Hot Rods 32 body inflation

The new Speedway catalog lists the U.P.I. 5w coupe body at $30,000 ....a rather significant price increase....

 

Amazing isn't it. A 32 isn't priceless to me. Prices on all parts has gone up, if you can get it. Where is it all gonna end, I don't know but wonder. I'm kinda nervous to start a new build right now.

 

Have to be one desperate SOB to pay 30k for just a body.

 

Or rich. This is just "chump change" for some of the high-rollers now starting to infiltrate all segments of the car culture.

 

what is the market price of a N.O.S. '32 5 window sitting in a barn somewhere?

 

I think a very low mileage 32 estate car was listed for a million or so a couple years ago

 

Driving up the prices are the shops that buy a bunch of bolt-together parts and crate engines to create flashy cars to sell to rich people.

 

Classism is so 2003

 

With the cost of labor these days. To find a decent 5 window body and get it into primer stage . A guy is going to have that much or more in one .
Vic

 

We rich people have always been around. In 1932, the average wage was $1368 .and the price of a Duesenberg chassis alone in 1932 was $8500. In 2020, the average wage was up to $71456 which makes your chassis cost just under $440,000.

 

Look up an Inflation calculator online. 25 years 1997-2022 is 75% inflation. $20K in 1997 is $35K today. 2022 inflation is 7.5%.

 

Or, if you allow me the band width, consider this; you buy a rusted-out hulk of what once was a '32 ford and lack the metal, body and paint skills to put in in paint. Add door latches, windshield, hinges, perhaps some unobtanium...what would it cost to catch up with a perfect body that is a primer and block to prep for paint? I can say this because I am not rich, I did pay nearly $30,000 for a steel body and put it in paint on the cheap. Add to that how many guys buy that 8,000 dollar car and never see it through to completion due to the time, expense and "biting off more than they can chew". I'm not advocating new over old, just saying do all the math before "eating the rich". That 30k body "may" be the most economical choice for some consumers.

Ok, thanks for the moment, flail away.

 

One of the reasons I retired from the chassis building business (other than being an old fart) was the rapidly increasing costs of materials made it impossible for a small business like mine to keep up. I got the bill today for a 20 ft stick of 1.25 X 14 gauge square tube I needed for a project and it was $2.50 a ft. I absorbed the costs for a while but it just got to be to much.

 

.

You obviously are not rich.

 

I will say, I'm a body and paint guy so rusty piles of garbage appeal to me rather than turn me away. I understand if you're paying a guy to do the work, the bill adds up fast but 30k just seems crazy.

 

Thier catalog says $25399.99. Out of stock. Well I guess that helps bump the price.

 

I still find it amazing that companies still invest in the tooling to build this stuff for a limited market...It use to be that the auto companies would build parts for ten years after production.... I don't know it this is still true....

 

I know the feeling Gary, I needed one 2x4 x8' stud this am, run down to the lumber yard and almost shit a brick. $9.85 with out tax

 

Well, only my wife and our accountant know the truth about how much money I have.. But, I have the pleasure of doing what I love to do-even work (when I choose to do it). I have food, clothing, a home, a hot rod, a loving wife of almost 50 years. three happy kids and three happy grandchildren and I don't owe anybody a dime. So, you're quite wrong, I am rich.

 

Yeah, that $2.50 per ft. is a small bite in the wallet for most unless you're needing several hundred feet, or as in Gary's case used on a regular basis, most generally doing a build at home we're out the door & give it little thought. It's that big $ that prevents an everyday guy who might have a longing for a body that finds himself refocusing his prospects.

 

I will say that $30k for a bare body makes a $60k finished car seem cheap. There are finished cars in the classifieds here in that price range.

 

30K sounds like a lot of money for the body but you must remember the parts are stamped overseas and imported to the US which puts UP at the mercy of the Chinese and foreign container ships both of which are out of their control.

 

If you want to play, you have to pay. I can't do body work, and having owned an early Ford parts business in 1970-1974 I know of all of the deals that we had at the time. For the most part they are gone, never to return. Today, unless you are a purist, the most economical way to go is with a reproduction body. I have seen people pay around $ 20,000 for an original 1932 ford roadster that was rotted up 6-8 inches all around. I sold a lot of patch panels to people like that. Then they brag that they have an original 1932 Ford roadster. Are the patch panels original ? Sub frame, ? floor panels ? If they have to pay to have the body work done at a quality restoration shop at about $ 125.00-$ 150.00 per hour, how much money do you think they will have invested ?

 

$30K may not be out of the question IF:
The steel is the same gauge as original
The fit and finish is as good as original (I know... original stuff was made with 'wide' tolerances)
It is a TOTAL bolt-and-go body
In other words, IF you don't have to fuss with it to build a first-class rod, fine, but any finessing required will definitely boost the cost above $30K.
Not many of us can just drop that much dough at one sitting, we have to spread our spending out to match our earning/saving, so the target buyer population is (I think) pretty slim. If you want to spend $30K, use it to buy a semi-finished, well built rod and go from there, as that body will just be the beginning of the iceberg for you.
JMHO..

 

I'm really rather shocked at the number of comments that seem to accept the rampant inflation & granted we have little or no recourse, pony up or do without. I have read where the container ships waiting at seaports has increased 10 times over $2,000 is now $20,000 how that equates per container, I'm not certain... but the matter of fact is probably fewer 5w builds until things relax. Given the dire European situation, how long before Taiwan sadly meets a similar fate & should we not be concerned more with humanity than anything?

 

I have a good friend that bought one. Just a working guy. Just comes down to how bad do you want to build a 32