1957 Del Rio wagons on the market, discussion

[djfordmanjack]

What is everybody's opinion on 57 Del Rio (2dr Custom 300 Ranch Wagon) market today?
Personally believe I observed that the market seemed to be drying up over the past years.
I am neither trying to sell my own Del Rio project, nor in the market for purchasing another one. But since I  bookmarked a search on ebay for 57 Del Rio I find that the market is very slow, and if one shows up prices are very high. obviously mostly street rodded cars, rarely an original.
Does anyone think that this would be in coincidence with the introduction of Monogram's 1/25th model about 5 yrs ago? possibly increasing the demand for the 'real life' classic?
Back when I started looking for a 57 DR in about 2011 or so they were abundant. resto projects seemed to pop up all the time - have all these been sold and undergoing restoration right now
I am a bit dumbfounded. While my own project car is  blown apart and suffered from heavy rust and accident damage, I am tempted to think that I am lucky to have one at all ....what do you guys think ?

[mustang6984]

Price of metal went up last winter a bit for awhile. I wonder if that had any effect on the shortage? A lot yards unloaded tons of metal while the price was high...which of course shoved the price back over the cliff again pretty quick.
Could also be that there are just not any guys out there looking to part with their 57's anymore. I have turned down several $1000.00 for mine in years past.

[RICH MUISE]

When I think of the description "market drying up", I'm usually thinking in terms of there being no buyers. I don't think that's the case with our '57's. Demand seems to be higher than availability, I think because, in a large part, the Chevy tri-5 market has become over saturated, over exposed, peaked, overpriced, over built, over-everything. What I get asked about most often are Custom 2 drs, Rancheros, and Ranchwagon/Del Rios.
It may be a subtle difference in language translation, Guenter, but usually when we talk about market drying up over here  it means ya can't sell what you have. Technically you're probably correct using the description, that is, to have a market, you need a buyer, a seller, and a product to sell, but we normally are referring to the buyers not being around when we use that description.
I feel like I'm preaching to the choir, your English is usually so perfect.

[mustang6984]

Might be fair to say the supply has dried up. A year ago I noticed a few for sale but now as G said...does not seem to be many if any depending on which day one looks. And some think they are sitting on rolling gold mines with prices WAY out of the realm of sane.
As for the tri-5 Bow-Ties...Dynacorn is now making bodies for them, and so for $10k you can have a perfect body delivered to the sawhorses in your garage. There are gonna be a LOT more of them from year to year in the future.

[djfordmanjack]

thank you Rich for your input. I did use the wrong terminology. the way you explained it makes absolute sense and I did mean it the other way around!
wanted to say that very few Del Rio's or 57 wgns are out on the market. maybe it is only on ebay because obviously I cannot check all the different craigslists or Bring a trailer auctions or all the classic car traders at a time. But it is obvious when you google search 57 Del Rio 4 sale, there are much fewer listings than some years ago.
a lot of what both of you say makes sense to me.
Is it possible, that poeple are not even looking into selling their 57 wgns. or 57s in general?

As we all know it is VERY expensive to build a collector car or do a restoration project these days, and some ethusiast people might just see they have great collectible cars and are happy to own them and not having to put 10k into another project car to be in roadworthy condition.

I also believe that our beloved 57 Fords might be much rarer and sought after than we usually want to think.

[djfordmanjack]

This one has been for sale on and off for about 1/2  year now it seems. apperently did not sell.

http://smclassiccars.com/ford/630822-1957-ford-del-rio-for-sale.html



I believe it was advertised on epay for 59 k. maybe that is too much for a highly personalized resto mod car?
other than that no budget or project cars I can think of in a year or so.

[rmk57]

There's a real nice yellow/white one on eBay now. I stumble across the odd one on Craigslist when I do a state to state search. All in all there aren't a lot of them around anymore.

[djfordmanjack]

Randy, do you mean this one ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-Ford-Fairlane-2dr-Ranch-Wagon/324024286731?hash=item4b715a3e0b%3Ag%3AmygAAOSwfEJeBT1r&LH_ItemCondition=3000%7C1000%7C2500



this must have been listed very recently. It is not to my personal likings and unfortunately again has been robbed of the gorgeous og 300 gold anodized trim panels and double ss trim. if you look closely on the detail pics it is a little rough in places. it'll be interesting to watch the auction and if it gets sold.

Our German member Kai ( or a car dealer on his behalf) is obviously selling his Country sedan, which Kai successfully used on various Hot Rod Power Tours over the past years. Quite an attractive car and the mechanicals must be sorted, since it made so many miles recently. I don't know if that is correctly priced. these days it is so difficult to understand the market. it is one of very few advertised 57 wgns. I have been following this very car for at least 7 or 8 yrs or so.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-Ford-Other/233412897095?hash=item36587e2947%3Ag%3AlQ0AAOSwfopd2fVC&LH_ItemCondition=3000%7C1000%7C2500

[mustang6984]

This one has been for sale on and off for about 1/2  year now it seems. apperently did not sell.

http://smclassiccars.com/ford/630822-1957-ford-del-rio-for-sale.html

I believe it was advertised on epay for 59 k. maybe that is too much for a highly personalized resto mod car?
other than that no budget or project cars I can think of in a year or so.

Yea...that is a bit excessive I think unless there is something really special done to it. didn't read the listing yet.) Almost makes me think someone listed it because the wife told him to...and when it doesn't sell he can argue that he tried...

[djfordmanjack]

you have a point there Hugh !

[rmk57]

    Yes, that's one. Here's our 58 Villager wagon from years ago. Came out of El Centro, Calif. One of the more rust free 50's cars Iv'e ever owned.

[Jeff Norwell]

Intersting topic....I think the prices on some of the 57's we love are still reasonable,.... Gunther,Kai's car is very well priced(INMHO)....others.. are not.
But I believe the bottom has fallen from our car market.A friend of mine was watching the Mecum action over the holidays.. and this 36 Ford went for a very stupid low price.Not my color choice or wheels..but.... 14K??
The 30 year old crowd is NOT into cars from the teens to the 70's.They did not grow up with them.(Majority here, there are exceptions.)
I think part of the problem is many want every dollar out of their car that they put in.In todays world .... that just is not going to happen.
Building a car is just so very expensive.... A Average paint job with supplies,product,labour ....on the cheap. is 10K around here.... and climbs steady after that.
Younger people don't have that type of money.. and the successful 30 year olds now.. are just not interested.They want cars they yearned for in their Highschool days.
Supras,Mercedes,Bmw,Hondas and the such.

I have always said.. build a car you love.. that's your return.

or start buying the above.

[RICH MUISE]

Feel bad for the seller on that coupe. I even like the yellow. I can't watch auctions any more........I get depressed for too many sellers and depressed because I'm not there with cash, lol!
With that siad, I still think if you have the right car with the right appeal, there's enough big bucks guys out there that'll pay the price it takes.

[Jeff Norwell]

I agree Rich!!!.. that car 10 years back was 35-40K.. Minimum!!!!

[djfordmanjack]

very interesting Jeff. lots of true points in your observations !
Did that 36 REALLY sell for that maybe the reserve was not met? I heard that the market for auctions is also too big, too many auctions and cars and too few interested persons. just what you said Jeff.
I think there is a huge discrepancy between the cost and quality of spare parts and restoration work ( f.e. paint our rate) and the price of a finished average collector car.
I wish I had spent a little more money on a very sweet ( Robinson built) Del Rio over here a few years ago. I believe I now have the same money in my pile and it isn't even driveable, let alone restored. from the money aspect, I should never again touch the Del Rio or dump another single $ in it.
It is only half bad though, since I can use most of the NOS and new repro spare parts for my 4dr wgn.  Still haven't decided if I want to finish the restoration on the Del Rio. But obviously since Del Rios are getting hard to find on the market, I might as well be lucky to at least have one in my shelter...?!