[epashhans]

Originally Posted by 1quik70

Guys I tend to disagree with what is being said here. There is money to be made on any vehicle, your time is worht someting! I have been building old cars since I was about 10. I bought my first, built it sold it for enough to buy another project and build it, this has continued for over 10 years. I now own a 70 Nova BB car, 71 SWB 4x4 BB truck, and a 55 Chevy P/U.

My Nova for example, Sold my 72 Chevelle for $14k, paid off all my student loans and had about $8k left. I bought a defunct project for 7K with all new interior, trim, ect in boxes. Car ran and drove with the 396, had new panels in place, and needed the body finished. The car is now painted in satin black, with all the new interior installed, motor freshened up (heads, intake, ect.), new rearend, disc brakes, ect. I still have under 10k in the car, and I wouldn't even consider an offer under 15k.

This is a hobby, but if you do the work yourself you should be rewarded not punished. Just because Joe Blow paid 5k for his shiny paint, and I did mine in the garage, doesnt entitle his truck to be worth 5k more or mine to be worth less. Same goes for the rest of the work, I see these pickups all day lonf on Ebay for 15k+, and yes they are very nice trucks. But, let me take my 71 that I paid 6k for, clean up some things and throw new paint on it, it is no longer a 6k truck, period! In my opinion, the value of these trucks can be seen by looking at what a professionally restored one goes for, and then price a little under. If my body man says he is going to charge $5k to paint my truck and I do it myself, I see that as at least a 3K upgrade, and my sale price will raise accordingly. Same with Interior, engine, ect., yes these things have to be done, but we should be compensated for our time and labor. That is why the prices stay down, because we only look at the hard part prices, and make our price.

I understand the point of keeping the prices reasonable, and I too would be without my favorite truck if I could not have picked it up semi-reasonable. The point remains, that if we keep selling them and not paying ourselves, the value will never increase and be the same as the muscle cars. Why do you think the mucle cars bring what they do, its not all because of production numbers, it's because the guys won't sell them cheaper, period!

Perfect example, is the guy that posted the other day wanting to trade a 71 Malibu for a 67-72 truck. Posted in the ad, MUST BE A NICE DRIVER! In the two terrible pictures you could see the rot it had on the outside, I would hate to see whats hidden. Now I'm not bashing on him, but that shows what he feels like the car is worth in compared to the trucks.

I don't think anyone here is opposed to paying themselves and making a little money. This is a hobby for most of us, not a business. And if it was a business, it would be a horrible one because most of us would be out of business! How did you pay yourself, parts, and purchase price for your chevelle, pay off your student loans, and have $8k left? Just curious...

We can ask whatever we want for a vehicle all day long but that doesn't make it worth more (even if you have X amount of time tied up in it or not). I would suggest to most people that if they want to be paid for their time, get a job...don't work on an old truck and try to recoup the money (in most cases)

Here is a question. You are saying that every vehicle that has time and money put into it should be worth that (or should be able to make money on it) because a person should be paid for their time on top of parts/supplies? Maybe you would be interested in a 93 cavalier for $26K I saw the other day. I am sure he has that time and money invested in it. Because of that, all cavaliers should be worth more than $500-$5k I guess.

Would you buy a really nice 67-72 C-10 for $30K - $50k? Or would you go buy one for cheap and build it the way you want for half that? The point remains, we all think our trucks are worth a ton, but no body wants to pay more than $500 - $5k. Maybe thats just what they are "worth".