’51 Ford Crestliner; Mild Kustom or Sell and Find a Plane Jane?

Hey All,
I’m at a bit of a crossroads. I’ve got a 1951 Ford Crestliner, a relatively rare car with only 9,000 made in ’51. It is pretty much stock right now with a great body and a good running original flathead/ 3 on the tree. Interior is nice but not original. Here is my conundrum:
I really want to do some mild body mods like shaving the handles and most emblems, peak the hood, French the headlights, and shave the trunk lid. Maybe notch and bag it in the future.
I know it is worth more than a plane Jane sedan and I know the mods will remove that value. I can’t find a good online price guide for older cars but the “Collector Car Market Review” puts the value at 12-17k, just a few hundred under the Vicky (which I would love!) If I could really get that much out of it I could pick up a standard and still have some cash on hand and that would be a very good thing. Also, with under 10k made I would feel a little bad *******izing this one; I'm not a restorer but still I'm 100% comfortable with that.

So here is the question: Is it worth enough to sell it and find a standard to customize or should I just go ahead and do the work on this one?

My '51:

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I hope you sell it and find another to customize. There is a strong market for mostly stock cars like yours and I am betting you can find a car that has already been customized for a bunch less $$$. In the end, it is a win for history and a win for hotrodding.

 

try selling the car for a good price , you'll have money for a new car and money to do what you want with the car

with the mods you want to do a car with bad or no paint wouldn't be a step backwards anyways as you'll need to repaint anyways

 

I hate to say this, but that's too nice of an example of a rare car to mod. I would sell it, and with what you get you should be able to buy a delux and make all the mods you want. Customizing this one will hurt it's value.

 

btw - for a good discussion of value and a good potential market for that car, try: http://www.shoeboxford.com/

 

Step away from the Crestliner.

 

Slap some bias-plys on there and sell it. Its your call though.

 

To nice to hack up there is someone out there who wants that car the way it is, look in the cl***ifieds here there are some projects here that sound like what you want.

 

Sell it-a soft market will maybe hurt the sale price, but help you on the one you buy. That car is too nice to change around. Someone wants that car, just like it sits. When you find them, everybody will win.Then you can pull out all the stops on the car you really want.

 

OK, at this point the votes seem to be 14 to 1 in favor of selling it and getting something else.

My question is, why not keep it without shaving it and etc.? It's a fine looking and desirable car. Sometimes (quite frequently, actually) stock is a good thing!

Edit:
P.S. Maybe by the time you can afford the notching and bagging, this whole "laying frame" concept will have run its course. We can only hope!

 

Don't mess with it, too nice of a car to shave. Sell it or keep it as it is.

 

Hack up a standard car insted made in 100000 ex insted

 

Everything looks better lowered. Drop it down and call it good.

 

put that thing on ebay........ regular sedans are going cheap, you could buy a nice coupe and have money left to help with the build or i might bu up for a trade http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/20818723 just turned 60,000 miles

 

I gotta go against the prevailing opinions here. I don't consider a stocker to be sacred no matter how rare. When someone modifies a rare car, that makes it all the rarer but also makes it more of a statement than modifying a similar common model would.

Of course, this is ***uming that money isn't the object, as it would make more financial sense to sell it and start with another. But because you asked the question, it seems that the money isn't an issue.

 

Have someone Photochop and lower it if you like it go with it

 

nothing is to nice to cut up...... kustom

 

It's not about it being too nice. It's about it having MUCH more value as it sits than a very comparable delux tudor. For what the OP wants to do with it, there's no particular reason for him to use a Crestliner over a delux, so why not sell it and use the cash to not only buy a delux but also build it the way he wants?

Sounds like a win-win to me.

 

That is a nice stocker.......normally I would say chop the living dog **** out of it.......not this time.

 

Gotta sell it and buy a Deluxe or Custom model. I've got a '49 that will be chopped & hardtopped at the end of the month, and already is shaved, decked, nosed, peaked, frenched....

Wanna trade? I'd love a crestliner.

 

yes i understand that, i just look at it as he already has this one if the body is super solid ie no major rust , bondo ,repairs needed why go through the h***le of selling it off then trying to find a super solid tudor. just keep it and sell off all the crestliner trim and acessories (thats just what i would do)

 

and there is your answer

 

Thanks touchdowntodd. I'm glad my point was made clearly!

 

I agree. If you sell it to a restorer/collector later, it's easy to undo lowering.

 

I agree! How about adding some custom tire/wheel combo that you like, maybe add some chrome pieces to the engine, minor interior mods. Nothing that can't be changed back to stock. Put a small for sale sign on it, ask a lot of $$ and see what happens. Get your price and find another car with $$ to spare. If not keep cruising...

 

I ran into the same problem with my '57 Buick. It's a high-option, all-original car, (factory A/C, etc.) but I don't really care I'm not restoring it and I want something to make a custom. I've been trying to sell it since July I think, and I've got nothing. So now I'm just going to do what I want with it, but I would try to sell first.