The scout who never refreshes

Your clutch cable snapped on the A4136 between Monmouth and Ross. You limped into a lay-by, called a man who charged you forty pounds to tow it to a lock-up, and now the MG sits three streets away, costing twenty quid a week to gather dust.

The role nobody voted for

You know the exact part you need. Its part number, its casting number, the feel of the old one in your hand.

What you don't have the patience for is another evening scrolling past Mini parts and MX-5 listings because a search algorithm decided all British Leyland-era cars are interchangeable. You are the one who ended up being the club's scout. It started with a link to a bargain gearbox. Now the DMs roll in: "Seen a 3.45 diff?" "I need a single-rail for the Sprint."

You do not mind the role. You have the patience for eBay's filters, the forum PMs, the Facebook Marketplace seller who ghosts you on collection. But the browsing eats the garage time. The Routine is the fix.

Every classic car club has an unpaid job nobody formally assigns: the person who watches the parts market. The one who knows a Dolomite Sprint gearbox went for £400 in Sheffield last week. The one who keeps the group from paying retail.

A Routine does the watching. The human part — the judgement, the "will it fit a 1979 chassis?", the social decision of who gets the link first — stays with you.

Write the Direction once.
"You are the parts scout for a 1979 Dolomite Sprint. Search eBay UK, Facebook Marketplace, and the national classifieds every Saturday at 7am. Find gearboxes, Rostyle wheels, and Weber 45 DCOE carbs. Ignore MG and Mini parts. Give me a price, a location, a direct link, and the condition."

Set it up. Forget it. Saturday morning, it hands you back a finished piece of work.

What the Delivery actually contains

The Competition / Market Watch template fits this naturally. Each part becomes an entity. Each listing becomes a signal.

A quiet week used to nag at you. Had you missed something? The Routine ends that friction. "No change" is a real answer. It means you can stop looking.

New listings sit at the top. You save the good ones, dismiss the dodgy ones, and the next run adapts. The buyer who saved the Weber starts seeing more Weber listings. The one who dismissed the rusty wheels stops seeing them.

The Saturday morning deployment

Saturday at 7am is the right slot. The Friday night listings have landed. The dealers are still in bed.

You open the reader on your phone while the kettle boils. The Delivery leads with what changed. If a new gearbox appeared overnight, it is the first thing you see. You glance at the price, check the location, forward the link to the one club member who is hunting exactly that part. The work that used to wait for you is already done.

Before this Routine, you had to run the same search across four platforms every Saturday. One was always neglected. A listing from Friday night could sit until Sunday evening, by which time the seller had moved on. The Routine formalises the search. It becomes the reliable source. The group learns to wait for the Saturday update.

The club secretary starts sending people your way. "Check with Paul, he always knows what's about." What they really mean is: send it to the Routine.

Try it yourself

Set a Routine at jorisloop.com. Use the Competition / Market Watch template and give the entity a part number instead of a company name. Point it at the general market for exactly what your project needs.

Start your free 14-day trial at jorisloop.com

Source: Joris Loop

Market Watch · Parts Scout · Saturday 25 July 2026

Entity: Dolomite Sprint Gearbox (single rail)
No change. Market quiet this week.

Entity: Rostyle Wheels (set of 4)
SIGNAL: PRODUCT. 1 new listing.
£180 · Manchester · Link
Surface rust. Straightforward restoration.

Entity: Weber 45 DCOE
SIGNAL: PRICING. Price dropped.
£275 · Bristol · Link
Reconditioned. Completed listings average £320. Fair.