Need opinions about selling my car

[gearheads78]

OK I have decided I have to sell. I have my 2nd daughter on the way and we just don't have the room in our house. I have to buy a bigger house or build on to this one. I have a delima. There are a few small issues I need to address on the car to get it ready mainly new top and carpet will make it close to perfect. I was just outside making a list of what to order and I just can't get past the paint. I know everyone that sees pics of my car thinks it looks great but the paint really is bad. Its the original paint and is cracked and crazed all over from light to heavy. I just keep thinking to get top dollar back out I need to paint it. There will be almost no body work just my time(which I don't have a lot of right now) and materials.

If someone is able to see pics of the car in bare metal am I better off being able to find someone that will want a nice slick new paint and pay more or original paint that not so good and pay less but still won't be cheap. I know if I can't sell it for a while I will be much happier with slick paint myself but it has to go so I can't think what I want.

[GMachineDartGT]

My experience is that people only pay top dollar for stuff that is really finished, and needs nothing.

[SatisTraction]

these cars are a hobby (money pit) and not an investment. that being said any money that you put into it expect 50-75% back at this point.

so i would say NO to the paint and most likely no to the top. the carpet is cheap and easy if they make it for that car.

[jocko124]

I agree with Peter, to get top dollar you need to paint it.

[SatisTraction]

I agree with Peter, to get top dollar you need to paint it.

not to be a **** but what is the car worth?

a crappy paint job will lower the value and a quality paint job will cost more then the car is worth.

i would rather buy a faded original paint car that i could see the body on then a crappy job that i have no clue as to how much bondo was used. if he has a nice original body that does not need work then that is a selling point that i would not mess up.

[jocko124]

Chris,
I was assuming Richard is supplying all the labor and materials himself, so the cost would be low (in actual dollars out of pocket) versus getting a shop to do it. But to your point, top dollar in this economy is not what it was a year or two ago. So you have to see if the extra money spent will be recouped with the higher expected sales price. And of course, the benefit of a new paint job is that it SHOULD make the car easier to sell.

[SatisTraction]

Chris,
I was assuming Richard is supplying all the labor and materials himself, so the cost would be low (in actual dollars out of pocket) versus getting a shop to do it.

then i agree, if he is doing the paint and it is quality work.

i just do not think that a paint job would add $7000 or more to the car and i dont want to see anyone losing more $$$ on these toys.

edit: i went back and reread his post. he is planning to do the paint work. so i say paint it if you are experienced.

[2ndgenhunter]

Me personaly I wouldn't paint it. As a buyer, I would rather buy an orginal paint car than 1 that has been painted to sell.
Plus the new buyer may like the car just not the color. I would do the carpet and leave the rest.
That way the buyer has a lil say so in how the car is finished.

[rrstroker71]

Me personaly I wouldn't paint it. As a buyer, I would rather buy an orginal paint car than 1 that has been painted to sell.
Plus the new buyer may like the car just not the color. I would do the carpet and leave the rest.
That way the buyer has a lil say so in how the car is finished.


Good point. say you do the paint work yourself [if you have the space and ability] and put a top on on and you have 4k in doing that. Do you feel you will get that much more for it? At this point you are trading dollars. I would rather buy an original paint car so I know where I stand and do the car my way. There are a lot of car pimps out there that fluff a car and sell them and when a buyer comes and looks at a freshly painted car they will be more critical about the car. Original paint= what you see is what you get. Bottom line, put a carpet set in it and let it go, put the money you were going to spend painting it etc in the house project. Just my two cents.

[gearheads78]

I would do everything except I might have one of the experienced painters at work spray it. I know I am never going to get all my money back but I never built the car to make money off of. Plus its an Olds and not a Chevelle. I tried but not hard at all about 3 months ago to sell it as is and with the ratty top and carpet that no longer fits because the center hump is taller for the 5 speed it was going to be easy to get mid 20's. based on a couple serious offers I had for it. If I can put another 1500.00 (plus my labor) in it for top carpet dynamat ect and get low 30's I would be OK with that but if I spend another $2500.00 in quality materials document the perfect bare metal body and paint it slick is that going to bring a different buyer to the table that might pay upper 30's or a little more?

[MarkM66]

Fix the carpet and top, then sell it for as much as someone is willing to pay.

[nickpro_c10]

How much would it cost to just get it sprayed in Flat Black Epoxy? I dont know just a thought, maybe do the carpet, realign all the body panels and spend 2500 on a good epoxy job.

[DarkBuddha]

I say try to sell it without painting or putting a top on it, but do the carpet. If it's not selling and feedback says it needs a paint job and/or a top, then do that stuff.

About the paint... I know folks will balk at this, but if you decide it needs to be painted, consider having it sprayed by Maaco or an econo place for under $1000. I've gotten compliments on my car's paint, especially after a good wash/polish/wax, and it was done at Maaco. I'll readily admit that it's a mediocre paint job compared to a truly nice (i.e. show quality) paint job, but it got me 80% of the look for 10-20% of the cost. My point is that it may not be the best paint job, but it should be adequate to make the car look good enough to sell, and that's the real goal here.

[gearheads78]

I say try to sell it without painting or putting a top on it, but do the carpet. If it's not selling and feedback says it needs a paint job and/or a top, then do that stuff.

About the paint... I know folks will balk at this, but if you decide it needs to be painted, consider having it sprayed by Maaco or an econo place for under $1000. I've gotten compliments on my car's paint, especially after a good wash/polish/wax, and it was done at Maaco. I'll readily admit that it's a mediocre paint job compared to a truly nice (i.e. show quality) paint job, but it got me 80% of the look for 10-20% of the cost. My point is that it may not be the best paint job, but it should be adequate to make the car look good enough to sell, and that's the real goal here.

That would work great on a 10-12K car but not on a 35K+ car. If I was to pay someone to do the paint I am talking about an 8-10K job but I will be doing the work myself so materials is all I will be out.

[SatisTraction]

That would work great on a 10-12K car but not on a 35K+ car. .

it takes a heck of a car to hit the 35k these days.

[jocko124]

it takes a heck of a car to hit the 35k these days.

Agreed. The economy is terrible and it is a buyer's market.

[b-man]

Original paint is a huge plus, leave it be. A 44-year old car in original paint shows it has absolutely nothing to hide and truly shows off the solid condition of the body.

Clean the car up well, then put your price on it.

[HotRod47]

I am not a big Olds fan so excuse the ignorance here, but even with new paint is that car going to really be worth 35k?

I would clean it up and get what you can as is.

I love the car by the way. Good luck!

[ProdigyCustoms]

Got your PM, I appreciate you valueing my opinion, but I am buy no means the worlds authority on 66 Cutlass values. Now were it a 1969 Camaro......... but here is what I think. i can tell you I think those cars are cool as hell, but we both know it has a small cult like following and weather that following likes what has been done to the car will have to be seen. this coming from a guy that sent a Firebird to auction that brought $85K that had it been a Camaro would have done double the money!

So do you paint it or not???? It depends what you value your time at. If your time is worth zero and you can paint the car for a couple grand of materials, it will surely make the car more desirable and worth at least that much more. If your time is precious as you mentioned, and if it is going to suck up the next 3 or 4 months of weekends and take time away from the family, I would probably cut bait and move it like it is.

If your not DYING for the money, I would probably try to keep it as cheap as possible, open the marketplace a bit to less $$$$ guys and try it first before paint for a lower price and see what happens. And if you get laughed at maybe consider the paint job.

Or, I have a better plan, just find a way to keep it! I understand that may be easier said then done.

[DarkBuddha]

That would work great on a 10-12K car but not on a 35K+ car. If I was to pay someone to do the paint I am talking about an 8-10K job but I will be doing the work myself so materials is all I will be out.
I'm not saying it's a good idea, but I dare say it might work whether it's a $10k car or a $40k car. t's just that a $1000 Maaco paint job looks a whole lot more expensive than that when it's on a $35k quality car. I'm not trying to be dishonest by any means, just pragmatic. I

But like I said, try to sell it without the paint job and see how it goes. I would think $35k is a big number to hit unless you find just the right buyer, and then the paint job is probably not going to be the thing that gets in the way of selling it.

[MrQuick]

See what you can get as it sits. You might end up putting more money into it and get upside down.

Figure how much you have invested to this point then find a price that would make you happy.


cars are not am very good investment but making 2k on a car still makes me happy.

Vince

[Tom Welch]

I've been through this dilemma twice and I wont EVER make this mistake again, I advocate keeping the car and mothballing it until you can continue building it your way. You never come out ahead selling what you are building or fixing that 1 last thing to make it perfect. Keep it if at all possible. My .02

[MonzaRacer]

Honestly if its a convertible, get a good quality top ,document that job, also good quality carpet, to me as a buyer this is a good selling point and protects the value of the car. as for paint, if its simply fade,scratches and such giver her a good clean up, buff, wax/seal to make it look as good as possible, then have lots of photos for the buyer underneath, under hood, in trunk before carpet went for proof. then price accordingly.
I disagree if you have receipts and pics, it can bring good money, maybe, if you have done a lot of extra non original stuff it may change who looks at it but if your work is good and the parts bear out you can sell, partial swap (like a possible wagon "for extra kids" )and cash. Selling a "toy" that has some of your blood on/in it is hard if your attached to it.
I doubt selling a "dream " project would easy, I had a 66 Impalla convertible, if I had even gotten a chance to look at the engine I would have never sold it as all the engine needed was a set of good valve springs, it ran and drove, had brakes, just needed rear shocks, some floor work and top and then look for decent dog house down the road. Honestly I had less than $1000 in it with all my dealing to get it home, no title car but body was pretty sound.
Honestly IF I had been a little more up on Impalla Convertibles I would have a nice driver now or more cash.
BUT wound up selling it under pressure from dad/step mom as it was in dads field. Only got $250 I think.
I had "fixed" the floors with sheet metal screws and sheet metal, but a floor could have been put in for less than $500 at the time.
If your simply trying to free up space and not in a pinch, Take your time do the top and carpet, get it as close a possible.
Then if offers are off the mark, then think about possible paint. IF things will even out and you dont NEED to sell, find reputable storage unit or family garage and put it in hibernation for yr or two. Every 6 months relist or reevaluate your use/need to keep or sell.
Honestly changing houses in this market is awesome, you can sometimes look at local banks and find awesome deals on larger houses with bigger garages for a song, if your credit history is good and your not upside down in your current house, if you like where your at, a proper addition isnt that expensive to put on. Its not like your add on has to have basement just foundation and if its up instead of out it shouldnt hamper anything but your current living while its being built on.

[gearheads78]

Just so we are on the same page I'm not selling to get out of messing with cars. There will be something else right behind this. I have a 1/2 acre with a small 900sf shop behind the house. I'm 5 min from civilization but we are lucky to be in no city limits or restrictions. That's really hard to find without being 45 min out of town. We love where we are but the house is only 1390sf and with a new baby on the way things are just tight in the house. I need to come up with 50-60K to add on to the house (including the all important 3rd bay in the house garage :look: ) based on talking with contractors about our plans ast year. I have a 64 GTO project and a few other things to sell that will get me most of it if the Olds brings enough.

I thought about it all night last night and what I am going to do is list the Olds up for sale as is for about the next 30 days. If it sells great and in the mean time I can finish a storage shed I started last fall to help get things out of my way in the shop. If it does not sell then its comming apart for paint in about a month. I will make it perfect like I wanted it in the first place and continue enjoying it with a for sale sign on it until someone else wants it. Thanks for all your advise

[wmhjr]

Richard,

Good luck with whatever happens. I'm really sorry to see you're thinking of selling the car. Especially right now.

Last night I was watching Mecum auctions on HD for a while. It's downright painful to see very VERY nice cars selling for the low prices they are. Some examples...

A very nice silver pro-tour kind of '57 2 door sedan. From the video and the description, it was a very nice car. I think it went for $25k. It was completely done, and straight as an arrow with great silver paint.

A completely done '72 chevelle Vert went for I think $26k

These are just a couple examples. On a big screen in HD, you can see things just like you're next to the car. Including underneath with their floor cam. I'm seeing cars that I know were just built relatively recently and probably have $60k in them sell for $30k or less.

If you have ANY other option, hang on to that Olds. Now is probably the worst time to try and sell it.

And don't paint it. Anybody really having the disposable income to plop down $25k+ on the car will be smart enough to prefer seeing the original body/paint rather than wondering what's underneath. And a "maaco" kind of paint job? I would immediately walk away from any car with a cheepo paint job that somebody was asking more than $10k for. It makes you wonder what's underneath and behind everything.

[MrQuick]

Just so we are on the same page I'm not selling to get out of messing with cars. There will be something else right behind this. I have a 1/2 acre with a small 900sf shop behind the house. I'm 5 min from civilization but we are lucky to be in no city limits or restrictions. That's really hard to find without being 45 min out of town. We love where we are but the house is only 1390sf and with a new baby on the way things are just tight in the house. I need to come up with 50-60K to add on to the house (including the all important 3rd bay in the house garage :look: ) based on talking with contractors about our plans ast year. I have a 64 GTO project and a few other things to sell that will get me most of it if the Olds brings enough.

I thought about it all night last night and what I am going to do is list the Olds up for sale as is for about the next 30 days. If it sells great and in the mean time I can finish a storage shed I started last fall to help get things out of my way in the shop. If it does not sell then its comming apart for paint in about a month. I will make it perfect like I wanted it in the first place and continue enjoying it with a for sale sign on it until someone else wants it. Thanks for all your advise
good show, keep the money in the bank and do a super full detail on it.
good luck with it.
Vince

[ProdigyCustoms]

I was at that auction. I would not put much stock in what you saw. Edgy cars on weak days brought the money they were worth. And good cars on prime time brought what they were worth. In fact, many brought much more.

I was with a group that brought a total of 10 cars and sold everything for more then they expected.

68 Z28 brought $63K, our reserve was $55K

57 Convertible,Pro Touring, Big Block, stock chassis, 8 out of 10 car brought $97K, happy price was $80K.

64 Corvette roadster, Fulie Car, nice car, happy price $80K, $95K.

69 Camaro, no RS, Small block ZZ350, TKO, TT2s, factory disc brakes, Vintage Air, 8 out of 10 car, Happy price $27K, Brought $34K

A lot of soft price sales were for soft cars. Lots of weak stuff there especially early days. And a lot of it mixed in with good stuff.

We tried hard to buy stuff, left with nothing, everything to high.

2007 irrational exuberance? No! Decent money? Yes.

There has been a adjustment. But I have a list of people looking for cars.

[wmhjr]

Frank, I'm with you except your example of the '69 Camaro selling for low $30s - to me that means that a '66 Cutlass that isn't done wouldn't have brought even close to $25 there. I'd hate to see a guy give a car away when he's so close.

[ProdigyCustoms]

Oh I agree, what the Cutlass is worth is a entirely different story. As I mentioned, the Cutlass following is cult like. The million dollar question is will that crowd love what he did or want him dead, LOL!

I know what the Pontiac guys think of getting rid of the Poncho motor,LOL!

But his car at least still has the motor, so maybe they will love it.

[barraza]

Don't paint that car. Some reasons:

- It's only original paint once.
- A buyer can see what they are really getting
- Nice paint will only bring out the flaws in the trim, and finding perfect trim to go with perfect paint will double the cost, maybe more for something uncommon like your car.
- There truly is a point where a car gets too nice to drive, perfect paint means it never gets driven where it gets parked out of sight.
- If you already have a baby on the way, you will never get it done by yourself and sold in time.
- I, and I suspect a lot of people, would rather buy a car like that just the way it sits. Maybe the carpet and top, but nothing else.

[SatisTraction]

i seen it on ebay. good luck with the auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120541755462&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/03/ebaycutlass00811-1.jpg

[gearheads78]

i seen it on ebay. good luck with the auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120541755462&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT



Thanks Chris. We will see. I'm not getting my hopes up but you don't know unless to try.

[ProdigyCustoms]

Sure is a good looking car!

[gearheads78]

Thanks Frank. All The parts I ordered from your were for this car.