VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 What is my 36 Convertible Worth?

Hi All, I'm thinking of selling my 1936 Holden Body Roadster, but I need to figure out what it's worth before I put it on the open market. I'm hoping you guys will be able to help me out. Thanks in advance for your help. Here are a few pics.













See Ya!
Randy

Why does it sit solow?

After reading Jim's (backroads) post 20 times, including standing on my head
a couple of time, checking several on-line dictionaries for "solow" and
G knows what else, I finally decided his space bar wasn't working. I
believe his question is "why does it sit so - low."

I believe the answer is contained in "Randy's" signature which includes
*Randy's Bomb Shop* No criticism on my part. I think it's a neat looking car.
But.....
As for value; I have no idea.

Bill.

Bill, You are correct. I missed the space bar.

The reason I posted this question on this particular website, is because I’m looking for genuine input from what I have always considered the renowned experts in the world of rare, collectible vintage Chevrolets. This is one of the rarest cars in my collection (second only to my Woodie Wagon, one of three known to exist) I have been told that there are only 6 or 7 of these 1936 Holden Body Roadsters that exist, and I am having trouble estimating a current value for it.

The reason it sits low is because I lowered it. I like the way it looks lowered. Other than the suspension height this car is 100% original. If I choose to put it up for sale on the open market. Then I will raise it back up to stock height. This is a quick, easy fix for me. Remove the Lowering blocks in the rear and replace the leafs that I removed in the front. Done in a couple of hours.

I thought that I’d ask the very best for honest genuine input. Once again I thank you in advance for your help.

Take Care,
Randy

435 chevrolet standard sports roadsters were built by GM-Holdens in 1936

Thank you Jack. That is good information to have. I wonder how many of the 435 are around today. I have been told very few. The rumor is 6 or 7, but I have no way of confirming a number

Here is a pic of me and my Roadster at work.



See Ya!
Randy

good looking car, great colour and extremely heavily optioned. Is it missing any options?

First problem is that its a right hand drive auzzie holden body build , different from a usa build and therefore its main interest would lie in australia not north america. you see many auzzie rhd holden bodied cars sell on ebay but for significantly less $$$$$$ than a similar USA built car.

A friend of mine has a holden 35 chev phaeton in australia and he has been trying for 2-3 years to sell it for $55G....car just will not bring that kind of money there obviously. An OHIO one has been on and off ebay for last year or so and not hitting its reserve at $50G either.

WHATS your car worth, its worth what you want for it & a buyer agree too , as a price. That is what its worth and you have to find that person otherwise, drop price until it finds a buyer who will shell out for your pride and joy.

mike

Mike, thanks for your input, I think you are right. I have noticed that Holden Body Chevys bring in less money than their Fisher body counterparts. If this where a Fisher body Cabriolet it would probably be worth $70K to $75K range. My car being a Holder body Roadster, I’ll be lucky to get $50K. In my opinion I think that my roadster is cooler than the American Cabriolet. Here are the reasons I think so:
It’s a true Roadster, no glass in the doors, no wing widows.
Safari Windshield
Suicide doors
Split rear bumper
Right hand drive



Not bad huh? What do the rest of you guys think?

See Ya!
Randy

RANDY Its a truly great car and you should be proud of the job you have done, looks very high quality.

Just that what looks like a """ 7 7/8 GUIDE SUPER RAY DRIVING LAMP """ would or should fetch you $500 plus dollars on ebay.

Enjoy your car, drive the tires off it and enjoy.!!!! Trailer queens are no fun . Those guys get the cold sweats if somebody even approaches their car, never mind the thought of or a stone chip might get them locked up in the rubber room for a weekend.

mike

Best way to find out what it's worth is to put it on eBay. It will cost you $50 to list but you will get a REAL idea of the value, not some dream of $50k. My guess it might fetch around $22k but could be much less.

Randy, I'm sure you can get considerably more than 22k for your very cool '36. I'd buy it for that except if I brought home another '36 Chev, my wife would come after me with a rusty knife, if you know what I mean.
I've been watching the EBay '36 Chev category for 7 or 8 years regularly. Only seen one convertible and here's what happened. Was listed about 3 years ago with a "buy it now price" of 24.5k. It didn't have a top and looked like it had been painted in a crappy blue with a paint brush. Seller claimed it had been restored in the 70's and had the metal assembly for the top. It promptly sold at the buy it now price in less than 6 hours. About a year later the buyer put it back on EBay without doing anything to the car and it sold for 28k.
Usual '36 cars don't sell on EBay, reserves aren't met. It isn't the best place to sell a vintage car. But to test the waters, you might put an add in and put a reserve in the 40's if you feel that's fair. Good luck and I'd love to have your car!

Randy as a further afterthought.
Because your car is a HOLDEN body the demand for your Australian built car is primarily in Australia . Considering the possible really expensive shipping cost to North America, $3000....5000 thousand ???, don't you think the best place for it too realisticaly sell is really Australia or New Zealand. Are things that bad there that the market is absolutely dead.

Did HOLDEN export gm holden built products around the South Pacific area and other countries. How about New Zealand where did their vehicles come from, North America or holden.

Over the last few years i have seen quite a few early chevrolet holden built cars that have been listed and sold on EBAY USA, but these cars were already in the USA .

mike

Hey Guys,

Thanks again for taking the time to chime in and for the positive input. Yes, it’s a great car and I wish that I didn’t have to sell it, but I recently purchased a 1936 Dodge Westchester Suburban (woodie wagon). Now I need the money and I need the room for parking. I have enjoyed having it as part of my collection for approximately ten years now and something has to give. I’m sure you guys can relate.



Yes, it gets driven. The guy that sold me the Roadster, he used to trailer it to every car show. Once I bought it, I re-restored it and I drive it. Not as much as I’d like, but every car show I have entered and every photo shoot this car has been in, I drove it their and back. Not to mention all of the cruise nights and parades too.

As far as Ebay goes, I don’t think that Ebay is the right venue for a car of this caliber. I believe that this is a true collector car and the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to think it may need to be sold in one of the higher end auction houses. I’m confident that there are plenty of car collectors in North America that would like to add this car to their private collection.

As far as Holden Body Chevys are concerned, I have owned two. Both cars where already in the USA. This Roadster and a 1946 Chevy Ute (early El Camino). The Ute I sold several years ago and I recived a very fair price for it from a guy in Colorado. Here is a pic of it.



From what I know about Holden Body Chevys, I thought they where all exported from Canada in pieces, then assembled in Australia by Holden to get around the high import taxes.

See Ya!
Randy

Randy
To my knowledge Chevrolets came to Aus in 3 forms mainly from Canada.
(1) complete drivable car
(2) complete knockdown in a box
(3) rolling chassis (body built and fitted in Aus)

I dont know where the New Zealand cars were scourced but they are RHD.
Tony

My page gives you the post-1945 model codes for Holden Utes: they generally used the CKD passenger chassis from Oshawa.


http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/chevytalk/GMhistory/holdenchev.html

GM NZ assembled Oshawa cars and I have the export figures for 1936 and 1938 showing shipments to Australia and Canada.

I should add:

1. SUP
2. CKD
3. SEDAN CHASSIS

However I have just noticed that in 1936 Oshawa did not apparently send anything to NZ so any Chevies must have been CKD from Bloomfield, NJ Boxing Plant or SUP from Tarrytown, NY. In 1938 NZ received CKD Sedans, as did Netherlands East Indies, and Australia received Master Deluxe "CKD Passenger Chassis" and also Master "Sedan chassis" as CKD kits.

What does SUP mean?

I have a 1937 Fischer body, right hand drive cabriolet I shipped to US from NZ. I am told, it probably originated via Argentina. Can anyone shed some light on that concept? Did it first come from USA or Canada, probably as a Crate Knock Down?

Wow Guys,

Keep the questions and information coming!! This is great stuff.

Oracle, I looked at the post-1945 model codes page that you posted and is reads, for 1946 Holden model # 46-3126 CHEVROLET STYLEMASTER Coupe Utility. Check out the tag on the firewall of the Ute I sold:



Very cool stuff!

Thanks,
Randy

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I would have to assume from what i have found so far that the FISHER body was either USA or Canada stamped out. GM here in Canada exported ***complete cars*** in left hand and right hand drive. In my conversation with friend Frank today to best of his knowledge New Zealand Fisher bodied cars were sent there from Canada as completed units.

Exactly what does your GM firewall aluminum plate say. ??

Because it does not carry a HOLDEN AUSTRALIA firewall plate or holden body plate it was not manufactured there.

GM had assembly lines / factories in South Africa and Argentina plus also Belgium in Europe to assemble CKD ( complete knock downs ). Friend Frank at GM Canada is going to look into this a bit for me tomorrow. They were shipped the running chassis and all the fenders, running boards and other parts in boxes to be assembled into L or RH drive cars.

Be nice if somebody had a picture of them doing that, boxing them up for export.

mike

My sources indicate that New Zealand did not import any 37 cabriolets. My firewall tag is pop riveted on firewall, front left side. It is a Canadian tag and I assume not original to the cabriolet.

Well, GM Canada was the exporter of GM cars because we were all in the BRITISH COMMONWEALTH and most likely that gave everybody a better deal on import duties from other members. ??

The remaining records at GM CANADA does not say what was exported to exactly which country , only that XXXXXXX amount of RHD or LHD complete cars got shipped out. And so many CKD got shipped also.

Never say that a 37 cabriolet was never imported into new zealand, its there.!!! How did it get there and when, whats its history in the country.????

If your car was manufactured in Canada it was most likely produced in Oshawa Ontario . I have actually seen the machine that produced the firewall plates in aluminum. It is or was in my friend Franks offices of vintage services. No he cannot produce new plates .

If your rivit holding the plate to the firewall is a round one that has been flattened over in the rear inside that would be stock.
A newer style ""pop"" rivit would mean somebody took it off to strip the paint off on the firewall and wanted behind the plate to do a perfect job.

mike

To my knowledge the bodies built (may include CKD assembled) in Aus had a small tag (Holden Body XXX Made in Australia) fixed to the outside lower corner of the cowl between the rear of the mudguard and the left front door. This corner was prone to rust therefore the tag may be lost, the 1 off my truck suffered this fate and I have kicked myself since.
Tony

Well, I don't know but if you installed a Fulton it would probably double in price. Just saying. Grin.
Charlie

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Yes any GM HOLDEN built body should have a holden body plate on the outside like you said, same as here where fisher body plates were on ***passenger side*** lower cowl section in front of door. You should be able to easily locate another body plate off a scrap holden vehicle to replace the missing one.
mike

According to my friend Frank at GM Vintage services " Canada ( Oshawa plant ) built 42 ....1937 chevrolet standard series 4 passenger convertable coupe with rumble seat for domestic consumption only., None were exported either complete or CKD. No master series convertable coupes were built ( anywhere ) .

Further to your question about International assembly plants ( CKD plants ), there was a plant in Malaya in the 1930's. "
Frank

So it would appear that the 37 convertable coupe cabriolet made it too new zealand by being imported directly by a buyer directly from a private seller. Car collectors from all over the world have been doing this for ages.

I remember Mario Caplan in Argentina advertising a lot of roadsters and converts in Hemmings motor news for many years from the early 70's and may still be doing it now.

The 34 chevy roadster i purchased recently in Tennessee was brought back into the USA in the 90's as a rhd car and most likely was something he had a part of. ????

mike