I thought this was somewhat entertaining. Just for the heck of it, I went to NADA and Kelley Blue Book to see what the "going price" was for my '53 F-100. KBB only goes back to the mid 80's, but NADA has classic listings. So, for a 1953 pickup the prices listed were as follows:

Low Retail: $5850
Average Retail: $12,450
High Retail: $21,400

I have no idea what this is based on and wished they had a "Found in a Farmers Field Retail" listing, as I think that would be more accurate. I would assume that these are based on a "restored" truck.

Oh, and the original MSRP is listed as $1362, which does seem accurate. I frequently use NADA and KBB for pricing out snowmobiles, motorcycles and such and have found them to be fairly accurate in those areas.

If you guys want to play around with it, here is a link:

http://www.nada.com/

 

I did that about a year ago after seeing an old truck on eBay quoting the "book" value. I was surprised (pleasantly!) with the numbers, and after looking over their description of the "Fair", "Good", and "Excellent" (or whatever), I'd say the prices are what you'd get on a good day, with the right buyer. The bottom end prices are too flaky to have any relevance, and I'm sure there is no reporting on most of those sales.