Thread: Where to find the value of a Street Rod

Tweet

Does anyone have any suggestions where I can find the values of street rods online? I am looking to purchase another car and would like to see if I can find out what the approximate value of the vehicle is.

Thank you

As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is the value of a Street rod. Valueing a vehicle of this nature is very difficult as they are usually assembled using lots of bits n pieces from various donors with a basic resemblance to there former self. I presume you have one in mind. That being said I would say there would be some folks on this forum who may be able to give yoy a ball park figure on what you should be looking at but I doubt you would find a "spreadsheet" with pricings etc.
I would suggest a detailed description and some good photos may help us give you an idea. Of course me being in Aussie makes it even more difficult to value your Street rod as our dollar and economic climate are quite different. PS Welcome to the forum...
Webby

Originally posted by mybell76
Does anyone have any suggestions where I can find the values of street rods online? I am looking to purchase another car and would like to see if I can find out what the approximate value of the vehicle is.

Thank you

Someone will correct me if I wrong, but I'm not aware of a "Blue Book type price list" for street rods. A custom built vehicle would have a custom price. That is it would depend on the quality of the build, both in parts and labor. How many miles it has on it since the rebuild. was it taken care of, etc. etc. etc. Maybe check EBAY & see what they are going for there, or better yet check with people who deal in custom vehicles in your area, or go to car shows and swap meets to see what they are getting. and note what shape the vehicle is as compared to the price they are asking/getting.
2 - 32's sitting side by side ........ 1 is thrown together the other is a show car .......... obviously there will be a price difference. There will probably be as many different prices as there are cars. I would find the car (Make, Model, Yr.) that you are interested in .... then campare it to others of the same general (Make, Model, Yr.) to get a feel for the going price range.

Originally posted by gherkin350
Of course me being in Aussie makes it even more difficult to value your Street rod as our dollar and economic climate are quite different. PS Welcome to the forum...
Webby

Ya' beat me by 2 seconds HE HE HE

Sorry Pro, won't do it again....MUCH

Ask the seller for a spec sheet, Then go to a web site like www.traderonline.com or dealsonwheels.com and compare prices with the spec sheet. other than that. depends on how bad you want it.

You've got a lot of research to do if you don't want to end up disappointed. Just to put a finer point on all that's been said before, keep in mind two things. Ebay is based on what people are actually willing to pay, if the auction meets reserve, and most of those cars are bought sight unseen. Also, a moderately high percentage of those deals fall through. The other sources, to which I would add, www.cars-on-line.com, are ASKING prices. There's always room for negotiation.

And as has been said already, but bears emphasis, a list of parts does not a good rod make. What's WAY more important is how it's built. And that takes experience to evaluate. That's what I mean by your needing to get some good learnin'. Fortunately you live in California, so car events happen pretty much all year long. Go to every one you can, learn what you like, ask the owners questions til you're a pain in the butt. If they built the car, ask what they felt was most important, and how they accomplished it. If they bought a car done (the most economical way to get bang for your buck if it's not a blivit) ask them what the pitfalls were, or were not, and learn from that.

Keep certain things in mind. Drive train stuff is usually the most economical part of the car to replace/repair if necessary. Unless you possess the skills to do it yourself (really, not just in your imagination) most other aspects of the car can run into some serious dough. Suspension stuff can be relatively inexpensive unless some bozo really screwed it up, or butchered the frame bigtime. Hiring upholstery can get pricey in a hurry, and it costs the same to replace an interior that's a little worn, the wrong color, or completely shot. Paint is even worse. It costs as much, or more, to replace a bad paint job as to do one from scratch. Of course the owner of the chartreuse car full of fisheye and dirt, with the orange interior, will protest that it's all nearly new! Worse yet is if the body work underneath is a mud biscuit.

Now that I've cheered you up, don't be afraid to get in the pool. Just take the time to learn what sharks look like. If you don't let your "I wants" get ahead of your common sense, you can learn to discriminate between good cars and bad cars. Good cars will always make you happier. It just takes time.............or a good knowledgable buddy you trust to guide you along.

Uncle Bob, the correct link for that web site is www.cars-on-line.com That is a nice site with just about anything and everything a car-person is looking for, in the way of..... motorized vehicles.

Thanks for the correction 60.

I use a lot of spread sheets. I'm not real good at making them trick but I can usually get the info out that I want. Remember bad in bad out however. They are very cold and brutal and don't care an iota for your feelings. LOL
I start with a list of must have, maybe have, desired, extras ets. It usually expands as I develope the sheet.

For example say you are looking for a 57 chev

make a list of needs...350 350 hp 4sp or auto 350 turbo or 700r4. You will have to do research on the cost of these items as noted by Bob above. Add a condition value good, excellent, needs resto etc. You can set the totals and determine what you want to spend and what you want to do your self.

Next enter a number of candidate cars that you find for sale. Plug in the traits of each and a little math and you can see where you stand on each car.

Gross simplification but what you are trying to do is educate youself as to what the car is worth to you versus what is being asked for it on the market versus what it might cost to build or modify.

Many cars have a large amount of labor at hotrod shops. Some shops with good reputations this can carry some weight others..well you will have to be the judge. Just because it has House of Kolor paint doesn't mean it is a 10k paint job if Joe Mudd used 35 pounds of bondo..most of it still showing. Get what I mean.

I've probably made 50 spread sheets for my current project and every one of them has wound up being used for firestarter. I have gained a pretty good foundation of what items are worth because of the research. If you may sell the car at some time later, you may find that some items are necessary to make the sale others are not. Both cases you may of may not want these items. Again you are in control.

A lot of factors establish value for custom cars. As noted the value is in the "seeing".

bentwings

To correctly calculate the value of any given street rod, the simplilest and easiest way is to buy yourself a quiji board and consult the spirits of old car guys, specifically those who knew enough to tell you upfront that street rods are overated, overupdated passing fads.

Thanks for the humor, Suede. Must be humor, hard to understand how a "passing fad" could be supported by such a huge multi-billion dollar market of manufacturers and builders.

One thing I always recommend is that if you have the cash for the vehicle, bring a friend who hates the car. Give him the money. My buddy and I did this a few times. He's a Ford guy and I'm a Chevy guy. Usually works out pretty well for us. Don't be afraid to walk out on a deal if it isn't good enough. Look at how much work has gone into them. If the person skimped in one area, what else did they skimp on?

Hot Rod values in general are purely in the eyes of the beholder. A T-Bucket isn't worth much to me. But I just don't like them personally. But to someone who likes them it might be worth heaps of cash. NEVER believe the asking price. Usually they are trying to get what they put in to them, and lets face it, its almost never worth the cost of parts and labor.

Actually there are such things as automotive appraisers that can help determine the market value of a street rod. They use many of the same criteria that are mentioned here. The difference is, because they do it on a regular basis they have many resources available to them and are in tune with the market place. I'm not sure how you go about finding one. Perhaps search for classic car appraiser or contact some of the classic car insurance companies.

Good luck

Pat

always depends like some cars in oklahoma you cant get very much out of them go to california you get what you car is worth
the market for old cars in oklahoma isnt to great
we have a few good carshows here thats just about it
it april of everyear we have the nsra come here there is thousands of rods as they cruise our south meridian