Hot Rods Helping my aunt with a half-built '30 Ford - Now with photos

The problem is, there's a lot of work left to do, and the market for a stretched 30 Tudor street rod is limited. To get somebody to pay $30k for an unfinished Model A, that's a tough sale.

Nice engine though. And it looks like good workmanship on the build, but IMO the styling limits the market. And selling it from Palm Springs means buyer's are gonna have to travel to see it. Not an easy sell IMO. You might want to sell the engine separately, that should go easily, and then get what you can out of the rest.

I wish you and your aunt all the best, sorry she has to go through this, and good on you for helping her.

 

I'm thinking 15K for the whole shebang

 

Getting a shorter radiator and shell and moving it back to set on the front crossmember would make it look a lot better

 

Looks like a stellar build right there !

 

I cannot agree with anyone's opinion that car is out of style or not desirable and should be priced cheaper than what you want. I would not start parting it out selling the engine separately either. Given all you said about your uncle I'm pretty sure the workmanship everywhere on that car is excellent. It looks like he was pretty much done with all the body work given the light sanding spray that was applied to the body. Unless your aunt is really needing the money fast just get it posted everywhere in the world and somebody's going to jump on it for what you want or at least in the neighborhood of what you want. Hell, Jay Leno might want it! ! Be wary of everybody's opinions including mine

 

My buddy just bought a 32 two door sedan on .bay blown big block top of the line was featured in car mags for $35,000
Fire suppression system.

 

Thanks for the kind words. From what I can tell, the buyer pays shipping or picks up the car or motor?

The trailer in the background comes with it, I'm still trying to get specifics on that.

 

Thanks Carl for the answer. It seems like it's a matter of finding someone interested in looking at it.

 

To be fair, I'm trying to help in part to get a ballpark on what the car is worth, which isn't really my aunt's strong suit.

It will be much easier on us to sell the car with the motor and trailer all as one sale - I really don't want to take it apart or pay someone to do it.

Jay Leno actually called her a few years back about the VW. They had a nice talk, he was interested in the car but didn't think that it would fit his collection, but apparently he had a bunch of questions about how my uncle built it.

 

I would think with the trailer included, right around $18,000 would be a fair and realistic starting point to ask.

 

I think I would start at 25K and go from there. I would separate the engine from the car for the right price. As said earlier, at least 15k for engine/trans. Lots of people will probably be interested in the engine.

 

I was trying to be realistic. The bottom has fallen out of the street rod market the past 3-5 years and the market is getting more & more flooded with cars and parts. People are just getting old and that markets base circle of people is in their 60's, 70's and 80's.

 

Might be helpful if you could f I nd some paperwork in the engine. Build sheet or receipts etc. That car is no where near ready for the road. What's done may be done well but somebody's gonna have a bit of work ahead of them.

There's an ass for every seat. Go with your gut and throw a price on it. No bites then lower the price. Though not my cup of tea it looks like its well built with some quality parts.

That being said, for me an engine that's been rebuilt but has no build sheet might as well be a junkyard engine unless I can peak inside and a car in primer that's been sitting might as well have had no bodywork done cause its coming off. When you buy someone else's project there's always stuff you don't like that you change etc.

Selling custom stuff is a pain in the ass. The old car market is way down. Without you being there to sell the car or without someone who can represent you your aunts gonna be dealing with a bunch of tattooed hairy scumbags (like myself) crawling all over the car making lowball offers. I see the logistics of selling it worse than coming up with a price for it. Good luck your Uncle sounds like he was an awesome guy.

 

Please post your final results and best of luck.

 

At $18000 for car ,motor and trailer i would be interested.

 

I saw that vw in a you tube vid recently. I think it was that Scotty guy who films car shows and features people's rides.
Sorry I watch to much and can't remember exactly.

 

Looks like a nice build.

OP...yes, the buyer would pay (and should arrange) shipping. Since you were not aware of that, be very careful about scams...i/e " I'll pay your price plus X amount, please give the remainder to my shipper".

See what you can find on the engine, if your aunt doesn't have paperwork on it, she may know where your uncle took it to and you can try to go to them for info.

Blown, fresh well built Hemi's are not cheap. You need to figure out what tranny is in it, what rear end is in it, and the particulars about them.. You need to have someone look the build over for quality (I'm sure it's top-notch) once all things like that are in order you can set a proper price, DO SHOW your uncles magazine article to any potential buyer...it'll sorta be a testament to the quality of work that was done to the car.

Best of luck and awesome the help your are giving your Aunt.

 

Spot-On, I was thinking 18 Myself, As in Real money, No BS .. Will sell! Not bumping every week in the classifieds... .02

 

My aunt found the receipt for the Hemi - $10K from Junior Thompson (I guess my uncle knew him and they did some things together) and the motor is a 1958, never started.

The car also comes with a 1999 Pace enclosed trailer, with a winch, cabinets, and interior carpet.

Totally appreciate everyone's help here. I'm working on getting someone to the storage facility to take a lot of pictures to put it online for sale, and then I'll go out and meet whomever is interested.

 

My girlfriend has tattoo and hair, and she drives a hard bargain, so maybe that gives me some experience to sell the car?

Honestly, I always had a great time hanging out with my uncles friends, even though I was much younger than they were.

The "old car market" is way down - I understand what you're saying, I'm sure it goes up and down a lot.

 

I doubt it'll go up much or at all. The group of people interested in that market is getting smaller each day. People are getting old and there's just not as much young blood getting into the hobby as there are old ones dying off. This isn't meant to be a negative thing, just a factual one.

 

That receipt is Huge in the sale, game changer... I hate to say it But that auction site is going to be Your best bet..

 

First u have to find title for car. All parts receipts helps - collect all the paperwork & lots of pictures detailing suspension, frame, rear end the whole car. Drag it to a local rod shop and ask/find out what all the parts are. Put it up for auction. Good luck

 

The guys saying $15L-$18K are probably right, I don't think you could reproduce it for that money. Of course what it's worth and what you can get for it are usually two different things. In some ways it's much harder to sell an unfinished car, but this one what's there is nice enough that a guy could change the things he objected to without much additional expense to make it his own, it may actually help sell it.

The market may come back some as the economy improves, but the resurgence of factory muscle cars is what's really hurt it, when you can buy a 700HP car brand new that has a warranty, or even at 350HP it will go fast enough to get you a major speeding ticket and impress the women, having a car built for you and waiting around for it becomes less interesting. Sort of the same as what happened in the late 60s and why this board cuts off at 1964.

 

The fact it has been setting is killing it, the engine could be seized or a surface coat of rust inside for all anyone knows, a new set of valve springs are a given since it hasn't been rotated. Same thing for trans and rear end, gears half in and out of oil, who knows what efi setup is on it or where the brain is to run it.
20 year old trailer could be same way, floor rotted, brakes locked up and tires rotted, what about back fees on anything.
A person would definitely need to air on caution and not just buy on external looks.