both. It is disturbing and it is a sign of the times. things wont change until people can start to buy up rigs for what they are really worth , until then, they will sell them for less as a whole, and others will part them out for more. Market arbitrage .
I can speak to this from first hand experience. All in all, I think things like this could have been happening on a smaller scale that you were not aware of, locally in small wheeling groups, possibly happening on a smaller scale, are now just more visible for you, since they are on a larger scale, online on forums. Before a group of buddies would buy a used rig , that was mostly junk except for parts, and maybe they would use the parts. Only feasible if you had alot of buddies that needed parts. now its much more feasible with forums like Naxja and cherokee forum since the breadth of the market has grown to all of your buddies in your wheeling club to all of the guys in the US that own a jeep. We have hit a market in a era where the sum of the parts is greater than the sum of the whole. A rig is worth more in parts than put together. People will exploit this arbitrage opportunity until the 2 markets reach equilibrium, that is, when the price of a whole jeep = price of all parts summed up. There are so many factors that may account for this.
Also, "seemingly restorable " is very subjective, and each case is very unique for many individuals for each buyer/seller case. furthermore, you can put this on the demand side, why is no one buying this jeep for what it is truly worth that forces someone to sell it as parts ? That side of the coin is sometimes easier to explain, no one has 10,000$ cash lying around these days to accomodate the amount of money we put in our jeeps .
Much of it has to do with craigslist and online forums .
One increases supply of the aftermarket parts built XJs, one increases overall demand by connecting supply to demand where before such things there was no comunication channel.
whereas people used to send old junked vehicles to the junkyard, or simply let them sit and collect rust on their property , these days, they tend to post more on craigslist, the times have changed alot. There are now niche communities for each type of car now, with online forums, so savvy individuals know that these seemingly junkable rigs are worth something to the right people, so instead of it going to a junkyard for rape-worthy pricing, they go to someone that loves the car and who knows others who need the parts. basically the communication web between enthusiasts has grown exponentially with online forums and craigslist. years ago, before the internet, these same jeeps would have gone to the junkyard or just sat in the same yard and collected rust , or tried to sell in the newspaper classifieds, or in their front yard with a for sale sign. think of it like the show american pickers, we see the gold in the old rusty jeeps that no one wants.
also the market has changed drastically, most "Built" Xjs are actualyl worth more in parts, many guys know what they put into their rigs, they know in these tough economic times, people cant afford to buy a 5000$ XJ, but they can buy parts, so many XJs are worth more in parts when you run the numbers, in addition to it being a PIA to sell rigs on Craigslist, which trust me, I know its a major PIA to sell cars on craigslist.
not as bad as you think dave, many of these parting out rigs would simply sit like a rust bucket in someones yard until they were forced to get rid of it (parents, the city, moving, need money, etc) . Usually have serious engine problems, lots of back fees. with cherokees being a dime a dozen, people settle for what they can get, knowing someone needs to put in a few grand or more and countless hours to get it running. easier to dump it when its cheap enough .
here are my criteria:
usually has all of these fulfilled in order for me to part it:
wont pass smog
tons of back reg
needs a lot of work to get back on the road, and even more money
been sitting for years and years
the person is leaning towards parting it out themselves anyway, just doesnt want to go through the hassle
crazy chains of ownership= DMV hell
and i know guys needs the parts,
plus these jeeps are like organ donors, each part is used, and someone we know can now keep their jeep going, and keep it one step further from going to the scrap yard itself.
the only "restorable rig" i ever parted was my DD. I tried to sell it whole for 2 months for 4000$. couldnt even get that. woulda probably got 2500. I easily got 5500 in parts. parts where easily worth way more than 5500, but 5500> 2500, that increases my Utility, im a happy camper, it really really really sucked to part out out such a good rig, but money talks and I can part out an entire XJ in like 8 hours or less. Its very very sad to part out a built rig that was someones baby. It never feels 100% right.