I took a trip across the state today to check out 2 separate projects - a 56 F100 and a 68 Mustang. The 56 was rougher than the seller had described. He was asking $3500 and the motor was seized. He didn't seem to notice the rotted out door bottoms and cab corners (read all 4). I also pointed out the rusted out drip rails. His only reply was "yeah, they tend to do that but that really isn't a hard fix." I offered him $750 less than his asking price and he laughed me off the property. I didn't really care because I am tired of buying someone else's problems and trying to make it right.

The next visit was to an old lady who had a 68 Mustang. For some sick reason I have been wanting to get back into a Mustang project again lately - the insanity. She was very sweet but very uninformed about what she had. Her neighbor had told her that the car was "rare" and "very valuable". She didn't believe me when I told her how many of the coupes they made that year. Again, I ran into someone that believed what an uneducated person told them about the car world. Old doesn't always equal rare. After some haggling she nicely told me that she wasn't interested in selling the car to someone like me.

It still amazes me after all these years that people think what they have is worth gold but when you go to sell something they want to give you so little. Maybe someday I will get over it. Until then, I just know I spent $80 in gas and travel expenses to dig through dirty junk. Anyone have a Mustang project laying around in the Midwest they want to part with?

 

Ever since the "reality" and auction show hit the air waves everyone sees gold in that pile of junk in their back yard. I know this isn't an new observation but it still true. It's amazing some of the junk I've looked at in the last ten years. Funny thing is on at least two of them I was able to bring the sellers back down to earth and bought their wrecks for a reasonable price. I got one down from $1500 to $300 and another from $5k down to $500. The first had a girlfriend that was willing to give the truck to me to get it out of their yard, the second seller came down two weeks after I told him I really didn't need the truck but he had a limited time to get rid of it.

Twenty years ago I could pick up parts trucks for $100-300 but now, after twenty more years of sitting in the mud and out in the elements the sellers for some reason think their junk has improved with age. Also, just because there's less of them than there used to be, and "they don't make them any more", they're still not worth much if there's more rusty metal than anything solid. The sad thing is I've watched a couple of trucks I tried to buy that were sitting in the weeds over the years, watching them rot away and every one disappeared and then the property is dozed over and new houses are built on the land. I'm sure everyone ended up in a scrap yard.

 

I rank that with the good intentioned owner who would rather watch their classic sit out under an oak tree and rot to pieces than sell it to someone who can get it on the road. I have asked about cars and was told by the owner that it's not for sale and they are going to fix it up one day. Years later still in the same spot and rotted out. Geez at least cover it up!!!

 

Yep, same thing happens here.
On my way back and forth to work over the last 20 years I've seen quite a few daily-driver type of vehicles get kicked to the corner of the persons property and simply get covered in pine needles, snow, leaves, mildew and brush grow around them.
OK, maybe they needed a major repair like brakes or rocker panels. But if you are going to move on to another vehicle just sell the darn thing for $800 at that point and move on. But no.....it sits for eight years and then gets hauled off by a flatbed and they might get $50 for it if anything at all for scrap.

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Unfortunately, I think any of us that have seriously looked for a project have had the same issues. I had driven to look at five different projects ( with a car-hauler trailer in tow and generally 200 miles each) only to find that they were rusted beyond repair. One started as "it runs strong" and changed to "it would run strong if you put the engine back together" when I got there.

I have kept a good attitude about it and always assume they are garbage before I go and hope to be pleasantly surprised when I get there. Usually doesn't happen.

I think all of our favorite line is "Ran when parked".

 

Sorry you struck out at both places. I agree that the TV shows have made every body think that there junk is worth there weight in Gold. Heck when I bought my truck over 10 years ago, the girl (a friend of mine at that) I bought it from said " all ya got to do is throw some paint on it and you can get $15,000 Right, My 1st ride around the block, I couldn't get it to stop, steer, and a small fire broke out under the dash. But for me it was worth the $2500 I gave her, because b4 then, I did not even know that there was a F1 made, so it was a life changing event for me. Its to bad folks are so misinformed, about realistic car and truck prices.

 

I'd bet that most of us have seen that same scenario wherein the truck(car) sits in a field or some such place and slowly rots away while the owner rebuffs all attempts to buy (rescue) it.

 

I was just worried mine would rot away while I've been working on it it has taken so long to get it to the point of being drivable !!