Too bad this guy messed up this car.

[Lou]

http://ww2.collectorcartrader.com/details.php?adId=90301904

Check out the serial number.  Anyone care to guess what this would have bought restored?

[57 Ford Kustom]

Lou.
   Not a bad looking car not much work to bring it back to stock if that is what blows your whistle, Too mich money even if it was a Faitlane whitch it is not.


TOM   

[Lou]

Not to much to bring it back to stock? Please tell me where you buy your parts, and what is the labor rate is where you live? But that's not the point, the car is the second 57 Ford built at Louisville. Only car worth more would be the first one built. Before Ford started the assembly line they built 10 of each model running the line very slowly, usually on the first day one of each model would be almost hand built. This would be one of those cars.  There is a good chance that this is the oldest serviving 57 Ford.

[FORDNUT]

Maybe we need to cut this guy some slack. Each of us builds a car for our own satisfaction. This very seldom is the way anybody else would build it. The problem comes in when we change our mind and decide to sell to one of those people who didn't really approve of the build style. I've done and bet most others have. He will soon find this out.

[JPotter57]

Point of production is not really an issue with most of us.  The first letter of the VIN most of the time dictates wether it will be restored, or modified.  Since that car is an A-code, 223 6 cylinder, most people would choose to modify it over, say an E-code ( 2X4V 312) or an F-code (factory supercharged 312).
Plus, the car is a base model Custom, which is the one most people favor to build HotRods from. I have owned a few of these, and to be honest, none were really what would be considered a rare car.  They were all B-code two door sedans, (272 2V).  None were done stock.  I started on a couple before I got serious and got one driveable.  The first I had put a 406 and 4 speed into.  The second one would really ruffle the purists, with its trim deletion, Viper Yellow paint, mini-tub and narrowed rear end, plus the stroker 351 W(427 cubic inches) and 5 speed, later swapped for a C4 automatic and 4800 stall convertor.  The point is, not all of us care about stock restorations.  Not all of us care about modified hotrods.  Not all of us care about lowriders.  Personally, I like all `57 Fords, and dont mind seeing them in any configuration, except for crushed into a cube awaiting shipment to China.  I think most of the people here who know me, would agree that if I had a real F code Custom, I would still modify it, at least to the point of wheels, disk brakes, electronic ignition, and alternator conversion.  I would probably go further than that, but not so far that it couldn't be put back stock for those with lack of vision.
Instead of bashing someone else's project because they didnt do it like we would, let's sit back and enjoy it for what it is: another `57 Ford that is on the road and not rusting away in a junkyard or being prepared to turn into some low quality import from a third world country.  I said all that to say this:  The car is not a god to be worshipped.  It is a toy for those of us with the vision to build it the way we want it.  Stock, modified, lowrider, drag car, vintage NASCAR, whatever.  I like them all.

[Lou]

The point is that this guy wants or needs to sell this car. A agree that the car is yours to do what you want, and bolt on mods are a good way to go. What I'm saying is had this guy restored this car, being such a early 57 he could of easily sold it and could have bought 2 or 3 completely done modified vehicles. This car would not be bought by the average collector, but  to a museum or a big time collector even though it is a bottom of the line model it would still bring $30,000, more if handled by a competent auction house. I understand that hotrodders are not known for there research ability, but a little research and some common sense would have paid off big time for this guy.

[JPotter57]

Don't lump all hotrodders in the same category of being knuckle dragging cretins, Lou.  I am a hotrodder, and have been for a long time, but I also have a college education and can research with the best of them.  That being neither here nor there, though, that car, at best, restored, might fetch $25K, if it's low mileage, which I doubt.  A good friend of mine bought a 13K mile 6 cyl original car, from the second owner about 3 or 4 years ago.  If memory serves correctly, he paid about $23K for it.  Mind you, this car was immaculate, and had lived a very pampered life.  After the modifications, which included disk brakes, lowering, aftermarket wheels, and a 312 with supercharger implant, but fitted with a non-factory correct C4(gasp!).  This car was then sold for about $54K.  Nevermind that it had been a pristine, original, 13K mile car, bought from the second owner, the modified car was worth more.  Now, in the case of the car pictured in the ad above, I doubt it would bring the premium $50K, due to it being built in the `50s Kustom style, but still, it will probably bring the $18K or so he wants for it.  I wouldnt pay it, but not because it's not an attractive build.   Just not my cup o` tea, and I would have to tear out a lot of unwanted equipment to help me get it to go down the dragstrip in a satisfactory manner. 
Additionally, with the steadily rising price of the `57, you could not sell that restored original 6 cyl model for enough to buy a nicely done modified....Check out Hemmings...In the last couple issues or so, I think, a really nice black 70A car with 428 and 4 speed sold for something like $63,000!  You might be able to buy a couple hackjobs from Turnip Hollow, Kentucky or something like that, but you won't find a very nice modified for what you could get out of the restored 6 banger car..That is the kind of knowledge that comes from experience and research in the current `57 market.  The market is more kind to modifieds than it is to restored originals now.

[Lou]

Please reread what I said, I did not say that a 6 cyl car will bring more than a modified V8 car, what I said is the second 1957 Ford produced at Louisville in stock form would bring more than the second 1957 Ford produced at Louisville that had been modified.  Regarding your friends suppercharged 312 car, was that a factory suppercharger and did the car go to Bruce Johnson in Minnesota?

[JPotter57]

It was a factory supercharger, and it went to Tom Kitchen in FL.  I'm still not convinced that that car would bring more in original form.  If it was a V8 car, yeah, probably would bring more than it will in its current configuration.  But, done in a more contemporary style like I mentioned above, production sequence will not matter.  The days of "numbers matching, concours correct" are over, and the masses want drivers.

[shopratwoody]

Man,
I really messed up mine!!
But I have enjoyed it for the past 35 years
Ron

[Zapato]

been playing with old cars for years, not one to buy into the restored car is worth more than or easier to sell that a hotrod anymore. Was a time when hotrod often meant shoddy modifications but that's not the case anymore. Hotrods bring top dollar these days and I sure wouldn't want to start on a project figuring some museum would be the next owner. 

[Lou]

Selling to Museums and private collections is a much bigger market than most people realize. Maybe the fact that I tapped into this market early and have sold most of the 21, 1953 to 1963 Fords and Mercury's that I owned in the last 33 years, to true collectors & Museums (2 went to museums), Plus the fact that I don't buy or sell late 60s or later cars has not given me a true prospective of the market. "If" the market is changing and modified vehicles are becoming more acceptable then that will in pack the high dollar ($40,000 & up) restored vehicle market because it is cheaper and easer to build a modified car than to do a correct restoration.(yes you can go crazy and put $100,000 into a hotrod, but most people are smarter than that) I'm going to the Ford Nationals it will be interesting to see if all the original & correctly restored 50s Fords sell out on Friday as has been the rule for the past 1/2 dozen years or more than 3 or 4 modified vehicles sell over the 3 days.

[wolfpupsdad]

 like i always say , different strokes for different folks. whats right to one persons seems to be wrong for others. why would anyone take a original 1964 427 tunnel port thunderbolt and put a 289 in it??? , cause he could??? why would anyone take a stock 289 64 fairlane and go to all the work to make a copy of a thunderbolt with a 390?? seen it done and can only say , cause he could, thats hot rodding for ya.
i believe that the true blood hotrodder aint interested in what a car could be worth, but more about personal choice and having fun and achievement in building it his way.
personally i HATE with a passion to see any ford have a chevy put in it. be it a 32 hiboy or a 57 wagon, lol, had to say that, one of our members here bought a nice wagon that someone dropped a small block chevy in. but my point is simple,  live and let live , whatever trips your trigger.
ya won't see me at a carshow or rod in walking up to a 55 chevy small or big block and telling the owner ," nice car , to bad it's a chevy, not in good taste and i'm to old to get my denture kicked down my throat , lol. i've been around this industry all my life and i think i've seen just about all of it done one way or another , butchered jobs to high dollar trailor queens. form the additudes of full blown ego's to i don't give crap it runs and drives.
live and let live , have fun and try not to turn over anyones rice bowl .
bill

[JPotter57]

I am with you 100% Bill.  The reason that more people get aggravated and fed up with the hobby every day is some guy baggin` on your car because he doesn't like the way you built it.  I will say that I don't build my cars for anybody but me.  I don't care if it is worth $1,000,000.  If I want to chop the top, put a flathead in it, paint it flat black with red wheels, flames, and a glass bubble roof, I can tell you that it is gonna happen.  Now, that said, I will follow it up by saying that I won't do any of those things, well, except for the flat black maybe, but you get my meaning.  If we cared only about how much money something is worth, really, guys, there are better things to invest your hard earned money into.   Very rarely will you really make money on a car, unless you got a really good deal on it, and it is already a desirable car, and you are able to flip it to some over paid baby boomer with more money than good sense.  This is why I have thought for a long time that Barrett Jackson has ruined the hobby for a good many of us.  Every hayseed with a beat up old Ford suddenly thinks it's worth 6 figures, because he "saw one jus` lak it on that sellin` show on the cable tayvay".  When any old car sells for what you could buy a nice house for, it's no longer a hobby for us, but for the silver spoon crowd with a severe case of penis envy.  Spare me.  I am going to go ahead now, and lock this thread before I get any more aggravated with it.  Some good fundamentals to follow are:  A. if you don't like it, buy it and change it, or move along quietly.  B. None of us are better than anyone else. C. All of us are individuals with individual tastes.  and D., there is no room for elitism here.