1931 Hudson Great Eight - Very rare car

Here's your chance to own a rare car with a rare story that makes this car the one to own. This 1931 Hudson Great Eight Model T, 2nd Series prized antique car has 71K miles on it and is just about all original with rear suicide doors. The items that have been replaced or added are the Paint, Wheels/Tubes, starter, fuel pump, Windows, 1 rear tail light and battery. The engines runs great and purrs like a kitten. This particular model has one of the first economy gears made called a free spin. Now here's why this car is interesting. The original owner disassembled this car down to the frame and boxes in the late 50's. It was restored from those boxes after 2010 when all the new parts listed above were added. This car's original interior is still intact and boy does it look good. It looks and feels like a sexy limousine inside.

For additional pictures and the full back story, please read it's website

dducky007.wix.com/1931-hudson-great-8

Ebay Link

Now that the Ebay auction has ended and the

$20,102 top bid didn't meet your reserve, you

might want to list a price here in this forum.

If fairly priced, your car should attract at least attention here.

All the best on your sale!

Pretty car.

I believe one would have limited faith in a "professional appraisal" which consisted of one "mind boggling" paragraph about the vehicle, and a dozen or more paragraphs about what a wonderful life the appraiser leads....

Good luck on sale, hope it finds a good home, my thought is that a 75K valuation is very optimistic....

Pretty car.

I believe one would have limited faith in a "professional appraisal" which consisted of one "mind boggling" paragraph about the vehicle, and a dozen or more paragraphs about what a wonderful life the appraiser leads....

Good luck on sale, hope it finds a good home, my thought is that a 75K valuation is very optimistic....

I agree with everything tri scar has said ! Possibly the Ebay bid us a suggestion about the optimistic price tag !

i still like it but the evaluation has scared me away !

Wayne

p.s. Still have not received a response to my email.

Unfortunately, there's absolutely no way that interior is original. Perforated black leather/vinyl didn't exist in 1931 and they certainly wouldn't have done the door panels and headliner in the same stuff with exposed chrome screws. It might be an old interior, but it isn't 1931 old. Maybe 1980s old.

Whomever told you all the things about the car that make it rare (perhaps the appraiser with the questionable value judgement?) was wrong on almost every count. An unusual car, but not a custom, one-off freak made specially by the factory. It's a standard Hudson Greater 8 (not Great Eight) 4-door sedan. They didn't make a lot and fewer survive, but it's nowhere near a one-of-a-kind special order. I would strongly consider pursuing the appraiser for a refund as it seems he merely told you what you wanted to hear rather than offering a sincere and professional evaluation of the car. A crank hole cover is rare? Really?

Do more homework--even something as simple as a Google search--and you'll see that the facts regarding its specifications and their attendant rarity are wrong on almost every single level. Wire wheels were optional across the line so it's not all that remarkable to see them here, sidemounts were optional and available on all models, and suicide-style rear doors were indeed standard equipment on the 5-passenger family sedan, although, as you note, there appear to be other sedan models that had a different door configuration but I don't believe that contrast adds any value. It's like saying that the roadster came in red, and since this sedan is tan, that makes it really valuable.

This is a decent car, Hudsons are interesting and handsome, but if I were to professionally appraise it (which I do for a living, by the way, and I specialize in pre-war cars just like this) and put it in my showroom, it would be with a $29,900 asking price and a hope of getting $23-25,000 for it when it was all done. But with that interior, I might even be disinclined to list it--it's so badly wrong on just about every level that it really hurts the value, IMHO.

The appraiser isn't doing you any favors with his "knowledge" and now the car is burnt in the market. It will be that much more difficult to sell now that all the potential buyers (including at least one on this forum) have been frightened off by the staggeringly high price and vastly incorrect details.

Appraisals can be useful tools, but if they come back with prices that you know are crazy (and, let's be honest, you knew he was way out of bounds @ $75K), you should get a second and even a third opinion. Heck, just a glance at a price guide would have told you that he's off by several orders of magnitude. Just because someone tells you something that makes you happy doesn't make it true. This appraiser has done you a grave disservice if you're relying on him to value this particular car and has now handicapped your ability to sell it. That's not cool at all. Bad appraisers do almost as much damage in this hobby as bad body men, and this is an excellent example.

A bit harsh maybe but it had to be said. Good job Matt.

A bit harsh maybe but it had to be said. Good job Matt.

I agree --- needed to be said, and good job Matt.

There are too many self-proclaimed "appraisers" out there who tell the customer what he wants to hear, then laughs all the way to the bank with the customers money. That Hudson has such a bad interior that it's ridiculous. There are so many cars out there with comical paint and upholstery schemes which are looking for an unwilling, knowledgeable, naive buyer. And frankly, because the car needs a complete new upholstery job, getting $20,000 would be a miracle. (I've never understood why people go through all the effort and expense to do incorrect work, when installing the correct upholstery or a correct paint scheme costs no more than doing a bad job. You can never go wrong with authenticity.)

Pointing out the reality as Matt did is a great service to the hobby by preventing some well meaning buyer from getting hosed.

First off, apologies to the owner of the Hudson, I meant no offense to you personally. What really bothered me is that this appraiser, who makes himself sound like some kind of legend, has so badly misled you about this car. It has been my experience that most appraisals are off by a certain amount, usually on the high side, and once that number is on paper, it's really hard for an owner/seller to forget it. It often renders a car unsellable simply because an "expert" told them what it was worth and that's the money they're counting on. Reality doesn't matter, an "expert" told them otherwise.

There's one "buy it, fix it, flip it" show on TV somewhere, I don't even recall which one, that simply uses an appraiser at the end of the work to determine whether they've made money. They don't seem to actually sell the car, they just hire an appraiser, and whatever he says is what they assume they'll make. Usually they're high-fiving themselves--meanwhile, the car hasn't sold and they haven't spent a dime on marketing (which, obviously, cuts into profits). Could that be where people are getting the idea that appraisal value = real value? I wouldn't be surprised.

I run into A LOT of bad appraisers/pre-purchase inspectors. There are multiple services that do a correspondence course and voila! You're a certified appraiser. When someone from one of these groups shows up to look at a car I have for sale, I know it won't sell. They don't have the knowledge to put a 70 year old car into context, they just make a list of flaws and mail it to the buyer. My 1941 Cadillac, which was AACA HPOF car of the year in 2012 had an appraiser look at it and the buyer later called, horrified, that the paint was wrecked. No, it's 70 year old paint and it's pretty nice. Yes it has thin spots and some scratches, but it's ORIGINAL. But without context, yes, it looked like it was all scratched and chipped. Context matters.

Then there are guys like the one who did the appraisal on this car, which are even worse. He's so overwhelmed by the car and so amazed by things that experienced hobbyists take for granted (spoke wheels, sidemounts, suicide doors, a crank starter, and the smoothness of a straight-8) that he completely forgot to check comps and do any kind of investigation at all. He just said, "Wow, nice car! It's so amazing to me, I've never personally seen one like it, therefore it must be worth a fortune!" Never mind that it's a pretty garden-variety car (no offense to the car or the seller), but the fact that the appraiser had no experience with such cars means he was flabbergasted by the details and assumed they were miraculously rare. His inexperience shows in his belief that the interior was original, because anyone who has spent any time with old cars would spot that a mile away. This is why I specialize--I do not appraise or sell motorcycles, Ferraris, race cars, or boats because I know nothing about them and cannot speak with any authority. It pains me to turn away business, but I care more about integrity than making a buck. Obviously, that's not a universally-held belief.

To summarize, my beef is with the appraiser who completely misled the owner of this car. He started to market the car based on that appraisal, and it has harmed the car's marketability and quite likely the bottom-line the seller will achieve. I don't know if there are legal damages to collect, but at the very least, the guy was grossly negligent in his duty as an appraiser. Like I said, just a glance at a price guide would have suggested that he was WAY off. It looks to me like he just dashed off the appraisal in the driveway rather than going home and doing some homework. An appraisal typically takes me 3-4 hours at my desk doing homework, plus spending time with the car. Flying by the seat of your pants, as surely happened here, really hurts the hobby in a big way, particularly those who are less experienced and put their faith in a "professional."

I'm sorry, but incompetence shouldn't be permissible when you're playing with other people's money.

In Ontario any car sold that is over 20 years old must have an appraisal before it can be licenced so I have a little experience with having appraisals done. I have had cars appraised where the hood was not lifted or the engine started. It is merely a formality with some of these guys and they will appraise it for whatever price you want to set. If buying they will ask you what you paid and give an appraisal for less if you ask so you can pay less tax. If it's selling or buyer needs an appraisal for insurance they will ask you how much you want it appraised for and give you that as as appraised value. Not all are unscrupulous but the ones who are are doing the hobby a big disservice.

Matt, I was treading lightly, but your comments are spot on and truthful. Anyone who reads that "appraisal" should be shaking their head. I agree that the seller should press for a refund.

I once took a small loan to buy a car I really wanted, the bank wanted an appraisal, and named a local fellow they liked. First words out of his mouth to me, "What dollar figure do you need on the appraisal"?....

Mr. Duckworth (seller), I concur with the

suggestions being made here. Matt Harwood,

for one, is knowledgeable. I didn't assume

you would believe that appraisal price--but

at further inspection of your website I suspect you do!

And from whatever a price guide might tell you,

one would DEDUCT the cost of replacing the

incorrect interior (likely $10,000 or more), refinishing

the bright white dash in the correct color or wood-grain,

and correcting any other details that were not done

authentically.

This forum's advice may not be what you wanted

to hear, but it should be far more helpful to you

in the long run than that appraisal was.