupe. Parts prices? Hehehehehehehehehe... I won't even talk about it. A tune-up alone at Claudio's in Hollywood back in the 1970s was whatever you had in the bank for that year... and then some. And I was in college then!

Oh... and I just got a quote of $3800 to re-build the transmission on my late-model Lincoln SUV.

So let's not be too concerned about cost of Ultramatic parts or other Packard parts. It is almost a miracle in many cases that these parts are still available at all... even used.

Hey, if I was "that" concerned I would be driving a late 90's Buick instead