VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 what is a good barn find worth in Australia.....

Hi there,
A friend has the opportunity to buy a barn find , a 1925 Chevrolet that only has the radiator cap, and the left hand door missing, but apart from that it is complete.
It has been in the shed for 65 years and he is wondering what he should offer for the car?
I advised him to join this forum and start asking, but I am just helping by asking first, for him!
He has lots of pictures of the car....
Any ideas from the Aussie guys in this forum? :aust:

Peter

That's simple. Whatever you are willing to pay for it!

There are some active Chevy collectors in Australia who might be able to help. Hopefully they will respond to you. Australia is probably one of the most active area for old Chevy cars next to the USA, and Australians are always very friendly and helpful.

Without pictures it is hard to say, but if you want a wild uneducated guess based on US prices, probably not more than a few thousand dollars (US) at most, unless it is something truly unique. I track 28 prices, which don't vary much from 27 prices, and a car like you describe wouldn't generally sell for more than %3000, and not even that. Of course people ask for more, but the key is what someone will buy them for. I'm assuming it is not running and needs a near full restoration job. Remember the 3 rules of car prices: CONDITION, CONDITION, CONDITION. That could make one car worth $1,000 and another one worth 6,000.

Hi there,
in talking with mike, he says that it was probably taken as a part exchange for a new Holden FX over 50 years ago. It was put in the dealers trade in shed and forgotten about.

It has been in the Holden dealers back shed all that time, for so many years and is not rusted at all.
He can buy it for $3000 AU, I personally think it is a bargain and urged him to buy it anyway.
It needs preserving and a full restoration would follow, I guess.
over and out

Peter

Hi Peter,

Barn finds 28 and earlier in Oz are very different to our friends in the states, as they are rare. My observation is that though I may not agree with the price, I have seen restorable wrecks requiring full re timber, mechanical etc getting around $1,200 to $1,500. Complete cars with good original timber and mechanicals that can be put back on the road in a patina condition are so rare its hard to put a price on them, but I would expect around $3,000 upwards.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Ray

In the condition he now describes I would agree with you, as I sort of indicated in my previous post. I always look at it as a few extra dollars, if you have the extra dollars,are unimportant when you are looking at preserving and restoring a piece of automotive history in any country. The resto costs will make those few extra dollars insignificant in the end. Start by offering around $2200-2500 and see where it goes from there.

Good luck.

I look at it in a different light.

Is the car driveable?
What is the wood and paint like?
Upholstery and tires?

Can the car be put on the road as it is with a few dollars spent?
If not,
You can pick up a restored one for around 15k,when you take the cost of tires, paint, upholstery , mechanical rebuild and sundries and it will cost a lot more than the 15k providing the restoration has been done properly.
My car has been restored for some 30 yrs and only done 4000 mile since restoration. Everything was fixed and it is the type of car you can jump in and drive without any worries. The paint is getting a little tired and is worth 15k but my restoration cost would be twice that in todays terms

I have a complete 28 tourer in the shed and it is still not a proposition to restore it because of the half restored and full restored cars on the market that are selling well below their restoration cost.

My guess about US$ 4000 max