Guys, I been hitting ebay and all the craiglist states the pass few days. I love how there are still lots of 48/52 Fords that come up for sale. The last few Ive seen, Have bee very good stock shape. Anyone have a number of how many trucks where made ?.. Really now adays all a person would need is a frame (F1) and cab with doors and hood, Since thet repop everything else, I.E front and rear fenders, grills, and Bed, running boards. I may up doing a nutter truck, Since the time I've got my truck the first one, Ive came across a good 15 trucks within hour of my house three of them are the woods I the next town over. Only two of them are running driving truck, With Chevy drive trains..

 

Luuucky...(Napoleon Dynamite voice).

It's hard to find any around my neck of the woods.

Maybe a good thing for me?

 

Most of the ones I find within 200 miles of me are either total JUNK and the sellers think they are made of gold, or if they are decent (rare) they all think they are Barrett Jackson material. I had a guy about 5 miles from me that I approached about 6 years ago, he had a 48 F5 and and a 51 F7, both had locked up motors, had sat in the same spot for 30 years and of course no paperwork, not to mention the extensive rust through. I had offered him $800 for them then, but he would not sell. Last year another local guy who managed to get them for scrap offered them to me for $1K, when I saw the xtra damage that he did loading them with his D6 dozer, I passed. Last week another local bought them and is now trying to sell them for $2K each.

 

Shoot, did i miss some? Let me at em...

The last three i purchased, granted they were kinda rough. But i paid $166 each. F2 and f3's Add $60 in fuel and a few hours of my day and im probably upside down in them but im a sucker i guess

 

I can't believe the ones I see on C/L that are total crap that they want $3-5K for. I mean, I see ads for trucks with trees laying across the roofs, growing through the hoods and they still want $3K for them.

 

Yep i agree, i see plenty around here for that kind of money too. Crazy thing is it seems that some of them must actually sell too? See some crazy money on some of the ebay sells too. I dont ever seem to have anything go like that though.

I picked up an 48 50 f1 recently and paid a little bit more for it than i would have normally ($800) but i just had to have the flathead in it. The cab and frame are pretty nice excepting floor pans so i wont be upside down in it.

 

I wish they were common here.
They are rare as you know what...

 

rare as this stuff!

 

I think that what is really happening is now that there is a larger and larger following for old cars/trucks etc (mainly due to reality TV)

People are pulling out the junk that has been sitting, the "yea I have that project Ill get to eventually" and trying to get top dollar for it.

Also, now that people understand how much junk is out there, they are trying to sell solid vehicle for close to the cost of a poorly restored vehicle.

You can really tell who knows what things are worth and who is an *** just by looking at the asking price. Im all for getting top dollar but some asking prices are so high that when you offer what it is really worth you are cutting the price by 40-50% in some cases. As a buyer offering that much less makes you feel like you are guilty of low balling when you actually arent.

Also, now that people know that older vehicle are in higher demand and driving them all rusted out is popular the buyer "doesnt have to invest money into body and paint" so asking higher money isnt too far fetched. Add that in there along with all of these jerks trying to buy low and sell high flips really hurts asking prices from a buyers perspective.

 

I buy low and sell high. (meduim high) It helps fund my project. If im not parting it out anyways, then everything is sold for profit, but would rather sell something mostly complete for a better price to move them along.

I have found plenty of old trucks that would have most likely sat and continued to rust away for many more years had i not spent the time to track down an owner and purchased them. Basically facilitating a way to get these trucks on the market so others can enjoy them too. If the asking price is too high i can always go lower. But i dont think i start out any where near as high as what most of us are talking about.

For example i recently looked at a complete original 48 f1 with 226 (not running) typical running boards rust fenders rusted and dented badly. Tailgate really rough. Cab and hood was decent but he wanted 3500
To the right person it could have been a 1500 truck but thats just way too much for what it was. These prices also somewhat depends on our location as well. I know a $1000 truck in Utah might be a $2000 truck in New york??

Anyway. Just my observations from a flippers standpoint.

 

Location has a LOT to do with it. Up here in the sticks there is lots of old tin to buy, but to sell you have to ship it out. No demand for them locally.....

 

The availability of 53-56 truck is dropping, pre war project starters are rare, the 57 and newer don't say "old truck" to the masses so they step down to the previously overlooked 48-52. Cody where are you finding repop F1 front fenders, grills and hoods except in 'glass?

 

Since I have enough parts left over from the F2 restoration to build 1/3 of another truck, I have been watching the local listings for a good candidate project.
In the past few months it has been exactly what you guys are seeing in your part of the country. Absolute rotted out piles with stuck Chevy motors, all glass broken, missing beds and no wheels are being listed for $1,500 or so. If a truck is capable of moving on it's power it is usually chopped, hacked, Chevy'd, dingleberried and painted bright purple. But they still need things like brake lines, all wiring, rear tires and turn signals. Those trucks are listed for 10-15 thousand bucks.
Two extemes of laughable insanity.

Earlier this year I started a thread here for an F1 that was being sold by a co-worker. The ad showed the truck was a hodge podge of parts from about six different model years. We all had a fun time on here figuring out what all that truck was made from. The guy wanted $3,500 for it. I told him good luck and said no more. A few weeks later the ad was gone so I asked him what happened to it. He said he sold it but completely refused to discuss the selling price. Because he turned red when I kept on asking him, my guess is that it sold for less than $1,000 after he realized he had a complete mess on wheels that was being pointed out by every potential buyer that came to look at it.
I'll never know the real price it sold for.
I'm still looking for another project but know deep down that unless I have one freighted from the non-rusty parts of the US, my chances of finding one for a reasonable amount of money are slim to none. Unless I'm the 14th person to look at a truck for sale and the seller begs me to buy it for anything I want to offer cause he is tired of dealing with disgusted buyers taking up his time.


Tom

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The availability of good priced right trucks around here is becoming rare, but once in a while when your pockets are empty one will pop up.

 

Ax, I was told by the gals at classic haulers, They are getting to repop 48/50 and 51/52 Front metal, As well as hood, They sell grills or they did at one time in all metal ....