Sadly I'm at a point in life where it makes sense to sell my truck. It's been part of my life since 1987 and I'm sad to part with it, but it's the right thing to do.

I'd like to ask the group for help on these two questions:

1. What's it worth? Values seem to be all over the place.
2. Where are the best places to list it for sale?

My truck is a 1953 F-100 (stock) with a rebuilt flathead V8 engine (my block was cracked so I replaced it with one from a '54 Mercury), fresh tires, new bed wood, a few scratches in the paint here and there. It starts every time and runs great. I'm in Maryland, right outside of D.C.

Years ago I put up a gallery on FTE but I can't seem to locate it now. Any hints on how to bring it back up so you can see the vehicle I'm talking about?

Any/all help is appreciated. You all have been a great resource in the past.

Thanks.

 

Click on your name and select "view gallery" and I see two galleries there. Only thing I dont see pics of is the finished interior and finished engine bay. Very nice looking truck. When I sold mine I basically followed every single auction on eBay for a year and even saved all the pics and descriptions....(very over detailed here. its a curse). Anyway, by that time I was almost certain what my year and condition truck would sell for and the bids ended up right close to that figure. If you will put up the above mentioned pics I'll stick my neck out and take a guess.

 

Here it is, 1953 Ford F100 4x2-Completion

Looks like a beautiful truck, and with the very desirable flathead, I'd say you are in the mid-teens for price. I'd ask more, it's worth it.

 

Hey Ross.....I saw that one but I see no interior or engine pics in it....am i missing them?

 

Hello jgurland,

Sorry to hear about the desire to sell, but we understand. The only way we could have gotten our own trucks was to have someone want to sell it to begin with. So hopefully the next owner will join up on FTE and it will 'stay in the family'.

From the brief description of your truck I can venture the first guess. It's running, driving, has some new parts and is not located in the rust belt so that will start it out at $4,000. Lots of factors can affect that of course and drive the value upward or less likely downward. Strange paint colors with mis-matched model parts, bizarre or dangerous modifications, frame rot, and such things would drop the price. Value increases from there would be if it is mostly or all original (except the engine you already mentioned) straight frame and clean sheet metal, fully functional interior and gauges, rebuilt drive train, factory options - that sort of thing. All these things could potentially double that $4,000. Pictures and more details of course would help greatly to estimate a value. Next is the geographic valuation. If you have a bunch of '48-'56 trucks in your area for sale, the laws of supply and demand kick in. Trucks from your area bring decent prices up north, but not as much as the western trucks which have less rust exposure. If you are willing to help ship the truck, you could get more money and open yourself up to more buyers.
Best place to list it would be in the classifieds here, and Craigslist. Have plenty of pictures, lots of honest details as well as a realistic selling price and you will get some inquiries from serious buyers.
it sounds like the condition of the truck as you describe would make for a quick sale because it is at a point where it is driveable and still gives a new owner the chance to leave it that way and enjoy it, or have a good base to do a restoration or customization without undoing work already done.
Good luck, and hopefully a new FTE member will be the end result.
Hope this helps,
Tom

<edit - looks like these guys found pictures >

 

Ooooh, I just saw the pictures. My favorite color for that year so my bias is going to kick in favorably. Forget all about those numbers I said above. You have a very nice looking truck. Tell us more about what we can't see in the pictures....the bodywork quality, frame quality, drive train condition so the value estimates can get zero'ed in better.

i'm picturing a big red bow on top of that truck as a Christmas present.

Tom

 

Ok.....without seeing the other pics I mentioned I'm sure this truck will go no less than $10,000. It gets tight and picky after that. I've seen totally restored (not rotisserie or concours) ones go for $18-$20k. I'm thinking you are going to be in the $12-$14k range. Just my guess. But I've sold a lot of cars on craigslist and some on ebay and when I'm interested in top dollar I consider no option other than ebay....and I don't really even like ebay...lol. Good luck!!

 

Doesn't E-Bay ****** about 15% of the selling price as their fee though?
That could mean a hit of $1500 - $2,000 with the added potential of a buyer filing a claim against you cause it had a little dent not mentioned or simply not paying, etc. At least on free Craigslist they don't get the truck until they have looked at it and have handed over the money directly to you. Fewer potential buyers but less headache. I don't know I haven't sold anything this big on E-Bay but have sold lots of smaller things on there.

Tom

 

LOL!! People always think that and so did I the first time. But no. You pay a flat fee when it sells. Now you can add little perks but I added none. It cost me $125 to sell my truck and it was in his trucks price range. I also required a $500 deposit within 24 hrs on paypal so I paid the 3% on that and that was my total selling costs.

from ebay......

Fees for selling on eBay Motors

 

If it's as good as it looks I think $12-14 is low for an East Coast truck. I'd tack on another $4-5k for regional differences. You can't buy much around here that's not completely rusted through for under $10k.

 

It looks great and ebay charges a flat fee. I have sold 7 vehicles over the years on ebay and it is always a flat fee, just like Wayne says. You also get a huge audience and without the craigslist headaches (total crazies calling or emailing with outrageous offers or even worse).

 

I agree with craigslist, it is a great tool, and you can post advertisements in other areas (hotter markets) too.
I wouldn't overlook contacting some of the Early Ford V8 club(s) in your area.
An original vehicle is very desirable.
You should be able to pick out the local clubs here on the efv8.org site.

 

Facebook also has several Ford Truck for sale groups. Our trucks are in good demand, and it seems like a lot of vehicles are moving through Facebook groups lately. Good luck with the sale!

 

Wow, you guys are awesome. As always, great info in a short time frame. It's great to know that the photos I originally posted are still there. I'll either find some pix of the interior and engine compartment or I'll just snap a few new ones.

Here are some details based on questions people asked above:

Interior:

The seat is original and has only a small crack in the vinyl where the driver's back pants pocket rubs. The crack doesn't go through the fabric backing, just the vinyl.

The horn button is the original 50th anniversary edition - it's not perfect, but readable.

The dash was painted when the body was painted and looks good/clean. All ***** and bezels are present.

Gas gauge seems to have stopped working but others are in good working order.

Engine compartment and mechanicals:

As mentioned, the flathead V8 was rebuilt a few years back with a '54 Mercury block. Painted to match the original color scheme.

New fuel pump, rebuilt generator, rebuilt water pumps, all new hoses, all new wiring harness.

Some modifications were made during engine rebuild to allow use of unleaded gas.

All new brake cylinders and rebuilt master cylinder.

New Coker tires on original rims (painted to match body).

Headlights, tail lights, brake lights all in working condition.

Body:

Driver's side front fender is fiberglass.

Replaced grille with a NOS part.

New bumpers, front and back.

New oak bed.

New tailgate chains.

New rear cab corners.

At some point someone welded some pretty thick sheet metal to the floor of the cab - I guess the floor had rotted out.

I'm sure I'm missing some details that are relevant, but that's off the top of my head.

I'll post some photos of the interior and engine compartment.

Thanks again for all this great info. I'd love to hear more ideas if anything changes based on this additional info.

 

I've sold boats, cars, and trucks on eBay and have always had great luck. When I'm not sure of value I usually put a buy it now for a high amount say 20k but turn on the best offer feature. You can even auto decline any offer less then xxx dollars. Also, create ads on CL and put the link to your auction for peeps to see pictures. If you don't get what you want or close to then don't sell... It will not cost you anything on eBay unless it sells. As always, watch out for scammers....


Good luck.