1934 Packard 5 passenger Victoria

[Guest superods]

Check out Hemmings on line. There are 2 34 Packards that i believe are the same vehicle. There was one in Mich... listed a while back to advertise it for the Fort Lauderdale RM auction. ( It sold for 145k) Just in the last few days Hyman runs an ad... which appears to be the same vehicle...for 75k more than the one sold in Lauderdale. If this is so ...and the man sells that car for a nifty profit... we are stupid to bust our humps doin what we are doin. They are sharp marketeers ....before the last ad expires in Hemmings...on the same page .... they advertise the same vehicle...for 75k more than was paid for it a month ago !! I cannot believe it is the same car...is it ????

[tbirdman]

Probably it is. They is also another car, a 38 Packard that was bought he for $187K and is listed for $295K. No surprise, as a lot of dealers do buy cars at auctions. I've seen the owner of Hyman at auctions on TV. The trick is to have capital to buy the cars and then knowing what price you can turn the cars. I have neither the capital or the knowledge.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Wouldn't surprise me if it is the same car. There are a few outfits like Hyman's that must have to make a pretty decent profit on each vehicle they sell to stay in business. Hyman's is a good example - consider that they do not, to my knowledge do any contract restoration, sell parts, etc. They just sell antique and Classic cars. Everything Hyman's does seems to be first class, they usually have several spots at the Hershey Car Corral and bring outstanding cars. Advertising is extensive, first class and they are national in scope. Now, how many cars a month do you think they sell? It quickly becomes evident that they need to profit significantly on each transaction to stay in business, pay for transport, staff, attending events etc. Cool as long as you are not the one paying for all that, right?

Not too long ago I recall seeing a Stutz project car sell at auction for say 14K, I think Hyman was re-selling at roughly double that the next month. I have seen other situations like that also.

I tried to explain this to a relative who was interested in getting into the business of buying and selling musclecars. How many per month and at what profit is needed in order to make a week's pay if that is all you do? He only wanted to buy, transport and re-sell. A well established market on most of those cars pretty much limits the opportunity to make a killing on each sale. I think you can only get away with that on the scale like Hyman's with the high dollar cars - Classics, exotics, mid-year Corvettes or Mopars with a strong following and a higher profit potential. The wealthy clients will pay for someone else to do the legwork. Another problem, there are already many knowledgable, connected people doing this, and there can only be room for so many - especially at that level.

In a way I can understand what they are doing - they ponied up to take a chance on it, and if the buyer is willing to pay the difference God bless them, like Ken notes, they are putting up the capitol. Nothing wrong with that if you can do it. My guess is most buyers would do better financially to work with a broker or small individual dealer if they don't do their own search.

[1935Packard]

I bought a car from Hyman's about 6 years ago, and that that time they were trying to make the transition from selling mostly cars in the $15k-$30k range (the range of what I bought) to selling mostly cars in the $50k+ range. They made that transition pretty successfully, it seems! I think their market advantage is (a) having so many contacts that they can find out about cars coming for sale and grab good deals early and ( having enough cars in the same warehouse that high $$$ collectors can go to them knowing they'll have a few cars of interest on site that can be seen at the same time.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

It also seems like they don't misrepresent or sell junk. I think the cheapest car they had at Hershey last year was a 120 series Packard two door sedan - I think for just about $50K. Breathtaking condition - breathtaking price. But for the right buyer, gas & go, enjoy it and be competitive at any show. But a smart shopper could buy two 120s for that..

[1935Packard]

I was very happy with the car I bought from Hyman's; it was an unusual consignment sale, and I got a good deal on a very solid car and was happy with the situation. But I think my situation was somewhat unusual; I check out their website from time to time for their wonderful pictures, and it seems that their prices tend to average about 25% over what I think of as market prices. I agree that it's a good deal for the right buyer, as you'll get a solid car if you don't mind overpaying some. For those who have more money than time or aren't very knowledgeable, it's a pretty good deal, as this hobby can be really rough on those who fit that bill. For the rest of us, hey, we can visit the website to look at the nice pictures.

[tbirdman]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 1935Packard</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> I check out their website from time to time for their wonderful pictures, and it seems that their prices tend to average about 25% over what I think of as market prices. </div></div>

My only dealing with them was they came off the asking price rather quickly.