Technical The price of projects and “undesirables “

Never mind “how to wash a barn find”
Make anything 10x more valuable with this find!!!
Limited edition barn dust!!


On a serious note, is it just in my area or all over.
But it seems that crapped out field finds / barn finds etc.

family 4 doors from the mid to late 60’s and beyond are bringing silly money ?

I know “ muscle cars” tri five Chevys , corvettes , T-birds etc will always carry a better then average price tag, but lately I’m seeing just about anything that had 19xx as the year , the seller automatically thinks they are sitting on gold .

Deals are still to be had, but I find it funny that anything that’s been sitting is suddenly vintage and old and worth a ton.

a bunch of adds locally for mid 50’s Buick’s , chevies etc. Where there is a clapped out barn find asking the same cash as a clean driver .

thoughts ?

 

Lady locally has a 48 Chevy truck. Desirable but she wanted 9K for a field truck in an area where you can find them for 1500- 5000 in real nice shape. I keep getting notices about price drops. She is now down to 7K and still dropping

 

I’m glad I realized a few years ago I need to just complete what I have and not get started on stuff I’ll never get to.

I still look at the classifieds and get the “ooh, that looks like a good deal” feeling, then reality sets in and my bank account is the better for it

 

Some of these folks that started saving every old car they could get for just hauling them away free back in the 50s and 60s and even earlier have been patiently waiting for rust to turn to gold. If not them, their offspring will benefit.
I remember a few decades ago when the price of steel was high enough to convince a lot of yard owners to send everything to the crushers. It hurts to look at some of the old pics of cars stacked 8 high. Anyway, glad some had the acreage and the foresight to keep them.
As far as the individual cars and small stored away hordes. They are everywhere and most folks are going to squeeze what they can out of them. Even grandma Clampett has her ear to the ground and wants Barrette Jackson prices for her stash.

 

I can remember as a young teen, a junkyard full of cars from the '20s and '30s, maybe some from the '40s. I always wondered what happened to them all...

 

I wish I had a few of the old cars I cut up for scrap in my junk yard days. The prices people want for this old stuff borders on the ridiculous. It has priced me way out of my hobby.

 

I figure with all the wood in my 33 chevrolet ,the car has to be worth 1500.00 to 2000.00 dollars more now

 

I cruise the listings frequently, just window-shopping, and it's hilarious (read: depressing) how much people want for their field cars. Rule of thumb seems to be $4500 if it still looks like an automobile.
$7000 if it's taken apart, but "all the parts are there". Only rarely do I see something that looks like a sweet deal.

 

I find it sad from both ends, people thinking everything pre 70s is absolutely gold no matter what clapped out pos it is, and the dip shits paying stupid money for it just cause grammy had one just like it.

 

Now, I know a car is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
So I hope the protect junk sits and returns to normal prices.

realestste up here in the GTHA is completely insane, I though folks where loosing there jobs going through this world wide garbage, from the price of stuff, seems some folks are living high on the hog.


@wood remover that 4 door you have been thinking of parting out, if I had the money I would be all over it!! Now if you buy a bucket of dust you could easily selling it for 10x
Asking price

 

We can blame it on some of the shows/auctions around but truth be told all it takes is "oh I got $$$$ for that old car" someone bragging a bit or embellishing the truth....and yes they are all worth that much.

 

I am usually shocked at the prices some people are asking for project cars that will not be worth the cost to complete. It is a fact that the best deals to be had are cars that are on the road and driven or possibly stalled projects.
Being ready when opportunity knocks is key. Cash in hand at the right time is the best bet. I find it is almost always better to pay more up front for a better condition car. You know the old saying "how much is your time worth?" The older we get, our time is getting more valuable.
The GTHA is not the only run away housing market. It is spreading fast. Without getting political, I will only say that when this pandemic passes, there will be a new normal. Pricing in all markets will find their natural water mark, competition will kick in and hopefully our hobby will still be affordable for those who have been finding it difficult or those wanting to start a new project.
The writing is on the wall. Electric vehicles, non supportive legislation, environmental controls, new uninterested generation, etc. is not going to make the hobby any more attractive. You would think that would bring pricing on older cars down, especially barn finds and yard art but it's not so, yet.

 

There was a guy in the Chicago area whose father was a junk man. They got a lot of calls to haul off old cars which they started doing in the 30's. He kept most of them and had them in a huge pole barn. I got to go through the collection with him before he died. They had a big cleanup and auction that Dale Walksler spearheaded. It was on one of the cable channels. I think it was a three day thing. The guy's name was Hartung. When I met him, he drove up in a Model A Tudor survivor.

 

I've bought probably 30 47/53 Chevy trucks in the past 45 years and never paid more than 100 for any one of them and that one I bought to get a couple of specific parts and turned around and sold it for what I paid for it. Now I see trucks in far worse condition than some I passed on for 50.00 in the 80's with 4K price tags on them.
I'd say that 50% of the high prices are due to the ridiculous prices that you see quoted on some of the MT channel TV shows for project cars and parts and 50% is due to the Gotta have it now brigade that has more money to spend than common sense. Hot rods and old trucks are the hot lick right now with them before they go back to Corvettes, Jet boats, Harleys or what ever else is in the cool at the moment gotta have rotation.

 

Last week, in a fit of depression, I listed my Husky on Gumtree for an absurd amount of money.
I'm feeling a bit better now and am working on it again, but have left the listing up. If someone bites I'll probably sell.

Down under, it's the same. Any old shitter made before the eighties is commanding big money. A few years back Oz muscle car prices went through the roof, it was a bit of a scam but it seems to have dragged the price of everything else up with it.

I've seen a Datsun 120y for $7k??!!? FFS

There's even a magazine called 'Survivor car Australia' which features supposed barn finds, but in reality it's just some bloke who couldn't find his car keys for two weeks...

Sent from my CPH1920 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Askin' ain't gettin'.

The good deals get snapped up and the overpriced shit sits, that's why the internet is full of overpriced shit. Those are the ads you see because they're still there day after day.

That said, it was a great spring for me to unload a few extra projects I really didn't need. My reasonable prices must have looked like insane deals compared to all the crazy prices people put on stuff, making my sales really easy, and fast.

I've also already got enough projects to last until the end of my life, so it's kinda nice not getting tempted to drag anything else home.

 

Be ready to crap your britches if you're looking to piece together a solid axle 'Vette.
Kinda thought it would be an amusing side project. Because, ya know I need one..

This rough hood is priced at $800

 

^Another dude has a N.O.S. one.
$2100 eek

 

I’ve got an unfinished project that i should sell, i’m glad i put it in the barn to collect the proper dust. The HEMI is safely stored in the shop tho

 

“Deals” like that is why i just cut my original 57 hood. If someone wants to go stock again they can buy another hood!

 

I know of a few hoards around that the family is waiting for the “old timer” to pack it in so they can liquidate.
As has been said, there is going to be a market correction at some point.
I meet fewer and fewer people who do any actual work on there cars or show any real interest in old cars.
Amd let’s face it, the specialist shops that work on old stuff charge a substantial premium for it that most can’t afford or justify.

I know a guy with 4 t birds, a Packard and Chrysler and something else , he’s in his late 70’s can still drive and afford them all , but also know when he “ kicks the bucket “ his kids will blow the cars and all his other stuff out for next to nothing simply so they can sell his house. To them it’s all dads old hobby junk, the house is where the money is. Kinda sad.

 

It's supply and demand...
Everyone wants an old car, but since "auto-shop" has been disappearing since before the '90's, nobody knows how to work on old cars anymore. Which means less of them exist because dummies scrap their projects when they don't finish them in a weekend, which means less raw material, which means less deals for those who know.

You think the prices will come down?
(I'm hopeful too,)
But, have they ever???

I've been buying early 1980's shit on the cheap because it's gonna become really hard to find anything "1980's" in a few years...

Case-in-point: (of the things we must not speak,)
air-cooled Volkswagens.
In California, you can hardly find a project bus less than $4000.
$4000!! I looked at one several years ago, with the mindset of "don't pay more than $500 for a vehicle that doesn't run"....

Only to find out those silly things SELL, non-running, in the $3000 range....
That's a $3000 boat anchor for most people out there!

In high-school I used to see 70's muscle cars and think "I'll be able to afford that in a few years..."
But they've all disappeared! You don't even SEE 1970's muscle anymore!

Case-in-point?
Things out of production NEVER get cheaper... Only more collectible...

 

Man, am I the only one HOPING the prices go sky high?

A guy on my lake just got an obscene price for his house. I wasn't mad, I was rubbing my hands together with an evil smirk wondering what I could sell mine for...

 

Like always, the stuff thats listed is high priced. Best way hasnt changed: Driving around and finding cars - knocking on the door and asking politely. Working thru a network of car guys and staying in touch on what projects someone started and is sick of. Asking around at shops and tow yards.
If you want a deal, you need to buy from someone who is "done" with the car or wants it gone.

 

I remember seeing that on the dish.

 

I check daily the classic auto classifieds in the southwestern Ontario area and have to agree about prices going through the roof. But that begs the question are they getting those prices? there are many listed for long amounts of time and even relisted in order to get back on the first few pages of Kijji. Kind of surprised how many pretty complete cars are trying to be sold with no paper work for them. Makes me wonder too if maybe some of these project cars for sale are guys that over paid themselves, had buyers remorse, and are just trying recoup what they invested.

 

Possibly @ramblin dan

I looked at an o/t vw bug a couple months ago that was almost free due to no papers and the car was not in the sellers name, I called an appraiser guy I deal with and he told me the laws here in Ontario have changed as far as cars with lost and not available ownerships and it’s almost impossible to get them back on the road. The laws changed recently.
So I think your correct in thinking guys bought these things thinking it was easily like before and have now found hurdles that are simply to much for a “ toy car”
I walked away from the vw even after the owner said “ just give me scrap price”
As really wth am I gonna do with it ?

 

In the last year or so a lot of old cars in various condition have all climbed in prices, regardless of condition. Anyone who bout a car over two years ago and got a deal on it should be able to make a little today, even if they simply stored it away the last couple years.
But there are always those who are going to be asking stupid prices and hope some unwitting buyer comes along and pays it. The vast majority of the crazy asking prices are never sold at the price asked. Some never get sold at all.

 

Not much value in an old (fully depreciated) mobile home (it was a "fixer-upper" when I bought it 35 years ago). The value is the price of the acre (in a somewhat run-down neighborhood) minus the cost of demolishing the mobile home. Our daughter (the executor of our estate) tells us her planning involves a BIC lighter....

I have not created much value in 35 years - on the other hand, I have lived inexpensively and not paid rent. The hoard is thinned and the storage space is now packed with stuff left over from my parents and in-laws. Even had to squeeze in some furniture until the granddaughter gets to move into her new place.

Russ

 

All this and I cant get a decent offer on a bone stock Model A that I
have? Every one who looks at it wants to low ball offer if at all.
Thats ok I will just keep it.