I am new to this forum. My father passed away, and left us a beautiful all-steel (unchopped) 34 Ford three window with a 350 ram jet fuel injection GM crate engine and special constructed frame. The car (body, original frame and engine) was in his garage for 30 years, then he finally got it made soon before he died. Emotionally, we cannot bring ourselves to even show the car. We have decided to sell it, but need an appraisal. Can anyone recommend a good appraiser with a proven reputation that we can use to price the vehicle, which we have in our garage in New Jersey? Thank you!
Sorry to hear about your loss. If you have decided to sell perhaps post some pics here as a LOT of guys will be able to assist you. Once you have it appriased perhaps offer it here 1st as a way of saying thanks for the help you receieve. These are VERY desirable, i'd love one
I'd suggest you at least show it one time. Your father would be happy. Yes, please show us this thing. Market dictates the cost of anything and sadly ebay dictates the market in most cases.
I am not trying to be an ass, but I don't understand how you could sale something that obviously meant a lot to your dad. Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't. And it's not like it cost money to keep a car that is paid for. Just my opinion.
Hi, I think you should keep the car, if you must sell it, I own a professional appraisal company and if you were to give me a complete desc. as well as several photos, I can put you in the ball park on the price. Please think long and hard about it before making your decision.
Keep it and enjoy the work your Dad loved.......... You can't get that back! If you do decide to sell , Be careful ,their are alot of people out their that will take advantage of your situation......... My question to you would be ,Do you know anything about cars?
I'd keep it and show it for Dad if only for awhile, but as was mentioned be very careful about being taken advantage of. Start by bookmarking every ebay, etc. sale of a like steel 3/w for awhile and see what the market price seems to be. That's only a rough ballpark, but it's a start. Hands down; Your Dad's car is a very sought stle/make of car. Get the car proffesionally appraised by at least two long standing, reccomended, reputable collector car appraisers. Be especially careful of an appraiser offering to also sell the car-acting as a sales agent working on commision. He could appraise it at 35k, sell it for 30k, while on the side he's really sold it for 50k.
KEEP the car. You couldn't find an all steel unchopped 34 coupe if you tried. Getting an appraisal won't hurt, at least you'll know how much to insure it for. If you have to sell it, please send me a PM
Hey guys have you thought that the idea of selling it might be driven by a lot of factors and has been made after a lot of thought of several people, telling him to keep it obviously isnt something he or the whole family wants to or perhaps cant do. We should respect that and offer him some help through a really difficult time. Only a couple of the posts do that. As stated above the best result will probably come via eBay, thus helping the family the most.
Save it for your family or the grandkids or thier kids invest in proper storage now to preserve it find the receipts for work done make copies of them and the title and put in asafe place with duplicate family members take lots of pictures of it out on nice settings with the family and from every angle ... Be careful now people will want it cheap(may seem like alot to you)for a old car) and as you say you don't know its value i suspect its over 30 thousand dollars at this time family and freinds are unaware of its value .. Personal or monetary i just attended my brother in laws funeral yesterday and his car was the hilght of the family gathering , processions, and discussions he loved that car as your father did for so long too
Here's my $0.02: Time is the key to this. It sounds as if you may not be well versed in hot rods but rather that you have followed as an extension of your beloved dad's interest. I would concur wholeheartedly with those who advise you to take your time. Do not sell it as a 'knee jerk reaction' only to regret it later. Take the time to come to terms with both the loss of your dad and the new situation of ownership. Remember what the car meant to him and what he would be doing with it if he were still here. Live with the car for a couple of years and take it out occasionally. Grow into it and learn to fully appreciate it for what it is. I have sold cars that I have really regretted and once gone have not been able to get them back. The money has a nasty habit of frittering itself away and then you are left neither with the car nor with the money -just a sense of anger and frustration at oneself having made a wrong decision which cannot be made right again. I ended up kicking myself and even worse, I could no longer afford to buy what I once owned free and clear. Nowadays I am so much more careful and when in doubt I simply hang on to it. If I have to make a sacrifice or two, so be it. As an investment an original steel car will appreciate in value far more than you will get from sticking the money in a bank. Oh yeah, I had a great time going for a ride down the road in my $70k savings account and strangers were stopping to talk to me saying "thats a really cool 401K - what year is it, whats it got under the hood?" - yeah right. If you wanted to build a car such as you describe, I doubt if you could do it for less than $150k even if you do much of the work yourself. New body from SAR $30k - then you have to start buying fenders, running boards, hood, chassis, interior, door handles, headlights, tail lights etc, drive train. Once it is all there then you have to assemble it, paint it, upholster it, wire it. Two years down the line you may then be able to take it for a ride. Actually if you have this professionally built I would estimate $200k and up - add $100k to that if SAR does it for you. There was a recent article by Pete Chapouris in Drive magazine, which is a freebie here in California. His comment was that if you have unlimited funds and he throws lots of people on it, it could be built in under a year. Then he goes on to say, but if you can ONLY "afford" $1500 a WEEK then it may take over two years. Work it out - two years or say 100 weeks @ $1500 per week = $150,000 and that is only the labor! Man, sometimes it really sucks to be a pauper! But before you get all starry eyed and think you are going to get hundred$$$ of thousand$$$ for the car, it is proven time and time again that you can buy a finished car for a fraction of the cost of building one. So the guy who spends $300k to build a car would be lucky to get much more than a third of that if he tried to sell it. Keep what you have now and jump in and go whenever you want - you do not have to dream about it - you just do it, and while others are still dreaming about having fun, you are creating wonderful future memories and actually having those fun times - now. There is far more to life than money.
i would keep it for a while before making any decisions everything is still to fresh you dont want to regret it
These are all just guesses until pics are given. I found a steel barn car on ebay for 18,000. Here's a savable 3 win http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars...hash=item140248150735&_trksid=p3756.m14.l1318
I understand that you are going through a tough time right now, my dad passed away a few years back and the emotional response was to clean up all of the loose ends right away. My best advise... if you can, wait 6 months before selling it, it will give you a more objective view on what the car means to you. Right now things that remind you of your dad bring sadness, but that will change in time and you may regret selling it.
If you sell, you will regret it for the rest of your life. This pain for now is for but a short time, part of your Father is in that car.
one thing for certain. the car will only grow in value. 5 or 10 years from now it will be worth a bunch more. better than money in the bank. people like to say you never pay too much for a nice 34, you just bought it too soon.
Besides the billet overload... Why is it that all that money can be thrown at a car and then install the CHEAPEST stereo they can buy???
If you gotta ask to sell it, you certainly have no desire to keep it. Nothing wrong with that. -Jason
Selling or not is strictly a personal decision. You are correct in having an appraisal done to determine it's correst value. I do work for and recommend Auto Appraisal Group. They are a national company and you can find them at www.autoappraisal.com.
Hi; this is Billy Its worth my nice 64 corvette conv email me and I will send you pictures wthodos@aol.com
The Jalopy Journal
