American Pickers - April 10th

[JZRIV]

The innocent Original Post was simply meant to inform folks who may be interested in seeing vehicles that were on the show. I saw the show and felt it was one of the most excellent episodes. Unfortunately the thread turned into a Picker bashing session which was not relative to the OP at all. Don't understand need to inject negativity into an innocent post IMO. So here is a contrasting view.

Nephew spent 8 hours with Mike, Frank and Danielle on a local pic. They were supported by a camera crew of 3 people who arrived in a U-Haul 1/2 loaded with stuff they got other places they stopped. Nephew's first hand report was they are very genuine nice people. He arrived on scene within 1/2 hour of seeing the truck heading down past his house and they were just getting started. They dug through a mountain of stuff packed haphazardly in a dirty old barn. Only scripting he could determine after watching in person and seeing the episode in this pick was re-doing negotiation takes without verbal stumbles or background distractions so it would be suitable for TV.

After the traditional wave goodbye, despite them being very tired and dirty they surprised everyone and turned around and came back. They had ordered pizza for the handful of locals there and sat around BS'ing for 2 more hours. No cameras rolling, no drama, just good old fashioned camaraderie.  This is consistent with link provided in post #5 by victoralynn2

 

[trimacar]

Chrome is a huge expense on the big cars, whether it be a Classic or a 50's chrome king.....early cars are somewhat easier to afford to restore (brass cars), although if you want the brass lights and such to be high quality, that cost can send you to your knees too.....a set of brass lights (headlights, tail and side lights) done by the best in the business will be in the 5 figures.

 

However, read Joe's post carefully.  Just the PREP work on the early Buick was $10K....before paint!  So, with paint and labor, at least another $3 to 5 K.....not including fenders....interior (depending on body style another $10K or more...it adds up...

 

I just sold a project 1910 Hudson, mechanicals and fenders, no body.  For what it would have cost to restore it, I could have bought the finished one recently advertised for around $50K, and probably still be ahead with that purchase versus restoring the  one I had....

[Joe in Canada]

1 hour ago, alsancle said:

So the cost of restoring the car was about 1/3 of doing the chrome on a big 30s Classic?

Add about 10,000 on what one of our posters spent on his Packard's chrome and we are just talking prep with a wet coat of color for a seven passenger touring.  

[alsancle]

Agreed.  Full boat stripped to the metal show quality paint on a big car should be figured at 50-75k.  Not including wood repair, metal repair, etc.