I had a guy call me a few months ago about repainting a 33 dodge sedan. I met him at is house right out of city limits from where i live. I've driven past this place a million times and never would of thunk. So he walks me down to a shed to show me the car he wants repainted. It's an original 33 sedan, runs and drives with original paint and interior. Nice clean car with some faded paint. After bs'ing with this guy for over an hour, he tells me he's 83 years old and telling me the history of his property. This guy has more spunk than i've ever had. He points to the barn and tells me, him and his dad built that themselves, mixed and poured all the concrete by hand and framed it up. Then he says... you won't tell anyone what's in there if i show you ,will you? Of coarse i said no. So we walk through the still functional chicken coupe and he said, me and my dad busted this foundation out years ago. He slides open the door and its pitch black. He shines a flashlight in there and low and behold, a 41 chevy pu and a 30 model a coupe. These things are covered in dust and cobwebs. They're sitting on the dirt floor under the first story hay loft. So i take it upon myself to check them out. The pu is a little rough, not really rusty, but beat up from being a farm truck. The coupe is actually pretty decent. It's all there with the rear window blind half down and the keys hanging out of the ignition. I asked if they were for sale. He said the coupe is his brother in laws and the truck is his, it's not for sale. He said he'd ask him if he'd sell the coupe. He told me to call him next week because he was supposed to talk to him. So a week goes by and i call. His brother in law wants me to make him an offer. I said i really don't want to make an offer, i'd rather just know a price. So he told me to call him back in a few days, and i did. I asked if he had a price in mind, the guy got really fussy on the phone with me and said he doesn't have time to be a car salesman for somebody and then hung up..I'm not sure what to do. I'm not really in the market for another project but i'd hate to see this slide through my fingers as well. I'd love to have the coupe and also love to show everyone video of me pulling it out of the barn. It's kind of one of those once in a lifetime oppurtunities. I don't want to give alot for it because i don't need it, but i don't want to insult him either. Hard to tell with no pics, but what's something like this worth. It definately needs a total restoration with very little rust repair. I restore cars for a living so i'm aware of the money pit this will be, but i still want it.
you had your chance and tried to get cute. You know darn well what the car is worth. Why screw around with an old guy. He asked for an offer, so give him one. Sounds to me like he is already upset, so you wouldn't have been any worse off making an insulting offer. Perhaps he is a good judge of character and has a hunch what you are up to. After all, he knows you restore cars for a living and would expect that you have a pretty good idea what his vehicles are worth.
i don't think it is anything you did , all those old farts are hard to deal with. most are just lonely and want the attention. if it was so special to him , why is it sitting on a dirt floor and covered with crap? make him an offer you can live with..if he tells you to go to hell , just wait and buy it on the estate sale
yeah, i'd say you blew it already. should have offered him something off the bat if he insisted on it-even if it was a "low ball" offer. you won't be getting the car for $500 like i think you were secretly hoping and to be honest, at this point-i don't think you'll be taking it home at all.
I think the paint job is what pissed him off. I don't think he's priced paint and labor lately. I told him i'd would swap some t & m for the car, but he said that was a seperate deal.
Just dealt with a neighbor, a 83 year old women, trying to buy property. Mowed her lawn from time-to-time, changed her light bulbs occasionally, always friendly. She had that perfect little old lady next door attitude (and she was a great neighbor). When it came to negotiating for the property... wow, I knew she was sharp but a hard baller? We came to a fair price but we didn't start there. Agreed you should have offered. Throw something at him that's fair and see what happens. They didn't get that old by being stupid :]
We have a winner!!!! I've dealt with guys like this for over 50 years. Your problem is him knowing you restore cars. Anyone else and he MIGHT have swollowed that line. Now your only option, provided you REALLY want the car, is to make him an offer based what it will be worth when it's finished minus what it will take to restore it. Try to be cute with those figures and you can kiss this one goodbye. Your big advantage is you know what the restoration will entail. He has got a figure in mind and it might well be in dreamland, but the fact remains his name is on the title, he holds all of the cards. I'd try one more attempt and if you strike out keep your eye on the obituaries. Frank
If you don't like dealing with old guys, just go find a young guy with a car you want. Pretty simple. As far as this deal goes, I think you'd have better luck dealing with the owner than the go between. But it kinda sounds like the deal has already gone sour.
is that chicken coop big enough to bury 2 bodies in???? if so,problem solved,cars are yours..negotiation ended...
Got a girl you can have make the call for you? If she's sweet, she'll get it for you at half price. Just kidding. But it does require the right amount of BS too. Like it's been a dream of yours to have a car like this and you know you can't do justice to the right offer. The one thing you have going for you is the bad economy and similar cars are going for less now than a year or two ago. Can you find the best deal on something similar and be able to give them background for your offer? Sometimes it takes a little homework. I've done similar buys and with fact on paper, they were responsive to something that worked for both parties with very little haggle. Hope it works for you................
The longer you wait the more time the brother-in-law has to find out what its worth and unload it to someone he already knows or someone someone else already knows, you follow what I am saying? Get it soon if you want it. $2500-$7500 for a complete non-running original Model A seems to be the price range, dependent on completeness and deterioration.-Weeks
When they're reluctant you say hey, times are tight, I hate to make an offer and offend you because you think it's too low, if you have a number in mind let's see how far apart we are so I'm not wasting your time.
I worked on a guy for a year and a half before he let me on his property last month. He had 3 A coupes and 3 trucks that had been rusting away in the open for the last 50 years. The coupes were all "converted" to irrigation trucks and rusted 6" up all the way around. He asked me what I wanted to pay and I told him to give me a price. So he says you can have the pick of the litter for $3750. I had just shown him ads for original drivers that were going for $4500! I wish I could find one in a barn...
damn near word for word what i was thinking. i think you mighta blown it. would'nt hurt at this point, i suppose, to make an honest offer and see if he bites. what have you got to lose?
if these old boys are as sharp as you say they know the economy is bad right now with nothing good on the horizon so bet they won't be as insulted as you think. bring cash!
I don't think it was as personal as you're making it sound. Nobody's screwing around. A major rule of negotiation is to never throw out the first figure. I buy lots of old crap and was prepared to pay upwards of $100 for an item found while digging through stuff at an estate, but I kept my mouth shut and the seller told me that they only wanted $20 for that specific item! Consequently I ended up buying a whole pile of stuff for $125. If I had thrown out the first figure, my dollars wouldn't have gone as far. It's a crap shoot, though. Some people have the idea that their stuff (cars, parts, whatever) is worth its weight in gold and then there are folks that throw away, donate, or scrap some seriously awesome stuff. If that car isn't actively "For Sale" then you don't have to worry too much about someone else offering more for it, because evidently he's hidden the coupe away from the general public. If it DOES come down to where you have to make the first move, here's what I would do...instead of a specific price, think of a range that you would like to stay within. Start by offering on the lower end of that range but be prepared to cough up a bit more until you hit your "ceiling" price. Always be sensitive though, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
If your in this hobby long enough, you may turn into one of these old farts too. I'm getting old enough to snub tire kickers too, it really gets old spending years collecting stuff, and everyone walks up thinking you're running a f***ng sale ! Get over your crushed pride, and go sit and chat with the guy, you may learn something. He may just be mad at some other issue or the previous tire kicker.
Hey guys, A couple of things that have kinda gotten lost here. Number 1, the old guy showed Rust2rich the cars just cause he's a car guy. He never said they were for sale. In fact he said his truck wasn't for sale. Number 2, the old guy just called his brother in law kinda as a favor and it doesn't look like he's getting anything out of the deal. I'd get a little tired of hearing "What will he give?" from one end and "Ask him for a price." from the other more than once over the phone too. Looks like a waste of time for the middleman, whether he's old or young. Number 3, Rust2rich states that he doesn't really want another project, just hates to miss a cheap barnfind (if I read things right). See number 1. Larry T
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