Pelican Parts
Parts Catalog Accessories Catalog How To Articles Tech Forums
Call Pelican Parts at 888-280-7799
Shopping Cart Cart | Project List | Order Status | Help



Go Back   Pelican Parts Forums > Miscellaneous and Off Topic Forums > Off Topic Discussions


Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Rate Thread
Author
Thread Post New Thread    Reply
Registered
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 4,362
OMG - I'm a packrat!

I never would have believed it. I hate clutter. I tend to throw out things that people would pay good money for, just to save time. But, today I'm cleaning out a large room in my basement to convert it into a decent tool shop, and I am finding things I either forgot I had, never even knew I had and some things that should have been thrown out in the first place.

-Inumerable tools. Most of which I have many multiples of because I can never find them!

-Like, 800 vacuum cleaner attachments.

-Rifles, still in the box!

-zillions of near empty paint cans

-15 car stereos

-9mm brass. Bags of it.

-BMW 2002 glove box and valve cover.

-New Fluke instruments.

-Enough screws and nails to build an apartment complex.

-cardboard boxes for every electronic gadget I own.

-Enough unopened stuff that hangs on hooks to start my own hardware store.

I need a barn!

Old 01-12-2008, 10:19 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #1 (permalink)
Kantry Member
 
oldE's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: N.S. Can
Posts: 6,844
I would say you were aquisitive. You get stuff you don't use or need.

Packrats don't throw out stuff that has no immediate use because they might need it someday.
Example: 25 years ago, the office I worked in sent an obsolete copier to the dump. I asked the boss if I might strip it for parts and took home several boxes of rollers, motors, gearboxes, fasteners and springs. My wife hates this.

"What are you going to do with that junk?" is a sometimes-asked question.

I felt I was somewhat vindicated when the neutral spring broke on my Kubota tractor, one morning while I was plowing snow. A few minutes digging around in my 'stash' yielded two springs which could be adapted and did the job until the replacement arrived a few days later.

However, my pack rat gene pales in comparison to one of my brothers-in-law, who has aquired (from various sources) about 25 bicycles! He just couldn't bear to see neighbors throw them away.

Les
__________________
Best
Les
My train of thought has been replaced by a bumper car.
Old 01-12-2008, 11:09 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #2 (permalink)
MAGA
 
Tim Hancock's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,776
I am Packratimus Maximous, keeper of all possible useful and useless things!

I have attics in the house and shop full of stuff along with bookshelves, cabinets and boxes in both buildings filled with stuff. It is a sickness I tell ya. The problem is that I envision future projects that might benefit from little parts and knicknacs and on occasion I actually find a use for some of the stuff. Someday I need to rent a dump truck and just start tossing. It would be nice someday to have a completely clean shop with nothing lining the walls on the floor, no boxes under workbenchs etc etc.



__________________
German autos: '79 911 SC, '87 951, '03 330i, '08 Cayenne, '13 Cayenne

0% Liberal

Men do not quit playing because they get old.... They get old because they quit playing.
Old 01-12-2008, 11:36 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #3 (permalink)
Autobahn Garage
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Ohio
Posts: 1,546
O.K. Tim I'll be right over with my truck!!!!!!!!!!!!! The way I see it is one big pile is better than two small ones
__________________
T Tanner
76, 911s w/ Webers
76, 914/4
57, Speedster
Old 01-12-2008, 11:58 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #4 (permalink)
Registered
 
porsche930dude's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: NY
Posts: 7,551
Garage
I pick up almost anything metal i see on the curb. I have 10-15 bycycles at any one time. 10 or so lawnmowers countless parts. 10 or so gocarts and minibikes that iv built from all the junk i collect. When i put together a working lawnmower or snowblower or bycycle out of the parts i collect i put it to the curb for sale and make a few bucks. I regularly search the dumpster at my work for goodies (construction stuff). I almost always find a use for stuff i collect eventually it may take a year or two but i use it. If i doubt ill ever use it i take it to the scrapyard when i get enough of it and collect the $. With all the crap i collect youd think my house and sheds and garages are a mess but i keep everything neat and in a place so i can kind of find it.
__________________
82 SC , 72 914
Old 01-12-2008, 02:30 PM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #5 (permalink)
Registered
 
porsche930dude's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: NY
Posts: 7,551
Garage
I built all of these for next to nothing with parts from the trash or junk yards
__________________
82 SC , 72 914
Old 01-12-2008, 02:35 PM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #6 (permalink)
Registered
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 4,362
I don't know what this is, but it's freaking AWESOME!

Old 01-12-2008, 02:38 PM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #7 (permalink)
Registered
 
Racerbvd's Avatar
Talking

Quote:
Originally Posted by porsche930dude View Post
I built all of these for next to nothing with parts from the trash or junk yards
Dibs on the little red wagon!!!!!!

Quote:
Packrats don't throw out stuff that has no immediate use because they might need it someday.
Yep, that is me, but now I am getting rid of some stuff

__________________
Byron

20+ year PCA member

Many Cool Porsches, Projects& Parts, Vintage BMX bikes too
Old 01-12-2008, 02:38 PM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #8 (permalink)
i'm just a cook
 
onlycafe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: downtown vernon,central new york
Posts: 4,868
before you judge yourself too harshly, read up on the collyer brothers.

http://theplan.com/dmi/collier_story.htm

the thing i learned from them is to never stack things higher than your head.
Old 01-12-2008, 02:38 PM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #9 (permalink)
Registered
 
porsche930dude's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: NY
Posts: 7,551
Garage
haha thats cool. Reminds me of a house we cleaned out once.
Our x neighbor who moved out of state contacted us about cleaning out his deceised relatives house who was in the next town so they could sell it. It was a big house in a million dollar neighborhood but totally run down. The old man actually died and was found a few weeks later by the mailman after the mail was overflowing from the slot in his front door. So my dad got to cleaning this house out and it was horrible. There was newspapers and junk piled to the 12' celing of this place and only narrow pathways to walk. The bathrooms were piled with used tp the guy was apparently afraid of clogging the toilet with them. It was quite a mess. We did get to keep anything we wanted of value in there so we got quite a bit of antique furniture and stuff. We recently went back to check out the house and didnt even recognize it its been totally remodeled
__________________
82 SC , 72 914
Old 01-12-2008, 03:25 PM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #10 (permalink)
Dog-faced pony soldier
 
Porsche-O-Phile's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: A Rock Surrounded by a Whole lot of Water
Posts: 34,187
Garage
I've been on a mission since the first of this year to purge out unused stuff. Honestly, if we haven't used it in six months (holiday/annual stuff excepted) it should be thrown out. And yes, I've been throwing out insane amounts of crap. Selling stuff on ebay too. You'd be amazed what some people will pay good money for. . .
__________________
A car, a 911, a motorbike and a few surfboards

Black Cars Matter
Old 01-12-2008, 08:24 PM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #11 (permalink)
Now in 993 land ...
 
aigel's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: L.A.-> SF Bay Area
Posts: 14,885
Garage
I love the collection of "transportation" you built there porsche930dude!

I used to have a shed full of spare parts. Great you would think, but one has to remember what you have and where to find it! I ended up buying a brand new harmonic balancer even though I had a good used one in my shed .... Moving helped shedding some of that. It also got me down from 9 cars to 4. Now I am down to 3 and feel a lot better.

Today I did the same thing again, BTW, went and bought a bulb for the 993 only to remember that I had gotten a big box of spare parts (including bulbs) from the P.O. I suppose I should throw that out! Sometimes I envy the guys with garages that have a bottle of wax and some windex in a corner.

George
__________________
97 993
81 SC (sold)
Old 01-12-2008, 09:04 PM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #12 (permalink)
 
Kantry Member
 
oldE's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: N.S. Can
Posts: 6,844
While cleaning out the house of an elderly lady who had died, a friend of mine came across a box labled:"Pieces of string too short to use".

That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the object of our aspirations.

Les
__________________
Best
Les
My train of thought has been replaced by a bumper car.
Old 01-13-2008, 03:20 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #13 (permalink)
Evolved
 
Mo_Gearhead's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,338
Love the pack-rats out there.

Not one myself but I love estate sales/auctions. Sometimes the owner (deceased or going to a 'home') has accumulated sooooo much crap they (auction company) do not have time to sort it all.

I have bought entire basements/closets/garages/out buildings/storage sheds
FULL of stuff ...for anywhere from $3.00 to less that $100.

Amazing finds amid the piles sometimes.

Aside: Just saw a show about Levis Jean Co. Their "Archive Dept." bought a pair of Levis, online (from late 1800's) for over $40K!
__________________
Don't fear the reaper.

Last edited by Mo_Gearhead; 01-13-2008 at 05:52 AM..
Old 01-13-2008, 05:49 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #14 (permalink)
Registered
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Northern Arkansas
Posts: 4,482
Garage
I think it's the 'nature abhors a vacuum' thing. The possibility of selling my business is looming, I don't know where I'll put all the stuff I have stored there. At least I'll be retired and will have time to organize it.
Jim

__________________
down to jap bikes that run and a dead Norton
Old 01-13-2008, 07:04 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #15 (permalink)
Reply


 


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:05 PM.


 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2025 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page
 

DTO Garage Plus vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.