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In This Issue
Good Guys
A Thanksgiving Story
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Calendar Girl Contest!
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Good Guys
This weekend in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona was the 10th Annual Southwest National Good Guy Car Show and I have put together some points on how to sell your car or car parts. You see, I was there promoting my site and also trying to sell my father-in-law's 1951 Ford F-1 Pickup and I noticed a lot of things from fellow car enthusiasts that were...let's say...questionable. Below are 3 ways to ensure that you will get your car sold.
1) You won't believe this, but if you are going to put a 'For Sale' sign in the window of the car, make sure the phone number is correct. Yep, you guessed it, there was a red 70's Corvette at the show and the owner had the wrong phone number (or it was disconnected, something like that). I know this because several potential clients came over to my booth and asked me if I knew the owner. I didn't and the car never got sold. This leads me to my second point...
2) Be there to sell your car. A lot of car buyers are impulsive car buyers and if you have a great car, then s-s-s-s-s-SOLD! You wouldn't believe how many cars were there and no owners to be found. I sat there and watched buyer after buyer look at cars and then look for the owner.......... ....... ......... nothing. Especially if you are at a venue like Good Guys, because people are going there specifically to buy cars! Why do you think auctions are so successful? Because everyone there is a potential buyer.
3) Do your homework and price the car correctly. There were three Mustangs in the near vicinity of my booth. The first was a normal '65 coupe with paint falling off of it (no joke) and he was asking $9000. The second was a '67 coupe with nothing special. What I mean is, it was a simple 289 car that was a driver and the owner was asking $19,900. Then there was Hank's car. A 1967 Restomod Coupe. This car had a 289 engine with an Edelbrock intake and carb, headers, Shelby trunk lid, Boss hood scoop, torque thrusts and WORKING A/C! All this for $15,500. Which one would you buy? Now, Hank did a great job in promoting the car and showing everything he did to it. He had receipts for everything. Problem with Hank is that he was a drunk...just kidding Hank.
So, there you have it. I know many of you are saying that this stuff is common sense, but my father taught me a long time ago, "Dont'a thinka dat everybudy haza da common sense'a."
A Thanksgiving Story!
First let me preface this story with, I KNOW, I KNOW, I SHOULDN'T HAVE SOLD IT! Anyway, my father and I restored a lot of cars. We restored 2 Chargers, 5 Fairlanes, 2 Cyclones, a Thunderbird and a Lincoln Continental. For all you Chevy fans out there, don't assume I'm a Ford guy because I am currently restoring a '71 Cutlass...so BACK OFF! Where was I...oh yeah...then there was the Cuda, well Barracuda. For years we were looking for a Cuda to restore, (years and years). Then when we least expected it, one Thanksgiving morning there was a knock at the door. A little old lady asked my dad if he would help her with her car. "It broke down and I don't know what to do!" she proclaimed. My dad and I walked out the front door and sure enough, there sat a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda CONVERTIBLE! It was primer gray, white top and black interior. Immediately my dad asked the nice old lady if she would sell it. She said it was her late husband's car and that she did want to sell it right now. So, my dad asked where she lived and that he would call for a tow truck to tow it to her house. She said "Oh, I just live 2 houses down..." My dad and I looked at each other and practically started crying. We had been looking for this car for years...YEARS! And there was one right next door. We literally pushed the car back to the lady's house and into her backyard.
Probably 2 years went by, and finally the old lady caved. She sold it. We bought it. For $3000! Yep, $3000. I'm gonna say that again 3 thousand dollars. 3 freakin' thousand dollars! We put a coat of plum crazy purple on it, charged the battery, did the necessary lubricant check and the old fish fired right up. I borrowed the set of rally rims from the charger and she was ready to rumble. I even put hydraulic fluid in the convertible top motor and that started working without any hesitation. This car was awesome. I will bet to this day, that if I would have charged the AC it would have worked!
I drove the car for about 9 months and then sold it. I had no problem selling it, because a guy kept bugging my dad and I to sell it. We sold it to him for $7500...sucker.
The moral of the story......I don't know...maybe "it's always in the last place you look?" No. How about to always remember the positive things in life. I will always be thankful that that nice lady sold us the car and that I was able to drive a Cuda (thats what I tell my friends) for nine months.
Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving,
from mine to yours!
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