To make or not to make reversible mods

[HydroJim]

I'm going to be modifying my Ford Focus very shortly after I get my designs all figured out. My dad seems to think that I should go to the junk yard and buy copies of the parts(Hatch, Front bumper, etc.) that I will be drilling so that I could return the car to stock for selling it if I have to

I feel that I'm never going to be selling the car so why spend the money on parts that I'm never going to need. I can fix pretty much anything that goes wrong so I imagine I will be keeping the car for a long time. If I ever go to sell the car, I figure I can replace those parts at that time but it just doesn't make sense for me to do it now.

The cheapest hatch that I found was $175 which is a lot of money to spend so that I can store the original hatch in my attic for years to come.

What do you guys think I should do?

[Weather Spotter]

I just did my mods in a way that I could take off with little or no damage to the visible parts. it takes a bit more work but gives you (and other) piece of mind.

[t vago]

If you're going to buy stock spare body parts for the purpose of selling your Focus, why not wait to buy the parts until you actually do decide to sell the car? (and it sounds like you're not considering this)

No sense in holding a bunch of body parts now if they're going to be available later on, anyway. If you're going to find Focus parts now, you'll also find them later. Besides, where would you store these things?

[mort]

Originally Posted by HydroJim

I'm going to be modifying my Ford Focus very shortly...

Exqueeze me, but are you talking about a 12 year old car? I know I'm an old geezer, and the world has changed - everything old is new...
I can't imagine it making "cents" to buy and save junk yard parts now to recover the full value for a future sale.

-mort

[mcrews]

a good philosophy but not practical.
There are tons of ford focusii....parts will never be a problem.

Try having an Infiniti Q45.........

But I'm like you.....I have kept the car since 2005 & 40k. Today it has 265k. couldn't get any money if I sold it....so why sell it?
I probably have 25 mods......I probably would only take 2 or 3 of them off if I did sell.

[Frank Lee]

As a hoarder, I'd get the parts first. But that's a hoarder thought process, and another factor for me is I have old stuff that might be hard/expensive to get stock parts for later on. And what if I was to decide right away that my mod sucked?

[oil pan 4]

Sounds like a waste of time and money.

[Ang84Indy]

I would only worry about replacements if I decide to sell the car.

[HydroJim]

That was my thinking also. It would be pointless to worry about selling a car that doesn't have much value anyway. Maybe if I had more money I would just get the extra part, but on a 16 year old's budget, I don't see a point in spending the money on the parts

Frank Lee-My dad is a hoarder too. He keeps old parts and sensors and all different things for the day that he might need it. It's all good stuff, but sometimes he takes it too far. He's kinda rubber off on me because I always find myself keeping stuff for that date 20 years in the future when I could use it. haha

[Frank Lee]

I hoard opportunistically. For example, I have a gold colored Sable wagon. I never see any others like it around here. One day at the scrapyard, there one was and I could get whatever I wanted off it for $50 excluding the doors. Yah, do you think I grabbed the rear hatch in with all the other misc little doo-dads I was originally after, thinking about modding the worst hatch of the two for... maybe... a tail? You bet I did!

What if I hacked up the only hatch I had, then decided the mod sucked or, since that car really is bigger than I need, decide to sell it then need to scramble to find an unmodded hatch... in the right color so it's a bolt-on... in a short time frame? First, I likely wouldn't even find one locally. Second, I'd pay the going rate, if not a premium.