Market value for original 32 Fords

[daveness]

My father passed away recently and while we're not going to sell his cars in the near future, we do need to establish a value for them. In his collection are five 1932 Fords. We've searched databases of auction sales and pass Hemmings ads. We're having some trouble getting comparable pricing on especially three models. Does anyone have good sources for objective pricing on these models, especially the B400, Cab and Woodie? The cars we're trying to value are: Roadster, Phaeton, Woodie, B-400 and Cabriolet, all V8's. All older restorations but complete. Thanks for any assistance, and again, we're not selling these cars so please dealers and anxious buyers, you can send us your contact info and we'll keep it for future but we love these cars as much as our dad did so they probably won't move soon.

[Lanny]

Sorry about your fathers passing.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so posting some pictures would help.












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[39topless]

These cars must have insurance on them. Check with the agent and find out what the replacement coverage is on them. That will give you a good idea. If there is no insurance, GET SOME!!!!!

[DavidG]

Condolences on your family's loss.

39topless's advice is solid gold. Each of these cars are valuable and existing insurance continued or insurance acquired if it does not now exist (it is highly likely that it does already exist as your Dad would have known that his cars were valuable).

Without photos it is difficult to speculate as to their value as the word "restored" means different things to different people. Even if they are all just "good", the starting point for each would likely be in the mid five figures.

[pj's junkers]

Use Nada antique price guide as a starting point

[Charlie Stephens]

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I would use the "Old Cars Price Guide" available from major book stores or the publisher. This will give the person trying to work with the numbers for the estate a piece of paper he can look at and show others. If I was going to sell the cars I would consider a professional appraiser or do a lot of research on what they are currently selling for. Photos are a must have if you want opinions from people on this web site. Set your camera at the lowest resolution and the pictures will be easy to post. As an alternative take high resolution photos and reduce their resolution with post processing software.

Charlie Stephens

[HOTRODPRIMER]

Have a company like Grundy to give you a quote and value on these cars,they are experts in the old car industry. HRP

[Kahuna]

HRP also gave you very good advice. But pictures are necessary

[daveness]

Hey thanks everyone, I'll start checking out your leads and I'll get up to my parents in the next day or two and find some pics or take some.

[TJ]

Pictures are worth a 1000 words. Without them it's a guessing game. You can also consult a licensed appraiser who would have a good knowledge of Ford V-8s.

[Uncle Bob]

You've made it clear you're not looking to sell, but haven't described what your actual objective is. Having been the executor of my mother's estate last year I'm guessing you're perhaps trying to define values to ensure an equitable distribution of assets or deal with some sort of tax consequence.

As many of the reasonable responses above refer to "guides" that should tell you that there is no singular, absolute value identification source. Guide means just that......a loose range of possible value. The requests for pictures is mostly driven by folks experiences where one persons definition of "good" doesn't necessarily agree with anothers.

Dealing with my siblings on settling mom's estate went fairly easily as we discussed all the property involved and came to fairly quick agreement. Based on feedback from a lot of folks I know that's apparently very unusual. Many attribute that to "greed", in one form or another. Whatever.

If my presumption of your objective is correct you could attempt to take one of those "guides" and negotiate with the involved parties and come to an agreed value. Based on your judgement of their reasonableness that may be the easiest. If however, the stories I've been told by others more accurately syncs with your situation then perhaps an independent appraiser is a more expedient choice. Generally, I'm fairly cynical about vintage car appraisers because they, more often than not in my experience, seem to be driven by the adage, "what number do you want to hear?" That works fine for insuring a car as long as it's not way out there from the insurance underwriters perspective, but as a tool for actual market value it may not be so useful. In negotiating with a group of people who aren't vintage car people, where their cut of the asset pie is the driver in decision making, the supposed independence of an outside "expert" may be the most useful tool.

[tubman]

I agree with everything Bob has said. Having gone through a settlement of an estate that didn't go as smoothly as Bob's seems to have, I think it is essential to get as much settled and in writing as you can as early as you can. It's amazing how twenty or thirty thousand dollars can affect certain peoples thought processes.

As to price guides, I have a very nice O/T car that is quite valuable (high 5 figures to low 6 figures). These numbers came right from my insurances companies web site they use for evaluating car values. Again, this car is in very nice shape, but I have to say that if someone came knocking on my door with the low figure in $100 bills, they would probably be able to drive it away, as much as I love it. I believe the specialty insurance companies have figured out they can collect higher premiums by letting peoples egos value their cars at quite a bit over their actual worth. It's an actuarial win-win situation.

[daveness]

Great comments guys. Dealers may want to low ball if they are going to be in a buy and sell arrangement, auction companies probably tell you what you want to hear to get the listing, and insurance companies may shoot high for higher coverage (didn't think of that one). I consulted NADA, although it's rather broad in the valuation, and I subscribed to Old Car Guide, that was helpful. I also contacted our insurance co (Condon Skelly) and the guy there (Jim Kruse) was very helpful. While he didn't have values he thought would be helpful in this situation, he did suggest contacting auction companies who would give free appraisals. At this point we have searched past Hemmings ads and I subscribed to a database of auction sale results. I think we'll have enough to get agreement between family members, which is the most important part. The main reason I was reaching out to this group is that growing up I always thought the B-400 and Cabriolet while rare, were not valued as high as the Roadster and Phaeton because of market demand. Now the B-400 and Cab are looking strong. The woodie is another story. I read that only 10 exist, but I don't believe it. Anyway, that one is still a bit of a mystery on how to price. If I can get some pics I'll post them if anything just to share in what we all love. Oh, and yes we're establishing values to settle estate but cars may not be distributed to kids for some time. And when they are, can't say if we'll sell some right away or keep them for long time.

[TJ]

There are some appraisers who specialize in early Ford V-8s and they advertise in the V-8 Club's magazine, The V-8 Times. Very reputable people who can probably give you a correct value on the cars knowing they are involved in an estate.

[Frank Miller]

These cars are rare in that they do not often come up for sale. Even if you insure the B400 for 75k a total loss might not allow you to replace that car. An appraisal by someone with Ford experience is a place to start. Even a fair appraisal could fall far short of what a car might bring at auction. It's a tricky business and I'm sure these cars are priceless to the family. They clearly serve as testimony for your dad's wise investments. Good luck.

[jerseyboy]

"The woodie is another story. I read that only 10 exist, but I don't believe it. Anyway, that one is still a bit of a mystery on how to price."

Daveness,

I own a 32 woodie and have tracked around 40 to 50 that I know exist through several sources. There may be some more. I have seen pretty rough ones sell for around $30.000 in the early 2000s. There was one sold in the Nick Alexander collection several years back and Mike Nichols was selling one as well.

Keep V-8ing and 4-banging!

[rockfla]

Auctions are not a "good" barometer as to the "true" value of a car as proven by the Nick Alexander Auction. Several of his cars have since come up for sale and the asking price (at auction purchase price) was no where near the actual selling price (of at least 3 cars I know of) so all Nicks Auction did (and Nicks Cars were fabulous no doubt and not trying in any way to diminish that fact) was to give "Woodie" owners false hope of "HIGH" returns on the sale of their Station Wagon.

[TonyM]

Originally Posted by rockfla

Auctions are not a "good" barometer as to the "true" value of a car.

That is for sure.

[G.M.]

The REAL GOOD cars sell fast and most do not reach the auctions so the auction prices don't reflect the real value of true #1 cars. Insurance is not a good indicator.
I have my 35 cars low balled so I don't have such a large insurance bill. A top open
car or woody could have a value of 25% higher than the average so called #1 as described in the price guides. G.M.

[Andyr]

You might try Ralph Hubbard , 818-384-1940 , past director of Ford V8 Club of America , does appraisals and is a good guy!