Is this as good a deal as it seems?

Pay a little more for a good car and you will be money ahead. If it is on a model A frame, the frame has to be bent. There is not much to them. The resale red paint has you sucked in. On used cars, you overpay for paint and underpay for mechanical soundness. A 40 year old rod may have questionable modifications that would need to be fixed and then you throw a rear hit on it.

I would question if this car would have been worth $25,000 before the accident. I would guess closer to $15,000. It has a 305, cheap wheels, old paint.

As far a value, remember it is a Model A. Only 5 million of them were built.

The above information was from personal experience with buying wrecked vehicles and spending too much money. The emotions of wanting to look at the good and ignoring the bad.

Neal

p.s. Shoot us some pictures of it when you get it home.

 

hmm that patch on the rear fender area looks more like a bowling ball size than a silver dollar

 

Sorry its a 302 and the year is unknown, my mistake, the guy buaght it at an auction

 

If he bought it at an auction chances are he bought it for cheap as hell and is just trynna get over, ask him if it was wrecked when he bought it and how much he bought it for.

 

at a insureance auction. so at 12.5 at most i say he has 6500 in to it. which i'd say is top dollar(silver or not). if your dad really wants this i ask if you could drive it to a local street rod shop or at the very least and alingment shop and get it up in the air to see what the frame looks. if the seller balks at that the think is a turd

 

Its your money..spend it how you want..
But you were looking for advise..so mine is this..
if he is firm on 12G's...Walk
if he would entertain 5 or 6G's than you might have something worth all the work your going to have to do to make that car right and safe..(SAFE)

My bet is the frame is shit..and the front and rear suspensions are very suspect in their integrity..
I would say you would need to pull them both off each end..So in essence..a new chassis is what your looking at..than take the trans and engine and misc. parts and put it on the new chassis..the body is tweeked..so your going to have to straighten it..

alot of work to go into that 12Grand car...not worth it in my book..you can get a nice running and driveable A sedan for that kinda coin..

Basically you have a parts car ..and hes trying to sell it for close to what he had into it before he fucked it up..

No way..you have no idea how it was hit..or what kind of hit it took
definetly you would be throwing good money after bad on this deal..Good luck with your choice.
there are alot of experianced rod builders on here that have seen alot of shit in their days..It would seem to me that most of those guys are trying to help you not make a 12 grand mistake
Dont let passion get in the way of reality

 

heres what i'm thinking, there are alot of things to not be over looked. This car clearly has issues. My dad was planning a frame off rebuild. With this said, the frame needs to be straightened, body is tweeked, the rear end needs work as in possitioning, needs a front axle, needs fenders, interior peices he also has, paint, maybe a radiator, and possibly a title, everything else is good. We will go to the guy with whatever our offer is idk 8000 maybe, and tell him all these things, and see how it goes

 

8 G's?
IDK..sounds like your leaving alot of money on the table..
remember you cant go down once you offer..it only goes up from there..you say 8..hes going to say 10..if hes even willing to deal..
Myself..i would start at 5 and see where he goes from there..if he dont even come back with a counter offer..just like the drug saying goes.."Just say No:

Or do your home work..price out a new front suspension..and a rear set up..and a frame..and the other shit thats broken..than add in the labor to get it all built..take that home work with you when you make your offer..see what happens

or be patent..and see what 12 grand could buy you that you could drive home and anywhere you wanted to..without months of work and money spent

 

So basically you're buying a tweaked A tudor shell, an older interior, a motor/trans of unknown goodness, a set of chrome reverse rims, and $2000 worth of steering bits like radiator and trim and steering.

If it didn't have the extra broken stuff around it to resemble a car, would you offer $8k for that pile of parts at a swap meet? That's the real question

For what it's worth, by the time you do everything else to the car that interior's gonna be the shabbiest part because of it's age.

 

heres what i'm thinking, there are alot of things to not be over looked. This car clearly has issues. My dad was planning a frame off rebuild. With this said, the frame needs to be straightened, body is tweeked, the rear end needs work as in possitioning, needs a front axle, needs fenders, interior peices he also has, paint, maybe a radiator, and possibly a title, everything else is good. We will go to the guy with whatever our offer is idk 8000 maybe, and tell him all these things, and see how it goes

 

k for a start we'll go with 5k, see what happens and in the mean time i will be looking for something else hows that sound. Thanks for opening my eyes to see what was really going on

 

Look some where else for a car, i think your missing the point. People are giving their two cents and i think they are all right. It will cost way more to fix it in the long run as everybody is saying. Its a pile of junk for the price of a decent car. Look around, there are way better deals out there just look.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=333029

here is a really nice car for 10,000. In the maryland area.

 

You are blinded with desire.....you will need this after you buy the car....

 

or they are cars with the right parts and pieces on them...

I would pay 20g's for the right A coupe with the right motor and rear with sw winged gauges and lincoln brakes with 40 ford steelies.

no take an A that is painted Mauve (such as the one in question)
throw some bullshit Coddingtons on it from 1996 throw in a plastic gm tilt column with some fiberglass fenders and some dolphin gauges and I wouldn't piss on it if it caught fire...

your 32 33 34 comment is better suited for ebay.

all I can say is learn what your looking at.

 

$5K is about the most I'd pay for something like that.
I know it's not a Ford, but I grabbed my Essex p/u for $7K Canadian last year and it only cost me a few weekends of work on the mechanicals and less than a grand in cash to get it driveable again.

 

The more I think about this the more I want to tell you to pass on it. The price is just too high, and if this dude got it at auction, well who knows what you're getting yourself into. Their might be engine, tranny, or rearend issues that you'll miss until they blow themselves apart.

What you're looking at is a 12.5k project car, and almost everyone on here will tell you that a project car isn't worth as much as a running done ride. If you get this thing and start on it, get overwhelmed, or find something better, you will NEVER get your money back, I guarantee it!

Pass on this car. Expand your search area, talk to more people, be upfront about what you can afford and what you want. People will want to help you just for the fact you're a kid and you've got a good attitude... BUT under no circumstances lie to anyone you deal with. Car guys have pretty good instincts

 

Doesn't look like an amateur project, plan on spending a ton of money to get it right, frame is probably scrap and will need replacing if it was built that long ago, most if not all the filler on the body will need to be redone, same with the welding on the body, if there is any.

I wouldn't go over $3000, that's about all there money wise if it was parted out.

What king of steering?
What kind of rear susp?
Disc brakes? Dual master cyl?
Whats the wiring look like?
What automatic trans, 350? PG?
What rear end make?
302 engine, I doubt it but possible, the 2 letter prefix will tell you
How is the motor mounted, side or front?

PM me, I'm not far from you, I can look at it if you like

 

Dude! What are you talking about? I only paid one thousand for my '31 coupe body, twenty five hundred for a complete '29 pick up, and a friend of mine sold a nicely chopped mostly complete '28 two door sedan for three thousand. So, I don't understand why you would tell this kid some bad advice and utterly contradict everything everyone else has said! What are you thinking?

 

Would be funny if the guy who is selling the car is watching this thread...

 

Oh well.......

 

Yeah like what???

 

Start at $5,000

 

Sounds like you've already made up your mind. Enjoy your new car. Keep us posted on the progress.

 

I'm cheep, I say $3000.

Figure how much you would be able to get if you parted it out, just the way it is.

 

And the plot thickens.
Have dad pop 12 large and 2 monthes later offer him 3 now your cooking.
As said before run away Forest run

 

This one is definitely "res ipsa loquitor".

 

can you paint and do your own body work

 

Yep..

 

I guess I'm even cheeper, $2500 max and be sure to bring some vaseline.