Christmas Shopping: Ripped Off!

I went for some Christmas shopping for The Dog in Jakarta last week. Most of the stuff i bought were either for the body work or so that the mechanic can fit the stock engine back. I learned something interesting after the shopping.. There's a thing about having an old car, you may not be able to get all the parts you need from just one seller. You need to go to maybe 4-5 sellers before you complete your shopping list. When you do, make sure you get their name cards. You'll be grateful later. You'll avoid getting ripped off. This is about doing the basic thing before you spend your hard-earned cash on anything: price comparison.

Before last Christmas, i only knew one spare parts seller to supply my Charmant's needs which is Serimpi Motor. He was the seller that supplied me the head lamps, side lamps, etc. Since Charmants are so rare, i thought this seller was maybe like the one and only guy who sells Charmant parts. I was wrong.. I heard about another seller, Kumala Motor from a forum. This is a famous seller among retro car owners. Just like GI Joe, "When all else fails, he doesn't", Kumala Motor is the place to go when you've run out of places trying to get your hen's teeth part. So i decided to pay the seller a visit.. Kumala Motor is located in Krekot Jaya, quite a distance from home but for the sake of seeing in person this well-known seller, i went anyway.

Kumala is famous for selling very rare parts but also for the hefty price tag. Expect to see lineups of rare part hunters there too. After an hour drive, i finally get to see Kumala Motor. It didn't look like i what i had in mind. Maybe it was because i went there on Boxing Day, there weren't so many people shopping but the place was so small and cramped, you start to imagine how to fit many people inside on a busy day.


Just like Rosso and his bumblebee, one of my engine mounting rubbers was split in half and the other will also need replacing soon. Hence, a pair of engine mounting rubbers is on the shopping list. The clutch release fork on my gearbox was also busted. Here are the stuff i bought.

Above you can see the new clutch fork paired with the busted one. It was actually only the "tounge spring" thingy that was busted but since i will be using the gearbox for the engine conversion, i replaced it anyway. Next comes the engine mounting rubber. You can see the old one which was split in half. Oh and i couldn't get a pair, since Kumala only has one in stock.

Actually i bought more stuff in Kumala but that's for other post.

With me getting only one mounting rubber when two was needed, i headed on to other location called Pasar Mobil Kemayoran hoping to complete my list. I was a bit skeptical though, if the well-known Kumala was out of stock for engine mounts, i won't expect others to have it. But i was wrong, as i ended up getting these..

Other than the left engine mounting rubber, i got also a transmission mount. What bothers me is that i got the last engine mount for only a fifth of the price i paid Kumala! Granted Kumala did supply me original Japanese part and the last one was Thailand-made imitation, but here's another proof that i got ripped off by Kumala: the exact same clutch release fork was sold at around 20% cheaper! So i guess i was in some way lucky that Kumala ran out of engine mounts because if not, i might still got ripped off by it. So where did i get the last engine mounting rubber? Here you go.

Again, a small shop but it's a good option if you're looking for Charmant parts.

Other than those parts above, i got me some body parts. The first one was door weatherstrip for this part of the door:

I was told i need about 3 meters of weatherstrip for each door and as there was four doors, i got me 12 meters of it plus an extra 3 meters in case they f*ck up.


Here's how the weatherstrip looks like.


My battery turned out dead after nearly a year of no charging so i also bought brand new battery. I got the maintenance-free dry type and paid a good price since i also traded my old battery for it.


Lastly, i paid for these also.

A key set and engine hood support rubbers. Unfortunately, i can only use two from the three locks i got. Only the door locks fit. The one for the trunk didn't fit so i will have to use my old one which key was already different from the ignition key when i bought The Dog. This way, i'll have three keys for The Dog: ignition, door and trunk.

So, after the post-Christmas shopping i did, i now have three seller options if i need to get Charmant parts. I just have to call, asked for the price and went to the seller with best price. I guess i have to consider the rip-off by Kumala as my learning cost. In time, i will know which seller has the best price for any particular part i need.