History Barris-built '53 Olds Kustom located by Chip Foose

It is posted on classic.com for sale for $500,000. Got posted 2 days ago, Nov. 6 2024

 

1953 Oldsmobile 88 Barris Kustom Convertible VIN: R386113 - CLASSIC.COM

 

Yikes! It is a beautiful time capsule and some of the legends of the era worked on it, but... $500K seems a bit steep! Its not like it was a notable/legendary car from the 50s. I would think it would sell closer to 50K than 500K. Maybe I'm just out of touch.

 

Foose made a big deal about putting the car back to how it looked after leaving the Barris shop, right down to the plate. That 'reproduction' plate is at best an approximation; I notice that in the side-by-side comparison, even the 'Washington' lettering is the wrong size. Sure, it'll fool a lot of people outside Washington state but there are still lots of people in/from Washington who would recognize it as a fake as I did. I'll also note that in Washington operating a vehicle with a counterfeit or unregistered license plate on a public road is a felony offense, right up there with altered VINs. The LEOs have no sense of humor about this... as a few knuckleheads I know discovered the hard way. At a bare minimum they'll confiscate the plates. Impoundment of the car and arrest of the driver isn't unknown. I suspect that this is true most places.

If the car is going to be a trailer queen in the future and never driven on a public road with those plates, it'll be fine. But I'd be extremely hesitant to try to use them on the road.

The irony is if the owner still had the original '58 plates, they still couldn't be used legally. Washington allows the use of vintage plates on collector cars, but they must be year of manufacture, in this case a '53 plate.

 

Chip touched it

 

That's why I never wanted to run vintage plates on my 53. Seems odd to have a car attempting to be early sixties style but have plates from a decade earlier lol. Just seems like it'd stand out

 

up for auction goes over the block Jan. 18 2025 Mecum Kissimmee auction

 

$500,000? Yeah I think that is on point for what that car is and represents. You can scoff at it all you like but in the end that car is unique in that it survives as customised. How many 65 year old customs out there remain in this condition? To have two icons of Customising like George Barris and Dean Jeffries having done the work is incredible, given how things ended up between the two it is unique and adds to the story.

Can I afford it? Fck no! but sure can appreciate the history of it. Who will buy it? I see a few high profile collections trying for it. Time will tell if it goes for overs or unders.

 

Parts 11 & 12:

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3 more days to wait and it goes over the auction block with an estimate of $200,000-$300,000 but time will tell. I haven't watch any of the auction this year but I might tune in on Saturday. A few things peak my interest that day.

 

I dig what he did for it. Not only did he do it justice IMHO but it seems he helped the value. Good on him.

 

I saw it yesterday. Chip did a top notch job. Jmho. Snowman ⛄️

 

what a cool car..

 

75,000 low bid shame

 

Did it sell for $75k, or was there a reserve?

 

No, it did not sell, the bid goes on.

 

Wrong Auction to send it to. I was watching the live stream no back story or mention of the Barris or Jeffries connection & the fact it's a survivor. Just announced as a custom 1953 Oldsmobile when rolled on the block Shame!

 

should have had Chip Foose do the introduction. he was there.

 

Seemed weird, just ran across the blocks no nothing just treated as a Janky ass old car

 

Was it just me, or did Chip not look too good?

 

Nobody is just randomly bidding on the car because it is announced as a Barris car or Jefferies sriped it or Foose detailed it. Bidders have all week to look at the car before it is auctioned. Anyone that is interested knows exactly what it is. Anyone that though they were getting over $100,000 for this car was kidding themselves. Just because the Barris shop worked on it doesn't change the fact it wss a completely unknown car until a few months ago. Unless they are super well know like the Aztec or the Hirohata historic customs do not bring big money.