Tell him you give him what he paid for it new. Some peolpe don't know what they are worth. I bought a 50 canadian mercury from a storage unit guy that the owner had skipped. Nice enough 2 door car. The fella told me he knew what Mercury's were worth and I would not steal it. Ok, what you want? $750.00-sold. I turned it for $7500 after 2 days of body work.
I'm going to take a spin out to his house today. He's always working outside, if i see him, i'll stop and chat. I never tried playing any games with the guy, not intentionally. It's just i don't have a lot of money to spend and i'd like to know what kind of price he has in mind. he's definately not a grumpy person and we got along really well. He even knew of my late grandparents and said he dated my grandmother when they were in school. None the less, if i don't buy the car, it's experiences like these and talking with the older fellas about their lives and past that i enjoy the most about my job. The good hearted honest people that are getting rare to meet anymore. And i just love telling the story. To all a Happy New Year and lets hope and pray the economy take a turn for the better this comming year.
If these ole guys are such price experts why didn't you let them price your paint & body services? Oh that's right, they're living in the past. When prices were lower. Which is why you insist they put a price on the car. IMO you're trying too hard for a homerun and squandering an opportunity for a guaranteed base hit.
One thing about getting old is we have enough money that the money we get for whatever is nothing but loose cash, especially if we own a working farm.
Maybe heres your chance to be good hearted and honest,maybe the rite thing to do is help the guy get what the car is worth from someone who really wants it or offer him five hundred or so less than what you would ask for it in this condition before you touch it.
Been there. Lost my 63 Dodgethe first time around trying to get a super deal Guy wanted $2500 I offered $1900. The next morning my Mom died and I put cars on the back burner. A while later when the dust had settled I tried to phone him He wouldnt even pick up the phone. By chance i had his brothers phone number and called him "He wont talk to you will he?" he asked. I acknowledged it was so. Hos brotherwent on to explain hehad gotten ticked off and traded the car to a borther in law for a 65 Valiant Convert. He said he would call the brother in aw. The brother in law phoned and asked why I wanted the car and why I hadnt bought it before. I explained firstoff that y Mom had died the next day so cars were not on my mind right then. Next I explained that I already had the 426 block and Max wedge heads and innerds and wnated the right car to put it in. I had a 63 earlier but put a street hemi in it. (Search DOn DulmaGE ) This time I wanted to do it period correct. All the while I worried that he would take this to mean I would pay anything for it but sort of like you I didnt know what else to do. He said he would think about it. He called the next day. Don he said it is $2500 not $2000 not even $2499.95 . By now I got it. I will be there at 1 Pm with the cash i said and I was. That was 1999. Now I realize I could have payed double that and it would mean nothing now. The car was exactly what I was looking for a V8 solid no salt 63 Dodge 2dr hrdtp. I could easily have wasted 1000 or more driving around phoning etc etc and maybe not had as good a car. I say that to say this. Figure out what you want to pay, add $500 and offer it. (We always want stuff for less than it is worth, we all know that. After you get it and have enjoyed to for 10 years you wont even care about the purchase price you will be just so pleased to have the car. Last appraisal on mine was $27000 and it may have been a bit high, I would have said $22000. trying to save $600 originally seems foolish now and almost cost me the car back then. How many of these rare birds does one get a chance to buy. .That is my take on it anyway. Don
How could buying a Model A Ford be a 'once in a lifetime' thing Do you plan on droppin dead tomorrow....... Move on. Maybe it will come back. Maybe not SO WHAT? I would much rather buy a car from someone that wants to sell it and is a nice person.......... trust me it's much better that way. You didn't loose ....... he did. Do you understand?
I have three words for you..................... CASH IN HAND. If you strike a deal, pay for it right there and then!
There are 219 pre 1939 Fords on Ebay from every price range imaginable. Go from there. Like others have said, you know what it's worth and I'll assure you that old dude doesn't give a shit what the market is.
dont even look without cash in hand a 500 deposit will hold almost anything. old coots will change their mind tomorrow ,you blew it.pardner
Figure out what you think is a good fair price, get that amount of money in $100 bills, go to his place, ask to see the coupe again then after you look it over, pull out the hundreds and spread them across the hood and ask him if he will take it. I have done this several times with people that at first seem reluctant to sell. Once they see a stack of $100's they are next looking for the title. Money talks, bull shit walks! Rex
But in this case you'd be showing them to someone who doesn't own the car. He isn't in a position to say yes or no. .........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...........
Being an old coot, I can't think of a quicker way to find my out door. That is an insult to my intellegence and integrity. How would you feel if someone did that to you?
A friend of mine buys and sells a lot of different things, cars, antiques, and oddball stuff. He told me he never makes offers on stuff he's trying to buy, because the price can only go up, and never gives a price on stuff he's selling because the price can only go down. If he's buying something and thinks he can make something on it he just gives the asking price, that way when someone he bought something from finds out he resold it the next week for sometimes double the money, they can't get too upset about it because he gave them their asking price. If he's selling something and they make an offer and he makes money on it it's gone. He seems to luck out on a lot of deals so this works out well for him. This probably does not help but shows why a buyer may not want to make an offer, and a seller doesn't want to set a price. The buyers always want a deal and the seller wants the most he can get. If it were me I like the idea mentioned about offer what you think it's worth to you and add 500.00 to that. Myself, I tried to buy a Studebaker Champ pickup from the widow of a guy I knew, offered her 2500 for it and she refused me flat like I insulted her. It sat for a year in the yard and someone bought it for 3500, had to do a complete brake job with everything new for 1200, decided he didn't want the truck, and after 3 no sales on ebay I offered him 2750 and drove it home. So sometimes you get a second chance and get what you're after. Good Luck.
I'm an old fart and we are not as stupid as we look..................................Be thankfull you can still walk!
I ain't an old coot yet but I'm on the doorstep. When I hear a thump on my doorstep I don't look to see who it is but instead take a whiff for bullshit. Granted you have to know the bullshit games to survive in the world today but when you're a home you can take the day off from it. At home is where the old coots keep their old cars. At your home is where you should leave the bullshit too. The most important thing you gotta remember is these old coots where brought up in a time where bullshit was found in the barn, not in your mouth. A word was a word and a handshake meant something. Honesty is what some people called it. Try it sometime, you'll come to like it. You may have already blown the deal but the next time try it like this. When he asks what you're offering, I will offer you a fair price but you have to give me a ball park figure to start with. How much did you pay for it and how long ago was it? If he's reluctant then honestly give him the high and low going prices to the best of your knowledge. "I have seen them go for as little as $1000 or as high as $50,000 properly restored." Then you may get a response from him and you can play it from there. Sometimes it takes a long time for a person to part with something such as a car because of the sentimental attachment. Those old barn finds represent a good portion of someone's life. However, there are some old coots who like to toy with you and you'll never get anything from them. It's their right to take it to the grave if they wish, I just wish they wouldn't dangle it in front of people's noses. That's why they get called old coots. Like the old saying, win some loose some. Leave the dickering and bullshit for the swapmeets
I though the same thing when I first read it.....gawd... Old people got internet too, but I'm sure they couldn't find their way to the HAMB.
It's insulting to prove you have the money to complete a transaction? I think just the opposite. Don't waste my time with a promise to buy it, just buy it.
Some of the lousiest sdvice I have ever seen on here. The object of the negotiation is the Model A. He won, he still has it. He doesn't need the money, cash or otherwise, because he hasn't needed it for 50 years. The offers mentioned here have been a joke. Where are you going to get a decent Model A Coupe barn find for a couple thousand. The sale isn't all that important to him one way or the other. If he can come out of the negotiation with respect, and not feel jerked off, I think he would sell it. If you can't treat him with respect, I doubt you will get the car. My opinion is as useless as all the others, just go out there and ask him how you can show respect to his old car and fix it up and put it back on the highway. Forget about the car for a moment and think about getting to know him and what makes him tick, without thinking in the back of your mind how you can get the best of him, as others have suggested.
Why wring your hands? Make an offer you can live with. If the guy feels insulted, deal with the emotional trauma and move on.
Just walk up to the door and knock on it . When he answers the door . just say "how about $2500 for the car" ? He wil either say lets talk and invite you in or cuss you out and slam the door . Won't be the first time or the last that someone has done that to me . Can't get them all and you don't have anything to loose but 30 minutes of time . Just go and do it !!! If you arn't going up to the old mans house , CAN I HAVE A SHOT AT IT ???????
so now everyone knows who he is and where the cars are? I don't think so...An old fella with a barn somewhere in Mo. sorry for spilling the beans. I'm sure he told me this so no one would mess with his stuff or bug the hell out of him.
go back in person and apologize for whatever it is he thinks you did, and ask to start over. If this gets you back in, then make the offer of the amount you had in your head when the subject first came up. But only if you really want the car. If your offer is something he considers a lowball type, then best move on and forget it.
Am I missing something here; An 83 yr old wants to tart up his old car...Why? Does he still drive? An 83 yr old has a living? brother in law who leaves a car with him for X yrs? He calls a known car man to quote on a fictitious paint job and then...Ta Da... have you seen my other cars? And then.... this ones not for sale, but this one might be. This old boy is not a bad fisherman. This old boy has all the cars for sale. He's just waiting for the right man to make the right offer. Now you have to work out how the rest gets played out. BTW, to the silly young men who are denigrating this man for being old, he will have forgotten more than you know. He knows the rituals to trading backwards. One of the first things he looks for are the scuff marks on your boots (from all the tyres you've been kickin').
I have to agree with these guys. You know what the car is worth, on the market, and you'll have to make them an offer based on that; or forget it. It might be too late anyway. I get people all of the time asking me about one of my cars, it pisses me off when someone is trying to low ball me. They'll ask me if I want to sell something, the first question that I ask them is if they know what it's worth. The answer is always the same, they say no and then I'll tell them what it is worth.
Having been involved in lots of buying and selling,there is an old adage:"The first one to name a figure....looses". A friend one time had a guy offer him a couple of rare motorcycles.The guy's comment was "I don't know what they are worth". My friend offered him $500! The guy replied"They're worth more than that!". My friend replied "you do know what they are worth!"
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