Color Change Effect on Value?

[J3Studio]

1 hour ago, Matt Harwood said:

Desirable, valuable, and pedigreed cars will never see a recession. All the others, sooner or later, will have the wheel of interest roll right past them.

 

Dead on.

[John_Mereness]

17 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

even relatively common machines like early 1970s Porsche 911s are scalding hot.

If you call and say that you are looking to buy your "first" car and you have never been in an antique or collector car, there are a lot of questions to be asked.  If you are "green" to the hobby I fairly often suggest trying a Porsche 356, 911, or a Mercedes 280 SL (perhaps also a 230 or 250), they tend to be fun cars and at least around the Indiana and Southern Ohio (plus for customers in such as Los Angeles) areas you have solid handfulls of people that can repair one, vibrant club activity, and also they can substitute for a summer daily driver.  As to price - it is pure market and you gain or suffer per market, how you maintain your car, and ....  And, if I put you in a really nice one then no matter what it's issue are a year or even 5+ years later, if you tire of it and want to move it along to get something else then I can sell it in often a day (we rarely have ever had one in inventory more than two full weeks and car after car from parts cars to 100 pointers trade hands per year without ever seeing the website - surprisingly as to color even the green painted one sell quick, but the white ones still take a little more work to find new owners). 

 

Edited April 27, 2019 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[John_Mereness]

By the way,  this green car  "knocked my socks off" in how stunning the car looked in person (and I am not a fan of green cars) - color is "Stanhope Green" and is a custom order color per the car's original build sheet . 

Edited April 27, 2019 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[J3Studio]

An updated data point: this "Older restoration in positively striking colors" 1932 Nash 1080 Special Eight Convertible Sedan did not make the low estimate of $80,000.

 

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/25593/lot/460/?category=list&length=10&page=40

 

It did sell for $75,000.

[edinmass]

And the J tanked also.....400k. I posted a 375 estimate. 

[Matt Harwood]

6 minutes ago, edinmass said:

And the J tanked also.....400k. I posted a 375 estimate. 

 

Not that I would turn it down, but that was a pretty homely J with unknown mechanicals. There are plenty of scary things to do in this world, but buying a Duesenberg with an unknown engine state is among the most terrifying.

[TNGizmo]

I have a hard time with non-correct color choices growing up with a fine point restorer for a father. My biggest grip is the when a color is chosen that takes away from the coach-build or detracts from the lines of the body. Some of the example pictures have contrasting reveals and pinstripe which help but no... 

[John_Mereness]

I would argue that the Duesenberg Rollston Sedan is far from homely (close coupled, unusual dropped sill line, and ...) in potential (obviously the car just needs close to everything at this point in time) - I truly hope if found a buyer who will restore it well. 

. 

Edited April 27, 2019 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[John_Mereness]

1 hour ago, Matt Harwood said:

There are plenty of scary things to do in this world, but buying a Duesenberg with an unknown engine state is among the most terrifying.

I was standing at the workbench at Fran Roxas' shop and he was showing me a stitch weld crack repair in a Duesenberg cylinder head - and he made the alarming comment that he sees via his shop about 50% needing some sort of crack repair (he  mentioned though casually and did not seem alarmed and I did not give it much thought either until speaking with someone who did have an unrepairable one).  Good news is stitch welding looks like a really solid solution, but bad news is when a head or .. would be so bad that there is no solution. 

[edinmass]

The heads crack way more often than the blocks.............rolling the dice on a J engine is major league gambling. 75 -125k and possibly more. That being said, I suspect it went to a good home if my grapevine is correct. The Nash was very cheap........color, condition, and color. 

[1935Packard]

6 hours ago, John_Mereness said:

If you are "green" to the hobby I fairly often suggest trying a Porsche 356, 911, or a Mercedes 280 SL (perhaps also a 230 or 250), they tend to be fun cars and at least around the Indiana and Southern Ohio (plus for customers in such as Los Angeles) areas you have solid handfulls of people that can repair one, vibrant club activity, and also they can substitute for a summer daily driver.  As to price - it is pure market and you gain or suffer per market, how you maintain your car, and ....  And, if I put you in a really nice one then no matter what it's issue are a year or even 5+ years later, if you tire of it and want to move it along to get something else then I can sell it in often a day (we rarely have ever had one in inventory more than two full weeks and car after car from parts cars to 100 pointers trade hands per year without ever seeing the website - surprisingly as to color even the green painted one sell quick, but the white ones still take a little more work to find new owners). 

 

 

John, I love those cars, but your point about gaining or suffering "per market" is a big one.  My sense is that prices were super strong for a while for those cars in particular  (insert all of our "should have bought that one for $18,000 back in 2002" stories) and have softened, and it always makes me nervous to see big price fluctuations.  

[John_Mereness]

1 minute ago, 1935Packard said:

 

John, I love those cars, but your point about gaining or suffering "per market" is a big one.  My sense is that prices were super strong for a while for those cars in particular  (insert all of our "should have bought that one for $18,000 back in 2002" stories) and have softened, and it always makes me nervous to see big price fluctuations.  

We have seen some that are exceptionally nice and fair market value (occasionally less, but that gets harder by the day) and then we also see ones that I know we cannot take in as the owner is just not willing to loose and they are in way (often way, way, and more way) over fair market value.  If you buy one a FMV you could win or you could loose and if you overpay and hope the market will catch up to you - well, some people have done it successfully, but not sure where this is all going in next couple years - ie you could lose too.   Good news is that at a certain range around FMV they did not stick around long before finding a new garage.   The rusted and then welded up cars are still welded up cars (some rust repair is ok, but ...) =  a whole different discussion no matter the quality of their restoration.