41 chevy, very nice sheetmetal, one side wood good, other needing repair, w/title. sold for $2000 + 15% buyers premium. no, i did not buy it, i'm outa room, although i did buy 2 pick-up loads of parts, you'll be seeing some here soon. 51 chev 4-dr sedan, real solid $3800 41 chevy coupe solid, no fenders, all apart $1900
it was a deal. although who knows where it would have ended if I got involved. it was an OnLine auction only, i went friday and checked it all out. lots of 33 & 41 chevy sheetmetal that i did not bid on, I concentrated on the big boxes that had parts. that engine hoist in one pic sold for $6
Makes you wonder how many other auctions are out there that never get the exposure many hope for. Bob
Whoever got that Woodie for $2000 stole it. There are so many Woodie specific and rare, hard to find pieces on every Woodie. He could part it out and triple his money. I hope he brings it back to life. Keep it all chevy with a newer stove bolt or a small block.
Presentation is everything in most of those online only auctions. Air up the tires, clean out the area around it and drag it forward far enough to get presentable photos of it and you just got a lot more people interested in bidding on it. That and the auction house has to be seriously knowledgeable about vintage cars.
Not to be a negative nancy, woodies are cool, but that looks like it will need a lot of specialist work. I assume when auctioning a woody project your target audience is pretty much limited to people who can make all the wood and people who can afford to pay someone else to do it... and then a finished woody doesn't sell for that much more than a steel car... with that in mind I'd think one in this shape wouldn't pull much at auction. How wrong am I?
I would like to see that woody saved. I think it is a pretty rare car. Maybe it will be resold by someone that can market it better.
The woody was a bargain, the 4 door seems like premium money. Coupe seems like plenty too if all the fenders were missing. These online-only auctions are the ones to watch. Some stuff always brings good money, but there are a ton of bargains out there, and being in that business, I'm always watching. I bought a Jaguar XKE last year for $700 ($805 with buyer's premium). Granted, it's a horrifying piece of shit, with just enough left to consider it a car, but that's not the type of thing you buy for a bit over scrap price every day.
From what I can find, only 2,045 Chevrolet woodie station wagons produced in 1941. In only one model, Special Deluxe. That purchase was a steal. So yes, it's rare, and if production numbers mean anything related to value, there were 15,296 convertibles produced. I'm sure there were a helluva lot more coupes and sedans produced than woodie station wagons.
UPDATE: was there yesterday picking up my stuff (and I got a shitload) the guy there to pay for the woody told me his brother, who lives in NJ, bought it and he offered it to me. we didnt talk price but I have his # and am trying to make space first. this is just part of what I got.
Woodies are a labor of love and not a profitable selection for a flipper. You can buy 100 dollars of hardwood and spend 3 months cutting, shaping, fitting, and sanding it to even come close to the dimensions of the original piece. Woodies are at their best when completed, not before that. A project woody will just advertise itself as a project requiring a lot of work. Woodies belong to those who do their own work and are satisfied with their results. If you elect to take on a project woody and sent it to a shop you will never have a completed project and you will go broke before it it completed.
Coconut, I understand what you say & agree. the car really only needs a couple door pieces and some plywood replacements. the back door was solid and there's a little rot above the rear window. needs a couple roof slats and a bunch of Varnish. I am not a professional woodworker, but have amature enough skills and a friend that was a woodshop instructor with a complete professional shop at his farm. it all boils down to me making space (which i have none of) and his price. i'll let everyone know whats going on. PS: I would be content with a halfass job & beater quality.
Well bought. Most profit is made at the purchase. Or cheap enough you don’t mind playing with it. I’d drive it
I think a beater woody would be super fun! Just fix up the wood portions to the best of your abilities and slather it in urethane or varnish or whatever, as long as nothing is going to fall apart and it's generally square. It's just wood, if you fuck up a piece, throw it out and grab another one. It doesn't have to be a perfect restoration.
If you clean the Woodie up and put an ad in the Woodie Times, the magazine offered by the National Woodie Club, I would bet that you could ask $20K and get it. Coconuts, $100 worth of hardwood might get you enough wood for a keychain. Re-wooding an entire car will be about $15,000 in material and about $10,000 in labor. 1941 Chevrolet Woodies are fairly rare and finding one in restored condition would set you back at least $60 to $70 grand or more.
you guys tossin around all those big #s got me thinkin. I'm gonna call the guy, scrap my 50 Olds junker wagon and get the woody under roof, if the price is right
To give you an idea how rare 1941 Chevrolet Woodies there are, there are only eight listed in the National Woodie Club roster.
When I buy something its always a deal in my mind, but when I go to sell it its another story. I don't know if there is such a thing as a deal in a woody project. Around here there are some great buys in fully restored woody's that the owners cant give away.
called the new buyer, he did his homework & he knows the rarity. wish i woulda done mine. no automobile woody in my future
"I bet the original seller is kicking himself right now!" I was going to post earlier but had to do something first but I was going to say that it looked like an estate auction by them selling off the guys cars and car parts and Mr. Chev just confirmed that. The family is probably doing the opposite and telling everybody that they sold his junk cars for big money and cannot believe there is a sucker born every minute. If you don't follow or play with old cars, lots of people think they are just junk cluttering the place up. My dad"s buddy brought a farm up north many years ago and he had an auction of stuff left behind. The auctioneer asked him if the 57 chevy over the hill was being sold too. He was going to haul it in for scrap but thought if the auctioneer was willing to sell it, let him, less he has to clean up later. He thought it was worth $75 and it sold for $3500. He thought that was nuts for a rusty car full of bullet holes. Father asked him what type of car? he said the auctioneer called it a 57 chevy something 2 door wagon. I said Nomad and he said Yes, that is what the auctioneer called it. another time the restuarant we used to eat breakfast at the cook mentioned about an old car I just brought home. 1928 ford, asked about what we are doing with another one. I mentioned not sure but I just turned down $3000 for it. She said she would have sold it for $100. She knew I was a scraper and just presumed all the old cars I had there was just worth scrap price and not worth anything more. She was wondering why I wasn't hauling the old cars in. Like I said if you are not into the old car game, quite a few don't have a clue but that goes for other stuff too. You cannot be an expert on prices in all fields. Yes, that woody was a steal. I love those online auctions especially the smaller guys that don't have a big following yet. You just never know.
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