1929 model A model 180 on ebay????????

[the.secret.victoria]

It also appears to have the '30 design of fenders and splash aprons. So, clearly it's a pieced together car; probably from whatever the assembler had on hand or could easily obtain at the time.

Given the mismatched parts, May '29 serial number (supposedly #1661451 per listing), I'd also be wary of the body being full of filler and other dubious repairs.

[gdmn852]

Hello, at the right price in might be a “entry level “ car , plan on replacing and repair incorrect parts.I agree with the Flea market Frankenstein , I supposed one could drive it while restoring it . Whoever buys it is a future Ford Barn member. I can see the post now “ I just bought a Model A Ford and can’t get it started.”

[ChicagoBob]

Cut-down Tudor?

[WHN]

There is an ass for every chair.

I think this car would be a mistake at almost any price. Might work parted out.

Enjoy

[jerrytocci]

Door sill looks fiberglass.

[Franchise_24]

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Looks like it went for $18,100 at the very end. With 10 minutes left it was at $15,700, and then got bid up in the final seconds.

[alexiskai]

$18k, I guess we talked a couple guys out of it.

[ronn]

$18k, I guess we talked a couple guys out of it.

dont think so- it was what the mkt would bare. A dealer could have bought it, improve it and spin it off for 39k. I look at them as being identical to the a400 in value.
a400s arent selling that well these days. A nice coupe or vicky brings 15-18k. Lets face it,
the mkt is mostly soft on the rarer models.

[rackops]

Okay, so I was the high bidder until the very end. I was very happy to be outbid, but I felt at $15k, it was worth taking a risk and getting a Frankenstein car that could be put back together and restored...for about the same price of an already restored one. Even though I own a VE28, I really like the looks of the 30/31 cars and would love to add one.

I went to bed before the auction ended last night and told my wife "I will either wake up in the morning owning a turd, or I'll be outbid and very happy." Needless to say, I was the latter. (I did tell her that if I got to his house and it was really bad, I was just going to let him keep the deposit and pass on it. Glad I didn't have to find out!)

I did go back and forth with the seller quite a bit. He seemed to be a "rattle can" mechanic...e.g. though he considered himself to be a restorer of cars, some of the ones he had were eye-poppingly bad. His photos were unhelpful as well, though he sent me a few more than were on the eBay auction. Those made me far more uncomfortable than even the poor auction ones, but at that point, there was no way to retract my bid.

I'm happy with how it worked out...and I'm glad that someone decided it was worth more to them than it was to me.

[rackops]

FWIW, this was one of the fellow's pieces of art. It was black when the photos of the Phaeton were taken, and then it ended up green. I think it's painted with a brush? It was when I saw this I had the really, really, really bad sinking feeling (worse than I already did!)

[alexiskai]

Originally Posted by rackops

Okay, so I was the high bidder until the very end. I was very happy to be outbid, but I felt at $15k, it was worth taking a risk and getting a Frankenstein car that could be put back together and restored...for about the same price of an already restored one. Even though I own a VE28, I really like the looks of the 30/31 cars and would love to add one.

I went to bed before the auction ended last night and told my wife "I will either wake up in the morning owning a turd, or I'll be outbid and very happy." Needless to say, I was the latter. (I did tell her that if I got to his house and it was really bad, I was just going to let him keep the deposit and pass on it. Glad I didn't have to find out!)

I'm looking at the bid history – whoever sniped you intended to win the auction. You put in $18k as your max bid, and he didn't bid until the last ten seconds, which means he only had time to make one bid. The top bid prior to that was $16,549, so his bid must have been somewhere north of $18k. I guess Brent may have been technically correct when he said it would go in the $20k range, because it's likely the winning bidder was willing to go that high. Hope he enjoys fixing it up.

[rackops]

Originally Posted by alexiskai

I'm looking at the bid history – whoever sniped you intended to win the auction. You put in $18k as your max bid, and he didn't bid until the last ten seconds, which means he only had time to make one bid. The top bid prior to that was $16,549, so his bid must have been somewhere north of $18k. I guess Brent may have been technically correct when he said it would go in the $20k range, because it's likely the winning bidder was willing to go that high. Hope he enjoys fixing it up.

My backup plan, since I couldn't retract my bid, was to be a gentleman and let the guy relist the car "no harm, no foul". He readily groused that it should be a "$30k car" and was really disappointed in the auction. Luckily, I was outbid, so I never needed to act on my plans.

To be honest, I would have liked to have seen it in person. I spent a lot of time looking at the photos and comparing them to other 1930 Deluxe Phaetons. I think it might (might) have been salvageable, but only an in-person inspection could have made that determination.

[alexiskai]

I had a similar experience buying a std phaeton from a museum on eBay two years ago. Minimal pictures, no info on the car. Luckily it worked out.

[ronn]

well the body was worth 15k to a rodder and the chassis another 3k, so it went for a decent price. Cleaned up it will bring a good bit more and you never would have lost with your bid.

It most likely was bought with a snipe service. FYI you could have bid that way and cancelled your bid at the last moment. Preferable to placing a bid and being locked in by ebay in the last 12 hours. Make note of that, the next time you bid and you'll get a better nights sleep!

[rackops]

Originally Posted by ronn

well the body was worth 15k to a rodder and the chassis another 3k, so it went for a decent price. Cleaned up it will bring a good bit more and you never would have lost with your bid.

It most likely was bought with a snipe service. FYI you could have bid that way and cancelled your bid at the last moment. Preferable to placing a bid and being locked in by ebay in the last 12 hours. Make note of that, the next time you bid and you'll get a better nights sleep!

That's how I normally bid (been on eBay since December 1995). That said, unless someone else had met reserve, it would have been unknown and he could have raised it (which he wanted to do, particularly when he was getting bad info from people: "only 200 made!"). This way, in meeting the reserve, he was "technically" committed to sell it (he could have stopped the auction at any time, of course).

Had I really wanted it (rather than wanting to back out) I would have put in a snipe, but in this case...I felt I was going to inherit a lot more headaches than I initially anticipated, particularly after going back and forth with him a few hours before the auction ended (he never answered my earlier questions) so I was stuck with my bid and hoped for the best.

[rackops]

To be honest, I think my wife enjoyed watching me sweat it a bit. I told her about the car and got the: sigh...."another car?" look. And then I told her I got stuck buying it and got the: sigh...."stuck...reallllly...."

[40-A Twins]

Comparing this car to photos of real deluxe phaetons found online, the door sure looks like it was a modified coupe - tudor door. The real model 180s had wood framed doors and the jamb side looks different.

[nkaminar]

A Pinto powered coupe just sold on Bring A Trailer for $18,500. It is red.

[ronn]

nk, there is a small niche mkt for the pinto power. Im guessing it was automatic and would have been perfect for someone who is handicapped.

[31Cabriolet68-C]

Seems the Bring-A-Trailer website is set up so there isn't any last minute sniping because during the last 2 minutes just before the original auction's time deadline is reached, they automatically extend the clock by another 2 minutes -- every time there is a new bid -- until the bidding stops on it's own (that is there are no more higher bids) for two complete minutes... And then the auction's over, sometimes well after the original time deadline.
Helps both the buyers and the sellers...
I wonder if any Barners have been successful using BaT?
IMHO, The prices realized on BaT seem really high...
But they say they've sold over 100,000 cars on line so they may be doing something right, and interestingly enough there was an article on the guy who founded BaT in the Wall Street Journal the other day. (Sorry it wasn't me. LOL.)