Why so many cars ending up like this

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MileHighDart said:
http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/4280161110.html

Totally disassembled, every nut and bolt. Body stripped to bare metal, and then, put
it up for sale. Who knows if its all there, or if he bagged and tagged all the bolts.

Why do I keep seeing cars like this for sale?
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its probably the fault of shows like overhaulin and graveyard cars . They make it look so easy to do a complete resto on a car in record time.
Then when you try and attempt it yourself , its a complete different story .
A full strip down and rebuild is no job for the feinthearted.
Ben
 
That's why I am afraid to take mine apart for paint. I don't want it to end up that way.
 
Personally I think its because we can always see the project completed when we first get into it but then over time we lose interest because it takes so much work and time to complete, along with the money!!!! It's very easy to strip a car down, but man, it takes a lot more time to get it all back together again! I have a duster in my garage that is just about in that same state. But I am determine to get it back together one way or another! I took a personality test at work and it showed that I am one of those people that can see the end of a project before I even start on it. I work very hard to fill in the middle area where the real time and work happens!!!! Looks pretty solid to me!
 
Sometimes people fall on hard times, job loss etc. We have one for sale right on this forum because of it.
 
People get started and realize it takes a lot of time and money to do one of these. I think people loose interest in projects. I would say that Mustang in the back round killed this project. Tough to take on someone else's project as stated half the parts are missing.
 
People falsely believe that you need to completely strip a car down to build it back up nice.

Then the reality of $10,000+ to refinish a bare shell slaps them in the face followed by the threat..... "If you spend $10,000 to paint that car, I'm spending $10,000 on new shoes."
 
His problem is that he has that late model Mustang in the other bay that needs nothing but to go have fun in it...
And probably too much else vying for his time...
Looks worthwhile to me though.
 
Several factors and all have been metioned above on the plus side there is a lot of work already done and car looks pretty clean.
 
67cudafb said:
People get started and realize it takes a lot of time and money to do one of these. I think people loose interest in projects. I would say that Mustang in the back round killed this project. Tough to take on someone else's project as stated half the parts are missing.
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I have to agree about the mustang [not enough money left for the project] but I will agree that some folks bite off more than they can chew or when they realize that when all said and done this car will not be worth what he has invested so lets bail out and recoupe most of what we have in it. I'll also bet he's under the false thought that Boss 302 will be very valuable in twenty years!!

And I have bought some ones project with all of the bolts for everything missing [did not know that till I did an inventory after getting it home] luckily I have extra hardware.
 
pauly said:
It's very easy to strip a car down, but man, it takes a lot more time to get it all back together again!
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Exactly. Stripping a car down to its shell can be done with a handful of tools and a little labor, and it goes pretty fast most of the time.

Putting a car back together, especially in the setting of a complete rebuild, takes a lot time, a lot of specialized tools, skilled labor, and MONEY. Anybody can take a car down to its shell. Putting it back together while rebuilding everything along the way is not something everybody can do. Which most people usually realize after they've stripped the car completely down and started on the process of putting it back together.

On the bright side, that looks like a spectacular start on a full restoration. Looks like all the big parts are there, and if you're doing the 100% resto then most of the little stuff has to be replaced anyway.
 
Remember when Mama would say "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach" or "Bitten off more than you can chew?"
 
What I hate even worse, is seeing a car with decent quarters, stripped down, with the wheel wells and rear frame rails cut out, and the firewall bonded over, then put up for sale.
 
Or they realized they will never see 1/2 the money they put into making a /6 Duster really nice. It doesn't cost any more to strip and paint an E body like that but you could actually get it back when you finish. The beauty of a Duster is the low starting price and almost free, plentiful parts. So you can build a nice little car for well under $10,000 that you can enjoy. Doing this full blown restoration gives you a car you spent twice as much on you are afraid to enjoy that really wouldn't bring much more then a simple paint job would have.
 
More then not, I think it's just chit happens...

I gave up a 72' Duster in 81' because my first baby girl became more important then a piece of iron. A clean Yellow 318/3spd car I obtained without a engine that had supposedly frozen and cracked over a few winters earlier.

I got a 86' Stang for "free" in 94'. Planning on a drag car, I held onto it and finally started the frame work, body stripping, and parts accumulation in 2002. Just a slow project for me in my spare time, but after the rear was done, torque boxes, frame ties, and a 5 lug front conversion was done, the next project was the roll bar.....unfortunately for family reasons in 2005, I had to move from Florida to Virginia with no garage or storage. I was forced to let it go for dirt. I'm not a Ford guy by any means, but as a project goes, that was as cheap as any Chevy at that point. It really hurt to unload it for nothing considering the work I'd put into it.
 
I've done that. About 15 years ago I bought a '65 Belvedere I post car as a roller and had it shipped out here from California. I owned it for ten years but never finished it. I took every nut and bolt off of it and even had it painted but then the progress stopped. Sold it as a shell on a big wooden dolly with two truckloads of parts. I did OK on it, probably broke even. I was actually relieved when it went.

There were a few factors working against me. I had way less experience working on cars than I do now and about 1/8 of the tools. It was also an hour away from where I lived. Not a good recipe for success. People have good intentions but for whatever reason things don't work out.

At least you can see the metal on the car and there wouldn't be any surprises. Not a bad way to start if you're willing and able to put the work in to finish it.
 
I wonder if peer pressure/keeping up with the jones, plays a role sometimes. Buddy buys a (or restores) a car gotta have one same or better, buddy trades car(or motorcycle) and gotta get one of those.
 
I agree with darter6 eyes bigger than stomach....i had a chevelle end up like this.but then it was a chevelle .... Lol
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
People falsely believe that you need to completely strip a car down to build it back up nice.

Then the reality of $10,000+ to refinish a bare shell slaps them in the face followed by the threat..... "If you spend $10,000 to paint that car, I'm spending $10,000 on new shoes."
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This is funny ****, but most likely true!!!!!
 
It's true!......all true and funny stuff posted here!! Many cars are ending up like this, and I happen to have a '69 Dart rolling shell in my garage that I was trying to sell for a while too! Blame Barrett-Jackson and that now-dated mentality that these old cars "will only keep going up in value". Also, that people go hog-wild on cars that aren't rare, just like this one is originally a slanty car, and here's one angle I don't think anyone's mentioned.......all the guys who are the main pool of fans of these era of cars are getting older and maybe a bit less enthusiastic about spending a weekend under a car anymore.

Add to that....the current unknown economic conditions and general fear of how things are going to play out in the next few years too! I think it's like a "perfect storm" where.....there's almost too many old cars out there for the (future) number of old car freaks, so you'd better either accept that you're gonna lose money on a project.....or start with something super rare.
 
I agree with all of your comments, but what is it worth? My guess is $1,000 could buy it. What do you guys think?
 
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