If nobody has the time to sort and identify everything, the man garage sale might be better than an auction "Here's your basket, fill it as full as you can carry for $50 each basket as many times as you want." Saves the cut an auction company would take.
I’ve had 2 friends that held on to “good stuff” to long. One has passed and his problem was what ever HE set the price at when you tried to buy it …. It wasn’t enough. If he paid a $1 for the part kept it 10 years and sold it for $100 and heard a month later the guy who bought it sold it for $125….. he got f**ked. The other is in his mid 80’s and started getting rid of what he acquired over the years…I talk to him often and tell him to move the stuff…I guarantee all will be at a profit as most is very desirable. I tell him don’t concern yourself with it after it’s gone….move on. The children will get a dumpster or two and shitcan it all….
If the family wants to make a little money on this stuff, they need to get involved. Other wise find someone who will take it off their hands for free. Problem solved, family can move on. Can you imagine how much pleasure dad got roaming around all his parts, priceless. That’s worth all the money.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Those who have all the time in the world to make comments about what @WTF really (Owen) and the son SHOULD do should be aware that Owen lives 5 hours away from this pile of stuff and he has a business to run. Yes, he did ask for ideas and there are some good ones, others not so good. The son is 63 and working by himself. He isn't trying to get rich from this. Exactly how much time does one have to spend sorting out the "Gold" from the other stuff before the realization sets in that this is an almost impossible job for one or two people. Owen is in it out of a genuine desire to help the family and is giving the time he can afford freely besides which, he doesn't have storage space for all this. Simply going through to itemize for an auction would take several people several weeks and unless someone else wants to rent a motel room and work for free, that's not going to happen. As for Matt and Iron Trap, they wouldn't be able to make the trip until later in September. As for me, I'm contacting the son to see if he would be willing to let me buy a pickup load of his stuff. He doesn't want people cherry picking but I think that's his best option right now. Rant over.
I don't know of any large swap meets in the area. I live less than 20 miles from Milan but I have no expert knowledge in the type of parts shown. I don't think a local auction on the parts only would draw much interest. A larger advertised sale might work. I would suggest getting bids from old parts resellers on the complete lot, pick one and let them handle it all. I could make suggestions but at age 77 my tackling a project such as this will not happen. I went through similar disposal issues with my fathers estate and know how much effort it takes. Umfortunately mine will be much worse.
I attend estate sales regularly to find cool parts I need and also support my swap meet stalls. I encounter a sale like this every few months. The estate sale company will come in and spend a week or so sorting and pricing with the help of an auto “consultant,” who is usually just a local guy like us who knows enough to make sure the sellers don’t get screwed too badly. Pricing starts out at considerably less than you’d expect to pay at a swap meet (half or lower). Sales usually run three days. What’s left on the third day is dropped to half price, and by the end of the day they take offers. The estate sale company will advertise the event, staff the sale, and collect the money. The owners don’t have to do anything. In fact, the estate sale company would prefer the owners stay away, because they tend to bring emotion into what needs to be a purely business transaction. Many buyers are guys like me who will take the parts to market, which is something the owners don’t have the time and inclination to do. And I don’t blame them; it’s not their hobby. The estate sale company will keep roughly half the proceeds, maybe a little less. Which seems reasonable to me given the work they do. The owners get the peace of mind knowing it’s over with quickly and they got the best they could in the timeframe available. And the stuff won’t go to scrap. I would advise the family to consult some local estate sale companies. These auto-hoard estates are just common enough that many estate sale companies will have experienced them. If they can’t do it, they may be able to point them at another estate sale company that can.
This has been covered well by other posters. I have one other question, though. What is the point of 'clearing it all out'? Will the property be sold also, to split the proceeds? While the market for property will be greatly diminished if it comes with a ton of 'stuff' and it could end up going to scrap this way, have they considered selling property AND stuff? It seems like this could be a business venture for the right person to take over, since the father was selling at meets. It may be a pain to find and vet a buyer for the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel, but has that been considered?
Man, there is so much stuff there that they could make a small fortune just by selling things for a dollar a piece.. Makes me glad I have been downsizing parts for the last few years. And I have labeled all my stuff that I can remember where it came from.
I tried to help sell of my uncle’s lifetime collection of tractors, cars, tools, equipment and tractor yard art plus countless other you name it possessions around his home, property, 5 sheds and 2 shops. It was just too much work. Contacted an online auction outfit, they came out and sorted thru everything, they took pictures and put on their website. They allow on site inspections by appointment also. They took payment online and had a pickup day. For instance, they would take the clutch plates and put them on a couple of pallets with pictures and descriptions, maybe a few parts numbers. They label a certain pallet or pile or shelf, auction lot #1 etc… All lot items started at $5, almost everything sold. There was very little we had to do and wish we had done it sooner. No dealing with buyers, they did it all. Anyway, it worked out for my family.
I also have alot of 50's -60's parts all seperated ,clean, marked ,most labeled mopar, chevy, ford loads of lenses ,complete tailight assy's ,headlight bezels,a few grills etc. over 900 nice hubcaps (many poverty ) anyone wanting to buy the whole stash $2900, can contact me thru the HAMB I am located near Maple Grove Raceway so maybe u can combine event w. parts ? Thanx,John
Thank you everyone for your help and advice. I really appreciate y'all. This place the H.A.M.B. is an awesome place and the people are all such good people.
Here's my input after 50 years selling at swap meets. There is a reason that stuff is still there after all those swaps. I'm guessing a lot of was bought at auctions, in piles, cheap because no one wanted it. Most of what I see would be sold in piles, because no wants it. A pressure plate for a 47 White truck. How long would that take to sell on ebay with world wide views? I no longer sell at swaps or buy at auctions. To easy to accumulate junk and haul from week to week." If that chrome piece was for the left side , I'd buy it, but I don't need the right side." If you want to help the guy with these parts, spend some time " cherry" picking the good stuff and make a pile. It won't be too big of a pile. Do the Car Guys garage sale on the good stuff. Take offers on the other stuff, after you put it on Craigslist for 4-5 days. If somebody offered to clean you out for $500, stop taking offers and take the money. It's seriously hard to find something worth selling these days. Not many buyers for pitted chrome and used engine internals. My guess is Dad made good money on the stuff he sold, it's all paid for. I'm pretty sure he thought it might be scrapped. That's what I expect with my left overs. The guys that don't agree with me should be headed down there with the biggest Uhaul you can rent. Good luck.
Oh man oh man I so dig that kickazz radio . Have nt seen one of those in some time . Wonder if it even lights up n works Would get me motivated esp slapping some miles on the pedal bike laying on its side . While chequing my heart rate with the testing equipment sitting on the cart ( the 4 red pods ) . Its crazy at how it was once modern equipment but now its art in a garage . hrlpful and useful for those that know what it is . But almost all the item(s) in the garage is useful . For someone starting or completing a progect . Not to mention , its better than the aftermatket stamped steel . Do they have any 3 groove pulleys for the crank still laying around besides at what was in the trailer ( probably scraped by now , unfortunately to say )
I cleaned out all my hot rod and small block stuff when I sold my T roadster and bought a ‘63 T bird. I figured it would be my last car. I then decided that I didn’t really like the bird and traded it for two vintage motorcycles. All my spare Ford parts were included in the trade. Decided I was too old to safely drive the motorcycles, sold one, traded the other for my ‘40 Olds that has an sbc. Now I wish I had some of my small block Chevy parts back. My point is; I try to divest myself of stuff I think I won’t need, to keep this crap from piling up and being a nuisance to my family when I’m gone. My Dad had a huge hoard of mechanical related stuff when he passed. I was living on a boat at the time and really couldn’t take any of it as I already had my own small hoard of stuff in a couple of storage lockers. We had an auction, with a small attendance and the stuff went for pennies on the dollar…
We had a guy in town who recently passed and he had three barns full of parts. They had a buddy of his setup a big garage sale on facebook. Marked off a bunch of spots in the yard so you could drop off your spoils and keep shopping
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