How has the ressesion affected our hobby

The only shows I have gone to are the ones benefiting a charity or a family that needs help. The shows that pad the bank accounts of clubs or organizations aren't even considered anymore.
I've had to pass on good deals to held our kids get through their misfortunes--example a 1930 tudor sedan running with good glass an passable interior for 3800.00---that one still haunts me but the family comes first,thank god I'm retired and can help.

 

It got me into a moredoor (yeah, I know how you feel about moredoors - I can't spell either - deal!). The seller was paying people to keep it road worthy and he was only using it a day or two a month - he needed to sell it. The car was good, the price was good and the savings guaranteed that I could afford to finish it up the way I want.

The same model two door in the same shape would have killed my "hot rod" fund.

 

I need more parts but I just cant bring myself to learn to speak Chinese.Guess I`ll just wait till things come back home.

 

Well i have to agree with a lot of you. It seems you have to sell a project for less than scrap metal prices. I sold my track T for well under it was worth. 401 buick, packard rear and yes..i used a ford twin I beam front end (theyre cheap and can be made to look good and not bulky) for only a grand, but bills needed to be paid..

Everyone wants to trade now. Ive sold a bunch of bits and pieces to help pay for my rodding, stuff id normally have just hung on my walls or kept in the rafters. I quit my car club as well.. they just want to drink and do tons of work to their cars (army boys with a steady paycheck), stuff i cant afford to do that much.

I cant believe ive only gone to one car show this year and not one single swap meet,as well.. id prolly end up spending cash i didnt have.

As it is im going fenderless on my new rod, so instead of hanging onto the old fenders, im selling them to be able to rebuild my brakes.

 

It definately sucks. The one thing I see going on is a lot more trading and swappin than there used to be. Maybe Hamber's should get together in thier perspective areas and see what we can sell/swap to help each other out in these hard times.LB

 

I was just at the Kalamazoo show trying to sell extra stuff and some of my duplicate gas and oil stuff. If it was over $35.00 they would give you a dirty look like you're trying to steal something from them. I saw tons of parts being carried out which I thought was a good thing, a lot of prices were really high and they sat. It is really tough out there and sales were few to none. But it was a good time, seeing some of my old friends again. I've been doing a lot of trading to get what I need and it's been good. Would rather sell and buy though.

 

Here locally I don't see the asking prices on cars or parts coming down that much. But I don't know what has sold or hasn't sold either so they may just not be selling the cars or may be taking trades.

I've got plenty of time to go to different events but the cost of gas and food on the road is the big killer for me. That and right now I don't have a vehicle running that I want to take to the shows.
I sold at a local swap meet earlier in the year and it looked like guys were being more selective on what they bought and only buying for projects that they were actually working on at the time and not buying for projects on the back burner like in years past.

 

When the economy really started going south in late 2008, I told a friend of mine that I was more worried in what would happen in a couple of years than right now. I have seen it in my business (Chevy restoration parts). It was a slow decline with a few bright spots, but overall a slow down. The slow down has really accelerated the last few months. Used parts and junk are still doing OK for us, but our new parts sales are in the dumper. Missing is the 5 or 6 customers a month that would pull in and leave with a pick up truck full of sheet metal for a project they were building. Now its just nickle and dime stuff, or the very few so far in on a project they cant quit. Business is like a yoyo---radical swings up and down, but mostly on the down side. I dont do tons of swap meets anymore, but the reports I get from suppliers and friends that do are not good. An earlier poster said right now it is about survival, and he is right. When the house payment is past due, the hot rod gets to wait.

 

Prices on swap meet stuff is really in the toilet. This week end one of my friends cleaned out his shop and we shared space at the Redneck Rumble. He was priceing it low but pretty firm on his prices, he offered a guy a close ratio Muncie with bell housing and a Hurst shifter for $350 and the man offered $275 then passed on the deal. Two new Coker 7.50 16's (dirty but never mounted) for $50 and still didn't sell his stuff till late Saturday. I bought a '62 Impala steering wheel with horn ring in excellent shape for $20. I'm starting to see good project cars going for scrap value or less.
Times are tough and things ain't looking up.

 

I comment on spelling errors occasionally on here, but it's simply because I can't understand what the poster is attempting to say. If we can't communicate accurately, then what's the sense of being on an Internet forum? There is a spell check feature on every page on here for a reason...

 

I have been trying to sell my '40 Mercury four door project for almost two years without any luck. It is a complete car with the original 16" wheels still in place. I offered it on craigslist earlier this summer with a 302 & AOD transmission for $2000 and didn't get a single call or email. The Nigerians weren't even interested in messing with me. I finally got lucky a couple of weeks ago and will be trading it for a running, drivable '49 Chevy pickup this Saturday. But I am having to haul it to the guy to make the deal. I am hoping the truck will be a little easier to turn. If nothing else, I can drive the truck until things get better.

 

I think fucking is great!

 

My 54 tudor project was making steady progress for a year.....now it's just ground to a halt and will stay that way unless the magic parts fairy drops a windshield, lots of rubber and some other stuff in my front yard.

I'm teaching high school at present to pay the bills, and in the past I could always scare up a truck-driving job on the weekends to make some spending money. Those are all but gone these days.

 

You KNOW it's bad when even the Nigerians quit responding!

 

hey...its so fricken bad up here i dont even get junk mail in my box anymore..and thats no lie

 

I have only attended a few shows...and the few I could attend I was only there for the day. Anymore I try to get a friend to tag along and split costs...it gets two in and cuts gas in half. Any work done to my vehicles has been repairs, no modifications or upgrades. My wife and I barely held on to the house this year so I am simply thankful to even have what I do have. I have had my truck out more this year though, as it seems repairs are getting fewer and farther in between for it. The Beetle has went under the knife but it was my daily driver and repairs are a must. When it is all said and done that car was the cheapest DD I could find at the time even though it needed some major surgery. My wife kept her Honda, which made her happy.

It sounds eventfull because we did take two vacations though. One to Florida and one to Colorado...both were for weddings for family though so neither could be missed. They were budgeted in starting two years ago though and we kept activities to a minimum.

I would say for those that have means the recession has brought out a ton of vintage tin and parts that I never seen before. Prices are still elevated in my opinion, but good deals can and often are found. Project prices have gone down in my area and they seem to be more solid for the dollar than in years past. There are still those that swear a rusty '49 Chevy 4-door is worth $5,000 though. I have been into vintage bicycles for some time now...and the prices for those have gone sky high. Some things, like cars, I can justify spending a little cash on to get something decent. In my opinion no bike is worth $800...I don't care what it is. I sell redone vintage Schwinn's with new everything for less than a quarter of that...and that's me not taking any cash for labor...it's all parts and all documented. Oh well...

In the end, this recession will rebound (as they all do), and prices will go even higher until the people more into the "fad" fade into the next new thing.

 

X2, very well said................

 

now thats funny.....maybe they can not pay their cell bills...

 

I had to sell my 32 project that sucked...made money on it so some people still have money.. now starting over with old school 55 f100

 

Should have added, Myself included.

 

Several years ago I posted to a similar thread that this to will pass based on several dips in the hot rod economy going back to the sixties. I was wrong! There is still money out there, but it's strictly for high end cars. I recently sold a '66 Olds Toronado and can't complain about the price I got. On the other hand, I'm seeing some smoking deals on finished cars that are HAMB friendly. At 70, I have no interest in projects at any price! In previous years, the hot rod economy was supported by 16-25 year old guys, single and living at home with good jobs through economic downturns. It appears that there are a lot more married guys with kids posting on HAMB friendly cars and it's a tough road to hoe right now.

If I had the answer, I'd post it right now! It's times like this that I'm glad I'm old and don't have to worry all that much about the future. On the other hand, I fear for the future of my children and grandchildren.

 

Sold my roadster, coupe, and most of my parts. Still hanging onto my truck and my other coupe.
I also pray that our current president loses the next election. I do have some spare change that will buy a case of PBR. I'll get drunk outa my mind when that shit fer brains leaves Washington.

 

I've had a truck for sale in the classifieds that is priced reasonable however the shipping costs out weigh the benefit of buying a really clean truck.

I've not seen this since 1977!

 

Been hit or miss up here. I do three shows in a row in the swap meet in September. We got the remains of a hurricane and a tropical storm through here a week apart, as well.

First show was a little slow but not bad, second show was normal, third show I did about 1/3 of what I did last year. Turnout was a tad low, too, but there was another show fairly close opposite it that normally isn't.

The shit I've seen in scrapyards is ridiculous - the yard I've been picking lately I noticed two off-topic cars that should have sold easy - a '72 Skylark coupe that was just about completely rust-free, and an '87 Monte Carlo with the big Nascar back window - those are usually $2500-$3500 if they'll run, no problem, on eBay. Even dead it would bring more than scrap money. The last car I've actually sold, if the guy pays me, I have to have delivered to him to make the deal. On a $1000 car. Even if it costs me $300, that's a tad more than I'd get to scrap it, which is next if this guy backs out.

 

An unsolicited offer to buy my o/t (mid-late 60's) car was laughable. Guy asks me what would it take to buy it. I told him, he counters at about a third of what I quoted. He sneered at me. Guess he figured I was hungry or something. Fully restored car I might add.

My 55 project has been going along steadily but slowing down due to some changes in financial situation. Winter makes for higher expenses too.

Quality of swap meet parts has been pretty poor, seems like the good parts are pulled off the market until prices rebound. I have a few things that I'm trying to sell, mainly by word of mouth. Last time I tried to sell an item on an internet forum (not here) was a lesson in frustration. IT was out of state, offered to have a friend who is a freight expiditer take them on his run for free but they had to possibly wait a month. BTW, no money would have to change hands UNTIL they were delivered and inspected. Was not good enough for the buyer though. Let me see here, drums/wheels/tires, 400 miles away, free shipping, inspect first, what more did they want? Me to pay them to take them?

That is one reason that I usually trade with friends instead. Less grief.

 

I live on the Central Coast California, the car shows are mostly run by Chamber of Commences. The Chambers are only out to bleed the car guys for big bucks, there shows from $50. to & 75 dollars. We have just two great shows and that's in Santa Maria the West Coast Kustoms show is fantastic and the Primer Nationals is a great show in Ventura.
I've been doing real well at the swap meets in our area, it's been a great time to clean out my garage. I've make over 4K at the last four swap meets the fifth one went $5. in the whole twenty sellers and no buyers. Made one sell for $10.

CRUISER

 

Mixed thing for me.

Got laid off in January. Lived off savings and doing freelance audio recording/mixing/mastering.
Tornado came through Minneapolis, popped the roof off the building.
Ate about $35,ooo , but collected $35,ooo - so had cash to buy a house - CASH

House is paid for. Wouldn't have gotten it for what I paid if the economy wasn't down.
Also wouldn't have gotten it if I hadn't gotten the insurance money.
Even eating $35k, getting the $35k I got was a blessing.

I shit diamonds sometimes.

Then, after signing the purchase agreement on the house, 2 days later, my car died.
Blew the motor. Just spent all my money (Nearly.)
Not enough money to buy a replacement car.
Buddy borrowed me a piece of crap.
Got called back to work.
Dude offered to trade me a 51 Chev Pickup for my Deville.

Oh, and the house came with a 2 car garage

Phew.

Been a crazy couple months, but you know.... it's workin.

Still recovering.

Things are slow.

Getting the parts I need for cheap. Again, a bonus from the economy being down.

If you have cash flow (what you're used to), and you're BUYING, now isn't SO bad.

If you don't have cash flow, and you're selling.... now SUCKS

If I poop any more diamonds I'll try to share

 

The thing that I've noticed most is people thinking that everyone is so hard up that they'll take a ridiculous offer 'because they need the cash'. Swap meets used to be a good place to make up some extra coin by offloading some of your spare parts stash.Its a buyers market in a lot of areas, but when you try to offer 50 cents for a used '56 Chevy turn signal lens that's already marked with the whopping price tag of $1...its really annoying.

Same when you try to sell anything automotive locally on Craigslist. People dick around, show up, waste your time by saying they "really want it" and then still try to lowball & make it sound like they're doing you a favor. Guess what? There's 10 other people that called on this stuff...so just becuase you're standing here doens't mean I can't line up another sale in 5 minutes.

Haggling is great, but now everyone haggles over everything. Last I checked, America wasn't an Algerian street market. Some people still have a sense of what their stuff is worth in the real world.

 

take a look at the goodguys , they cancelled their entire nostalgia drag racing events nationwide! they also eliminated their blue suede cruise in norwalk ohio and the great american nationals in pocono pa...guess everyone is feeling the pinch

 

Hahahahahahaha!

Brain (get it, I speled it rong!)