Auction stupidity

[Gold Digger]

Never go to an auction unless you actually want something. Yesterday I went to this estate auction that had a collection of about 20 old cars and trucks along with some house hold items and some construction equipment. Believe me, I don't need anything else at all but I thought it being close I would just go see how the T's and A's were selling now days. I keep my hands down the whole auction, BUT, there was this slick as a hound's tooth 69 Lincoln Mark 3 with 56,000 miles on it and it wouldn't start when they came to it to auction it off. Not much of a crowd had shown up and things were going cheep and they couldn't get a bid so they went to the next car and on and on. After the auction I asked if the Lincoln got sold and the auctioneer said make me an offer. I shot him a price so low I thought he would say get out of here but he says sold. So today my grandson and I go and haul it home and think what have I done. 46 years ago I would have died for this car but at 65 I'm too tired to work on these things. A model A can set like this for 34 years in storage and about all you got to do is file the points, clean the carb, and set a hot battery in her and most of the time off you go. Oh well they say you never get too old to learn. The next time there's an auction like this I'm going the other direction.

[jeep44]

That's about an acre of car, isn't it?

[Simonpie]

Nice!

My only auction luck was an old Edison Phonograph. When the auctioneer got down to $50 dollars he said "no bid, no sale" so I bought it. Then I found out it won't play 78s. It plays special Edison only 80 RPM. When I picked it up it was awful heavy. It had about 80 records in the lower cabinets!

[monto]

It's marketable; You can sell it if things don't work out !!

[C26Pinelake]

You know you can get your money out of it so why not sell it! Case closed, problem solved ! Wayne

[Mitch//pa]

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congratulations
dont try and fire her up until you disconnect the fuel line off the carb and run her on spray.... then youll be able to see what come out of the fuel line...
we do alot of cars here that have sat and you dont want to pump that crap in the carb then motor....

[Gold Digger]

Thanks Mitch//pa for that trick. I haven't got around to trying to start it yet. I got to thinking about all the rubber hoses last night and went and looked under the hood to see how bad they might be but they seem to be pretty good. The tires look dry rotted but still holding air.

[Rowdy]

Sounds about like my $1 1971 Caddy. Sold it the next week on ebay for $1400. Never say it was dumb until you find out what it is worth. Rod

[holdover]

you might have scored good, get it running and keep it (you said you wanted one years ago) or sell it on Craigslist, and use the money for another project. auctions are an enjoyable pastime with a lot of eye candy!

[34pickup]

Those are beautiful cars. I don't blame you. I also bought one "just because" about 15 years ago for 500 bucks. All it really needed was a repaint and the power window fixed. But I let mine sit in a shed waiting on its turn to be fixed up. Now its deteriorated so much I don't think I want to fix it. So, don't be like me, get it on the road.

[ronn]

flip it.................. bring in some cash and move along.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by ronn

flip it.................. bring in some cash and move along.

That's what I'd do, but I've never been a fan of battleships.

[Ted Duke]

Work on it with your grandson. Doesn't matter what it ends up like, you will enjoy the time with him. I'm sort of hyper about enjoying grandkids when you get the chance. I never had any grandparents.

Ted

[heneste]

Congratulations! Hopefully the grandson will take up the reigns and do alot of the resto work. At least it's better than going to an auction where the items you want get horribly out of price range just because people get into a bidding war without realizing they're bidding too much for the item.

[hardtimes]

Good and funny story, thanks for sharing ! WHY ? Why is it that WE are like this ? Obsessive/possessive compulsive, maybe deprived history as a yute, maybe tooo much $ in pockets or maybe just fun getting a perceived great deal. You do not reveal how great a deal, so I'm guessing $50. for this car....and no I'm not buying for $100, as I'm working on my own compulsions...like Model A/Bs

[mshmodela]

Well, I suppose you'll learn somethings and is that not what fun really is. Enjoy!

[Spokes]

Originally Posted by Ted Duke

Work on it with your grandson. Doesn't matter what it ends up like, you will enjoy the time with him. I'm sort of hyper about enjoying grandkids when you get the chance. I never had any grandparents.

Ted

This is Great Advise You don,t need a Computer to figure it out. Start off by doing the same things you would do to an A motor, if it had not run in sometime.If it is as clean as you say it could be something minor. Please keep us posted. You Can always sell The Car.

[bunnyc]

I went to an estate sale over the weekend. Brought home this 1890 National cash register. Winter restore project.

[Gold Digger]

Have had 5 people come by and look at the Lincoln today. I think this thing may be a good investment. I still think I'll flip it or trade it for a nice A model. I used to jump in the middle of this kind of project but like to keep it simple now. That's why I drive A's so much.

[Mitch//pa]

Any pics of the Lincoln