View Single Post
  #6  
Old 11-19-2010, 05:39 PM
JimFreeh's Avatar
JimFreeh JimFreeh is offline
Benz addict
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Hampton Roads, Virginia
Posts: 3,366
Quote:
Originally Posted by RANDY P View Post
Finding ANY CAR that is clean, and decent with that low of mileage and no stories to tell is worth more than $2k.
You would think that....

But....

It's still a 30 plus year old car. There are two reasons to own a car this old.

1. You don't want, or cannot afford a car payment. The most important characteristic of a car would be it's cost of ownership/reliability and to a lesser extent, it's price. There is a ceiling to this market... and it's pretty low.

Or,

2. You have an emotional reason to want just such a car.




Problem with buyer number 1 is that (s)he is most often limited by funds, and with the price of newer cars at or near your price point, it's going to be hard to have this person put a premium on your car, even in the rare instance they have the cash....

On the other hand, the big problem with buyer number 2 is.... finding someone who really wants YOUR car.



I understand the emotional attachment, I'm the caretaker of several family vehicles, one of which was bought new by my Uncle in 1955. Another I've owned for over 36 years.

The market isn't great right now, and I'd expect it to stay low for quite a while. If I had access to a car that had your family history, I think I'd want to keep it, find a book value or better yet, get a professional appraisal on it, and use one of the classic car insurers, like Grundy or Heacock, and insure it for stated value. This way, you can enjoy the car, and if something ever happened, you could recover what you felt was full value.


Good luck, it's quite a prize to have a car like your Mom's.

Usually, when you find this kind of history, it's tied to a mint green Chevy II fourdoor with a 6 and powerglide....

Jim
__________________
14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles
Reply With Quote