Stainless Trim Purchase Price Advice Needed

I like it better when girls shave everything.....

 

hehehe.... lol

 

Not too often you find a girl lookin for "trim"............OLDBEET

 

I say he's a restorer at heart and wants to clean up on his leftovers from hot rod girl ......
I'd call him -tonight- and say that today is the day he prices the parts.If he prices them -you will then know your situation.
If not then tell him you have become totally enthralled with his "shaved" look and dont even want them any more and thank him....
That trim is not gonna bring big bucks, seriously Denise-I peg him as an opportunist plain and simple.......

 

I take it this trim is convertable specific, hence it's hard to find status?

I know I personally had two convertible stainless pieces from a '67 LeMans, same as all 66-67 A-body GM cars, each about 10 inches long, that went along the rear quarter window. I got around $250 for them in an eBay auction. Couldn't believe it, but there were a BUNCH of bidders after them, all missing the same ****.

I have a '64 Olds 98 four door sedan, a really clean, solid car that I paid $850 for. It has decent paint and nice chrome, and perfect floors, the only bad piece on the whole thing was the back bumper, which had a huge rot hole in it. Since I bought it a year ago, I've been searching for a rear bumper. Within a year of searching, I've found two for sale (one a replateable core only), and finally broke down and bought an NOS one for $410. ****s that the rear bumper cost me half what the car cost, but at this point, with the car so close to being really nice, I was willing to pay whatever it was going to cost to get it. (point of the story, everyone's been in your situation before and we've all made the decision one way or another)

I think next time you call the guy, ask him if x amount of money is OK (I'd start at $250 and pay whatever you have to) because he's not going to put a price on it. See what he says. If he says yes, great. If no, ask him how much he was thinking. Eventually you'll get a number out of him, and then he'll be obligated to sell them to you.

 

Like some of the other guys said. I think hes going to give them to you or make you a good deal on them. If youve talked to him on the phone that much he probaly considers you a freind and wants to help you out. But never under estimate the power of a good cookies.

 

From everything I have read on this post we have Possitives and Negatives. The negative is that you don't have the chrome. The Possitve is that he is bringing it with him so he is planning on it going to you. I personally think you are worrying way too much. This sounds like a real nice guy and I think you are going home with them one way or the other. If he does give you a Hi Ball number he already has plans on you owning them so all you have to do is say you don't have that much money and I am sure he will come down to a price you can afford. I too have been known to play games with people when I really like them. If I get bad vibes from them I just say I don't want to sell whatever it is. If I like some one I usually give them a deal they can't p*** up. Remember everybody likes toll house chocolate chip cookies. Then the real deal breaker is when you pull out a pint of Milk and hand it to him after the first bite and say "Got Chrome" Gumpa

 

Well, bad news guys. He was kinda a ****. First off he was really rude to Rudy and didn't even acknowledge him when we walked up. Rudy walked away and I dealt with him on my own.

So, to make a long story short, right off he said he had to get $400 for them. Said he had a guy lined up already who offered him $500. WTF! Don't play THAT game with ME!!

Right away I said, "Well I guess you should sell them for 500 dollars then". He then said what were you thinking they were worth? I replied that I had gotten alot of advice from pals all over the country that buy, sell, and deal in stainless trim on a regular basis and they said $200-$300 so I'm willing to offer the high end, I brought $300 with me. He shook his head and said no, he's gotta get $400. I thanked him for his time and walked away.

Rudy thinks I'm crazy for walking away but I think paying $400 for one piece of stainless is crazy. These pieces were wrapped up, in the rafters of his garage for over a year that I know of. He just pulled them out on Tuesday when I called him for the last time. Maybe in the long run it's silly to let it go for the $100 difference but DAMN I work hard for my money and $300-$400 is lot of money.

Sawzall and I did some horsetrading last month with some stainless pieces and there is one specific piece that my local stainless guy might be able to make work. If he's able to, I'll post. In the meantime if you guys would keep your eyes peeled for 1947 only, Chevy or Olds, drivers side stainless beltline trim, I'd certainly appreciated it. I'll gladly pay a reasonable amount for the piece and cookies to the finder as a birddog fee.

 

Damn...sometimes you run across ****s in the roddin' world. I've seen my fair share. I'm sorry you weren't able to work a deal. ****s.

 

Tain't over yet. Wait a while and then check to see if that phantom buyer ever showed up. I'm betting he will still have them. Even ****s will come to realize that 300 in the hand beats 400 of maybes. Try not to let his personality turn you off. It's just bidness. Stick to your guns.

 

Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. I was thinking he was gonna give you the stuff. I've learned an inportant lesson though.
From now on I'm Labeling all my stainless and sellin' the **** for huge money instead of giving it to the needy...I love America, There will be a stainless listing in the cl***ifies shortly.

And Rudy...I feel for ya mang, I hate when people blow me off when my girl is dealing with them!

 

They are worth whatever YOU are willing to pay for them, based on the time you have already spent looking, their rarity, your immediate desire to finally have them, and your willingness pay his price if he REALLY wants to sell them.
Some folks enjoy just holding on to stuff their never gonna use, just because they have it. If he does want to just "give" them to you, you would be lucky.
If that does happen give him what you think they are worth anyway- out of courtesey. Otherwise, make him an offer that YOU think is fair and go from there.

 

Forgot to mention that I paid $500 for complete aet of really nice 53 buick Riveria side trim 5 years ago. Real good 57 caddy hubcaps go for about $100 each. You gotta remember this stuff is getting crushed everyday and getting harder and harder to find. Plus, if it's in excellent condition, you are already saving $$ since refurbishing stainless is very expensive.

 

Can someone PLEASE post a picture of the **** we're talking about here? And is it convertible specific, or would two door sedan/fastback/coupe **** work? I might be able to get this stuff, or I might have it, but I don't know what I'm looking for.

 

Good move. Sometimes you just gotta set your price, and if this guy thinks he's gonna stick you, he'll be mistaken when he's stuck with useless trim he could have gotten $300 for.

 

I went to Carnut.com to see if they had any photos of a 46 Olds convert... they have half a dozen... all of Denise...

 

Must be for a 1947 Olds or Chevy CONVERT ONLY drivers side door. Neither 46 or 48 will work from what I've figured out. The piece is completely smooth, no ribs or ridges. I do have some photos on my hard drive at home with exact dimentions. I'll post a followup later tonight.

Thanks for all the help guys.

 

Sorry the guy was such a jerk. You have to wonder what he had in mind from the first. I'm sure you've already checked, but Hemming's or the Olds Club of America (http://www.oldsclub.org/)?

You probably want an original, but have you looked into having someone fabricate a mirror image piece of the side you do have? Don't mean to be an idiot,just trying to help.

 

Hi Denise,

I haven't been on the HAMB much lately (working too much) but I got a chance to browse for a few minutes and I thought I might possibly be able to return a favor. You sent me all the build up info on the big olds to help with the work on my 40 olds. Anyhow, the Olds Nationals are in Dallas at the end of the month and there is going to be a pretty good sized swap meet/vendor area. We have several friends in the club so we are going to stay for the weekend on the start of our vacation. If you have a pic send it and I will look for the piece you need. Should be a few cars there I can use to make sure of the correct part. If I locate one I can call you before buying and ship to you after we get home.

Steve

 

here is a 47 Olds... I hope this is what Denise needs...

 

Well the seller sounds like a real douchebag. Unfortunately there are plenty of them to go around. I'd rather go without than look at something on my car and be reminded of the jerk I got it from. Hang in there, you'll find the trim.

 

Boy, they really cheaped out on the hubcaps for that green ragtop, didn't they?

Anyway, that piece looks pretty simple. I'm ***uming you can't use sedan/coupe/fastback pieces because they are too short. Consider using two sedan ones welded together in the middle to the correct length. A good tig welder can put the two together and have it polished to match.

Or, since it's such a simple looking piece, go to the wrecking yard and start checking out other cars of different years, makes, and models for another piece of trim the same shape that you can cut down. For the impossible to find running board trim for my '40 Chrysler, I found a perfect fit in a set of roof rack strips from a late 70's Pontiac wagon. They even accepted the factory '40 clips.

 

For THEM ... more than the 1 piece ...
I believe I would have paid it ...

For $400 ... you would have what you needed and some spares ??

Maybe it's just me ... but I have looked and looked for stuff in the past and did not get it and then wished I had ...

 

"I believe I would have paid it ..."


then you and Rudy think alike.
Yep, would be nice to have right now but I haven't lost any sleep over it and I'm not regretting not buying "them". There is a HUGE Oldsmobile only show, with swap meet, this weekend in Lansing, Michigan, 1 1/2 hours from home. Yes, I should be going to it but I'm heading to the HRR in Bowling Green instead becuase it's more my speed. I have to way the fun factor. Am I blowing another chance to find what I need? Maybe so, but I'm going to have a good time this weekend even without beltline trim on Big Olds.

On the other hand, I could stay home this weekend, not spend a dime out of town at any car event, and would easily have an additional $300 dollars to add to the $300 dollars that I took to Indy for the pieces and could have paid the dude in Indy for the "parts" and had money left over. I'm not willing to forgo a weekend of good fun for a piece of stainless trim. Priorities I guess.

I'm a firm believer in if it was meant to be, it was meant to be.

I have exact dimensions and photos of said trim on my home computer I just forgot to post last nite. I'll get to it tonight if my Alzheimers doesn't kick in again.

 

I've sold single pieces of stainless trim for as much as $200. Those fender bars on the 46-48 Chevy and Pontiac, NOS or excellent used, are big money pieces - I saw a set for one fender in the $300 range on eBay.

I've run across about three 46-48 Oldsmobiles in all my junkyard hunting, of any body style. You can bet that there's a good chance the leftover stainless could have been pieced out to at the least break even on it.

Yeah, piecing it out is a pain in the ***, but more often than not I do that on a batch of stuff and come out ahead. My '50 Fleetline gl*** ended up free after I sold a set of stamped "Olds Rocket" valve covers for the same money as I paid for the whole pile of junk I took home from the junkyard that day. I got everything for it except one vent. It's all a part of playing the car game -

 

Hey Denise, I hope you dont get the trim......I am still looking for it for you......I hate to loose out on MORE COOKIES!!!!!!!!......stan.....stans-stainless

 

I know you've been looking hard and if you do find it for me you can count on cookies for life every time I see you.....not that you already don't get that anyway!