Trying to recruit a new member

[Los_Control]

Ran across this today, thinking to myself what a beautiful car. Instead of trying to scrape together the cash to grab it I sent them a note and trying to talk them into keeping it ???

Looks like a older restoration, I am guessing with the clear coat peel in West Texas, 15-20 years? They posted back and want to sell it . They were going to buy a house with a large shop and bought it, now they have a house with a small shop and want to sell to build a bigger shop ... I get it, sounds reasonable to me.

 

Kinda like a mystery Christmas package. If you look at all the photos and video of the doors open and closing. I suspect major body work/restoration has already been done.

I am thinking it was converted to 12 volt because of the fog lights. Hard to say if the peeling clear coat is a sign of cheap work, or just 15 years in West Texas sun.

I really have no idea what these cars would be worth running & driving.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/137326761905380/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks&tracking={"qid"%3A"-7903468865048912230"%2C"mf_story_key"%3A"1126666378409957324"%2C"commerce_rank_obj"%3A"{\"target_id\"%3A1126666378409957324%2C\"target_type\"%3A6%2C\"primary_position\"%3A0%2C\"ranking_signature\"%3A4593379686695829504%2C\"commerce_channel\"%3A501%2C\"value\"%3A0%2C\"upsell_type\"%3A21%2C\"grouping_info\"%3Anull}"}

[Los_Control]

See if I can post a video of the doors open & closing, and the post. https://www.facebook.com/messenger_media/?thread_id=4322205934483996&attachment_id=1225691857912369&message_id=mid.%24gAA9bBf1e-hyBqkjVm17eQOHfzgVv

 

Bought this thinking I was going to have time to work on it. I don’t and hate to see it sit. Guy I bought it from said it ran but he did a tune up and couldn’t figure out the points. I believe him because all the parts are new. I wasn’t going to try and start it until I changed the fuel lines and made sure everything was clean. Engine rolls over.

 

 

 

Just asking what others think on value. I am guessing to get it running in a perfect world ... $100? Then hours of labor to clean and detail it.

Then later after many ice cream trips, sand down and fix the clear coat for $100? I am guessing this type of car may sell for $7500?

Not often you can buy a classic car as a flipper and make $$.

[Sniper]

None of the pics open for me.  The video link didn't work either.  Of what I could see, I bought my 51 for $4k two years ago.  Not sure this one is worth as much though.

[kencombs]

On 8/24/2021 at 1:16 PM, Los_Control said:

Then later after many ice cream trips, sand down and fix the clear coat for $100? I am guessing this type of car may sell for $7500?

Not often you can buy a classic car as a flipper and make $$.

Careful with the clear coat estimate.  I suspect it will have to be sanded, a lot, enough to destroy the basecoat in spots.  So you're looking at a full base/clear job.  And with all that chrome that has to come off first it is not a cheap or fast fix.  If you can do it yourself, it is not too bad, a few hundred for quality base, clear, maybe some primer and activator.  A gallon of quality clear and activator is way more that 100 bucks.

 

If you have a shop do it expect multiple thousands, the multiple being how much prep is needed.

[Los_Control]

8 hours ago, Sniper said:

None of the pics open for me.  The video link didn't work either.  Of what I could see, I bought my 51 for $4k two years ago.  Not sure this one is worth as much though.

Not sure why the video & photos did not work, something to do with facebook am guessing.

The video showed the owner opening and closing each door & the trunk .... car is really solid, has been stored inside until current owner purchased it.

 

After talking more with the owner, not what I thought it was. I thought it was a car someone went through fixed all the usual rust, new interior, possibly went through the drivetrain,  I was guessing 12 volt wiring because of the modern fog lights. All the things a typical project car would need .... 15 years ago. Now it just needs freshened up.

 

While it really is a car that was taken care of. The floors have been repaired when needed, new upholstery and it got a repaint over the years. The rest of it is all original.

So it has all the usual issues of a 70 year old car with cloth wiring, old fuel system, brakes etc ....

 

It is a nice start, miles ahead of many project cars, but it is still a project. And the owner really hates seeing it sit outside and a new shop is more important use of their time then the car. So it is still for sale.

8 hours ago, kencombs said:

Careful with the clear coat estimate.  I suspect it will have to be sanded, a lot, enough to destroy the basecoat in spots.  So you're looking at a full base/clear job.

I am in the process of repairing a truck with same peeling clear coat issues. Not sure how it will turn out, but will be better then it was when started.

Will spot repair as needed with color matched paint from napa auto parts. While masking off and shooting complete clear coat.

If I were to buy this car, which I won't. I would attempt the same process on it. Just make a driver out of it.

[Eneto-55]

Selling the car because the shop at the new place is too small so that they can build a bigger shop with more room (room for the car you just sold so that you could build a bigger shop...) reminds me of once when I had a couple of the Indian men out in the city with me for help on Bible translation checking.  I paid them for this work, of course, and they would always buy lots of supplies before they returned to the village, cloth for their wife, etc.   One guy had a bit of money left over when he was done, but didn't have a wallet to carry it in.  So he bought one, but then he didn't have any money left to put in it.  Well, I guess he was forward thinking, for when he got some cash again. ?

[Los_Control]

The way he explained it made sense, maybe I did not.

He made a offer on a house with a shop, felt confident would buy it. Then the car came up for sale and bought it, thinking he had a shop to park it in. The real estate deal fell through, bought a different house with no shop. So now will build a shop.

 

Lets be honest here, building a 30'x40' shop can take some time. Especially if you will do most the work yourself .... He has some equipment parked behind the car in the photo. I assume he would do as much as he could. Permits, utilities, inspections, right now building material prices are stupid crazy. A guy might want to wait a year for prices to settle down ... Could be 1 - 3 years before that car could ever get to sit inside again. The $4k for the car will only be a drop in the bucket for what it will cost to build the shop.

 

I was just fooled by the condition of the car. The front bumper looks great in the photo, possibly re-chromed 20 years ago. The SS looks awesome, The wheels look great on it.

The fog lights I was thinking tacky but meant the car was converted to 12 volts .... someone did a lot of work to the car. I would not have guessed it was parked for 24 years.

So maybe $4k is a little steep, I dunno. I see people with a $2k project car, needs new floors and a rocker ... then missing parts to hunt down. Just looks like a good solid project to me. When I asked for more info about it, he sent me engine photos and told me his story on it.

 

The older guy I bought it from said he was the second owner. He said the only thing that had been done to the car was. The floor board was replaced and he reupholstered the inside. He use to drive it around and take it to car shows. He said he wanted to do a tune up on it and couldn’t figure out the points and couldn’t get it to run rite so it’s been sitting in his barn and he got into motorcycles. The registration on the windshield says 97. It’s a flat head 6, pretty sure it’s a 6 volt, was sure it was but now that I’m asked I’m second guessing myself, and no the brakes don’t work. I don’t NEED to sell it, I just don’t have time or the place to work on it. The place I was going to buy had a 30x40 shop so I figured I could put it in there on some jack stands out of the elements and if it took 5 years of tinkering when I had time it would be fine. I just HATE to see it sitting outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Los_Control]

I replied back to him, told him to duct tape the cowl vent to prevent water leaking inside, slather some grease on the chrome to protect it ... protect the glass from hail.

Just keep the cabin dry and let it sit outside a few years.   He stopped talking to me  ???

 

Car is for sale and we are not getting a new member 

[kencombs]

3 hours ago, Los_Control said:

I am in the process of repairing a truck with same peeling clear coat issues. Not sure how it will turn out, but will be better then it was when started.

Will spot repair as needed with color matched paint from napa auto parts. While masking off and shooting complete clear coat.

If I were to buy this car, which I won't. I would attempt the same process on it. Just make a driver out of it.

I would probably do the same,  But, the poster mentioned reselling it.  Driver quality vs restoration quality has a huge impact on value.  I just wanted to caution about reselling price expectations vs paint process.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I understand the man dropping communication.....he wishes to sell you trying to talk him into keeping it.  The man may well have long ago realized he would be in over his head and rather than start something he could not complete he wishes to sell it as an assembled unit rather than disassemble like so many that are offered later when the job left to do is more than the will to succeed.  Tire kickers get kicked to curb in cases like this, started project often get the same treatment, kicked to the curb....your intentions were meritorious to a degree...just outside his game plan and not what he want to hear and waste of his time.

[Los_Control]

Just now, kencombs said:

I would probably do the same,  But, the poster mentioned reselling it.

Yes it is for sale, but for all the wrong reasons in my book.

We all have a perceived value what we think it is worth, then a actual value of what it will sell for.

 

I really get the feeling the current owner thinks they have a monumental museum piece, The Lord will strike them with lightning if he allows it to sit outside.

So they are willing to sell it for $4k because thats what he paid for it. Just to save it from destruction of sitting outside.

While not saying the price is out of line ... I just do not think it is the mona lisa painting he thinks he has.

 

So when I come along and tell him to slap some duct tape over the leaks, slather some grease on the chrome put some lipstick on the paint chips, He realized I am a total nut job. He stopped talking to me. ..... We just cant treat a valuable museum piece that way.

 

IMHO, what they have is a perfect start on a project car. If they want to build the shop then buy another project car ... be tough to find one as nice as this. Not impossible.

Being worried about it sitting outside for a few years, in 70 years I bet that car probably has 30 years of sitting outside already, 5 more wont kill it.

Just now, Plymouthy Adams said:

I understand the man dropping communication.....he wishes to sell you trying to talk him into keeping it.

You are 100% correct. I am a tire kicker ... it has to be a truck or a van for me to be interested. Cars I have no use for. I did try to entice them into joining the forum, Keep the car.

Who knows, maybe their next project will be a 1940 Ford $40K car and not mess with old mopars? None of my business. They would be years ahead of messing with a old mopar.

But yeah, that was my plan to try to get them to keep it and not sell it. I tried, a swing and a miss.

[Eneto-55]

I am SLOWLY (very slowly) starting to like those cars of the years 49 through 54.  Slab sided blocks, is what I've always thought of them.  And I basically grew up in a 53 DeSoto until the age of 11, then a 62 Chrysler.  But that's another story.   (At least the 53 DeSoto had that cool grill that even beat out the teeth on an old Buick.)  My younger brother had a 53 Cranbrook, and we scrapped it out for parts.   (The front suspension parts are living on under my 49 1st series.  And he still has the engine, too.)  But the only reason I like them at all, I think, is because the cars of the last 50 years are so ugly by comparison.  (I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feels - just say I'm a nut case & be done with it.)