What is a good price? My neighbor wants to sell me his mustang.. He wants 10K+ for what he put into it, I told him I take the body without an engine for 5K what is really a reasonable offer I should give?
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Mustang 1965
- Thread starter StangFix
- Start date
RyanG85
Well-Known Member
Hows the paint? Is it a back yard 20 footer or nicely done?
How complete is it? If the body is done right and the paint is good your offer sounds about right to me. That is if it is all there (parts to complete). Done and running that's a $12-15k car if you were to sell it. May be a bit more if updated with disk brakes, 5 speed, etc. If you have to go out and buy a new interior, trim bits and chrome and all you can rack up a huge sum real fast.
kb3
Well-Known Member
If the paint job is well done, it would cost over $5k alone. If the other parts are there and in good condition that would be a great price. If the major parts are missing you could easily spend $10k, plus the price of an engine to put it all together. Hard to justify on a coupe unless it is something you are passionate about.
that car has the best of everything.. He wants to finish it before selling.. I will post more pics with new windows...
JeffTepper
Well-Known Member
Emilio:
I suspect your neighbor may not agree with this but, what he has into the car has nothing to do with its fair market value. It's been said many times before that the value of a completed project is often less than the cost to complete it.
I suggest that the process which leads to the determination of its current as-is value is that amount which would buy a completed car in comparable condition, less the cost of getting this one to that point.
With that as a starting point,, "fair market value" is that amount which a willing buyer pays to a willing seller not under compulsion to sell.
From your perspective, how much do you want this car? In other words, do you want it enough to pay a premium to get it?
Regards, Jeff
I suspect your neighbor may not agree with this but, what he has into the car has nothing to do with its fair market value. It's been said many times before that the value of a completed project is often less than the cost to complete it.
I suggest that the process which leads to the determination of its current as-is value is that amount which would buy a completed car in comparable condition, less the cost of getting this one to that point.
With that as a starting point,, "fair market value" is that amount which a willing buyer pays to a willing seller not under compulsion to sell.
From your perspective, how much do you want this car? In other words, do you want it enough to pay a premium to get it?
Regards, Jeff
To give you an idea of things...
Last time I made the mistake of adding up costs I was into the low $30's on my project. That includes car purchase price. Bought as a completely disassembled project at the height of the market. I paid $9k for a complete, all original, rust free fastback. Plus I got a lot of extra parts as well. A really good buy at the time. I will be at about $40k when done. That price point has me doing everything. Paint to engine to assembly of all. The only thing I paid to have done was media blasting and some machine work on the engine (which I picked up off a guy as a stalled project in short block form and disassembled and reassembled). While I have bought a gazillion new parts, I also work Craigslist, e-Bay and swap meets to find deals too. If I paid list for everything and hired the normal stuff out I would easily have $60-70k in the car when finished. I'd be lucky to sell for $35k and it will be/is one of the nicest 65s you will find anywhere.
You're looking at a coupe. Where I paid $9k for a fastback, a coupe in the same state is $3k at best. Painted adds a couple grand in my mind. Doesn't matter what it costs to actually do the paint. Now if parts are missing the dollars start rolling off. Your neighbor won't agree but that's what the market will tell him. I would stick to $5k and let him tell you why its worth more. If he tells you he has a grand worth of disk brake conversion parts, offer him what you feel is fair for them. He has a T5 he picked up for it, great. What's the market value of a used T5 out by you. Here a rebuilt is about $700 bought well. Keep in mind, you can find a used one for a few hundred and rebuild it yourself for a few hundred more and KNOW what you have.
My rule on NEW parts that have not been installed is to try and pay no more than 50-60% of new price. I have sellers come back to me a couple weeks after my offer many times and agree to my price. I'm not being unfair, really, as if you hit something at the right time you can generally buy new at up to 20% even 30% off. That other 20% is fair "depreciation".
Bottom line is it sucks to sell an unfinished project almost as much as it sucks to sell a finished one! If you get more than half your investment (more if you do everything yourself) you are lucky. Like I said in the beginning, that coupe finished is a $15k car sold. Maybe a bit more if done really well with some nice modern additions.
Last time I made the mistake of adding up costs I was into the low $30's on my project. That includes car purchase price. Bought as a completely disassembled project at the height of the market. I paid $9k for a complete, all original, rust free fastback. Plus I got a lot of extra parts as well. A really good buy at the time. I will be at about $40k when done. That price point has me doing everything. Paint to engine to assembly of all. The only thing I paid to have done was media blasting and some machine work on the engine (which I picked up off a guy as a stalled project in short block form and disassembled and reassembled). While I have bought a gazillion new parts, I also work Craigslist, e-Bay and swap meets to find deals too. If I paid list for everything and hired the normal stuff out I would easily have $60-70k in the car when finished. I'd be lucky to sell for $35k and it will be/is one of the nicest 65s you will find anywhere.
You're looking at a coupe. Where I paid $9k for a fastback, a coupe in the same state is $3k at best. Painted adds a couple grand in my mind. Doesn't matter what it costs to actually do the paint. Now if parts are missing the dollars start rolling off. Your neighbor won't agree but that's what the market will tell him. I would stick to $5k and let him tell you why its worth more. If he tells you he has a grand worth of disk brake conversion parts, offer him what you feel is fair for them. He has a T5 he picked up for it, great. What's the market value of a used T5 out by you. Here a rebuilt is about $700 bought well. Keep in mind, you can find a used one for a few hundred and rebuild it yourself for a few hundred more and KNOW what you have.
My rule on NEW parts that have not been installed is to try and pay no more than 50-60% of new price. I have sellers come back to me a couple weeks after my offer many times and agree to my price. I'm not being unfair, really, as if you hit something at the right time you can generally buy new at up to 20% even 30% off. That other 20% is fair "depreciation".
Bottom line is it sucks to sell an unfinished project almost as much as it sucks to sell a finished one! If you get more than half your investment (more if you do everything yourself) you are lucky. Like I said in the beginning, that coupe finished is a $15k car sold. Maybe a bit more if done really well with some nice modern additions.
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RyanG85
Well-Known Member
What Terry said is pretty spot on but it ultimately comes down to how much you want it and how much he needs to sell it... The car could be easily worth 10K to you if its the car you've been looking for and has the paint job you would've wanted. It's only worth around $2500 if you are looking to flip it. Finding a solid car and the agony involved with paint and body work is easily the worst part of any restoration so like I said earlier, if it's the car and paint you would've wanted the value goes way up in my opinion. My coupe project has stalled 3 times over past 20 years all due to paint and body. If I started with a painted roller, car would've been done 15 years ago...
AzPete
Well-Known Member
Wait......he wants 10K after he finishes it???
I will add one more thing to compliment what Ryan posted. He's right about paint. If bodywork and paint are not your thing you need to consider what you would have to pay to get a car done yourself to the equation (but reduced to 50% as I explained earlier). That's why I said $2k for decent to good paint. But seriously go through every part if you are looking to buy. Spend some time on NPD's website and tally up the cost of all the parts needed to finish. It will shock the hell out of you. Trust me, you won't want to put pitted old trim or door handles or scratched up glass or worn upholstery back into/on the car. You will be buying new (if your neighbor hasn't got it). A quick and painful peek at just my NPD receipt stack showed I spent over $3k with them for mine. That's just little stuff. Dash chrome bits, emblems, carpet, headliner, dash pad, window felts....the list is enormous.
Not telling you all this to scare you out of buying it. Rather, I would like for you to buy it right so you can finish it and be proud of not just the car but your purchase. One thing I have finally learned after all these years is that there is ALWAYS another better deal somewhere. They made millions of mustangs. And projects stall out all the time.
Not telling you all this to scare you out of buying it. Rather, I would like for you to buy it right so you can finish it and be proud of not just the car but your purchase. One thing I have finally learned after all these years is that there is ALWAYS another better deal somewhere. They made millions of mustangs. And projects stall out all the time.
RyanG85
Well-Known Member
Terry, whats wrong with you? Rule #1 in any restoration is "Never tally up your receipts", not even some of them....