I had my 66 hardtop appraised when I first got it about 3 1/2 years ago. It was in nice shape, very original & nicely optioned (deluxe interior, A/C, P/S, P/B) with a solid new paint job, refreshed C4, new dual exhaust etc. Needed a full suspension re-do and the 2V motor was pretty tired but it still appraised out at $22k. Could I have sold it for that? No way but a good number for the insurance especially considering I paid $9k for it. A few years later and I think I'm getting pretty close to having $22k into it. Not sure what the max that State Farm will accept as a declared value is without appraisal but should probably find out and maybe have the appraisal updated when the 'upgrades' are done to get a more realistic replacement cost on the books.

Haverty's insur.  has a on line self appraisal tool,  takes into account auction results.  I got insurance from Grundy and they agreed with the Haverty tool.  

   http://www.hagerty.com/valuationtools/hvt/vehiclesearch

Last edited by Don (4/16/2015 3:52 PM)

.
most appraisals are inflated which is good for insurance but totally useless for establishing a real world price on it.

its just like jewelry . . if you have a certified appraisal for $10,000.00 on a ring but if you try to sell it, it is really only worth $4,000.00 at the most.

buying and selling vintage cars was a big part of mny business for 40 years so i can tell you what it might realistically sell for within a reasonable amount of time and im sure some others here can do the same.

 

Last edited by barnett468 (4/16/2015 4:04 PM)

boomyal wrote:

Don wrote:

Haverty's insur.  has a on line self appraisal tool,  takes into account auction results.  I got insurance from Grundy and they agreed with the Haverty tool.  

   http://www.hagerty.com/valuationtools/hvt/vehiclesearch

According to Hagerty, they value my car, between condition 3 and condition 2, at between 30.5k and 38,7k.  Wouldn't that be sweet?
 

.
you would have to get that in writing from them because it will vary greatly from their self serve online estimates . . i know someone that had a car worth $35k and haggerty said they would only insure it for around $22k.

 

Last edited by barnett468 (4/16/2015 5:17 PM)

ebay sales are a very poor guide of values because the description is often greatly exagerated and the sales often fall thru, especially if the buyer actually sees the car before they pay for it.

auction process are also inaccurate because it is not the “real world” . . most sellers don’t have auction worthy cars nor will they travel several hundred miles to enter their car in an auction, plus many buyers at the auction are drunk and/or get caught up in the hype and pay more than the car is worth . . also, most auctions take around 8% from the seller plus maybe $500.00 entry fee etc.

 

Last edited by barnett468 (4/16/2015 7:26 PM)

McStang wrote:

  ...... but I sold my very nice 65 A-code fastback in 1989 for $6k to fund a move across country and still regret that decision to this day. .......
In your case Boom, from what I've seen of your car here, those Hagerty numbers are not unrealistic sell values depending on where you might list it, not saying that you should or would. . . but I'm pretty confident there's a buyer out there at those numbers.

Interesting on your sales price in '89.  I bought my convertible C code in 1980 ,for 6k.  It was what I call a ten footer.  I proceeded to tear it apart and go thru it, piece by piece.

I told my wife, if/when I die, make sure you advertise the car in Germany, Japan and Australia.
 

Last edited by boomyal (4/16/2015 9:50 PM)

There is an insurance appraisal and a 'what can you acutally get for it' appraisal'. Under a certain value most insurance companies will just accept an agreed upon value assuming you send in some pictures verifying the genral condition of the car.  They aren't stupid.  They know your rusted out straight 6 66 coupe isn't worth 100k.  Not only that, in the event of a total loss they are going to go back and make sure your statements on your cars condition were factual. 

As for the 'what you can actually get for it' there is no shortage of auction tracking sites that can tell you trends. 

DON'T PAY ONE PENNY TO THE "30 YEARS EXPERIENCE" GUYS.

You have access to the same information they do.  Besides, what a car sold for 20 years ago has little to do with what it's worth today.  Trends and styles come and go w/ the wind.  What's hot today will be old hat tomorrow.  I used a 'certified by the hot rod association of america' appraiser to pay $15k for my mustang.  $10k more down the hole and it's still got a long way to go.  I probably paid 7-8k more than it was actually worth.  (sigh...live and learn)

boomyal wrote:

barnett468 wrote:

......the biggest over seas buyers are holland, france and australia . . .....

I wonder where Hakan's land  and Japan fits in there?
 

the japanese buyers that buy vintage cars seem to prefer big cars like old caddys to muscle cars but of course they like muscle cars also . . they generally will not buy over the internet like some other countries and i see very few japanese buyers at the auctions and big swap meets like pomona etc . . i have sold a few cars there and a friend of mine has sold a ton of vintage motorcycles but japan is lower on the list for vintage muscle car buyers compared to the others i mentioned.

i don't know what hakans land means.

 

Last edited by barnett468 (4/17/2015 2:50 PM)

.
 the swedes like old, huge boat anchor cars . . i have sold a couple to them and have several friends that ship cars to sweden.

Last edited by barnett468 (4/17/2015 3:10 PM)

Hakan wrote:

barnett468 wrote:

the swedes like old, huge boat anchor cars . . i have sold a couple to them and have several friends that ship cars to sweden.

Do we? I've only lived in Sweden (together with nine million other Swedes) for 57 years, but maybe you know more about our taste in cars?
 

well . . that has been my personal experience over the last may yesars . . as i said, i have several swedish friends that ship mostly big cars . . the last car i shipped to sweden was a big ol buick boat tail.

[/img]http://automotivemileposts.com/riviera/images/riv1971gsgoldrear.jpg[/img]

 

Sell prices are always subjective, be they auction, online, or face to face.  Selling a classic car involves the reason why the seller is selling it, as well as why the buyer has to have it.  Sometimes people pay way more than they should because a lot of classic car purchaes are emotional decisions.  Sometimes sellers sell low because they need money for something and selling their beloved classic is the fastest way to get it.

The important point that was touched upon is making sure you have adequate replacement value.  IMO I'd rather have that value high for insurance purposes than low and get screwed should something happen to my car. 

barnett468 wrote:

sure no prob . . nothing bad meant by it and that is also what my sedish friends told me so thats all i have to go off of and they ship a lot of cars to sweden . . i know there are many vintage muscle cars there too . . in fact, my friend sold his metallic blue cobra kit car to the king of sweden . .dont remenber if he bought it for himself or a friend since he can obvuiously afford a real one which i think he has anyway.

A lot of people don't know it, but the Swedish King is a great car fan. His son, Prince Carl Philip seems to have inherited it too. Here's some related stories:

Back in 1984 I was in the Swedish Army and was in charge of the parade/guard force at one of the Swedich Royal castles in Stockholm. Some royal real estate maintenance guys came to my office and told me they were going in to a specific building and one of the alarms would most likely go off. They were right, but when I checked what type of building it was it said "garage" on the display. I've heard rumors about the king's cars so I obviously went to the building to check things out. The maintenance guys got a little irritated as they already told me, but when I told them I was a car guy they let me into the building and even took the covers off the cars in there to show me. The King had his real '66 289 Cobra which IIRC is the only real Cobra in Sweden in there and also a '66 Shelby Mustang. Overall the place looked like any gearhaed's garage with tools and parts, the guys also told me that the King did most of the work on the cars himself.

A typical Swedish tradition is to pick up your son/daugther when they graduate from school in a convertible and drive them through town in a parade. When the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria graduated she was picked up by the King in a '66 Pontiac GTO.

The King of Sweden's '66 Shelby and '66 GTO:



The Crown Princess Victoria graduating from school in 1996:

[img]http://gfx.aftonbladet-cdn.se/image/13491988/609/normal/e4eeb5655ef48/24s14-student-811__mngl_20110819ab5x016,nyh_1.indd_3975.jpg[/img]

The Swedish King also BTW owns a De Tomaso Pantera, a Ferrari and a couple of Porsches.