If you're using ebay motors as an indicator- it does this annually in the spring. A significant chunk of the regular buyers and sellers are out racing, cruising, and enjoying. It's finally race/show/cruise season! Towards the end of the summer it'll start picking up again as everyone breaks stuff and figures out what they wanna change after a few months use. And then when the weather turns in the fall and people have time to sit on their ass in front of the PC and browse, and dream, and acquire.......then ebay will run full throttle again. Remember, ebay is an easy place to buy traditionally cash-only things on credit. No matter how bad the economy gets, we're a nation programmed to buy on credit. Ebay will thrive. Personally, it gets much worse I'm opening a liquor store.
The deals are popping up around here for sure! A buddy of mine has hounded me for years to find hit his first Muscle Car. (I know it's off topic, but hold on.) I kept looking around simply because he's not really mechanically oriented, but can do some basic stuff, and needed a project that wasn't too much of a project. Last week, I got the good one. 72 Cutlass, decent interior, decent paint touch of rust, 350 rocket, th350, less than 50 thousand miles! 1400 bucks. the American racing Cragar knock offs even polished back.
The housing market around here is great, sales and value's are on a rise. There are some parts of the country that are not being hit by the slight economic downturn and for the most part I think that the small cities that have had little or no growth over the past decade are the one's that are not being affected as badly as the big cities with constant changes.
Our good friend Mr. Bob Drake sure isn't lowering his prices any. A lower deck panel for a 40 ford coupe went from $280. to $425. in less than a year and 1/2.
steel prices sure aint coming down!..or anything associated with steel (new steel)..and scrap is up too.
No guts, no glory...... With the way the economy is and the falling dollar, now is the time to make wise investments.....the housing market will turn around, it always does, then sell....
The real estate market isn't bad all over. Bad mostly in areas that were experience super high growth over the last 15 years or so. Where I live the market is still relatively stable, house prices are not tumbling downward and foreclosures are infrequent thus far. This may also be the case where Deuce Roadster lives. But in other areas it is really bad. Florida is one of the big losers. In some areas of Florida prices have flallen 25- 50% off of the previously inflated values. In one area, 1 out every 4 homes are in foreclosure now and there are thousands in foreclosure or pre-foreclosure in Pasco County alone. Another worrisome area that affects me, my family, as well as possibly many of you as well, is the reduction or discontinuance of Federal and State loans and grants to college bound students. Many under financed kids are going to be shortchanged in their education potential because of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the banks unwillingness to take a loan risk on the educational loans. That just ain't right. The kids didn't do anything to deserve this outcome. I know that the media is overstating a lot of the economy issues because of the upcoming election, but the foreclosure market in many areas is a lot worse than what is being reported. I personally take no stock in the media because of their biases. They mostly report only on those things that will help advance their cause. JMIO.
I just sold my 37 Ford slantback this week, (guess I need to change my screen name) and while I didn't make a killing, I got what I had in mind. There are still buyers with money around, I didnt get a lot of calls but it only took one, it just took a little patient waiting. I did think with all the hype about the economy i'd have a tough time selling, but a lot of guys in the hobby are retired, and planned well for their retirement. Hope I can say the same one day.
craigslist is where you find the deals. eBay has people listing stuff with either buy-it-now or reserves set at their fantasy price. But as we know, something is only worth what someone else will pay. Craigslist is where you can get some real deals- more "motivated" sellers and the ability to see stuff and negotiate in person. I recently bought a nice VW Thing with an asking price of $8900 for $5000 and my 1960 F-100 with a 1963 Mercury "Super-Marauder 390" for $1000 with an asking price of $2500 This is the time where those who didn't get shit-greedy in the phantom money run-up get to reap their gains.
Some comments have been made about oil producing states and the high price of steel. First, there are very few oil producing states anymore in the US. Second, drilling has slowed because some very rich assholes, maybe smart, bought up every piece of drilling pipe they could and are sitting on it. The other factor is foriegn buyers of pipe in China and the middle east are very aggressive and will pay the price while some American companies can't get the funding to buy it. So what's the solution? As long as the politicians are willing to sit on the asses and watch America go to hell and a hand basket, we're in trouble and it will get worse, look at our history. Stop exporting jobs and turning around and giving those companies tax breaks then, establish tariffs and penalities. The former has been going on now for the last 20-25 years or longer. Now you know why the owners of old strap, and cars, are selling. It's nothing new but there is a point where it will become so expensive/rare that those old cars sitting in fields and barns will be worth there weight in gold.
I don't see the prices for good tin going down as of yet but do see the rough stuff getting cheaper. As far as the how the economy in our area are (chicagoland) We see more Ind auctions then ever, with very few buyers at them. I have seen over a dozen buddies close there doors in the past 8 months and all in the Manufacturing. I see another bunch with problems and fighting steel prices and energy prices.. Just had a saleman in today and steel prices just went up 20% this quarter for us.. On the other side some old factorys are now warehouses or freight companys importing goods from overseas. I guess it depends on what biz your in ..........
I hear that Blades Rod Shop in Beaver Falls Pa is going to be selling off a large part of thier inventory of pre war projects very soon. About 80 or so in various stages of build (or decay depending on what your looking for).
ASKING prices are not really dropping but SELLING prices are. You just need to find soneone who NEEDS to sell instead of someone who says they simply want to sell. Go out looking with a wad of cash in your pocket, you'll either get some really smoking deals, or get mugged.
Our son is moving to SC soon. Although he and his family have been in Califonia for over 12 years, it is getting hard to make ends meet. Since they have been wanting a home of their own, they went on the net and found something they will be able to afford there in SC, that also has a good bit of land attached to it. Now one of his friends who lives in the Baltimore area is thinking of moving down there too. Our daughter and her family have been in SC now for a year and love it. Our son-in-law just got a great job that is also paying very well, so they are very happy. Hopefully our economy will get better.....all we can do is wait and watch
it seems like parting stuff out is the only way to get your money out of a project these days but that also means that parts are a hotter comadity than before shit will not sell if its shit i can see that but the chances i'll get a 32 body for cheap is imposible... even if it is shit tk
The rich F@$%ers aren't having to give up their toys to pay their bills. So If they could afford a '32 before, holding on to it ain't that hard now.
Things are pretty good here ... And I know it SUCKS in some places. ( I would NOT want to live in Michigan or California anyway ) ... Michigan's economy was/is so dependant on the auto industry ... but a good many of the auto workers were making two to three times the $$$ for what their work level and education level was. Good money equaled good times. A lot of homes were bought with little to NO money down ... and the buyers were counting on inflation and good times to bail them out. They bought more house than they needed and could comfortably pay for. I do feel sorry for these folks ... but a lot of this was their own fault and a result of their own actions. I wish prices on neat cars and parts would ease up a little. Maybe now ... some of us folks who LOVE this old stuff ... can actually own it instead of the NEW BUCKS UP " come in lately " because it is the new fad folks
Well some prices are falling http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1932...239801425QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260239801425& Love the line have 125K into in asking 300K. Can we all sell our cars with that much markup?
In a word... Yes. Once a week or so I'll go through all the listed Fords from 1926-1932. I've seen several that surprised me as to the selling prices. I listed my bike a few weeks ago on ebay and the only reason it hit reserve was because of some shitbag (supposedly) from Ireland with zero feedback that had just become a "member" never contacted me even though I required zero feedback buyers contact me prior to bidding in the first place. He exposed the reserve price and that was his only goal apparently. He never emailed me back... shocking huh? If I wouldn't have caught it ebay would have raped me for the sellers fee for a non-paying bidder. I even tried contacting ebay through several channels to fix a bug on the auction and recieved squat. I'll buy stuff from time to time on ebay... but I'll NEVER list anything there again until ebay returns to ebay. As to the downturned economy and everything else that falls apart around it in bad times... it's a looming reality that is hitting closer to home for more "average" Americans than it has in many years. The biggest thing I see getting effected is "fun-money" and in large this is simply due to the rapid inflation in all of our own costs of living... the "daily needs" things are taking a big hit. Do you want to drive to work or eat dinner at Applebee's? Do you want to go on vacation or pay your gas/electric bill? Do you want to buy a 3-duece manifold or put food on the table? For many people the bare necessities we are so accustomed to never thinking about are slapping us all in the face. To me personally it's sad times... mostly because some of our own fellow Americans have been selling us out for many years and now that rooster is coming home to rest. America thinks and plans in very short terms... countries like Japan and China... not quite so. Who is our biggest competitor right now for "oil".... where did they get the money... ? On the upside for me... auto repairs of older cars are increasing rather than people purchasing new ones. Too bad so many parts to fix them are coming from everywhere BUT the U.S. (dad always told me to follow the dollar)
I’m only 37, but I’ve already learned that when things make no sense at all, eventually things will correct themselves. Whether it’s houses that sold for $200K 10 years ago going for $600K or people looking for $150,000 for their restored 1951 Ford woodie wagon, things will come back down to reality when people figure out that not everything they touch will go up in value. If you paid in excess of fair market value when you bought it, it will come back to haunt you I just sold my ’50 Ford convertible this weekend and got close to what I was asking, so there are still buyers if the asking price is reasonable. The guys selling ‘50s Desoto grilles or ’54 grilles for almost a grand, well, they’ll face reality sooner or later and that later is now. (Thank God… I’ll be really happy when the “investors” in our hobby move onto something else and the people who actually buy a car because they like it return. Demographics also play a factor. Most of the buys looking at my ’50 were in their mid-to late sixties or early seventies. Where do you think prices for stock, early ‘50s iron will be in 8-10 years…..the same or less than today in real dollars is my prediction? Basic supply and demand; fewer buyers, prices go down.
Had another thought also. A lot of the reason for vehicle pricing going down on ebay is because of transportation costs once purchased. I know personally, I'm not even looking at anything outside 500 mile radius due to the cost of it getting back here.
The problem here is while the value of the parts may come down, scrap has come way up. Suddenly the time and work to drag that '53 DeSoto out of the woods after having to pay someone for it, becomes a lot less appealing, when I can't make a guaranteed $1500 between the grille and the hemi. So maybe I'll do it some other time. Some other time becomes next year, and I happen to go by one day to see it on the bottom of a scrap truck, grille and all. Oops. Before you say that can't happen, a neighbor had a '55 Imperial out back I was eyeballing... he started scrapping stuff a year ago, before it was even this high, and they dragged that out, picked the carb and a few pieces off it, and it went Hemi and all. Taillights on one of those are not cheap, but they went too. Needed to top off a load was the excuse. It wasn't even a shitty car, it was solid and complete. He kept the mid-70s Lincoln 4dr POS's though. Which means that the next time a junkyard decides to scrap out, because he can get $200 a ton, instead of being able to save 40 or 50 cars out of there by buying and flipping starting with convertibles and 30's Fords, maybe I'll get half a dozen and have to sit on them several years to sell any of them. The last place I was in, it wasn't just cars, lots of them were loaded with parts, I got about 6 Stromberg 97s and a good Model A roadster floor with subrails, another guy got two or three more 97's. One car I bought was loaded with carbs, starters, generators, distributors, and so on - I sold enough of that stuff it paid for the car. And I still have a ton of stuff. One Packard had a trunk loaded with hubcaps - cleaned it out. Sure couldn't save everything, but I tried to get as much as I could. So that might be something to think about before you go dancing with glee that the prices have dropped. Sooner or later that market will correct itself too - people will just scrap more of it, the stuff will get hard to find, and the prices will go back up. We've already seen decent Model A stuff getting scrapped. Now I'm scrapping some of our cars myself, because no one's buying at ANY price. So far I've picked on late model stuff and really crappy older cars - and stripped them first - but that's getting old too.
Yep... I'm 38... and I figure once all the old fogeys and the boomers die off it'll be a great time for folks our age to be into cars. I'm thinking by 2032 we should be able to pick up a nice Duece for around $3-4K cuz' most of todays kids want nothing to do with them. Long as they don't get sold off as scrap or the Chinese start wanting 'em whole. (j.k.)
The Jalopy Journal
