For Sale: 1947 Chrysler Town and Country Wood-bodied sedan - $42,000 - Kent, OH - Not Mine

[58L-Y8 1,849]

For Sale: 1947 Chrysler Town and Country Wood-bodied sedan - $42,000 - Kent, OH

https://akroncanton.craigslist.org/cto/d/kent-1947-chrysler-town-and-country/7228626818.html

1947 Chrysler Town and Country Sedan, solid with original 44,000 miles, wood has no rot doors close great, no rust, paint needs buffed out, wood dry needs some cosmetic cleaning, ran 10 yrs ago then put on lift. Was in dry storage before that for 25 yrs, serious inquires 

Contact:  call (330)-7-one-5-one-zero-7-7

Copy and paste in your email:  6ffcd1e834c133c196a59231288ddb7b@sale.craigslist.org

 

I have no personal interest or stake in the eventual sale of this 1947 Chrysler Town and Country Wood-bodied sedan.

[alsancle 5,298]

Do these still bring strong money?  I haven’t been paying attention.   48 to 49 was a cut off and the later brought less because the inserts were painted.

[Matt Harwood 12,189]

7 minutes ago, alsancle said:

Do these still bring strong money?  I haven’t been paying attention.   48 to 49 was a cut off and the later brought less because the inserts were painted.

 

The T&C was one of those "flavor of the month" cars when it first became a Full Classic. There was a real feeding frenzy for all the big collections to get one and that drove prices up for a while and all the scruffy ones got expensive restorations thinking there was a new normal. After all those guys had their cars, however, prices dropped pretty hard, particularly on the sedans which are still very heavy 6-cylinder cars. The convertibles have fared better, but you can get a pretty nice 46-48 Town & Country convertible in the $60s today, which is less than half of where they were during the feeding frenzy. Sedans are about half that now, too, although I kind of like them better--they're very pretty inside, especially with the tartan plaid upholstery.

 

This happens frequently and a lot of people are caught unawares with an expensive car where the floor has suddenly fallen out from under them. Amphicars, E-Type Jaguars, Pagoda SLs, and even the Buick Skylarks, they all had that moment where a handful of buyers were fighting over a finite supply of really nice cars, which drove prices up. Once they were done buying, there was suddenly a flood of really nice cars coming out of restoration shops and prices fell again. Not to pre-frenzy levels, but sufficiently for a lot of people to get hurt.

 

My advice to buyers is to never buy a specific car when everyone else is buying or when it's "hot." Wait until they're all done and pick up the leftovers for sixty cents on the dollar.

[alsancle 5,298]

59 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

The T&C was one of those "flavor of the month" cars when it first became a Full Classic. There was a real feeding frenzy for all the big collections to get one and that drove prices up for a while and all the scruffy ones got expensive restorations thinking there was a new normal. After all those guys had their cars, however, prices dropped pretty hard, particularly on the sedans which are still very heavy 6-cylinder cars. The convertibles have fared better, but you can get a pretty nice 46-48 Town & Country convertible in the $60s today, which is less than half of where they were during the feeding frenzy. Sedans are about half that now, too, although I kind of like them better--they're very pretty inside, especially with the tartan plaid upholstery.

 

This happens frequently and a lot of people are caught unawares with an expensive car where the floor has suddenly fallen out from under them. Amphicars, E-Type Jaguars, Pagoda SLs, and even the Buick Skylarks, they all had that moment where a handful of buyers were fighting over a finite supply of really nice cars, which drove prices up. Once they were done buying, there was suddenly a flood of really nice cars coming out of restoration shops and prices fell again. Not to pre-frenzy levels, but sufficiently for a lot of people to get hurt.

 

My advice to buyers is to never buy a specific car when everyone else is buying or when it's "hot." Wait until they're all done and pick up the leftovers for sixty cents on the dollar.

 

My plan of buying obscure cars with no known market seems to be working perfectly.

 

But those are good points about some of the hot cars of the last 10 years.  I watch the 53 Skylark and remember some 200k BJ prices "back in the day".   Now you can get a really nice one for 100k.

[alsancle 5,298]

Btw,   my dad owned a 49 convertible with only 35k original miles on 25 years ago.   I found the semi-automatic transmission to be not a plus.

Edited November 19, 2020 by alsancle (see edit history)

[Fossil 517]

5 hours ago, alsancle said:

my dad owned a 49 convertible with only 35k original miles

In my opinion that is a really sharp looking car. 

[Matt Harwood 12,189]

I like the '49s best, too. My late friend Bob Porter, who was instrumental in getting the T&C certified as a Full Classic and was pretty much the go-to guy for these cars, had a lovely black and yellow '49 convertible that I liked a lot. He had mahogany panels made even though they weren't part of the original design ('49s only had framework like on AJ's car, above). I think it was mostly successful. If you're going to have wood on your car, you should have ALL the wood, right? It kept him from winning the top awards with it, but the car really was lovely. As a trained interior designer, Bob had impeccably good taste.

 

 

It really makes me miss my friend. He was a wonderful, high-quality person. 

Edited November 22, 2020 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[Jeff Perkins / Mn 607]

I also had mahogany inside my framework on my ‘48 Station Sedan. Original panels were painted metal.

 

Matt, your posted picture above is blank on my iPad.

 

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by Jeff Perkins / Mn (see edit history)