60FlatTop Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 I used to go to the police abandoned car auctions with my Grandfather. I was about 14 or 15 when I bought a Jaguar MK VIII or IX for about $13. A friend came up to me and said he was going to bid until he saw me bidding. I said "well give me $15 and that will cover my lunch." The auctioneer's lackey walked up and I told him to write the receipt to the other guy. Ain't it great to remember $15 Jaguars and $2 lunches with a Grandfather. He taught me fishin' in a barrel and pluckin' pigeons, sporting stuff. Back then people carried money in a wallet. And it was his very strict policy never to take a man's last dollar. Every dollar up to that point was fair game, though. I guess that kind of stuck. A few times this year I handed back a 10 or 20 saying "Thanks a lot. You are good to work with." Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Popadak Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Thirty years ago I went to the local car electrics place in town and asked if he had any 6v bulbs. He said no one asks any more for them, what did I need them for. I said my 26T coupe. He said he also had one. So I went to visit his house a mile away and the car had been pulled up into the top of his barn. He said he was missing the intake, exhaust manifold and the carburetor and if I had them, he would gladly swap it for this old extra rear axle he had. It was a Ruxtell and at that time before new repros were being made, they were being advertised for $700. My conscience wouldn't let me do it though, so I told him what he had and gave him a carburetor and intake manifold. Went to the Charlotte Autofair 20 years ago and found a small pile of a dozen emblems, mostly new repro acid etched nameplates for inserting into hubcaps. One however was an early round North Carolina state registration tag that you would nail onto your wooden firewall and with that plate's number you made your own leather license plate using metal numbers you would put on the front of your house for the post man. I asked how much and got told $2. I then made a small pile of other stuff and was told $3 and then took the whole pile and as I didn't leave I guess he figured he could gouge me, $5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 I started going to NYPD abandoned car auctions when I was in high school around 1970. Many driveable cars went for $5.00-$10.00 and I remember a '55 Chevy convertible was a hot item at $15.00. Those were the days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Gregory Posted January 12, 2017 Author Share Posted January 12, 2017 I think other members have gotten better deals than the one I got . There is some good horse trading going on here . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 (edited) The most important thing is the "courtesy offer". No matter what is offered for sale and how unbelievably good the price is ALWAYS dicker for a lower price and buy reluctantly as a courtesy to the seller. If you go "wohoo, I'll take it" all you are doing is making the seller feel taken. Always be courteous and pay a lower price, if you can, so the seller feels he got the most he could..................Bob Edited January 12, 2017 by Bhigdog (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drwatson Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 I paid .25c for a nice headlight 10 yrs ago at a local yard sale, didnt immediately recognize it but it turned out to be V12 Packard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercer09 Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 I paid .25c for a nice headlight 10 yrs ago at a local yard sale, didnt immediately recognize it but it turned out to be V12 Packard. very nice! when ebay first started- I also found an early Packard twin 6 headlight- it ended up being from either the NY or such car show of the teens............ bought it for 35. and sold it for 150. and felt I was a hero! found out a pair was worth around 4000. The question is- where do you get the other? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarrsCars Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 I bought what looked like and was advertised as a center grille star for an unknown model of Mercedes-Benz. It was $15. I have been collecting random MB related stuff for my garage decor and thought I could't pass this up, even tho it was covered in green paint, I figured I could strip it back down and it would be "good enough" as a 10-footer display piece. When it arrived I noticed a threaded hole in the center, so clearly not a grille emblem, and it was a mystery until one of our local club members (who owns a 300 sl roadster) told me it was the wheel cover paint mask for the 50's and 60's Mercedes cars and had a value of around $500. I decided to keep it just for the rarity and to loan to other club members when doing repair paint restoration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencer yarrow Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 I paid $3 for 10 head gaskets to suit 31 Essex back in the 80s at a swap meet, still have them no one wants them as no 31 Essex were imported into Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalowed Bill Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Years ago want to a major local swap meet on a Sunday afternoon. I treat a SM as a social event since I seldom find anything that I'm looking for, but always seem to bring home something that I don't need. At about 4:oo PM I a friend, who always had a both, spotted me and gave me a shout. He said that he had been looking for me because he knew that I would be able to answer a parts question. He pointed to a pair of beautiful 1934-35 Pierce Arrow side mount covers with a marked price of $50. Nobody else in earshot had showed any interest, even after I indicated what they were. I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough! I had at that time a 1934 840A Club Brougham, and had been looking for some of these for fifteen years! In a bazar sidebar to this episode was the fact that about two hours before there had been like condition wire wheels, caps and tires on display under the covers. Someone had bought the wheels and tires and left the covers. I have never been able to figure that one out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas G. Brown Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 (edited) A buddy of mine who was in the used furniture and low end antique trade mentioned that he had bought an old Buick hood ornament at a yard sale in Camden, Maine, for 25 cents, and would sell it to me for ten bucks. I forgot about this for a week, and then he stopped by my house to show it to me. It was a beautiful cast bronze "B" with wings on it. I paid him the ten bucks as fast as I could. After a some internet research, it turned to be from a late 1940's Bentley. Camden is a rich town by Maine standards, but there was only one or two families there who drove Rolls Royce or Bentley cars. A few years later, I bought an item where I didn't know its value. I Paid $20.00 at a country auction for a tray lot with 2 Maine 1948 Brass license plates and a brass instrument which I thought was a tilt indicator for the engine room of a ship. I cleaned up and straightened the brass license plates for my own collection, and tossed the brass "ship" instrument in my desk drawer. 6 months later, in the dead of January, it caused my desk drawer to stick. I fished it out, looked at it, and determined it was a incline gauge to mount on a wooden car dashboard to gauge the steepness of a hill. I put it on ebay for a $20 opening bid, hoping to "get my bait back" for the 2 license plates. Each day, the price seemed to rise about $100. The final bid was just over $800.00, and the winner was gentleman in Connecticut. He told me that he was going to install it on the dashboard of his Packard touring car, which I recall was about 1909. Edited January 14, 2017 by Douglas G. Brown (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe in Canada Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Was working outside of Nashville for a couple of years and would fly home for the weekend. Was asked to stay one weekend and was not to impressed on being there for a straight two weeks. So the Sat. I was on the way to the plant and spotted a yard sale and thought why not kill some time. Bought an early T wood coil box with the early coils for $20. That made my day plus being payed overtime when I bought it as I was on call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trulyvintage Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Boy is that a good question to ask Mr. Wayne ..... http://forums.aaca.org/topic/280321-the-stuz-bearcat-barn-find-that-got-away/#comment-1505572 Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobg1951chevy Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 My buy / sell history looks something like this ....... When I buy something, the seller knows everything there is to know about the product being sold ..... so I end up paying "full ticket price". When I sell something, the buyer seems to always know more than me ...... so I end up "selling for peanuts". "Buy too high & sell too low" should be etched on my head stone. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodremover Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) Bought a violin at an automotive flea market in the mid eighties 150.00 . Later that week brought to a luthier here in Toronto , turned down 5000.00 Had it appraised last year , same luthier 12000.00 Have found many good ones over the years 1000.00 1500.00 dollar value but never a gem like this one . Only ever bought them at automotive markets . Edited January 18, 2017 by woodremover more info (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frantz Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Usually I get a good deal because the seller knows exactly what it is and I think it's the greatest project car ever! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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