treasure hunter

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t o n y
d ’ a g o s t i n o
Treasure Hunter
Vintage Mopar parts expert Tony D’Agostino has made a career out of his hobby
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY by Geoff Stunkard
W ith
musclecars escalating
in both price and demand ,
restoration projects are a huge
part of the modern marketplace.
E ven
cars once thought to
be write-offs and mere parts
donors have become valuable.
Throughout the last half-century, the
vintage auto parts necessary to bring
those cars back to life have been a
large part of the automotive hobby. For
Mopar pieces from the muscle era, one
of the foremost businesses today is Tony’s
Parts in Harrington, Delaware, which is
celebrating its third decade of service to
the hobby in 2005.
The Tony in the name is Tony D’Agostino,
who has been involved in parts “recycling”
since before he was driving. In fact, it was
in the mid-1970s that the 13-year-old son
of Bob D’Agostino, a body shop operator
and car enthusiast, first became infatuated
with the cars that have fueled his passion
for the last 25 years.
“My dad always had Mopars — street
rods, Hemi cars, and stuff,” Tony recalls.
“He still has his 440 wedge-powered ‘32
Ford roadster and a 1957 Chrysler 300-C
48
MUSCLECAR ENTHUSIAST
convertible, both of which he has owned for over 30 years. When I was13, I wanted
a car and we found out about a 1969 Dodge Daytona that was for sale locally for
$500.”
After looking the car over, the price was right, and a deposit was left with the
intention of picking up the car the following day. That never happened.
“I was really excited, and that night I showed my mom a picture of the car. Well,
she really felt that it was not good for me to have something that looked like a racecar
at that age, so we had to let that deal go.”
Undaunted, he and his dad kept looking. The next deal that came up was a 1970
383 Road Runner convertible, also a $500 diamond in the rough. This was 1977, at
the height of the second big gas crunch, and musclecars of all types were available
for the asking. A week before Tony’s 14th birthday, the Road Runner drop-top was in
his possession and at his dad’s shop.
“For Mopar pieces from the muscle era, one of the foremost
businesses today is Tony’s Parts in Harrington, Delaware, which
is celebrating its third decade of service to the hobby in 2005.”
“That car had a big bearing on what I am doing now,” says Tony. “I grew up
in Chester, New York, and I was taking auto mechanics courses. The Road Runner
had an open 3.23 rear end, and one of my classmates had a wrecked 1970 4406 GTX he had bought, just for the motor and transmission. It had the Super Trak
Pak option, and I wanted the Dana rear. He didn’t want to pull it out for me, so he
sold me the whole car for $250 and my dad came up with the wrecker and got it. I
took out the Dana for my car and threw the body out back with some other junkers
behind my dad’s shop. Well, by word of mouth, people found out about it; I sold
some parts off of it and soon I made back all of my money. This was before I even
had a driver’s license.”
Tony (Standing at right) and Cindi with son Behind the shop are a handful of parts cars; most are beyond restoration, but do have a
Robert and full-time employees Dale Werner plethora of small parts and pieces that could go on customer cars.
(lower left) and Jeff Spishock (lower right)
amid treasures in one of Tony’s garages.
year, following up on all possible leads days a year chasing parts, Cindi handles
to good parts, and servicing customers a lot of the business paperwork details,
Business Sense
on a worldwide basis. While he does while two full time employees, Jeff Spishock
Realizing that there was money to occasionally buy and sell an entire car, and Dale Werner, help Tony with customer
be had, Tony began scrounging for the majority of the business is and remains calls, inventory management, and parts
similar cars to part out and recalls there smaller hardware for other projects.
preparation for resale. Depending on the
were almost a dozen 1968-1970 Road
Today, Tony’s Parts is still on the item, this sometimes includes bead-blasting,
Runners behind the body shop at one homestead, but uses two cavernous 40x60 repainting, polishing and grease removal.
point. That didn’t make it a vocation; he storage buildings and a couple of tractor“That dirt can hide both the good and
continued making pocket cash buying trailer boxes that are filled with all sorts of the bad,” he says with a smile. “Used to
and selling pieces while he finished up bits and pieces, plus a handful of ‘keeper’ be, you could buy bolt-on used parts. That
high school and two years of college, cars that Tony has bought over the years. is not the case today; the parts have not
then began working odd jobs, doing Several parts cars are always to be found always been stored well. Sometimes we
everything from spinning wrenches and in the weeds out back and UPS now makes need to drill and tap holes, or replace
towing for gas stations to managing a a daily stop. Tony is still traveling about 60 broken studs. We try to make them ready
go-go bar. It was in the 1980s that he
realized that there was more than hobby This is not the Daytona that Tony almost bought when he was 13, but it is one of a handful
income to be found in the NOS and pre- built in white with a red wing. It recently came out of a Kentucky barn, and when finished,
owned Mopar parts business.
will be a keeper. That’s his dad’s original 3-speed Max Wedge buried in the corner behind
“I loved these cars, and I really didn’t it (and no, it’s not for sale).
think of it as a lucrative business as much
as something I really enjoyed,” he admits
now. “Before then, I never figured this
would be something I could make a good
living at, but I realized that if I was going
to do well at it, it needed to be my full-time
job. That was in the late 1980s.”
Relocating from the Empire State down
to Delaware in 1995, Tony bought a
house and some rural acreage and ran
the business out of his two-car garage
and a small backyard shed, taking UPS
orders into town twice a week. Regular
advertising in hobby publications brought
in both customers and parts sources, and
Tony also met his future wife Cindi, whose
parents lived next door. The business
continued to grow, with Tony making
trips to many shows nationwide every
MUSCLECAR ENTHUSIAST
49
Tony’s Cars
Remember that Road Runner Tony talked
about buying when he was 13? He sold it
in the 1980s, but was able to buy it back
a couple of years ago. It is fresh from his
restoration effort, and looks like the day
it was new. As for the Daytona he lost all
those years ago, well, he finally found
another one last year. It is white with a
red wing and a little rough around the
edges — it also cost a whole LOT more
than $500 (but he still loves his mom
anyway). There is also a ’69 440-6BBL
Road Runner being restored and a ’68
Hemi Road Runner sitting back in the
garage waiting for some attention.
The other three cars are all from 1970.
Two are survivors, well-maintained
cars still in very original condition. One
is a Superbird with a 440; the other is
a Challenger convertible with a 383.
The final car is a 340-powered ’Cuda
convertible. These cars are not for sale;
they were carefully bought and are
Tony’s keepers.
Did one ever get away? The only car he
regrets not keeping over the years was
a Hemi Orange ’71 340 ’Cuda hardtop.
That would have been a nice future car
for seven-year-old son Robert. Oh, well,
maybe the old man will lend him the
keys to the convertible someday (but we
kinda doubt it)….
so that the customer has no surprises.
People sometimes forget that, even when
they were new, there were not many
‘perfect’ parts.”
Changing Times
The musclecar hobby has never been
stronger. While business is booming
at the moment, Tony keeps things in
perspective. “This was never an easy
business. Today, things have gotten
harder; locating parts takes more time,
it is more expensive, and there is not as
much out there. The reason is, parts get
rarer, but cars don’t. People are always
finding that rare car you hear about, but
each one that is restored means there are
that fewer parts available for sale. There
are reproduction pieces out there, some
good and some not so good, but the
supply of usable original parts continues
to get smaller.”
“As for advice on buying a
project car, first and foremost
is to honestly want the car
— buy one you really like,
something that will give you
a sense of enjoyment as you
work and spend money on it.”
Some of this is due to the explosion
of the internet. While it has been a
supplement to his business, it has also
taken potential swap meet finds away,
and Tony admits that he feels it is not on
a level playing field since he operates as
a legal business — he has the overhead
and the headaches that fly-by-night
auctioneers don’t. Moreover, there is
“the shot heard ‘round the world” effect
— a piece brings a huge sum on eBay
one time, and people then think that the
record price is a benchmark for all others.
Tony now sees people selling at swap
meets with printout lists comparing the
high eBay bid price to their price, with
both numbers still being above market
value. Nonetheless, he continues to buy
aggressively to supply his customers and
have stock on hand, sometimes spending
the same amount he sold a particular item
for only months earlier.
As for advice on buying a project car,
first and foremost is to honestly want the
car — buy one you really like, something
that will give you a sense of enjoyment
50
MUSCLECAR ENTHUSIAST
Here is a show display of the items that Tony has reproduced. One very popular item is the
1971 ’Cuda “gill” trim and sheetmetal patch shown at the upper right.
as you work and spend money on it. One
bit of advice that Tony says doesn’t make
his phone ring but is nonetheless wise to
consider is the cost of what it will take
to restore a car compared to the price
of finished examples that are for sale. A
$25,000-$50,000 car may not seem so
unreasonable if you buy a rolling heap
for $15,000 and end up sinking years
of frustration and more-than-bargainedfor restoration and parts costs into it. The
25K-50K price is also comparable to
what a new car costs today.
Should you decide to do a project,
note that the parts for any car that was
only produced as a two-door model will
be at a premium; there are no “granny
donor” four-doors around to help your
Challenger project. An A-body or
B-body may be a better choice if your
budget is tight.
“Every car has its parts that are hard
to get,” advises Tony. “On ‘67 GTXs, for
example, gas cap pieces are tough. On
GTS Darts, hoods and hood trim are at
a premium. There is at least one thing
that is going to be hard to find for any
given restoration; obviously, parts unique
to one model year or model body will
be harder than stuff that was made for
several different cars. Just remember ‑—
expensive cars are made up of expensive
parts. I don’t control that market, I have
to work in it, but I think that some of the
prices on rarer parts are bordering on
insane right now.”
As you might imagine, Hemi-only
parts are not easy to come by, and pieces
for the red-hot E-body models (‘70-71
’Cuda and Challenger), can run in the
thousands. Concours restorations will
need dated numbers-specific examples,
which has caused prices to rise as
well. There is a certain status among
collectors who appreciate originality to
have numbers-correct original spark plug
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MUSCLECAR ENTHUSIAST
Original factory reference parts manuals
are invaluable in Tony’s business, as
they make accurate research and crossreferencing possible.
wires, original paint, original carpets,
and even original tires.
“To me, this is really important, but that
is not the case with a lot of the cars being
sold right now,” Tony states. “People are
buying the VIN number — for example,
a Hemi ’Cuda with this or that option.
As long as they look correct, the buyer is
happy. For myself, I want it to be as close
to original as possible.”
Some people are even cloning 197274 Barracudas back to 1970-1971
specs, and some clones are being built
with year-specific parts as well. Tony gets
calls regularly from people looking for a
“cheap” used part to put on a valuable car
they are simply planning to sell as soon it
is finished. There are also a fair number
of cars that get thrown together for resale
that appear correct at a glance but have
serious parts alterations or replacements
that don’t become visible until the new
owner decides to fix them. Problems like
this are all part of the huge resurgence
in interest (and money) in the musclecar
hobby, but it really pays to know what to
look for when you are making a purchase.
The same goes for buying parts on eBay;
pictures can be deceiving, and not all
sellers are scrupulous. Tony’s customers
know he will be here today and tomorrow
to help out if there is a problem.
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car built from 1968 to 1974. Because he
is hands-on, a current project to recreate
the B-Body console (virtually every original
is cracked in one way or another) has
taken longer then expected as Tony and
the supplier go back and forth on design
refinements. “I would rather be able to
supply a great part than settle for one
that is sloppy but gets to the marketplace
quicker.”
The only regret Tony has is that he
did not go into business full-time sooner.
“This is a great hobby, and I really enjoy
being involved in the way I am. I am
always learning something about how
a part was made, or what it was used
for. Each day has some surprises. And, I
have also made a lot of friends over the
years. I love it.”
n
Here is a view of usable and rebuildable dash cores. Other shelves contain OEM trim, carbs,
shifters, lenses and bezels, and many other items.
Having his finger on the pulse of the
Mopar market place has also led Tony to
create some reproduction pieces; these
are items that he had requests for and
knew from hard searching that good
examples were few and far between.
One popular one was 1971 ‘Cuda
fender “gill” inserts, along with a small
sheet metal patch that can be used to
add them to a replacement fender if need
be. Another was the dashboard-mounted
reverse light, which fits every four-speed
SOURCE
TONY’S PARTS
96 Red Bird Lane
Harrington, DE 19952
Phone: (302) 398-0821
Mon-Fri 9AM-5PM EST
website: http://www.tonysparts.com
email: [email protected]
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MUSCLECAR ENTHUSIAST
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