Help determining value of classic cars

jhahn812

Hey, new to the forums. My dad has a few older cars he is looking to get rid of. Not advertising here, just would like some advice on where/how to determine what these might be worth. Any resources online? Or would we be better off just bringing them to a swap meet.

There not in great shape. Some have engines, some just the body. I'll just include one photo here to give an idea of the condition. The rest are in similar shape. Thanks for any help.

1958 Chevrolet

Mr_Shiftright

Sometimes cars in that condition are the hardest to evaluate, because if you just took a car like that into a shop and said "restore it", then the car is itself would be worth nothing--the cost to restore, even when done, would be way more than the market value.

Before you go to any price guides, you have to determine the condition of the car---give it a grade. Here's some definitions of the standard grading system:

CONDITION GUIDE

Once you've assigned your car a "grade" (and you can, and should, add + or - if the car seems to fall between grades), then you can go to various guides that use this grading system.

You will find, though, that price guides are only "ballparks" and they will vary one from the other. So it's not a solid number---it's a start.

One online guide is: http://www.collectorcarmarket.com/

Here's another. It uses a "low" "average" and "high" rating, which is kinda like #4, #3 and #2.

http://www.nadaguides.com/

One way you can sell these cars is to drag them out into the open somewhere, photograph them extensively and put them on eBay. You can even put a reserve price on them so that they don't sell for $10 if nobody shows up for the online auction. Even if your reserve isn't met and the auction fails, you still have a list of interested bidders whom you can contact offline.

Another way to determine value is to search some of the online classic car classifieds:

www.cars-on-line.com
autotraderclassics.com
www.hemmings.com

Remember, any "comparable" you see must be in the same condition as what you are selling.

Good luck!

jhahn812

Thank you for taking the time to write all of that up. Extremely helpful and much appreciated.

Mr_Shiftright

Pleasure. Come back and "see" us anytime.

Mr_Shiftright

PS: Cars like the one in your photo are best sold to hobbyists and tinkerers. They don't "do the math" as strictly as a collector might. Also make sure you have identified your cars correctly with regard to model and engine size and options. There's often a BIG difference between the same model and year car but with different engine size or different transmission, or special options. Most price guides will help you with this.

jhahn812

Great, will do. Thanks again.

parm

Once you've identified what you have, taken some good quality photos and developed a feel for values, I recommend posting a "for sale" ad in the car forums that are specific to the mark you have. As an example, AACA has "for sale" forums for Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, etc. There's always somebody looking for a donor/parts car which looks to be what you have. Good luck.