57 ranchero

[57imposter]

I think we should have a minute, or two of silence for the poor guy who spent 350K on his Ranchero, took it to Barrett Jackson and sold it for 63K. I am afraid he became a member of a very large club of people who turn their vehicles over to auctions to sell with no reserve. We have a local street rod shop who took huge losses on two vehicles this year also....Sad!

[rmk57]

I would like to know how you'd spend 350k on any 50's Ford. Was the bed trim gold plated ?

Which brings me to another point. A buyer pays 250k for a restomod 60 Corvette with all the latest bells and whistles. 5-10 years down the road
do you think he will be able to recoup even half his money?

[CobraJoe]

Sadly, that's the way it is today; most of these guys spend a minimum of $250k to build these Resto-Mods and the next guy who buys them, gets the deal. They run an average of two years to build and are billed on a monthly basis.
Take the time to look at this contract for Dave Kindig:

[CobraJoe]

Here's the info on that '57:

[Lou]

Regarding the 59 Ranchero that the guy claims he spent $350,000 on, if that true, the P.t.Barnum was right.
I love the 57 Ranchero and price seemed about right for what it is.

[rmk57]

This is the one that had 350k in it. https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1959-FORD-RANCHERO-CUSTOM-PICKUP-225483

I agree the 57 Ranchero is beautiful.

[Marc]

That '57 is a sweet looking Ranchero.
As much as I enjoy watching the auctions on tv, it's always painfully obvious how little the talking heads know about '50's Fords. Usually when one rolls across the stage all they can talk about is how it compares to a chevy of the same era.
A beautiful '58 retractable came up at one point. The owner had yanked the original engine and installed a later 4.6. The announcer says "Originally this car would've had a 312 Y-block." Umm, no, not quite.

[Ecode70D]

   These prices are way out of my league

[Oldmics]

I heard the 312 engine comment regarding the 58 Retractable.

Experts - I think not. 

Oldmics

[CobraJoe]

Sorry guys, posted the wrong pic, my bad. The one I posted went for $38k not the $63k the OP had mentioned. 

[RICH MUISE]

Just my 2 cents............to me, the '59 example is obviously an extreme example for many reasons. First, let me say I don't even like the car all that much. I've grown to like the '59s, and I've seen a number of them really looking great, that one just doesn't appeal to me. With that said, the seller put crazy amounts of money into what may be Ford's all time least popular model, so what was expected?
If you build a car that has a lot of curb appeal, it can make a huge difference come auction time. All it takes is two or three Gold Chainers who happen to really like your car. Hard to do when your starting with a generally unpopular model. The dropping selling prices of cars is disheartening for sure, but with all the car shows I've been doing in the past 3 years, and attending in the past 10 years, I noticed last year an increase in the attendance of other '57 Fords. Tri Five Chevy interest is dropping, and 57-8 Fords are increasing. Ours may be dropping price wise as well, but not as hard as many others. Most, if not all, of us here are not in "the price is no object" category, so we'll never be hit as hard as some of these big buck show cars that were professionally built. I don't know how many $ I have in my build, never added the receipts, but I'm probably pretty close, dollar wise, to about 10% of what the '59 guy had in his. With the comments and offers I've had on mine even not being for sale, I'm not worried about it, at least that's what I'm trying to convince my self, lol.
We read all this prices dropping stuff on the internet, but go to some big car shows like Goodguys or NSRA and you won't have the feeling of a fading hobby at all!!

[RICH MUISE]

I didn't mean to single my car out, my point was I think most of the guys on this forum don't need to worry about declining overall market prices. First, most of us are not interested in selling our cars, and with few exceptions, most of us do not have the comparatively high dollars invested in our builds. Most have been built the old school sweat equity way. And interest in '57s are finally rising. Bob's 57AGIN is MAYBE the exception because I know how much time his car spent in shops being redone. I wouldn't think Bob would ever sell his car, so it's probably not a concern for him either.

[ragtop]

just have a 57 painted with a little body work done in Madison Wisconsin it starts at 8000.00 and goes up from there you want a top notch 2 tone base clear cut and buffed its 20000.00 very little body work shops around charge 150+ an hour my last cars exhaust job on a 57 bird and I had mufflers was 650.00 you can't pay someone to build a car for you with out a big stack of money and you may not get it at sale time I have built a lot of cars sometimes I'm lucky to get my money back with out labor or making .25 a hour 

[Ford Blue blood]

Given cars are my ONLY hobby, the fact that I wanted to play since I can remember, I have learned to do most everything needed to build a car.  Early on there was no money for "fun", so that required doing myself.  I learned early on that you can put a butt load of material on the garage floor for the price of one hours labor.  I just can't imagine not being able to read.  All I have learned over the years came out of books and applying those words to practice.  Knowing what the end product is supposed to look like and "unscrewing" things that didn't turn out correct is plain and simply persistence (a gift from my father).

Now having said that I do keep strict track of expenses while doing a build.  Paint after body work runs in the 3 - 4 K range.  Body work, patch panels, primer, rust removal, paper products, and the multiple miscellaneous items required to get ready for paint runs in the 2 - 4 K range depending on what the project looks like in the beginning.  When I sell a car (can't keep them all) the only figure I look at is what I have in it.  Labor don't count!  Makes the wife unhappy that I don't count labor, but, they are my only hobby.  She knows exactly where to find me, the "car account" keeps peace with the family finances, and I am happy!

[Tom S]

... Early on there was no money for "fun", so that required doing myself.
... All I have learned over the years came out of books and applying those words to practice.  Knowing what the end product is supposed to look like and "unscrewing" things that didn't turn out correct is plain and simply persistence.