Everybody has a number in their head, but a flawed title doesn't mean anything if you're going to keep the vehicle forever. Personally I don't care if there's a salvage title, because usually when I buy stuff, I buy it to keep forever and what do I care what it's worth when I'm dead? This vehicle also has a good chance of going overseas, and I have no idea what they think about titles like that in Sweden or Japan. I have over 40 vehicles. I'm a totally private collector, I just have a bad habit of looking on eBay and similar auction sites, and my money was burning a hole in my pocket and this thing just looked so good, and here it is in my garage. It was also an opportunity to go on a road trip, and stop at Spring Chevy Hurst Olds Carlisle.
I don't often sell my vehicles, but once in a while some sense gets knocked into my hard head, and I realized that maybe I could use the money for something better, like the light pink 69 Cadillac convertible I was looking at a couple of days ago.
I have a beautiful almost all original 65 Electra 225 4 door hardtop with 50,000 miles, cruise control works, cold AC, everything works. It's not perfect, and a friend of mine overseas is dying to buy it. One day I'll set a price, and maybe he'll bite. If he doesn't, I don't need to sell it.
I have the flawed mindset that I look to see what somebody bought the vehicle for, or how much a dealer paid, and I don't feel like paying them their profit.
I was looking at a 67 Barracuda 340S 4 speed a couple years ago, and the salesman confided of how much the dealership had paid for the car,
and I wasn't going to give him $5,000 profit on a $20,000 vehicle, so I walked away. I regret it, but I would also have regretted giving him a $5,000 profit.
I guess you have to decide how much the car is worth to you... Or if you want to worry about how much the person paid for it.
Another issue is misrepresentation, I can't tell you how many vehicles I buy across the country, and I get there, and there's so many obvious flaws that the dealer or private party either failed to disclose, or totally lied about.
Last year I bought a very original 66 Toronado, it happened to be a Hemmings find of the day. And the private seller was a school principal, and he told me he had NOS resonators which are almost impossible to find, and when the car arrived the resonators were totally original, rusted, and there was several inches of water in the trunk! All I did is pull the plug in the trunk and the water drained out, and I posted a video on YouTube. And he says he had no idea. How could you have no idea when there's so much water in the trunk and it's causing rust all over the place from being in there for months??? I can't believe such ignorance. He was obviously lying lying lying. But the car ultimately drove to Chicago and back beautifully, about 2,000 miles... and to rant on further, both front windows would barely go up and down, several hours of greasing and tinkering, and they work like butter. The seller never mentioned this whatsoever, and what are you supposed to do? Ask him 101 questions? And I've hired people to go look at vehicles in the past, and that's just a total waste of money as well. Maybe because I was cheap and I hired the wrong guy.
Getting back to my K5 Jimmy, when I deliver this vehicle, all the little knick-knack things will be working perfectly, and the vehicle will be cleaned and operating properly. And that's worth something.
Last year there was a late 70s K5 Blazer on eBay for $70,000, it looked like a million dollars, and the undercarriage views revealed rolled out brake lines, and tons of black undercoating. I questioned the dealer, he said it was freshened up. Very likely a rusted piece of junk, and $70,000?
And if you want to look in my head, I was figuring at least $15,000, and a couple people have looked at the truck and said once some little details are ironed out, it may be in the mid-20s. I know about the salvage title, but like I said, if you're going to keep this thing forever, who cares?
I detect a note of arrogance in my typing, but I am a true car collector, I just operate on US greenbacks, like most people here. Maybe I'm just more upfront or forward than other people, but once you get to know me, I'm pretty well-liked by and large in whatever I do
Once I'm typing forever and ever, thoughts of vehicles that are for sale, for argument's sake $50,000, and the person says they have 75,000 in the restoration, plus the cost of the vehicle? It makes you wonder. And I've gone to many many car shows and auctions in all parts of the country over the years, and I seen some pretty junk vehicle sell for pretty inflated prices.
When and if someone's interested in this vehicle, you're not buying my personality, you don't have to live with me. And I can make anybody that wants a video that I can put on YouTube or send by WhatsApp, and it could be 10 minutes long or an hour long. I can do a live video feed so whoever's interested can look at the vehicle and any detail they want. So no traveling across the country or overseas only to be disappointed.
