Every so often, you run across a situation where a car aficionado is selling off his complete collection. In this case, we’re talking about an assortment of cars and trucks from the 1948s thru 1990 that add up to nearly a half-million dollars in combined presumed value. Located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, these vehicles are in different states of condition, but mostly good overall. They’re available here on craigslist starting at $10,000 and going up to $99,000. A tip of the hat to Barn Finder rex m for this heads-up!
It doesn’t seem to be such that the seller has a particular affinity for one brand or type of automobile or truck. There are some interesting and desirable finds within this group. Listed are ten cars and seven trucks. The breakdown of this collection by era is as follows:
1940s – 1
1950s – 5
1960s – 4
1970s – 5
1980s – 1
1990s – 1
Broken down further by brand, we have six Chevies, two Fords, two Plymouths, and one each from Cadillac, Dodge, Jaguar, Jeep, Pontiac, Porsche, and Volkswagen.
Even though the seller is unloading everything, he/she has not ruled out possible trades, but no boats or bikes. Anything here float your “boat” that you can’t live without?
1948 Plymouth Special Deluxe — $25,000
1952 Jeep Willys Overland $25k
1953 Plymouth 4×4 — $12,000
1954 Cadillac Fleetwood — $26,000
1955 Ford F100 — $25,000
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air — $26,000
1965 Corvette — $55,000
1966 Ford F100 4×4 — $15,000
1967 Chevy C10 — $39,000
1969 Dodge W300 4×4 — $12,000
1971 Pontiac Firebird — $45,000
1972 Chevy C10 Cheyenne Super — $43,000
1974 VW Samba (23-window) — $99,000
1977 Chevy C10 — $15,000
1979 Corvette — $14,000
1984 Porsche 944 — $10,000
1990 Jaguar XJS LT1 — $10,000
In farm country, we called this “lining them up”, as an indication of quitting the farming business. I imagine the same goes here, throwing in the towel on the classic car hobby, and for good reason. You can see by the era of most of the vehicles, what this person liked, and the real story for selling is rarely told, more than likely health reasons( hey, kidneys aren’t cheap) but it brings a tear everytime I see these collections get sold. This is a lifetime we’re looking at here, and while it’s gratifying to think, these will make someone else happy, I doubt you’ll ever see “regular Joes” with collections like this today. They are probably fed up with $200 brake cylinders, and such, and with a collection this size, something is always being needed. I’d have to think CL is the wrong place, and an auction would get better results, the VW alone is highly sought after, for some crazy reason. Time to bail on the old car hobby, and that’s sad.
It’s tough to know what the seller’s situation is, so what you say is just a wild guess, not even worth going there.
I could easily also guess that the seller is getting older and doesn’t want to leave the burden of selling the collection to the next of kin.
You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
Kenny Rogers, The Gambler, 1978
I live that ’66 F100!
Re: Howard’s comments about marketing. If I had decided to sell my 17-car collection worth upwards of a half-million dollars, what would I do? I’m not sure, but I don’t thing I would want to go through the hassle of it taking a year (or three) to sell them all, and the hundreds (thousands) of calls/texts/emails it would take. Let alone flaky “customers” and deadbeat buyers. Realistically, might he be able to sell only a portion of them in a given time period?
Thinking about it a bit more, I’m pretty sure I would just turn it over to an auction company and live with the results. Granted it is a trade of time/convenience for money.
Only a handful of these cars are desirable and he wants top dollar for every car. He will need to get serious and write a better ad if he wants to move them in a timely manner.
As for advertising on Craigslist, it gets eyeballs. Interesting ads are shared and covered by enthusiast sites like this one. There are even apps which allow you to search for specific makes and models nation wide if so desired. If a car is reasonably priced and the seller puts in the time to write a decent ad, a car will sell on any platform, even Craigslist.
Steve R
That’s true, but you don’t get “auction frenzy” with CL. I agree with Bob, there’s plenty enough here to “live with” the results of an auction, and I never had any patience selling anything and this would drive me nuts. People are so unpredictable and I’m no different, but with a collection like this, they aren’t exactly hurting to begin with, it’s just time to “stop the bleeding”, and put it into that yacht they’ve been hankerin’ for.
From time to time I’ll live stream Mecum auctions to function as background noise, “auction frenzy” is overblown. It sometimes exists in evening “prime time” slots, but those cars are there for a reason. In the afternoon, during off peak hours, there is no “auction frenzy”, many of those cars sell for less than equivalent beaters featured on this site. Claims that Barrett-Jackson has ruined the hobby is often a crutch to support a narrative when in actuality is just a seller that is either fishing or listened to too many of their friends that think they are “experts”.
Steve R
That may be true for tv auctions, but you can’t tell me, there wasn’t a “frenzy” at the Lambrecht schpiel, and I’ve personally been to local auctions, where sane people go overboard, in a “oh no you don’t” mentality, paying way more than they should. Then there’s the shill, and I personally was one, before I knew what a shill even was. In case someone doesn’t know, a shill is a person with no intention of buying something, but there to increase the bidding, and it works, let me tell ya’. I don’t blame auctions necessarily for the overblown prices today, it’s a convenient way for the wealthy to trade their worldly, to them, possessions. I do agree, we don’t see the “behind the scenes” transactions, but I can guarantee you this, they don’t go cheap even off camera. It’s these over priced “beaters” with wild price tags here, that we don’t see what they actually sell for, and I don’t believe the “# of bidders” on that Ebay crap, total baloney, but again, these people wouldn’t do it if it didn’t work. People have made money off suckers for eons, it stinks when it hits home with our hobby.
Disciplined buyer that are willing to put in the effort/time don’t worry about auction prices, there is and always has been a stead supply of desirable cars that can be found at reasonable prices. Look no further than this site for proof, there are more than a few sellers that have had numerous cars, often dozens, featured. These sellers are not finding the cars they sell by accident. To them, any tricks you describe that take place at auctions doesn’t impact them, nor does it countless other potential buyers who put in the work.
As for Lambrecht, that was an outlier mainly fueled by a promotional campaign which suckered the undisciplined and ignorant into bidding more than they should have. Even a few minutes of basic research could have saved them. I’ve read several accounts of people on another site that were present for the auction, they didn’t buy anything but said most of those that did were green with respect to the car hobby, the bought into the hype and were looking to make a quick buck. They deserved to lose the money the lost because they didn’t do their homework.
Steve R
Was one of the TV camera crew at the Lambrecht auction for days before it started, setting up the stage, the cameras and generators. Watched the Scouts for the big money buyers crawl under everything.
On another site I read comments from No Money Experts who said they were there but did not buy anything. Those No Money Experts were sure the entire sale was a scam, none of the cars belonged to the Lambrecht family. Big car haulers brought them from many, many states and same the haulers were lined up outside the sale to carry everything to the next auction.
We heard none of the buyers complained about what they paid. Some were very pleased.
The words in the song say, you’ve got to know when to to fold.
That VW 23 window either isn’t a 1974 (1967 was last year for split windshield) or its a South American import.
Cool bus, but I’d want to clarify the title and history before I assign a value.
Steve…Agree. Maybe a 64? My pick of the litter.
It has to be a Mexican model. 74 VW bus was way different. Unless of course, it is a typo.
Very sad to see that out of all those wonderful American vehicles the highest priced is a Volkswagen Microbus of all things. I had a 1962 split window back in 1964 and although it served it’s purpose in reality it was a cheap as chips mode of transport. I blew the motor and sold it to a scrapyard in 1966 for the equivelent of about $75 at that time.
Nothing here for me. As for auctions, the well known Scottsdale ones, I have seen thousands of vehicles.
Way toooo many are Band-Aid repair, (restorations), that have lots of mud.
Hence, I never bought at auction without an In Person buy.
Especially “flipper” cars. Refer back to band aid cars.
It’s the Bling, not the quality that sells.
Need to get ready for our car club breakfast not. Think I am in the
1961 Imperialist mood.
Makes me laugh that a VW bus is the most expensive of the lot. Collectors are fn cracra
Not seeing $26K for a 57 Belair 4dr sedan unless this is some ultra rare one order with the 283 FI engine. If that was even possible. A Hardtop 4dr maybe.
The VW, if a 74, is Brazillian. They tend to be a miss match of parts. As Germany took something out of production (engines, gearboxes) the tooling got sent to Brazil. You ended up with vehicles totally unlike the original German car.
Build quality is suspect. Metal and paint tend to poor quality
Eeney, meeney, myney, moe.
I’d love to have one of the 4×4 pickups, but I beat the hell out of my 4×4 pickup now so I would just tear up these nicer pickups!
I see the sales floor of a “Classics” dealership in a farm country road, nothing that catch my eye and everything overpriced.
If you are leaving the classic car hobby, taking trades?
What is the yellow boat with the rusted white vinyl roof?
Paul S.: Near as I can tell, it’s a ’63 Oldsmobile, that’s not listed at all.
Howard A.: Sometimes, just to get an old car back on the road, $200 is a small price to pay. It’s finding that your bucks buys a piece of Chinese crap that’s defective, and has to be changed out four or five times before you find a part that works; that’s what ticks me off. Rant, over!
It’s a 1964 Olds 88 Holiday coupe.
I do not see the H1 Hummer listed. Posted 15 days ago and nothing has sold?
Howie Mueler: picture 19 in the Craig’s List ad, and in a few others. Next to the VW bus in the third BF photo.
Scottymac: Yes i see the photos of the Hummer, but i do not see it in the listing of all the prices.
Howie Mueler, the ad shows his # 479-966-0450.