How is anyone else doing who is trying to sell any of their cars this summer?

[Guest drnittler]

No luck on my cars as yet. I'll keep trying.

[olympic]

I've had my Stude Starlight coupe for sale for a year. Nothing

[auburnseeker]

Mine are starting to warm up a bit. I have a few buyers lined up for the Plymouth. I just have to squeeze them a little to make one of them move. I've had alot of interest in the Chrysler since that online ad came out in Hemmings. No takers yet (no one has come to see it in person) although one guy said he would buy it as soon as his investment fund was released. Sounds hokey but he did talk about driving up in his motor home buying a new trailer in MA and coming over to pick it up even inquiring about the weight to make sure it would be OK to pull behind his rig. We'll see. It's coming out in print in another week or so. It might move then. There seems to be alot more interest now. I think people are feeling a sense of urgency before winter to Finally make their dream happen.

[Matt Harwood]

Welcome to my world, boys. If I sold a car to every guy who said he'd buy it, I'd sell five times as many cars as I do. Don't ever get your hopes up until there's money in your hand, and even then, 1 guy out of 15 or so will ask for it back...

[mrspeedyt]

i am suffering from lack of enthusiasm to go thru the hassle of advertising my imperfect cars and project cars... finally i listed my 40 la salle sun roof 4dr sedan project car on craigs list and the only interest generated was by a scammer that wanted me to send $900 to his 'transportation broker' before purchase funds would be 'released' by pay pal...beware of adamjohnson5255@gmail.com.

Edited September 20, 2014 by mrspeedyt (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

I had a couple look at the Plymouth she loves it and it's for her , but they want to trade an 83 Mercedes SL roadster in Very nice condition with 86,000 miles in on it. And at my best price which I had already given them of 16,500 cash they wanted 14,000 out of the Mercedes, because their mechanic said it was worth that. I checked sales on them and as much as NADA says they are worth alot more, Auction results, Which is the only way to check actual sales, show they rarely break 10 G. It's a white car with tan interior. Not real flashy. I don't think the curb appeal is there to get 14,000 out of it. Now if they had a Nice John Deere or Cat Backhoe, we would have had a deal.

[capngrog]

If the Mercedes is "easily" worth the $14,000, then the couple can "easily" sell it over night and return the next day with your selling price in cash. Maybe their mechanic will buy their Mercedes.

Just sayin',

Grog

[alsancle]

If the Mercedes is "easily" worth the $14,000, then the couple can "easily" sell it over night and return the next day with your selling price in cash. Maybe their mechanic will buy their Mercedes.

Just sayin',

Grog

Correct.

[auburnseeker]

If the Mercedes is "easily" worth the $14,000, then the couple can "easily" sell it over night and return the next day with your selling price in cash. Maybe their mechanic will buy their Mercedes.

Just sayin',

Grog

That was my thought exactly.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Seeker, your assessment is correct. The 380 SL is the least desirable of the "R107 chassis" SLs - they initially used a single row timing chain which does not last and faillure will cause major damage to the "interference" engine design. while this was rectified, I am not sure if it was done for the '83s, or the next model year, either way HP was anemic. Add a somewhat "off" color combinaiton to the mix and even a well maintained 380 SL will take a lot of work/luck to pull $14K. The other problem is even with a nice example, once you get into more money you can then look at 450/560 variants, both more desirable.

They may or may not know this much about these (doubtful if they are relying on mechanic to value the car) , it may be worth the discussion but sometimes perception is what matters though, so you may just be too far apart..

If cannot sell that car at $16,500, this must be a really slow market -maybe Hershey?

[CarNucopia]

Couldn't the same be said about the $16,500 that is being asked for the Plymouth? If the car has been for sale this long with no takers, it may be time to consider that it is not priced to sell. This post was started to get constructive criticism on why the car may not be selling. Sorry if this is overly critical, I'm just offering my honest opinion.

If the Mercedes is "easily" worth the $14,000, then the couple can "easily" sell it over night and return the next day with your selling price in cash. Maybe their mechanic will buy their Mercedes.

Just sayin',

Grog

That was my thought exactly.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

IIRC I think he had a higher "bottom line price" and just adjusted to accepting $16,500 - sure seems reasonable for a usable, open prewar design (even if postwar car).

[CarNucopia]

I agree it seems like a very good value. Ultimately, it's the guy writing the check whose opinion matters most. I love prewar cars, so it disappoints me that the interest/demand doesn't seem to be there.

IIRC I think he had a higher "bottom line price" and just adjusted to accepting $16,500 - sure seems reasonable for a usable, open prewar design (even if postwar car).

[auburnseeker]

I've had lots of interest all at 15,000-15,500. A friend told me he's pretty sure a guy that was haggling with me at the local car show will go 16,250.00. How rediculous people can be. It's 250.00 difference. That's about 1.5 percent. We aren't talking about a 1000.00 car. It must be down to principal thing at this point. I told him just tell him I'll make the deal.

Time is valuable as well and having people come for a test drive and waste 3 hours a pop is getting rediculous. I know everyone interested will say I should have bought that and it will be nice to say too bad someone else stole it. LOL The satisfaction will be worth the difference.

[williegeno]

For pricing as I mentioned earlier I take into account a bunch of factors but the primary ones are, find a 46-48 plymouth convertible in the shape mine is in (all the way around including mechanics) for less. (I haven't found any)

The same on my Chrysler 36 Chrysler C 7 airstream roadster (they called it that from the factory) it's really a convertible. I'm still looking for any kind of comparison on this. I was told by someone inquiring into my Plymouth that they had a #2 1936 Dodge Convertible that they turned down 75,000 for. I know there are some Plymouth's out there 30-50,00 range but a Chrysler is not a Plymouth. Maybe you could compare it to a Junior Packard? They are a little more plentiful so you can track sale prices better.

In the end I still come back to the conclusion what could I buy with that money to replace the car I am selling? Could I buy another higher end 30's Convertible in the 35-36 year range as 37 and up had alot of styling miss steps and only a few models carried on with elegant styling.

On the Plymouth what other 46-48 Convertible could I drive home for the Price I have on it? I know 25,000 will buy you quite a few nicer cars but that's 30 percent more.

I think there is maybe a narrower market because of the Mopar factor. Less buyers for early Mopars than FordS or even Chevy. Does anyone know of a good die hard Mopar site? That may be the next step. I don't want to drop the price so low that just the flippers start looking. I would rather sell it to the next real owner so he knows what's been done and can be shown the degree of restoration done to the internal components. That's going to get lost in the flip.

I welcome all ideas. I just figured I would start this thread so anyone selling a car could say how it's been, what has worked or what hasn't.

Thanks for all the posts so far.

Seeker

I feel for you.... Honestly. It is a different world today and, fortunately for you, you started on the collector journey before I did. You at least we're able to experience the profitable days of this hobby. Unfortunately we will have to rely on our grandchildren to pump air back into the hobby before we can expect the road to relief. Ain't going to happen so plan that your investments are likely going to end up in your estate. If the market revives(and it will), it could work out to be the most savvy estate plan you have. Consult with your estate consular and then sleep easy.

However if you have difficulty with this and you just want to divest, we can pick up again on the email conversation we had six months ago.

Williegeno