Looking for some suggestions. Before I knew her, my girlfriend purchased a 1955 ford fairlane which is rad cept it has too many doors and she'd rather drive her falcon so this is just taking up room in her garage. She paid like 8k for it I think and she asked me about trying to sell it and I told her I wasn't sure if she'd be able to pull that back. It's pretty stock from what I could see. Automatic trans behind a Y block. Paint is good, teal and white, and has a set of WWW's on it. Interior is good cept the seats are roughed up. I was gonna sew up some covers for em but do you guys think we should just try leaving it alone and selling it or would I do better to put some blocks in the back and cut some coils and toss some seat belts in and try to advertise it as a "family cruiser" sort of deal? she would ideally like to get back what she spent **** i dunno.
Speaking from my own preferences, I would say that sounds like the best idea. I see a lot of cars advertised that have been primered flat black, had the rear handles shaved, and the like. They all look like butchered projects to me. The flat black especially always looks like it's hiding something. The more original a car is, the more I'm interested - lowering blocks, seat belts, and stock paint are all easily changed if you don't want 'em, but great features if you do. Plus, if some restorer wants the car he can more easily see it as a resto candidate. As a buyer, I don't want someone elses hot rod, I want to build my own and all you're selling me is the raw material. -Dave
I would think that you have a better chance of getting your money back on a 4dr in stock form. Don't try to make it something it's not. Someone that "had one just like it in highschool" may give what your asking and be happy to get it. My vote is cleaned up stocker.
Yeah man I feel ya. Four doors are hit and miss. I like em. I dont mind having them on some cars. But like you said its hard to get good money for em cause everyone wants a two door. And yours is high up there in price-too much for a parts car for someone restoring a two door. Id say leave it and see what happens. If you cant seem to sell it then change your game plan. Id say a mild lowering and a set of cool caps/wheels. I have never been a fan of the rear shaved doors. If your gonna shave em shave em all. As far as painting it primer black, I usually do that when the car is like 18 colors and thats an improvement. Dont "rat" it for the sake of hoping to get a buyer. Whats it look like now? Post some pics up. Maybe we can stab out some ideas.
i'll try and get her to shoot some pictures. i had no plan of painting it or shaving stuff as i think it looks ridiculous when you shave just the rears. the plan is not to put too much time or effort but if there was small stuff that'd help i'd do it for her.
Clean and detail the car as best you can make sure she looks presentable under the hood keep it as close to stock and let the new owner decide which way they want to go with it.I own a 2 door but 4 doors don't bother me at all.ultimately an old car is "WORTH" what someone is willing to pay for it and the seller agrees to .Anything else is just a guideline or guess.
I agree with this. I have a '48 Chev more-door and I am going to keep the door handles so it doesn't look like I'm hiding anything. It's also been chopped and made into a hardtop. It'll be lowered and stuff, but still something cool that would make a great first hot rod for some family. When I do sell, I envision it being something that a guy and his wife can take to the rod runs with the kids in the back and have a great time, while looking cool.
Visually "showroom stock" is the ONLY way to get money out of a four door. Advertize it as being "Potential money maker as period movie prop car." As such, it needs to at least look stock. A friend has a '55 Ford 4 dr he rents out to studios regularly.
That's a hard call... Personally, I would leave it as close to original as possible. But, I have seen so many people out there that don't realize the potential of a vehicle until they see it laid out in front of them. Case in point, a buddy of mine had a CLEAN '53 210 up for sale for months with no interrest, but the week he lowered it he sold it no problem. Could be a coincidence, but I doubt it.
Fix up the seats sounds like a good idea, I wouldn't lower it or add anything to it. A nice sounding dual exhaust wouldn't hurt either. Don't try to make it a hot rod. If I was wanting to buy a four door (I have a few) I would want the well-cared-for cream puff, not the young-kid-who-changed-a-bunch-of-**** special.
That is pretty nice man! I would say just detail the hell out of it. Clean up blemishes and work on that headliner. Invest as little as possible, but make it very presentable. In my opinion, it will sell itself if it's clean enough. Don't mess with it too much. Just get it runnin' good and lookin' good and advertise well. I think your chances are VERY good.
Yeah, looks like a nice car, might bring the money you're looking for. Detailing is an absolute, and if that headliner won't clean it up, dye it with SEM paint or something similar so it looks clean. Hell, I would drive that around. Honestly, I'd rather have that than a Falcon.
Yeah man! Thats sweet! Make it run like a top, then the detail the snot out of it. Id say you have a great chance selling that. Oh dont forget to take good pictures. That is a good selling point.
Lookin' at the pictures again. Man... I gotta' say... I really like that car!! Again, wax it, clean it, throw some seat covers on it if the seats are nasty, clean the hell out of the white wall and get the motor lookin purdy. Any more pictures???
rad, i'ma hop to it once the semesters over then. she wants to turn the garage into another room but she's gonna build a 3 car out back
looks nice..see if you can take a steam cleaner to the head liner and get that stain out of it. Clean and detail it really nice ..and **** can the dice.. should sell for what she has into it.
Does that work? Has anyone ever tried that for real? That's a useful tip if it does work. The headliner in my '64 looks like that, would love to know the secret to cleaning it.
squablow..i did it to my grey head liner in my 53 ..with a touch of bleach in the mix. than i used my extractor..(like a carpet cleaner ****y thingy) did it over 2 times ..looks fabulous..ask Danimal
Oh forgot to say ..the head liner needs to be in good condition, not rotted or thread bare. and you need to get what little bleach you put to it back out of it. (or it will **** it up good)Use or buy a good steam cleaner not some dime store unit. It is a tedious slow method and it takes a few days to get it done right. Depending on how badly it is stained and with what, will dictate how well it comes out. Light colors react better to the "bleaching" but also show the stains that dont come out. and if it is stained because the roof is leaking and it is rust stained you might be **** out of luck. Biggest advise i can give you is try it in an incon****uous place. If it works out..go for it! do it in the summer when you can open the windows and let it dry out between steps.
clean it up and sell it "as-is" let the next guy "personalize it" if you do it really narrows the market. i have a falcon 2dr. also and that 56' ford is way cooler to me even with 4drs. falcons ride and steer ****ty! i say keep the 56' and trade off the old lady!
she says it's too big for her. she don't like the manual steering. i dunno, i think it's pretty rad. better than the volkswagen that sees the most use from her.
Four doors are alot more accepted than they use to be,20 years ago you could'nt hardly give them away now it ain't such a big thing.Just do some maintence and cleaning,you never know what the next guy wants,he might want a nice old stock criuser,if he wants a hotrod your modifications probably won't suit him any way.
That car looks pretty nice, I think it will sell without too much trouble. If you do internet, I'd pull it out of the garage on a sunny day and take 20 or 30 pictures of it - after it's been washed, waxed, and detailed. If you can make it look like a car that needs nothing, or very minimal things, to drive, that helps bring the price up. Like everyone else said, detail the **** out of it. Rather than sew up new covers, I'd buy some aftermarket covers that complement the colors of the car, but I wouldn't hide that it needs them redone to be original. In fact, you could research and see if you can buy covers anywhere and include what they cost in an internet ad, or at least have the info for potential buyers if you do it local. You do have a market where people want a car just like dad or grandpa had, and a lot of times that's a 4-door car - but a lot of times they're not really car people either, they can handle basic maintenance, but if it needs tons of work they'll wait and spend the money on a nicer car. The best bet to find those people might be to spend a few bucks for an ad in Hemmings - it doesn't cost any more than eBay for one month, I think if you run without a photo you can get two months there for what it would cost for 7 days on eBay ***uming someone bids enough to meet a reserve ($80).
Make sure all the little things work. Check the lights, oil the hinges,trunk & hood latches. Yada, yada.
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