When Mercedes proposed today’s Ask, my mind instantly went to the Cadillac XLR and its infamous taillights. After a quick Googling, I can confirm the XLT tails are still going for a pretty penny, with a low of about a grand and a high of $3,000 or so. But they’re out there, so not exactly unobtanium. More like “unobtanium without a lot of cashium.”
Some parts, however, are much harder to find, at any price.
Mercedes has this tale of woe:
For me, it’s this damn wheel:
I’m trying to restore my 2012 Smart to as close to factory condition as possible. It shipped new with these wheels. As it turns out, very few Smarts ever came with these wheels in America
I should never have sold mine!
There’s a set for sale in Tampa, but the guy refuses to ship and didn’t even respond to my message, anyway.
All the others are in Germany and are like $400 per wheel, plus shipping and import duties, and that’s a hell to the no.
I occasionally find entire Smarts for sale with these wheels, but I don’t feel like buying a whole car just to steal its wheels.
I feel you, Merc.
How about you? Have you encountered a required part that was so Unobtanium it may as well have been mined from Pandora? See you in the comments!
Top graphic image: GM
The post What Part Is Basically Unobtainable For Your Car? appeared first on The Autopian.
