Most of us in the old cars have a few bucks set back for that special motor,Car or what have you. Foreclosures are at an all time high, Credit cards are maxed out and thousand of automotive related jobs are lost and these have a big take on spending. My buddies are holding onto there cash now and many are strapped due to the economy so its no wonder we see cars listed months at a time. Stocks, bonds and investments **** right now as to interest paid and banks are not lending out the money as was planned in the beginning. I expect things to be screwed up at least 2-3 more years and we will just have to see where its all going to land.
I sold my Trans Am in less than 4 days. But, I priced it to sell, realistically, and knew what I needed out of it. I still get calls on it, it's been sold for 2 weeks. JK
Car parts are selling. But I have been trying to sell a few guns. I have a lot of lookers but no buyers.
I have had a truck that won the GM Design Award at SEMA 2006 for sale for over 2 years, it has been listed on another custom auto cl***ified website and I have lowered the price by almost half and it is still parked in my garage. Granted I am not trying very hard to sell it, but 6 years ago, it would have sold immediately... The days of people refinancing their houses to pull all the equity out to buy a toy (boat, sand car, RV, hot rod, etc...) are over for now.
I've got a real nice solid 40 ford 2 door sedan project car , been trying to get rid of for a year $4000 but would take offers and a RUST free 52 ford pickup project , with ***le no motor or ******, excellent sheet metal $1500 no takers........
QUALITY cars seem to be still selling. Not so good quality cars and projects dont seem to be selling very well. Parts are selling, but cheaper than normal.
Like they say in real estate; "If it hasn't sold in 4-6 months, it's simply over priced". Same goes for cars and parts, but the car or part being desireable has a lot to do with it. There's always someone "bottom fishing" with huge asking prices. Just saw a decent warmed over 57 Chevy 2 dr hdtp with a for sale sign @ $35,000. Nice car, but way over priced! Parrts do seem to do better, however I've book marked quite a few parts on ebay lately that have really high opening bids or reserves. Nobody falls for the bait and sure enough it gets relisted at a lower reserve or opening bid.
I've just reached a point with rarer parts that if it doesn't sell close to my asking, it stays on the shelf. If I want to lose parts for zero money, the trash can is only 10 feet away and it never *****es about a scratch on a 50 year old part.
I just sold a set of western wheels turbine wheels this past saturday for $75 and this friday I have a guy coming to buy and pick up all the extra parts that I had collected for my RR for less then probably what I have in them. I'm not out to make a killing on things, I'm just trying to help people that are in the same boat as I am. later shawn
Buyers market, I have bought more stuff I've wanted and or needed in the past 8 months for way less than I ever thought I'd be paying for them. As for selling, I have a couple vehicles for sale. I really havent dropped my price for the simple fact that I dont need to get rid of them bad, but it would be nice to have the money and the space. If someone wants them they know the price. Its coming back already. No worries, now can anyone point me to a '32 5w body for cheap?
I made $1300.00 at a swap meet 2 weeks ago.Spent $900.00 on 5 more cars to part out though.....Doing my part for the economy!
When it comes to cars, I haven't been able to sell **** this year. I'm not even getting the low-ball joke offers on eBay anymore, the ***holes offering less than s**** money because they have nothing else in life to amuse them. That's part of why I started building an A pickup. Could not get an offer on it as an AA truck, so I started ***embling parts I had laying around and found out what little I needed to make it a roller is cheap to buy. And I'll just keep going until it sells, I suppose, I'm thinking of boxing the frame and putting a motor in it. Worst case it never sells and I have a hot rod and a custom and won't be able to afford gas for either one. Parts is another story alltogether that makes no sense. My buddy just did a motorcycle show at Rhinebeck and he sold two bikes and a little thing called a roadbug, sort of an oversized vintage go-kart that's maybe 7/8ths the size of a golf cart. Did real good, over three days. But it's just strange. I've done three car shows, two with him, one without. The one show I normally would sell $100-$150 on Saturday and about half on Sunday... I did like $75 on the weekend. Even last year with gas a buck more a gallon I sold more stuff there. My buddy sold reasonable this year, and bought some things - he scored a '40 Ford coupe body rediculously cheap, so cheap I would have bought it if I'd had any cash. The only guy who did really good there, though, is the guy who has semi-trailers full of so many parts he can set up and sell everything for a dollar and be glad to get rid of a couple hundred things. Last week I did a local AACA show and sold about $90, which is normal there. My buddy didn't seem to sell anything. Part of it may be because we have some similar stuff and his prices are higher (I sold all my 94s to a local kid who must rebuild them or something and resell them, my buddy wants $50 each for the same carbs and will carry them until the end of time at that price). But even the guys who did the dollar stuff at the other show didn't do well (granted they brought stuff with normal prices). This past weekend, I did the all-Ford show at the same place as the AACA show and it didn't even pay for the spot. My friend was at Rhinebeck, as previously noted. Talked to guys, there are guys looking for projects, but not a lot of them. People pick stuff up, but no one's even making an offer on things. Which a lot of times I'll take, because I get sick of carrying the same old **** everywhere. Or because I purposely priced it with room to move because so many people want to weasel a deal out of you. But that Ford show's been hit or miss. I did it 4 years ago and almost had the same deal, finally at the end I sold a pair of 40's Olds fender skirts, of all things, too cheap or I wouldn't have paid for the spot then either. So I skipped it until last year, and last year it was worth doing, not counting the Ford transmission I sold a guy I still did good. I don't know if that crowd is just cheap, or what. Or it may just be because it's the second show at the same location. At least in the past it's been pretty normal if they have two car shows at the same park or whatever, the second one I'd sell less at, sometimes by half, sort of like the difference in Saturday and Sunday at a weekend show. Even in one case a show I went to that I'd never been to that place before, but they'd had a big show earlier in the year, I did miserable at. Why that is, who knows, but having different stuff doesn't even seem to matter. What's even stranger is the model shows I do in the winter, I did real good at, my sales were way up at all the ones I've done before to be able to compare to, and the ones I did for the first time I did good at too. I carry a little of that same stuff to the summer shows. And in this area of the country the economy hasn't changed a whole lot, either. It's upstate New York, where 10 businesses leave the state for every one that comes in and tries to make money. So I defy anyone to explain why no one's buying here, really, or why they buy sometimes and not others. There's just no logic to it. I don't expect to become a multimillionaire and retire at this ****, but it would be nice if doing a show paid for the spot, paid for the gas, and paid for lunch while I was there. Meanwhile, I'm close to just filling up a car with all the parts and pieces that don't sell and taking the whole thing in for s****. I have a '58 Imperial that's got plenty of room to load up, especially with the dash and gl*** all out.
I had been saving up parts and cash to start on an OT pickup (72 chevy) when I woke up one day and came to the realization that I already own two and didn't need a third! I priced it all to sell on a Tuesday evening, by the following Saturday it was gone. Now that I've got some cash I haven't been able to find anything (car wise) to replace it. Everything I've found locally is either out of my budget (and the current owners won't budge a cent) or clear across the country....But I've got patience, I'm sure something will turn up sooner or later.
Have been trying to sell an O/T Roadmaster for the last 9 months to a year..No luck. Car has been aprased (2 years ago) for 7 grand..I have it advertised for way less than that..get a bite every now and than. But its still here. No big ticket items are selling in michigan..or so it seems anywhere for that matter.
I think the goofiest of all.. I tried selling an O/T Suburban, the diesel I have, on eBay. Got some offers in the $600 range, but nothing realistic. Watched one just like it also on eBay, sell on a best offer, out of New Jersey, for $1700. Now that one was 4x4 and had a few better options - but it also hadn't been started since 2000, has just been sitting around with the guy who bought it surplus from a fire department back then. Having had still another one that sat, I know that means it's going to need an ***load of things replaced once you start driving it, brake lines, gas lines, etc. plus you have no way to know if the motor or trans have problems. And those 6.2s when they fail tend to go catastrophically, they're not often rebuildable. Now mine needs a trans swap but comes with parts alone that would cost $400 to buy at you-pull-it prices and I start it and drive it around every couple of weeks. You could drive it home, probably, it just has no high or reverse in the trans. For that matter a pickup sold for $1300 that needed a trans and didn't come with it, out of Florida. Body wise all three are in about the same shape. Here again I guess if it doesn't sell it doesn't sell, if gas prices take off again I could always convert it to run veggie oil and still be able to afford to drive places. But like I said it makes no sense -
Things are slow on the bay. Ive listed here . Alot of it is hit or miss.I do believe the economy is real slow. Im retired without money at 41. Luckily my wife is still working and I have 2 months of unemployment and that's it. Im not complaining though I haven't had to part with my cars. My new job is buying stuff to resell until I get a job. I hope it works.
Despite whatever the prophets of doom have to say, I've had a good year so far, and that goes for both buying and selling (parts, not complete cars). I sold more at Spring Carlisle than I have there in 4 or 5 years, and bought several good items as well. You've got to take all of the "this is the worst I've ever done at this swap meet" talk with a grain of salt; the majority of vendors that I hear this whining from are either trying to set new records for asking prices, or the most exciting thing on their space is a wheel cover from a '73 LTD. People aren't much into buying useless, worthless ****, no matter how good or bad the economy is.
The Jalopy Journal
