Model A Town Car?

[eystein]

"Currently restoring 3 of these" ??

Are they unrestored/hitherto unknown ones, or are they some of the ones that have been known for a long time being given a re-restoration ?

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

Gene, how would YOU establish a fair-market value for something like this? If you wanted one, how often do you find one that is for sale?



To me, it really is inconsequential whether this body is on the original frame or not. Equally, it does not matter the condition of the body wood or whether it has missing parts. My reasoning is, most of the chassis parts will be substituted with mint or NOS parts anyway when someone is restoring a vehicle of this caliber. The same with the body wood, ...it doesn't matter whether the infrastructure wood is sound or rotten as a car of this caliber is going to have new wood made. Terry Deters is currently restoring 3 of these, and friend of mine quoted him as saying that all three cars were slightly different. That is believable on a quasi hand-built body.

As far as missing stuff goes, nothing on that body is 'un-makeable' for someone who has the skillset and resources to make it happen. There are enough restored 140s around that dimensions for any missing piece(s) can be readily sourced so a person could fabricate them. Realistically, if a restorer gave $25k for that car, -then spent another $35k for parts & materials doing all the work themselves, they would not be upside down in this car. In comparison, look at a typical Fordor vs. this car and compare what a full restoration would entail. It would not be equal across the board, but very similar. The value at the end would definitely be skewed towards the town car.

The biggest issue I see with this particular car is most restorers do not have the capability (mindset, skillset, & resources) in their garage to do the restoration. IMHO, it really would/should not take a garage full of expensive tools to pull this off either.