All,
I have to agree with Mark Hooper. There are restorations, and there are
restorations.
Fact: Unless it is a historically significant exotic car (eg, GT40 Le Mans
winners, Hitler's
personal vehicle, etc), a true nut-and-bolt rebuild will cost significantly
more than the
car will ever sell for, either privately or an an auction.
How much more? Lets take my rebuild. How much do you think I have put into
it? How
much is it worth on the market? Are you sitting down? So far I have sunk
$17K and I still
dont have a complete drive train. I figure the final figure will be
$26-$30K. And that does NOT
include the price of the vehicle nor the 1000+ hours of labor I have yet to
invest. How much
will it be worth when completed and sorted? I'd be lucky if I could get
$12K.
Sell it? No way. I'll be buried in this thing.
Look at White Post restorations. They start at $125K for mundane vehicles.
Consider one of
their latest "perfect" restorations; a plain-jane 1963 Plymouth Valiant,
with 3-speed column
shift for $150K. What is this car worth? Maybe $25K, if you could even
find a buyer.
Thus, it is possible to find vehicles that are a labor of love, but I would
postulate that most
of the cars that end up at B-J are not these vehicles. They are they to
capitalize on the hype
of the auction, and most of them are likely el-cheapo resto's of the kind
that Mark spoke.
Fact: Unless the car is historically significant (and not stolen),
*outstanding* cars are traded
privately. They are handed between friends, members within clubs, or via
the grapevine. I've
seen many exotic cars traded in this fashion. The cars that are traded
publically do so because
no-one who really knows about the animal wants it. Sure, the going price
for a great Shelby
GT350 is around $40K, but if I was in the market for one, I would join SAAC
and find my car
there.
Well, I'm warm now. Time to head back to the garage. I picked up a
Ractorations toleranced
oil pump for $40 and just checking it out.
Cheers,
Shane Ingate, looking for brass monkeys in Maryland
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