So, enter this 100 point restoration... a 1933 Packard Twelve.
- packard12.PNG (819.49 KiB) Viewed 2279 times
I'm sure that this car is one of the few on the planet that give even girls a boner.
It recently auctioned off for $451,000 in 2012. The auction house posted the history of this car since 1950. In its write up were AT LEAST TWO major restorations (2002 $97,000 and 2005 $350,000). This lead to multiple show trophies.. this would be next level shit... not your 'krylon rebuild' or even one of these fake epoxy paint jobs. This was hard core find the original parts kind of stuff... something the average MV owner could never dream of and far above ordering an MD-Juan tub kit from any tom, dick, or harry on the internet. So that's $447,000 in restorations, PLUS acquisition cost, PLUS storage, PLUS other rebuilds that most likely occurred, but not know of. So, by that math, IT SOLD FOR A LOSS OF AT LEAST $50,000-$100,000 This is a 25% loss on a world class restored car.
When I see a G503/G506/G508 etc etc and post what I think a realistic price is... I'm more right than wrong. Unless you are in the BUSINESS of restoring vehicles there is no money in flipping them... you are simply relying on some sucker who has more emotions than sense. You can ask $10,000 for a rotted out CCKW-353 all day long (look at e-bay) and the vast majority of trucks never sell because the prices are simply made up... or worse.. the owner thinks there is profit in his epoxy and bondo creation. 99.99999% of MVs will lose value because of all the hands that have had their chance to 'fix it' and the simple truth that if you spend the money to 'make it right' you would , at best, see a 70%-80% return on your money... even less if you count your labor costs.
Now a few people might think I am full shit.. and that on t.v. they see guys take a $1200 junker muscle car and 'sell' it for $25k. Most of the money they make is not in selling cars... but in shop services (paint, bodywork). I'm sure they sell a few cars, but they are not in the business of selling cars, but selling services. And most of what they do build is more 'portfolio' work than anything else.
I was in a pretty interesting thread on hmvf.co.uk about CCKW prices and values a while back. Most didn't understand 'value' and kept falling back on 'whatever you want to pay'. That's the ignorant answer. Do you go into the store and only give the cashier $1 and not $4 for a gallon of milk because 'that's all you wanted to pay'? No. Few sellers have the integrity to stop a buyer from overpaying on a vehicle when they priced it 'high' and expected to settle/haggle for a lower price. Plus guys lose their minds when that OD MV is sitting there and they want it... even though its worth less than half the asking price. I've passed on MANY trucks because when you factor in the value of the MV, shipping and restoration the price EASILY doubles (the cost to take 11 rotted out tires to the dump can be over $500.. my local transfer station charges $0.60/lb for tires. And if you buy new NDTs from a vendor they will NOT take your old ones) . But I've also lucked out on a few trucks and got a good value. Case in point... a CCKW was in NC. Typical rot but it had a composite bed in better than average shape (even had a tailgate and toolbox with lock). Asking price was $2200... it was priced fairly but hauling it back to PA was $1500, and as I mentioned getting rid of the rotted tires (and face it, how many ppl factor in the cost of disposing of tires into the equation.... but it is a cost you will pay) It was not a $3700+ truck, because it was basically just just the bed that held any real value.
Cars are a lot like real estate.. you don't make your money on a house when you sell it, but when you BUY it. So the owner of this '33 Packard got one hell of a deal. They guy that sold it had a loss when you compare the costs of the car up to the day of auction.
