Tell us more about your grandfather and his 51 "record setting bonni trip". what was his race car? did he build it? Did he have partners in this venture? tell us more!
Well, figure I should chime in here.... Brujah, the actual value of an original set of Ardun heads is going to be damn near impossible to estimate. There are several factors to consider. 1) How complete. 2) Over all condition 3) Actual verifiable race history? 4) Public demand That being said, 1 through 3 are things that could be figured out by someone like myself who has had more than a few sets of Adun heads through his hands. Also V8-60 Ardun heads. The real hard one to figure is the public demand. In this day and age of Ebay and people paying ridiculous prices for stuff, the sky could be the limit......HOWEVER, also in this day in age you have guys reproducing them and the repros are better than the originals, so thus....the price drops back down. You see what I'm getting at? For anyone to give you a value is kind of pointless. There are just way to many factors involved and some can never be accounted for. I can give you some past value information and what I think a fair sale price would be in a certain condition if that helps you out. Also, I sell rare speed parts for guys all the time so they can get what they're worth and into the hands of a real rodder who wants them. Let me know if you'd like help with this. I just sold a set of V8-60 Ardun heads for a fellow HAMBers Father. Ok, time for a little "rough" estimating. ***uming they are pretty much what you are saying they are, we'll ***ume they are complete, undamaged and just greasy/dirty/dusty from sitting for 50 years. We will also ***ume they have some race history, but nothing that can be verified or if it can be, than nothing of major racing substance. We also will ***ume for arguments sake that if you put them on Ebay, they sell for what they're worth and not some crazy high price that you get when 2 guys go nuts trying to out bid the other. All these things in consideration...I'd say anywhere from $12,000.00 to $17,000.00 would be the sale price. There was a set on there last year that was up for auction several times and never went higher than $12,500.00. I know the gentleman and also his reserve, people were not that far away from it. Just my .02 cents
One thing I've learned as I've gotten older is that you can always (in theory) buy something, but if you have a piece with family history, when it is gone, it cannot be replaced. It usually works out to never sell anything - but hey - financial situations sometimes dictate drastic measures. In the early 90s I had to sell my Hemi Charger and Boss 302 to make the morgage payments. Wish I didn't but I needed the coin.
Brujah, No matter what someone tells you, they are worth what they will bring. You are on the right place to sell them, but no matter where you sell them, you are going to need pictures and be able to answer questions to get the true value. This is all a waste of time till you get serious and show pictures and get the info needed to bring top dollar. If they are worth thousands, then borrow a digital camera and get serious about selling them. List them on the cl***ifieds for best offer. If you don't think the offer is enough, just say no. Go to Ebay with a reserve and find out what someone will bid. If you are lucky, you will get a bidding frenzy. If Grandma wants to sell, and you don't want them, get serious and help her or step aside. My 2 cents.
Chad S got it right. If he has no p***ion or need for them, then p*** them on. He said he wants someone to get them and use them. Im sure that would make his grandpa happy too. I also think he ran across alot of stuff and through google searches and ebay and such he found prices for most of it. If you search Ardun then you get the repop site. And he did, because he knows their cost. I think that within 1 or 3 pages of searching for "hot rod" or 'ardun" you'll run across this place. If he's computer savvy then im sure it wasn;t that hard to stumble on this little corner of the ol internet. I find sites all the time just looking for information, not because someone told me. I like that these are in witchita falls. Preety close to home for a pair of arduns...
Isnt the number of original Ardun heads known in exsistance small enought to count on ones fingers and toes? I remember reading a figure in the low teens (like 13 known or something) in an magazine article about 7-8 years ago.
MAYBE for the small V8-60 ARDUN heads. I think there are hundreds of the big sets out there, I know of Six sets on running engines,within an hours drive of the keyboard.
I'm just wondering what kind of intake and carburation he used with the heads and if it's still with the motor. You could have a really trick setup there!
The historical value is the original Bonneville cl***-winning engine from your Granddad's car. Do a little research, find out what the cl*** and car he ran and won were and advertise the engine as what it is, a great historical find for a Bonneville enthusiast! Then sell the additional parts separately for the maximum bucks. Ardun heads sold in conversion kits were marked with sequential numbers, replacement head castings were not numbered. I have never known or read of any do***ented information on how many sets of heads were made in any style, early or late or V8-60, or how many replacement heads and parts were made. Most guess the 60HP heads were made in very small numbers(less than 20 sets) and the big engine heads upwards of 500 sets maybe as many as 1500 sets. Best of luck and don't feel bad about selling Grandpa's legacy, a great collector who displays his goods for the public is a better guardian than you would be because a car guy is a car guy and if you're not, that's OK too. I've never seen a he**** being followed by a Brinks truck or a flatbed hauling a racecar. He couldn't take it with him but sure enjoyed it while he was here!
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