How much of a loss are you willing to take?

[broey]

So, I decided it was time for a new project. Something a little older in mind. But it seems as I browse around pretty much no one is getting what they want money wise out of their squares. I have my truck listed locally at about 8k less than I have invested in it and I still only have received crap trade offers and low ballers. should I really expect to take that much of a hit on my truck? Or is right now not the time to sell? Dont get me wrong. I know that I wasnt going to make money on the deal. but dang. any advise from anyone who has sold recently?

[shawno72]

On my 72 lwb I had $6200 in it and sold it for $3800. In all honesty I figured I would of been lucky to get $3500 but I had my my mind made up that I wanted a short bed so I didn't care about the loss. My 80 swb I made about $100 on it
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[82ccshorty]

Originally Posted by broey

So, I decided it was time for a new project. Something a little older in mind. But it seems as I browse around pretty much no one is getting what they want money wise out of their squares. I have my truck listed locally at about 8k less than I have invested in it and I still only have received crap trade offers and low ballers. should I really expect to take that much of a hit on my truck? Or is right now not the time to sell? Dont get me wrong. I know that I wasnt going to make money on the deal. but dang. any advise from anyone who has sold recently?

What is it and what are you asking?
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[mopar346]

Not knowing your truck, it's condition and what you are asking, I will give some generic info.

Gerenally you can look to get .25 on the dollar what you have spent (not invested) in an older/desireable vehicle. The exception is special collectable ones. The market is not the best in the world but people find money for toys. You also suggest to what else is on the market, which right now is a lot, if there are several nice originals for 4k and you are asking 8k for a fresh one the 4k will win.

It really will come down to how unique and how well done your truck is.

[WarBeard]

You never get out of it what you paid into it. I have always followed this motto with my project trucks.

The only Trucks I make money on are the ones I buy, then run through the car wash Armorall all the tire's and plastic then immediately resell.

Also being from Mesa I know chevy trucks are a dime a dozen. Try advertising on Craigslist on the north eastern side of the country. Any where rust is a big issue.

[cmyc5575]

Just keep it! If you have plans to have children which i have no clue if you do now or not, that would make a great first driver IMO! i would have killed to had a truck like that one i do now for my first set of wheels even tho i really havent done anything to mine yet!

[broey]

I dont really want to put info on the sale of the truck here so I dont break the site rules.
but as far as the truck I have a thread on it that can be viewed here

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=447705

I feel Like I have it priced below what similar trucks are going for. I have seen hack job trucks with 1/25th the work and customizing that are asking way too much, so I started low on my price instead of high and then dropping it every few days. maybe I should have done that?

[broey]

Originally Posted by cmyc5575

Just keep it! If you have plans to have children which i have no clue if you do now or not, that would make a great first driver IMO! i would have killed to had a truck like that one i do now for my first set of wheels even tho i really havent done anything to mine yet!

my wife actaully just gave birth to our first child (a boy) a little over a month ago!

[J Knight]

Last week a guy pulled up to my house and offered my wife 8K for my 82, if I would take that I would loose about 1K on my truck but Im "not" selling it. "If" I was to put it on CL with all the other 73-87's out there I would probably be real lucky to get 5K-6K and easily loose 3K-4K. Good thing my wife wasnt mad at me at the time.

[broey]

send that guy my way!

[cmyc5575]

Originally Posted by broey

my wife actaully just gave birth to our first child (a boy) a little over a month ago!

Congrats man!!! Raise that boy right!!! Put a set of square keys in his hand to play with!

['79squared]

Of course there is always the "why is priced so low" aspect. Some times that scares people away. I know that doesnt usually ring true on a square but just a thought.

[cjlinkster]

As a minimum, I always try to make at least $200~$500 over the total amount of money that I have in the project (not factoring in cash value of time). If you factor in your time of working on the project, you'll just cry. It is easy to spend hundreds of hours working on a project.

The only car that I total lost my shirt on was a 1968 mustang that was a total basket case. After all of the problems presented themselves, I wanted to get out of it before we got to deep, but it was the wife's car (baby).

Yep I lost about $3K on that project. Lesson learnt...no more stinky Mustangs.

Your truck is way customized and very cool! However, I don't know if the average dude is going to like the patina paint job. You may need to have the paint touched up.

[rwhit57]

Broey, Your truck is way cool. When you build anything you have to always remember what you like may not appeal to everyone. Your truck is radical (by most standards), and even though radical is cool it's not practical to most. So your market is severely reduced. It will sell, and should bring what you want(I checked it out) but it will take time for the one person that can't live without it to come along. You might have to do some trading for something that's easier to sell, I have done that many times, it may not be something I wanted but I knew it was something that would be easier to sell. Good luck. Hate to see you sell it though.

[JPalmer81]

I put my last project on CL and was downright offended at some of the offers I got for it, had a bunch of calls, everybody wanted it, but no one wanted to give me even close to half of what I had into it. So I decided to keep it, not gonna take that kind of a loss on it for some jack-leg to go and destroy it in the Alaskan mud!

[BigBlocksRule]

Timing is a big part of it.
Try to sell from the middle of January through April.
Tax refund time!!!

[Restrorob]

Originally Posted by JPalmer81

I put my last project on CL and was downright offended at some of the offers I got for it, had a bunch of calls, everybody wanted it, but no one wanted to give me even close to half of what I had into it. So I decided to keep it

I did the same thing 5 yrs ago, That vehicle is still sit'n out under the canopy..... I'm not giving my chit away to no one.....

[baclay9]

I agree with the limited market comment. You are waiting for someone that likes squares, wants a bagged one, and wants a bagged one that has a older looking/patina paint job. It is an awesome truck though. If you are patient the right person will come along.
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[ymerej71]

Originally Posted by J Knight

Last week a guy pulled up to my house and offered my wife 8K for my 82, if I would take that I would loose about 1K on my truck but Im "not" selling it. "If" I was to put it on CL with all the other 73-87's out there I would probably be real lucky to get 5K-6K and easily loose 3K-4K. Good thing my wife wasnt mad at me at the time.

Send that guy to north TX and I'll sell him my truck! Haha..

[king-918]

I couldn't take a 3k loss on my truck I would rather burn it to the ground or part it into another project
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[Wet..Paint]

I was close to selling my truck for 5,000, had it listed for that for a couple months, lots of people wanted it but only one person was gonna come up with the 5g. I have about 6,000 into motor and tranny. And about 1,500 in other parts on the truck, plus the truck itself. But I changed my mind about an hour before the guy showed up with his cash. I decided I have too much into it and what will I have when I sell it? 5g to start over with? So when I do go to sell it, I'll pull the motor and trans to keep and sell the truck as a roller for less... Or even pick up something wrecked to toss in a boring ol 305 or something... Keep the good **** for my next truck!

That way it wont be much of a loss, if any at all... And my next project has a head start!

[Tucson38]

In general, I think it's unwise to expect to get your money back from a restoration job. The people who are interested in restored/customized trucks are also interested in the process of rebuilding their own to their own criteria. Accept the fact that we do it for our own pleasure, as a hobby, and let it go at that.

[Firebirdjones]

I've never had to take a loss on anything I've sold even recently, but I deal mostly in classic muscle cars. Never bought these trucks for resale frankly because they aren't all that expensive to buy anyway. Not knocking these square bodies though, I love mine, but I bought it for the sole purpose of using it to tow my toys. The problem with the squares is "end value" (which isn't all that high) so it's very easy to exceed the value of the truck when restoring one, or modifying as in your case. They aren't all that collectable as of yet.

I have noticed a trend that the squares are starting to gain some popularity, especially the 70's models. You have location working against you since these square bodies are so plentifull and cheap to buy out here (darn things are everywhere ) Back East it would be an easier sale.

You'll also have to find the right buyer that is into all that lowered big wheel stuff. Obviously that's work and money, and finding the right person that will appreciate it will get the money you are after.

Some other things to consider are how it's advertised and where. I never put anything in Craigs List. Yeah it's free and it might work fine for your daily driver commuter car, but specialty things like this deserve better exposure. Ebay isn't all that much better. I've always had better luck driving what I'm selling and getting exposure that way, hitting the bigger meets etc...
Stick it in the car corall at Goodguys will get several thousand people looking at it, hit the bigger cruises like the Pavilions. There are specific truck meets that are fun to do (Carlisle being one). Had them back East, haven't seen that out here however I haven't looked either. Some travel may be involved but I tend to make a good time out of it. One example of that is Hot August Nights in Reno. Another good place to take it is the Pomona Swap meet which really isn't all that far to drive from Phoenix.
Glendale has a swap and car coral once a month at the college that I like to attend which is close for you, good place for exposure.

What I'm getting at is that if you are serious about selling, public exposure is the best thing. The serious buyers are the ones scouting these places. The ones that sit behind the computer looking at ads are the tire kickers you are finding.

Just my experience from buying/selling.

[88Jimmy4x4]

Most of the ones I have seen selling for alot of money were restored/rebuilt stock looking trucks without modified suspension/paint/interior etc.

[Edahall]

I understand how your frustration. I paid full price for a highly modified Chevy Tahoe not too long ago for less than what it would have cost for me just to buy all the parts to put it together. It was exactly what I wanted so I felt lucky to find it and save all that labor to put it all together. Apparently, it had also been for sale for quite some time as well. Anyways, the trick is to not get in a hurry selling it and maybe the right buyer will come along.

FYI, the trucks that seem to be selling for high dollars right now are trucks that can make money hauling a flatbed. With the bad economy, everybody thinks that they can make money by buying a diesel dually and towing a flatbed. However, they forget how much it costs for maintenance caused from severe overloading.