1931 Buick on Craigs List $5000 obo

[Guest BJM]

31 buick barnfind

[jscheib]

Loks like way to much. But would be interesting to find out what the ccar is next to it.

John

[Hudsy Wudsy]

Asking prices are often merely trial balloons. I've trained others to sell all of my life and I always told them if you never ask full price you will never get full price. Many times unrealistic prices like this on old cars are the direct result of some loud mouth son-in-law or know-it-all nephew spouting off his knowledge. They aren't the ones to deal with. Someone will by this car, and, no, not at $5,000. Nice find Bryan!

[60FlatTop]

I like the part about Know-it-all sons in law or nephews. That's when the fun starts. Anyway, I have a small company where our motto is "If we aren't having fun, we're not going." If you are in the inner circle you can actually get handed this email address: bernie@misterknowitallconsulting.com.

My first thought was that barn finds were supposed to be INSIDE the barn!

Bernie

[Hudsy Wudsy]

I've often found it more than a little fun to politely (condescendingly) educate (embarrass) the loud mouths in such similar situations.

[smithbrother]

I looked at a car some years ago, the seller said, PRICE IS FIRM. He kept telling me that, and each time I would just smile and keep looking.

Well, I liked and wanted the car, so said, IT'S A DEAL. He said great, let me have a few hours to clean it out, and you can go to the bank.

I returned and he said, "YOU WERE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF ME, YOU KNEW IT WAS PRICED TO LOW, SO I'M NOT SELLING". My son-in-law was just here and said I was 2-grand to cheap.

I just turned and headed home. My wife and I laughed all the way home, HE HAD SET THE PRICE......

Well, two weeks later he called and said if I wanted the car it was available at the original asking price. I laughed and said, ALREADY BOUGHT A NICER CAR, and said NO THANKS.

Yep, sure do hate it when a KNOW-IT-ALL gets involved.

Dale in Indy

[Guest BJM]

Dale and others,

I think it's a function of age. I would jump at cars 20-25 years ago but now I hardly ever make a decision on sight and if I do I go with my gut. I bought a one owner 73 Electra Limited last year for $2500 that was 1st offered for $7500 "because that's what NADA had". When are the price guides ever right? I mean seriously. They are always high and arbitrary. Statistics 101 is all about a pool of scores or numbers that can yield accurate results. I don't think these services are doing any service.

I bought my 1990 Reatta convertible the same way. I offered $2500 take it or leave it. He took it.

I went to look at that 39,000 mile 1974 Limited last week and the seller was firm on $1650.00. He said he had a buyer coming on Monday that said they would take it. Car is still on Criags List. etc etc

This 1931 Buick has some good parts but there are very few people who will buy it to restore. Judging from the wheel in the ground, this is a car which the seller has no interest in whether it sells for $1000 or $5000 they aren't "losing" money if that makes sense. It can sit there another few years if no one bites at $5000.

[60FlatTop]

My wife was 23 years old when I met her. I tried to teach her lots of things over the years. The only thing she seems to remember is the one time I used the term "buying work". That was a long time ago and even recently, when I was looking at a 1949 Lincoln Cosmo convert that is a major project she said "I thought you weren't going to buy any more work." I told her that was advice for other people, not me.

Bernie

[trafalger]

Dale and others,

I think it's a function of age. I would jump at cars 20-25 years ago but now I hardly ever make a decision on sight and if I do I go with my gut. I bought a one owner 73 Electra Limited last year for $2500 that was 1st offered for $7500 "because that's what NADA had". When are the price guides ever right? I mean seriously. They are always high and arbitrary. Statistics 101 is all about a pool of scores or numbers that can yield accurate results. I don't think these services are doing any service.

I bought my 1990 Reatta convertible the same way. I offered $2500 take it or leave it. He took it.

I went to look at that 39,000 mile 1974 Limited last week and the seller was firm on $1650.00. He said he had a buyer coming on Monday that said they would take it. Car is still on Criags List. etc etc

This 1931 Buick has some good parts but there are very few people who will buy it to restore. Judging from the wheel in the ground, this is a car which the seller has no interest in whether it sells for $1000 or $5000 they aren't "losing" money if that makes sense. It can sit there another few years if no one bites at $5000.

I'd like to add my little story as well. I'm new to the car game but I know that most of the stated prices on CL are either uninformed guesses or "pie in the sky" hopes of getting what they want. I went and looked at a 47 Packard that a guy had listed. It looked GREAT in the pictures, but even as I pulled up in the dirt driveway I could tell that this was not to be.

He listed the car for 6k FIRM!!! on CL. I spoke on the phone and he said he would be interested in trading my all original running driving 1964 Electra for the car. So I stopped by and found a 47 Packard body, with a '72 Cadillac 500 engine, trans, and rear-end. NONE of the dash worked, even the rigged up under dash gauges were broken, every single window in the car was cracked and had to be replaced. The battery was wired into the trunk, the brake pedal was about 5 inches in front of where the gas was so braking was insane. It BARELY started and we had to baby it around the block for a test drive. Oh and did I forget to mention that all but the very front grille Chrome had been painted over the same color of as the car (who in the hell does that!)

He said he had a guy coming down to buy it tomorrow and trade him for an old truck, so if i wanted it then we should make a deal now. I told him I wasn't comfortable with the repairs it needed and my car was pretty much done. He offered me a flat trade for my car AND 500$ in cash. I said...well maybe you should go ahead and call that guy with the truck and have him come on down. Then I gracefully exited....

It's still on CL