VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 '32 survivor roadster on ebay

That of course is assuming a "frame off" is necessary. I'd like to see car only restored to driveable condition, and keep almost al of it's patina where possible. Would be a great car for shows that way, and could save eventual owner $20,000. Just think how excited you are all getting just seeing it the way it is!

I too noticed the hole in the top of the right rear fender, most likely for a step pad from a rumble seat car and this one has had the fender swapped out... Maybe somebody at a point in time wanted to convert this car to a rumble seat ???

If you look closely at the right rear quarter panel after looking at the fender hole, above there is a looped bolt put thru the quarter panel from the outside. I see no reason for this, what was it meant to do , makes no sense.

If one was to attack this survivor car with chrome polish for rad shell, cowl band, bumpers, hood door pulls, windshield posts and frames and clean it up, would greatly enhance its look.

Just think what you could do to the original paint by using a mild rubbing compound, or a whats called a detergent wax where it has a mild abrasive in it. I'd like to be let loose on this one with my mequaires random orbit polisher and their polishing compounds . You could easily bring that lifeless paint back to life , at least to make it a nice looking survivor driver.

Put a new wood door post in it or repair it.

Not everything has to be torn down to the nuts and bolts
and restored to within an inch of its life. In a lot of circles a cleaned up survivor car is preferable to a fully all out resto.

my 3 cents....what's yours ?????


mike...........

I wonder if the football rear window is in there. It would be cool to see with what is left of the top up...

when in doubt , just use ask a seller and send a email the seller and ask him .

mike

Gas lines bad or gas tank bad . Maybe both

Hey Mike, I agree it would be a great car to have, clean up, and play with. However, I don't see it being much of a driver or keeping it's owner happy very long. By the looks of it the doors seem like they would fling open around every turn. Using the condition of the doors, patch panel, screwed on tail pan, and deteriorated area behind the seat one could only assume that represents the condition of the wood through out. I looked at a few cars before I found mine and couldn't believe how even good looking cars felt loose. The wood structure for these cars is just so important. I think open cars even more so than closed cars because they don't have the roof and door structure for strength. That said....it would still be fun to play with.

Its always best to personally inspect the car so that you know exactly what your buying. If its within a reasonable driving distance 1 day ? Otherwise your asking for problems and considering this cars age of 81 it has to be assumed its going to need some work. But it is a survivor type car that only needs repaired , what needs to be repaired.

Wood door posts can be purchased or reproduced at home if you have the equipment and skills. Main thing is you have to have a quality piece to duplicate.


One has to remember on these cars.....roadsters and phaetons that they were NOT BUILT by fisher body but by Chevrolet body works using : different hinges, openers, latches, strikers and interior bracings. So ya better make sure its all there. !!!

I did not see anything wrong with the rear gas tank cover panel in the pictures. ?? This is a car that is going to require some work and CASH to make it safely drivable . It still looks like a good starting point to me.

mike

Looks like the gas tank is missing.

At $12,500 and still reserved. Appears from cowl/firewall color this was a black car originally. Price is getting to the point only a serious "restoration guy" with a lot of money would be interested. As a "fixer-upper", I think it needs too much basic work to spend much more than $12K as a starter car. But what do I know, still a very desireable car!

Okay, we are at $12.500 and reserve still not broken down, so where does it go price wise and at what point is this not a buyable car ???

Secondly , what is the normal price range for a restored 32 Chevrolet standard roadster.........what is price range of the deluxe roadster.

I think a positive discussion about selling prices for restored 1932 Chevrolet roadsters. I personally do not follow them , but I think its an interesting point to ****add**** to this conversation.

Gentlemen your thoughts, even from those people who have WD40 running thru their shower heads.

mike.................

I know of a '32 Landau Phaeton in the same condition as this, and the owner thinks it's worth $50 000!! I guess it's worth more than 10k to the guy that's going to keep it as is, but not to someone that's going to tear it all apart and replace everything.

Has anyone called the number to see what it is being offered for locally?

Restored cars go for $38-$50k depending on accuracy of the restoration, and how bad the owner wants to sell. Unfortunately, with cars this rare, it is hard to judge the market. It's not like searching ebay for '57 convertibles and finding 10 of them all priced around the same price every day...

This car was at Hershey, if I remember correct the price was around $20,000. My spaces are about a mile from where it was and we heard about it through the grapevine, so we went to take a look. It did need everything, but it was pretty much all there. It would cost a couple of grand just to get it on the road the way it is.

Brewster.................ya talking about jack looks ?????


mike

Looked on ebay this morning ( MON 9AM )and car is up to $15,000 on 28 bids. I think the top bidders bid is $15,000 as lower bidder is $1499.00 . The bid increment would be more than that , so bidder 2 is sitting just below other bidder. Is the car worth it, sure would want to inspect the car before leaping into it.

If as somebody else said seller was asking $20G at Hershey, I doubt this car will make that and go unsold.

we shall see

mike

Talked with owner . Gas tank is in the trunk . Why it is disconnected he didn't say .

Did he give you a price?

No price given

I just spoke to my friend who saw the car with me and recalled it was marked at $21,500 and had a line through it and was reduced to $19,500. Considering what it is and how rare it is, drivetrain pending, I don't think it is a lot of money for that car. How many candidates for restoration could be left? Doing a lot of the work yourself it will cost between $40K and $50K to restore it correctly, which will bring it to what it is worth. Or you can buy it, make it safe and play with it the way it is, and get most if not all of your money back when your done playing. I don't see it going down in value. Even if you pay a few grand to much for it now just means you bought it too soon. There are not to many rolling projects out there. If I did not have a few changes in my life, I might have even bought it just to play with myself. I sold my 31 sedan at Hershey this year for more then half of what he was asking and it needed everything cosmetic inside and out, but it ran great and is on the road

Well, just like I figured the car was not going to be a sale, and was a NO SALE at $15,300 with 29 bids. Some where before the last 12 hours , the seller lowered the reserve.

If its not sold privately, then expect to see it re-listed with a lower reserve.

QUESTION......Would it be an interesting buy at $15.500 ????????


mike............

As a side note. Approx. 1980 an original 1931 Roadster in a little better condition sold for $ 10,000 at the Pate Swap Meet. Knew the seller. Got it from a family friend before he sold it a few years later. At same swap meet I looked at another '31 Roadster that was a started hot rod project (basically body, rolling frame and no wood). Couple of years later bought it for $ 800.

I for one only notice one side mount ,One horn out front not chromed,Also i noticed there are no stepping pads to the rumble seat.I also notice no laundeau bars so its not a confederate roadster. I have What they refere to as a Deluxe sports mans roadster.Which has dual side mounts dual mirrors on the side mounts chrome doors on each hood sides free wheeling as well as stepping pads to the rumble seat,only one tail light and no cowl lights just to mention a few things that would make this a deluxe roadster,Now having said all that i believe Chevrolete mad only about 1,100 & 8o something of these as apposed to many deluxe roadsters at the time 1932

I seen a bumperette just like this one pictured on the 32 standard roadster only it was on a 32 truck maybe the guy liked it so much he thought it would look good on the roadster ,very impractical if you ask just my 2 Cents worth,new guy on the block

Mike sounds like you are getting to excited about this one.There must be a few just like this one over there at FOSTERS no.Mine is in rougher shape than this one but on the other hand mine is a one owner Was owned by the GM dealer in NAPANEE Ontario
his sister granduated from nursing school in 1932 and he gave it to her right off the showroom floor.The last time the car was registered that i know of it was on Amherst Island.Then and i dont know when that was.It becabe a power sled the rear fenders were bobbed the rumble lid taked out a ledge build to haul milk cans full of milk and pull a sleigh with milk cans across the ice from the Island to the mainland.From there the car wend to Simcoe Island. I believe the evees brothers had it for a while and then it went to Robert Ore at the lighthouse thats where i acquired it some 40 years ago mooseman

Hey Vette ... Welcome to the VCCA Chat site!

I think you've got your Cabriolet's and Roadsters mixed up a bit. All '32 Chevrolets were Confederates. The Landau bars you refer to were found on the Confederate Cabriolet, which came in Deluxe and Standard models. It had a fixed windshield and roll up windows. The roadster had side curtains.

We'd all love to see some pictures of your roadster!

Welcome to Chevy Chatter....glad to have you with us!



The roadster featured is a Standard Roadster so it would not have step pads for the rumble seat because a Standard Roadster had a trunk and not a rumble seat. On all 1932 models only one horn and one tail light were standard. The roadster models (which were made by Chevrolet and not Fisher Body) did not have landau bars. Landau bars were used only on the Cabriolet and the Landau Phaeton, which were made by Fisher Body.

Side mount mirrors were an accessory item and they did not come as standard equipment.

All 1932 passenger models, both Standard and DeLuxe, had freewheeling.

By the way, the cabriolet did not actually have a "fixed" windshield. The complete windshield assembly was adjustable so that it could lay down in a horizontal position above the hood.