I have a relative who has had a 1928 Ford tudor for some time and think he may finally be ready to sell it. I haven't seen the car yet, so I can only share what he has told me. Car is supposedly very solid... not rust free, but just a few very small areas with a few pinholes. Good****le. Interior mostly gone, but otherwise complete. The worst thing about the car is that he says the wood is rotted pretty bad. This is all the info I have until I get a chance to look at the car. Although I would love to have the car, I am more concerned with giving him a fair estimate of it's value even if that means I can't buy it. From the information I have can you guys give me at least a range of what a fair sale price would be? Thanks in advance.
Really hard to say with no pics but around here 4k would be a good deal and maybe 6 ish would be high end of fairish... ****uming the moter spins and drive train appears runnable. Wood not too big of a deal on a Tudor, fordor and vickys are the ones with alot of expensive wood to worry about. But again just a guess without pics and more details. EDIT: if he says minor pinholes and wood rotted probly means it's been out side for a while and the rust is worse than I'm****uming and the moter is probly siezed, so maybe 3k to 4k ish...
Yep, from the lack of infomation, I would say $1000 to $4000 Pinholes of rust could denote an unusable body, hence chassis value only. Pics help !
boy, a real***** shoot until you see it - is he looking at it with sentimental eyes or, reality that it needs a ton of work
You can look for similar cars in Hemming's or ask over on the FordBarn from the Model A guys. Just don't ay you want to rod it.
Why don't you buy a copy of the Old Cars Report Price Guide which comes out every other month? The latest one has values for a '28 Ford Tudor as 1. $16,000 2. $11,200 3. $ 7,200 4. $ 3,200 5. $ 1,920 6. $ 740 Figure out which condition it is and that will give you a ballpark value.
People who aren't car people have no real basis of what "solid" means, and the description is vague. At the extreme low end, you've got a parts car/very rough project with a good****le (huge) and maybe some useable pieces would put that in the $1000-$1500 range. On the other end of the scale it could be a garage or barn kept car that really only does have some minor pinholes and an engine that turns and maybe decent old paint that someone would want to preserve, maybe even some rare accessories or upgrades, that could put you in the $5k-$7K range.
Although it is terrible to pay too much for a car it is just as bad (or worse) to pay to little. Figure out realistically what it will cost to turn it into the car you want to end up with and then price cars in that condition. Many times it is less expensive in the long run to buy the best car you can afford rather than let a project car nickel and dime you to death. Post pictures when you have them. Charlie Stephens
I have to agree with Charlie above. Too many times I have seen people buy low and end up with far more that the going value of the car. A '28 with some rust, bad wood and missing interior will add up REAL fast. Again, it depends on the final project goal.
It is always less expensive to buy a better car, especially one that you can drive and enjoy and only needs some minor tinkering, than buying a "project" that needs everything, especially in the time and money department.
Without seeing it I'll say $2500 if it's just 1/2 way beyond your description. Just because seat cushions are there doesn't mean they can be used. Could be full of broken springs due to rust. The pinholes...stick pin or clothes pin? The wood is mainly in corners and on the top, more wood than the 30-31. Kits are available to fix it. Good luck, might be a kool ride some day.
$100 and I'll let you load it onto my trailer. I'm sure the neighbors have complained and I'm just willing to do my part to ease rural tension. Stop those annoying phone calls and send me an address. "Fred the Helpful"
We just replaced all the wood in my 1930 tudor, and it takes two wood kits, one for the top, and one for the body. If you buy the nice kits it will run you close to a $1000. Getting the old wood out is the hardest part. They say to start at the front and work to the back. This worked good for me. Wood replacement is not terribly high tech, but I'm glad it is done. Good Luck with your future project. Gary
No sentimental value. He got it years ago just because it was a cheap antique car. He is in his 80s now and figures he'll never do anything with it. So if someone will treat him fair he'll get rid of it(only person who had tried to buy it before was a local cheapskate who wanted to give him scrap price).
I haven't looked at one of these in a long time. Just curious, since the market has gotten so(IMO) out of whack, do they keep up sufficiently? I ask because my Dad and I used to buy and sell some used cars and recently NADA seems to have, in some instances, gotten out of sync with the market by up to 30%.
Pretty much all I am concerned with is checking out what the condition of the sheetmetal really is and the fact that it has****le. If it turns out to have an overabundance of thin metal, I plan to walk away.
In my experience, the sellers that have cars that only need "minor tinkering" do not generally have them priced in a manner that reflects the work that they still need. Additionally, I have yet to find a prewar Ford coupe or tudor car in my price range that only needed tinkering.
NADA has no idea what old Fords are worth. Small things like hidden rust in the seams between the body panels on an A can cut the car's value in half in a hurry. You will need to see the thing in person, and check it over closely. I've got a saying I like to use if I can. I tell the priceless seller "I can't be the seller and the buyer at the same time". Try that and maybe the old fella will say what $$ he needs to feel good about the sale.
Sorry, I guess maybe my reply was not as clear as I thought. I was meaning that the late model used car values in NADA recently were sometimes way off of real market value and I was wondering if the old car price guides were beginning to show similar discrepancies relative to the real old car market. As I said in my original post... I would love to have the car, but my #1 priority is to determine a fair market value. If that means a $ amount that I am unable/unwilling to pay, so be it.
No way to give a value, but if the WOOD is all rotted, WATER has infiltrated, and the sheet metal is probably punky or non existent ( worse case scenario). BUT almost anything can be saved if you spend the time and money on it. NEED PICTURES! CLOSE UPS WOULD HELP.
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