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Posted by David Sherman on Thursday, July 09, 2009 at 14:11:15 :
In Reply to: FFPW prices posted by granch on Thursday, July 09, 2009 at 11:43:38 :
There's basically 3 categories of FFPWs for sale -- old beaters, good running nice looking trucks that may or may not have been partly restored, and high-end restorations that are better than new. The beaters, some of which are drivable, seem to be pretty steady in price at $500-$2000. The gold plated restorations are the province of rich boys who collect cars like they collect yachts, planes, corporations, and small countries. The rich always have money, so there will always be a $50,000 PW selling somewhere, which is cheap by collector vehicle standards.
In between we have a range of prices depending more on the motivation and realism of the seller than on the condition of the truck. I think what's happening now is some guys are a bit pinched for cash and have to prioritize some things. The priority isn't to keep that truck that he's spent the last 10 years fixing up but can't really use for anything. If it's between losing the house and losing the hobby truck, the hobby truck goes. The trouble is, he adds up what he paid for it, what he spent on parts, and thinks of all the time he put into it, and he'd "like to get" $30,000 out of it. The trouble is, it still needs a few things done to it and the body and paint work are less than professional. The "collectors" wouldn't give it a sideways glance. The new hobbyist that would love to have one isn't going to drop that kind of dough on somebody else's pretty nice project. He's going to buy a beater for $1000 or a good runner for $5000 and do all the work himself. 10 years from now he might be in the same situation too, but for now, getting started, anything above $10K is off the list.
Bottom line, the days of people paying top dollar on ebay for anything that says "Power Wagon" on it are over. Guys who don't really need to sell are holding out for inflated prices that aren't being paid. Guys who need to sell are finding buyers but not at the prices they would have gotten 2 years ago. The high and end and low end probably haven't changed much.
There's a lot of denial going on all over in terms of what things are worth. We're not used to deflation. Of all the houses in my neighborhood that have had "For Sale" signs on them in the past year, the only one that sold went for $45,000. Everybody else says they're "selling their house" for $180,000 or $250,000, or even $430,000 in one case, but I say they're not "selling" anything until somebody shows up at the title company with a cashier's check. Big difference between "asking" and "selling".
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