The classic car market in an era of COVID-19

[John_S_in_Penna]

4 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

Nobody is buying cars. ... I need a new radiator cap for my Buick yet I am hesitant to spend the $25 to buy it...

 

Your insights are always interesting and welcome.

Maybe your good friends here will make a gift of a Buick radiator cap!

[rwchatham]

Aren’t new and used car dealerships now closed in Michigan by the governor except for service ? 

[CarNucopia]

1 hour ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

Nobody is buying cars. We ordinarily sell 12-15 a month, or one every 2 days on average. In March we sold 5 and none since March 23. I'm still paying my employees because I don't want them to have to go on unemployment and potentially lose them when/if things pick up, but I'm walking a very tight line right now and have already dipped into my home equity to keep things afloat. I need a new radiator cap for my Buick yet I am hesitant to spend the $25 to buy it...

 Are you aware of the SBA Paycheck Protection  program? The basics are they loan you 250% of your monthly payroll. If you use it to pay staff and a few other acceptable expenses, they forgive it. I’ll be going that route for my business.  
 

https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/ac3081f6-14ae-4e6f-9197-172ede28badd/71AB6CB05A08E369E0D488A80B3874A5.faqs---paycheck-protection-program-faqs-for-small-businesses.pdf

Edited March 30, 2020 by Car-Nicopia (see edit history)

[John S.]

14 hours ago, keithb7 said:

This rings home for me. For a few days there I was engulfed by the news coming in from so many sources. I was watching TV, listening to the radio, and scouring multiple web sites for Covid-19 updates and stories. At one point it started to feel overwhelming. The world never ended. I still eat, sleep, work and play. This past weekend I spent about 18 hours working in my garage. I made tons of great progress on my old car. Today I was driving it around the block with a big smile on, not a care in the world. All that time in the shop was extremely relaxing and stress free. Well mostly, except when I struggled to re&re a master cylinder. Then had to pull it again when it didn't work right. Then re-install it again. For a couple days I didn't give much thought about Covid-19. I spent a lot of time doing something I really love. I feel refreshed and rewarded after a couple good, productive days of work.

keithb7, the other day I took my Studebaker for a ride around the neighborhood. Just the two of us. Mano y Auto. I was a breath of fresh air. The news was still  there when I got back. Love your Chrysler and Plymouth. Kool cars. Thanks. John

[mike6024]

I am looking to buy a wood chipper at this time. Used chipper ads tend to be like car listings, over-priced. I doubt there are many buyers at this time.

 

 

[auburnseeker]

I would buy one of the self feeding ones.  The chuck and duck ones are downright dangerous.  I have a well used Morebark, but its a work horse. I chip 3 or 4 hours straight when I back up to a well stacked brush pile feeding it by the arm load.  When you drop 80-90 feet tall pine trees , you have alot of brush to process. 

I tried to go the cheap route on a chipper and this was as cheap as you could get without being older and much more dangerous.  This was 5grand 5 years ago.  I bet I could get my 5 grand back today.  Equipment doesn't seem to devalue much once you get down below the 10 grand mark.  Started looking for an excavator at 15G,  ended up spending 30G.  Same with a tractor.  Started at 10G and ended up spending 23G.   Looking for a dump trailer now.  That will probably run me 4500 as the used ones are about 3500 and are junk.  I just hate to buy a brand new one to dump rocks in around my property. 

[auburnseeker]

3 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

Nobody is buying cars. We ordinarily sell 12-15 a month, or one every 2 days on average. In March we sold 5 and none since March 23. I'm still paying my employees because I don't want them to have to go on unemployment and potentially lose them when/if things pick up, but I'm walking a very tight line right now and have already dipped into my home equity to keep things afloat. I need a new radiator cap for my Buick yet I am hesitant to spend the $25 to buy it...

Do you have any idea what the AC number is.  Might have a new one collecting dust on the shelf. 

[JACK M]

33 minutes ago, auburnseeker said:

Looking for a dump trailer now.  That will probably run me 4500 as the used ones are about 3500 and are junk.  I just hate to buy a brand new one to dump rocks in around my property. 

 

I have a borrowed one at my place right now that a buddy paid 4K for.

It does work well but is beat to hell.

Oh, and the guy couldn't and still cant find the title and now doesn't reply.

It is high sides and I have WAY over loaded it a couple of times with some dirt I was hauling.

My buddy always seems to have stuff that is pretty used but likes to loan to me as I am one of those guys that returns stuff better than when I got it. In this case at least the tires all hold air now and a couple of the marker lights are fixed.

Oh and the brakes are killer as I don't think that they ever worked before.

A good investment? I don't know, but if I ever do feel the need to buy one it will probably be a new one. As quoted, in this market the used ones seem to closely approach the price of new.

Edited March 30, 2020 by JACK M (see edit history)

[CarNucopia]

1 hour ago, mike6024 said:

I am looking to buy a wood chipper at this time. Used chipper ads tend to be like car listings, over-priced. I doubt there are many buyers at this time.

 

 

 

I’m looking for a wood chipper too. Since my use is more limited, certainly then @auburnseeker, my plan is to get one that runs off of the PTO of a tractor. The combination of tractor and new wood chipper is less then I’ve seen used chippers for. The chipper I’ll likely buy is Woodmaxx . The other thing I do is watch equipment auctions on Proxibid and other local auction houses.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Car-Nicopia (see edit history)

[JamesR]

3 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

Nobody is buying cars. We ordinarily sell 12-15 a month, or one every 2 days on average. In March we sold 5 and none since March 23. I'm still paying my employees because I don't want them to have to go on unemployment and potentially lose them when/if things pick up, but I'm walking a very tight line right now and have already dipped into my home equity to keep things afloat. I need a new radiator cap for my Buick yet I am hesitant to spend the $25 to buy it...

 

Hopefully some of that 2+ trillion can be used to help a unique place like Harwood Motors. Our tax dollars should go to something worthwhile. I wish I could afford another car but I can't.

 

I understand the downturn in business. I used to sell guitars and I'm wondering how on earth a dealer can "sanitize" a showroom guitar every time a customer tries it out (???) You can wipe down a piano keyboard or a steering wheel and interior with lysol wipes, but a guitar? Maybe isopropyl alcohol on the strings and fingerboard would work, but try finding isopropyl alcohol. Music stores must be getting killed right now. Unless they're online, of course.

[padgett]

Been wanting to buy an XLR for some time. Listings are still overpriced.

 

Spray Lysol maybe ?

[mike6024]

Here is a Q&A with experts you may find interesting. Mainly they say the risk for transmission is believed to be airborne droplets landing on mucous membrane. That could be if someone coughs or sneezes and you breathe it in or it lands on your eye. It is not believed to  be transferred through food. So even if you touch something contaminated, you should be fine unless you transfer it by touching your face and getting it from your finger to your eye.

 

The reality is that the vast majority of the transmission of this virus occurs by droplets and often in a household setting.

 

As Dr. Reingold said, the way that we think this virus is really transmitted is by droplets generally being within six feet of someone. When the cases have been studied, most of these are from household transmission.

There really isn’t any evidence to suggest that people are getting COVID-19 through food, and when you do have food related transmission you tend to see particular patterns of disease spread, and we’re not seeing it with this.

 

We don’t not believe this virus is spread via sweat or a toilet seat, you really need to get this virus into a mucus membrane like your eye or your nose, so getting it on your skin we don’t think would result in infection. I also know of no evidence that the virus is present in sweat.

 

KCBS Radio went to the experts to answer your most pressing questions about the coronavirus, how it spreads, and how you can best protect yourself from becoming infected.

Anchor Stan Bunger posed listeners' questions to Dr. Art Reingold, Professor of Epidemiology at UC Berkeley Public Health, and Dr. Lisa Winston, a Professor of Medicine at UCSF and is the Hospital Epidemiologist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. 

Q: How often do we need to disinfect surfaces like doorknobs if we’re sheltering in place? We only get grocery delivery and walk the neighborhood.

AR: Typically what we would want would be to disinfect only if there’s been recent exposure of that surface to potential contamination. There’s no need to repeatedly decontaminate a surface unless there’s been an opportunity for it to become contaminated.

Q: So, if you’ve just gone out for a walk, no problem, but if someone from the grocery service touched the door you should decontaminate it?

AR: If others have touched the surfaces that you’re concerned about then yes, that would certainly be a reasonable reason to re-apply whatever decontaminating solution that you’re using.

Q: If we can’t find sanitizing wipes or any other pre-made disinfectant, how do we make our own?

LW: There certainly have been some difficulties finding the usual cleaning supplies. There are a variety of things that people can use in the household to clean and what’s been particularly recommended if there is somebody living in the house who does have COVID-19 is to use dilute bleach. Otherwise, people can make their own sanitizer or cleaning solution from vinegar.

The CDC website has a lot of information on the different cleaners and whether they will kill the coronavirus. Just keep in mind that most of the cleaning advice that you see is in areas where there are either many people who are touching surfaces, like public areas, or when somebody in the household has coronavirus and you’re trying to prevent transmission to somebody else in the household.

Q: How much bleach do you need to put into a gallon of water to get the right concentration?

LW: It’s five tablespoons to a gallon in warm water, or a third of a cup.

Q: If a person gets COVID-19 and survives, are they then immune to the virus or can they get it again?

AR: The quick answer is, the information on this is really not understood yet.

Based on what we know about some viruses, including the coronaviruses, is that immunity might be present but if it is it may only be present for a few years, it might not be lifelong the way it is with measles. The honest answer is we don't know, but there’s reason to believe that you'd probably be immune for at least a couple of years.

LW: There’s no reason to believe that this coronavirus would be different from other viruses in terms of immunity. Most viruses do give you some period of time where you have immunity and you’re exposed to the same virus.

Q: I’m a senior and have been hearing some things about not taking ibuprofen. I take it daily for fibromyalgia pain and some arthritis, what would your advice be?

LW: This came out in a few different ways and I think caused a lot of concern, but a number of medical organizations have weighed in on this and don’t believe that there is any problem with taking ibuprofen or other drugs of the same class. Of course, we should only take medications that we need because medications can have side effects, but there is not a particular reason to avoid ibuprofen.

Q: Two cars are driving one after another both are windows down, the first car driver has COVID-19 and the other doesn’t. Because you often smell smoke from passing cars, should this be a matter of concern?

AR: The quick answer is no. The reality is that the vast majority of the transmission of this virus occurs by droplets and often in a household setting. I think the scenario being described, to me, would not pose a risk.

Q: What’s the recommended way of disinfecting fresh produce? Can this even be done and is it safe to buy right now?

LW: As Dr. Reingold said, the way that we think this virus is really transmitted is by droplets generally being within six feet of someone. When the cases have been studied, most of these are from household transmission.

There really isn’t any evidence to suggest that people are getting COVID-19 through food, and when you do have food related transmission you tend to see particular patterns of disease spread, and we’re not seeing it with this. I would actually say that in terms of fresh produce, we would be more concerned about the usual things that can contaminate our fresh produce like salmonella.

We should always do a good job of thoroughly washing our produce before we eat it, but I don’t think it’s necessary to discontinue getting fresh produce and I don’t think there’s any data to suggest that getting it from one place rather than another place would be safer.

Q: Can the COVID-19 virus be spread via a sick person’s sweat contaminating a surface? Also, do the paper toilet seat covers in restrooms do any good?

AR: We don’t not believe this virus is spread via sweat or a toilet seat, you really need to get this virus into a mucus membrane like your eye or your nose, so getting it on your skin we don’t think would result in infection. I also know of no evidence that the virus is present in sweat.

Q: I’ve heard the virus is more prevalent in people with Type A blood, is this true and if so, why?

LW: There’s a study that came out of China that looked at a number of their cases in which they had blood typing available and compared it with the blood types in the general population. What they found was that people with blood type A were slightly over-represented in the group that did have COVID-19.

Even though this result was statistically significant, the difference in the percentages was quite small. There were certainly people who had other blood types who had COVID-19. The difference seems to be rather small and that study has yet to be peer-reviewed, meaning it hasn’t been looked at by experts. As far as I know, that’s the only study describing it. I haven’t seen that in other populations. There are other organisms like norovirus where your ability to get the disease is affected by your blood type. So it’s an interesting observation, but it’s probably a small effect.

Q: I’ve read the virus might live up to 24 hours on porous surfaces such as cardboard, is there any concern about virus transmission on the mail or your newspaper?

AR: Those are laboratory studies that have been done recently, I believe in the Netherlands, to study whether the virus is viable or still detectable on various surfaces. We don’t really have any evidence that we’re having transmission to be people via paper and plastic, but these studies do suggest that there can be survival on plastic or certain types of metal, like steel, for a number of hours and somewhat more briefly on paper and cardboard. We really don’t know the significance of that with regard to human infections at the moment.

Q: I’m a senior and cancer patient, most of the COVID-19 deaths come from people like me. Obviously, underlying health conditions can come of varying seriousness, but what is the percentage of seniors with underlying health conditions that contract the disease but survive it?

LW: This is a good question and I know it’s a source of anxiety for many people. We don’t yet really have these data broken down by particular health conditions. We do have them broken down by age, and we do know that starting at around age 50, you start to get small increases in the people that have more severe disease.

As we go through each decade to those who are over 80, the chances of dying from the disease go up. But at every age group, even though the risk goes up, many people will still have more mild or moderate disease, which is the rule of thumb and much more likely for those that are younger. I would say that it is important to be concerned if you have underlying health conditions or if you are older, so it’s very appropriate to try to keep yourself from getting this virus and following the public health recommendations. We can’t really say for a particular type of cancer exactly what the risk is compared with the general population that doesn’t have it

Q: I’m concerned about the transmission of the virus through mosquitos, given that summer is right around the corner, is this a worry?

AR: We have no evidence whatsoever that any coronavirus is transmitted via mosquitos or other insects.

Q: Are all the COVID-10 tests manufactured the same in regards to sensitivity and specificity?

LW: Whenever we’re doing testing we always think about sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity is the ability of the test to detect the disease when it is present and specificity is if you get a positive result that you do in fact have the disease. The tests we’re using are PCR-based tests that are very specific. If you find the virus present, it suggests that it truly is there. The sensitivity can depend on a variety of things, it can depend on exactly how the sample is collected and how early in the disease you are testing someone.

AR: Like many things, we’re still learning a lot about the characteristics of the PCR test, at the same time that blood tests are being developed. The more important point to make about the PCR test is that we don’t know with 100% certainty whether a positive PCR test means that you are still infected infectious to others, and secondly you could be truly negative today and two days later be truly positive because the virus wasn’t there at one point and then was there two days later. So, interpreting these tests can be quite difficult and we still have a lot to learn.

Q: I see a lot of people wearing masks, should I be wearing one and if so what kind?

LW: Health care systems are thinking a lot about this and we know that many people in the community are thinking about this, and when you turn on the TV or walk down the street you see people doing a variety of things. Health care workers are using very specific types of masks or respirators for protection when they are caring for patients who are known, or are suspected to have, disease. In terms of the general public, the two things that are more important than wearing a mask are keeping your distance from other people —  this is a virus that doesn’t spread far, it only spreads within six feet — and then keeping your hands clean.

There’s not a specific public health recommendation to wear a mask, but if you do choose to wear a mask, you can wear whatever is comfortable and available to you. I think people should note that the main thing that you’ll be doing if you're wearing a regular mask in public is that you will be preventing your cough from infecting other people. Your mask may not necessarily be filtering the air to protect you.

Q: It seems like we would have to stay isolated until everyone has somehow been inoculated. That could take a year or more if it takes that long to get a vaccination. If that’s not the case, why not?

AR: We’re certainly not going to have a safe and effective vaccine for at least another 12-18 months, that’s not coming to our rescue. In theory, if we all became naturally infected an immune, or the vast majority of us did, then we would have herd immunity and in essence the outbreak would end in the absence of a vaccine. I think in the meantime what we’re trying to do is minimize the risk of exposure to people while we don’t have population-level immunity, particularly the frail elderly, so that they don’t become ill while we wait for better therapeutics and for a vaccine.

Q: How does the virus get tracked into a home, by shoes when returning from a communal site? Should we remove our shoes or disinfect the soles when we get home?

LW: Many people are thinking about this, and in fact health care workers are thinking about this too when they come home from a healthcare or hospital setting. This has been looked at in at least a few small studies and it doesn’t look like clothes and shoes are something that is contributing very much as to how this virus is being spread. They can occasionally be contaminated, but that is really in a health care environment taking care of a patient who has COVID-19.

I’m not aware of any studies that say going for a walk contaminates your shoes, but if it’s something that worries you, many people take their shoes off outside before they enter their home. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, it’s pretty easy if it’ll make you feel better. And if it makes you feel better to wipe them down with a damp paper towel, it would be perfectly fine to do that. I would not go to great lengths to do something that’s difficult or inconvenient because this is not going to significantly affect your risk of getting coronavirus.

Q: Should people assume that this is more easily transmissible than the flu or common cold?

LW: The data on that are also continuing to come out. I think what we know is this virus is pretty transmissible, but it actually does not seem to be more transmissible than the flu or a cold.

When we’re testing for this in our hospitals and clinics, we’re also testing for the other viruses like influenza, and we are finding those viruses in very large numbers when we look for them. This virus does not seem to be more transmissible than the other commonly transmitted respiratory viruses. Those viruses are very common.

Q: Do you know of a good website that would list the survival rate or time on given surfaces?

LW: The CDC website actually compiles a lot of information. For those who want to know exactly what’s been shown, a quick web search will bring up the New England Journal article and the information from that. It’s widely quoted and available, so I think people will be able to find it pretty easily. 

Q: Social distancing — does that distance account for wind or is it kind of a made up number?

LW: It’s not a made up number, it’s more of a practical number, the real number is actually more like 3 feet. These droplets are pretty heavy, so when you look at how far it’s likely to go when someone coughs, it’s not very likely to go more than three feet, but at the outside edge of that is six feet so there’s already some built in wiggle room. If you use that as an estimate I think that you’ll be in good stead, and if you’re worried about a windy day you can always give it a little more. It’s really just not being right up next to someone.

Q: Do you have any sense when testing will become more widely available?

LW: As people may or may not be aware, testing has become much more widely available than it was even a week ago and especially more than two weeks ago. Depending on where people get their health care, they may still find that their clinic isn’t testing or have trouble finding the tests, but the tests have become pretty widely available.

Sometimes, people might want to get tested even though they don’t have symptoms because they’re worried, most systems right now are focusing on testing people who have symptoms. The other thing that people may have heard that I think is really a concern is whether we’re going to continue to have all the things that we need to continue to scale up and do testing.

There are some concerns about the swabs being in short supply, and also the liquid this gets transported in being in short supply. People are furiously working on that and also looking at new tests, like blood tests, that might be available relatively soon. Testing has very much improved from where it was, though it’s still not quite where it needs to be, and it’s probably going to be changing in the next few weeks.

Q: If I’m asymptomatic, how long am I contagious?

LW: I’m not going to fully answer this question, but for people who test positive who are known to have the disease, there are two recommended ways for knowing when you’re not infected anymore. There’s a way called the ‘non-test’ version and a way called the ‘test version.’

With the ‘non-test’ version, you need to be at least seven days from the onset of your symptoms and your fever has to be gone for at least three days without taking a medicine that reduces your fever, and you have to be feeling better. If all those things happen, it’s thought that you’re not infectious anymore.

With the test version, after a period of time has elapsed, you get swabbed again — you get two swabs 24 hours apart and after both of those come back negative it’s assumed that you can’t transmit anymore.

In terms of the swabs, we know that we can detect the RNA, the presence of the virus, for a pretty long time after people have been sick, but that may not mean that they are still infectious. That can detect whether or not a virus is still alive and whether or not it can infect other people. If it’s gone, presumably you can’t infect anyone, but some people who have that test being positive probably can’t infect anyone either.

Q: Last question, can sanitizing UV light systems already installed in hospitals be used to sanitize the used masks and gowns to extend the life of PPEs?

LW: People are looking at this very actively, the University of Nebraska has been a real leader in pioneering this. People are very actively looking at this and seeing how it will work, as well as other methods like chemical methods to disinfect PPE. There are not many data points yet and there are some logistical challenges in making sure that your PPE or your mask is appropriately exposed to the UV light. You actually have to make sure all the surfaces are exposed, so it may not always be the most straightforward processes but many places are looking to see if this will work for them.

[auburnseeker]

2 hours ago, Car-Nicopia said:

I’m looking for a wood chipper too. Since my use is more limited, certainly then @auburnseeker, my plan is to get one that runs off of the PTO of a tractor. The combination of tractor and new wood chipper is less then I’ve seen used chippers for. The chipper I’ll likely buy is Woodmaxx . The other thing I do is watch equipment auctions on Proxibid and other local auction houses.

That's not a bad option. I considered it, but my property with only 7 acres was loaded with brush and trees as it had been cleared some 20 years ago,  but not touched since. I have probably put 40 working hours atleast on that chipper and it works when it's running.   We cut and have everything neatly stacked in huge piles.  One pile , which was actually a long row once chipped the chips were so big I took the excavator down and spread them around.  The chip pile was literally 8-10 feet tall.  Still have a bunch more to go. 

[Dynaflash8]

I would expect the sales prices of bigger or second houses, old cars, and many more items of the sort would be down-priced to a major extent, but no, I haven't seen that at all.  Try buying a decent 1941 Buick Roadmaster, for example, for $8500.  It ain't gonna happen.  Buyers represent supply and demand....specifically demand.  Same is true with $350K houses that sold in 2016 for $175K.

[auburnseeker]

I think property value in some more rural areas or any place with a little land might jump some, especially if an easy place to commute to or from,   as people realize being locked down in your 600 square foot apartment is a whole lot less fun than being locked down on your 5 plus acre homestead with a 3000 Square foot house and Shop.  My wife always told me before this happened if anything happened to me,  should would sell our place and buy a smaller one in town.  Now she tells me as we go for a walk around the property,  I sure am glad we have a nice big piece of property and house. 

[keithb7]

@auburnseeker that's an interesting theory. We upgraded our home a couple of years ago. The house is really too big for the two of us. However we have awesome privacy in a rural setting. No street lights. No sidewalks. Not traffic lights. No sirens. It's very peaceful. My neighbours and I have larger lots and room between us. You are right, it sure is nice in times like these. To have your own space and privacy. I realize this pandemic comes once every 100 years or so, but no matter what is happening in the world, a little peace and tranquility in our lives goes a long way. I am very grateful for what I have. It is rewarding as my wife and I worked hard to acquire it.

 

Getting back to classic cars, this is my little piece of this country and my peace of mind. I feel very fortunate.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by keithb7 (see edit history)

[CarNucopia]

28 minutes ago, auburnseeker said:

That's not a bad option. I considered it, but my property with only 7 acres was loaded with brush and trees as it had been cleared some 20 years ago,  but not touched since. I have probably put 40 working hours atleast on that chipper and it works when it's running.   We cut and have everything neatly stacked in huge piles.  One pile , which was actually a long row once chipped the chips were so big I took the excavator down and spread them around.  The chip pile was literally 8-10 feet tall.  Still have a bunch more to go. 

You definitely have more lumber to deal with then me. On my property, the trees cover about 3 acres. And, the majority of trees are pines that have narrow trunks. Whoever planted them put them too close together, so they never got thick, only tall. The best part about my plan is it gave me an excuse to shop for an old tractor. 😬

[auburnseeker]

Here is my Oasis

Finished (well mostly) shop with 5 cars in it,  That's where the good cars are stored and I tinker on them as it's heated,  House and future Huge Shed that's atleast up and finished on the outside. 

None of which can you see from the road.  

Definitely glad I'm not stuck in the city.

Edited March 31, 2020 by auburnseeker (see edit history)

[alsancle]

Shop looks great.

 

Btw,  Woodchippers hold their value better than Tacoma trucks and Ferrari's.

[alsancle]

This is the one I want.  But 26k for me puttering around in the yard seems like a lot of money.

 

 

 

 

[alsancle]

This is probably better but it is only a 12 inch.   7600 bucks.

 

[Ed Luddy]

Well the IMF has just declared a "world wide recession" Looks like we are all in for a drastic haircut, old cars included!

[Ed Luddy]

Here's a link to the story

https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/world-economy-has-entered-recession-due-to-coronavirus-says-imf_in_5e7f21cdc5b6614922683c38?utm_hp_ref=in-homepage&guccounter=1

[JamesR]

50 minutes ago, auburnseeker said:

Here is my Oasis

Finished (well mostly) shop with 5 cars in it,  That's where the good cars are stored and I tinker on them as it's heated,  House and future Huge Shed that's atleast up and finished on the outside. 

 

 

 

Beautiful place! I'd like to rent your shed. OK, a corner of your shed. OK, maybe I can put up a tent outside of your shed. 😄

[auburnseeker]

51 minutes ago, Ed Luddy said:

Well the IMF has just declared a "world wide recession" Looks like we are all in for a drastic haircut, old cars included!

Hunker down a bit,  bring back some manufacturing to make us less reliant on foreign entities and we might bounce back pretty quick. 

I know one thing for sure,  some places like China are going to take alot longer to bounce back if even possible.  They were cooking the books to begin with.  Won't be fun for them when everything comes home to roost.

[padgett]

Just saw a $10k XLR and is not selling either. Prices have not dropped since are old prices (most a month old). Nothing new is being posted.

[mike6024]

There's a big difference between a disc chipper with hydraulic feed, and your cheaper "self feeding" drum chipper. But with a $5k budget I think the drum type is better for me.

 

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/hvo/d/el-dorado-chipper/7100064590.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2020 by mike6024 (see edit history)

[Laughing Coyote]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/the-economy-and-the-classic-car-market-what-can-we-expect-in-2020/ar-BB11VeE4?li=BBnb7Kw

 

[auburnseeker]

1 hour ago, mike6024 said:

There's a big difference between a disc chipper with hydraulic feed, and your cheaper "self feeding" drum chipper. But with a $5k budget I think the drum type is better for me.

 

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/hvo/d/el-dorado-chipper/7100064590.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder how many guys those things ate?  The hydraulic feed seems a whole lot safer.  I can't imagine what it would be like if you had a crotch in a limb and it went the wrong way. 

I like the positionable shoot as well.  Makes it nice for chipping and leaving the tractor hooked up to it. 

[mike6024]

Chuck and duck would have worked well for the dude in Fargo disposing of his "Little Buddy."

 

[Billy Kingsley]

That actual scenario happened at Lake Zaur in Connecticut. About an hour away from me.

[1935Packard]

12 hours ago, JamesR said:

 

Hopefully some of that 2+ trillion can be used to help a unique place like Harwood Motors. Our tax dollars should go to something worthwhile. I wish I could afford another car but I can't.

 

 

 

Matt, you might be eligible for a forgivable loan under the stimulus bill.  If you haven't thought about this but want to talk more about it, feel free to DM me.  

https://www.hansonbridgett.com/Publications/articles/2020-03-bus-distruption-covid19-cares-act

[Ed Luddy]

If and that's a BIG IF all the bench warmer's and armchair mechanic's actually do go out and work on getting long stalled projects finally finished we should in fact have a nice glut of old cars for sale when the world is back to normal.

 Do I think it will really happen? Nah, but it's a nice thought!

[RMCIII]

Well - here is what I can share. We have several antiques and hot rods for sale. Monthly I rotate them just to keep the interest up. We have been contacted by a few individuals who are buyers, not tire kickers, and they want to come and "look" at the cars they are interested in. To my knowledge, and I could be wrong, but no one drives over 500 miles just to "look" at a car. We have sold a couple right before this started and for us it seems buyers are still out there, it just takes the "right one". But I think that is how it has been for a while, at least that is what my father-in-law has told me for the last 10 years. "It only takes 1 and it is always the right 1". He could have sold his whole collection cheap, but chose to hold on to the cars because of "tire kickers and lowballers" as he called them even 20 years ago. SO - if he was seeing this 20 years ago, can it possibly get worse? He held on to 14 cars because of terrible offers, we sold 2 recently  out of state that paid the prices he wrote down before he passed away. 

[1912Staver]

Luckily it is wet enough around here that I have never even considered a wood chipper. Unfortunately it is wet enough around here that cars decompose almost as fast as brush piles. Win one , loose the big one.

There is a fire risk for a couple of months during August / Sept. so I am very cautious during those months but otherwise everything is damp.

A good sized brush pile only lasts 5 years or so before it is compost. I have an area about 30 feet long and by the time I am at the end I can start new at the other end. But a little less than an acre so only the equivalent  4 or 5 pick up loads are added each year.

 

Greg in Canada

[padgett]

Just a thought but prices have not changed much because no-one is buying and sellers have not lowered prices yet. OTOH what we do know is that auctions are 30%-40% off but are mainly people who are not really affected by the market. OTOH right now the market does not exist to go one way or another. When/if it does begin again it will seek its own (probably lower) level,  most ads are over a month old. Personally I have seen my 401k shrink by 20% since Januay.. I expect it to find a new level by next year when the IRS forces me to take money out but still that will affect how many will think about "discretionary income".

That said in Florida a record 65,000 people filed for unemployment last night. Car sales are essentially zero so prices are irrevelent. I am not sure if the DMV is even open, know they are not issuing driver's licensees (police are told to ignore recent expirations). It would not surprise me if Florida becomes a welfare state for the near future.

 

As a double whammy I expect the pool of cars for sale to increase dramatically in the near future. May you live in interesting times.

[plymouthcranbrook]

39 minutes ago, padgett said:

Just a thought but prices have not changed much because no-one is buying and sellers have not lowered prices yet. OTOH what we do know is that auctions are 30%-40% off but are mainly people who are not really affected by the market. OTOH right now the market does not exist to go one way or another. When/if it does begin again it will seek its own (probably lower) level,  most ads are over a month old. Personally I have seen my 401k shrink by 20% since Januay.. I expect it to find a new level by next year when the IRS forces me to take money out but still that will affect how many will think about "discretionary income".

That said in Florida a record 65,000 people filed for unemployment last night. Car sales are essentially zero so prices are irrevelent. I am not sure if the DMV is even open, know they are not issuing driver's licensees (police are told to ignore recent expirations). It would not surprise me if Florida becomes a welfare state for the near future.

 

As a double whammy I expect the pool of cars for sale to increase dramatically in the near future. May you live in interesting times.

On the last line, same to you fella.

[Lebowski]

2 hours ago, RMCIII said:

We have several antiques and hot rods for sale. 

 

How about some pics? Where are you located?

[1935Packard]

8 hours ago, padgett said:

Just a thought but prices have not changed much because no-one is buying and sellers have not lowered prices yet. OTOH what we do know is that auctions are 30%-40% off but are mainly people who are not really affected by the market. OTOH right now the market does not exist to go one way or another. When/if it does begin again it will seek its own (probably lower) level,  most ads are over a month old. Personally I have seen my 401k shrink by 20% since Januay.. I expect it to find a new level by next year when the IRS forces me to take money out but still that will affect how many will think about "discretionary income".

That said in Florida a record 65,000 people filed for unemployment last night. Car sales are essentially zero so prices are irrevelent. I am not sure if the DMV is even open, know they are not issuing driver's licensees (police are told to ignore recent expirations). It would not surprise me if Florida becomes a welfare state for the near future.

 

As a double whammy I expect the pool of cars for sale to increase dramatically in the near future. May you live in interesting times.

 

Seems about right, unfortunately.       

[60FlatTop]

For the past 10 days or so I have been making my short errand runs in either my '86 Park Ave convertible or my '94 Impala SS. Yesterday I needed to get a box of Timberlok screws and took the Impala. Coming back on a side street a car approached me with an arm and a thumbs up sticking out. It was a smiling guy no older than 30 in an early 2000's Crown Vic. I smiled and knew there would be a market for my newer stuff. That heavy 1930's stuff just might be the albatross in the 2020's that my Dad called them in the 1960's. Those kids will find their niche.

 

I can still hear Dad asking "What do you want that big ark for?".