How Much to Repair this 1931 Murray TS?

[Tom Wesenberg]

My neighbor asked me last night how much I thought this damage would cost to repair. I have a number in mind, but am not a bodyman and would like an expert opinion. Thanks

[Mitch//pa]

does he have agreed insurance value

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Mitch//pa

does he have agreed insurance value

It's a repairable he'd like to buy.

[kelley's restoration]

6-8 grand or more
tk

[bobbycoke]

Tom it will cost more than it appears, the body work is easily seen ,fender etc the chassis has sustained some damage driver side which means the whole chassis needs twweking or replacement. A hit that hard will probably have bent/broken brake rods, torque tube? etc. If he is thinking of purchasing it a thorough exmination is needed than of course LABOR to fix is the biggie, his own cheap, professional expensive! He needs a person experience in body work to look at it and figure an estimate, I am sure the owner insurance co has written an estimate as the hitter shoud be responsible. IMHO bc

[glenn in camino]

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Thousands ?????

[Rowdy]

Its a fordor (donor car), so should be cheap to find replacement panels for the back. Likely the wood and rear fenders will be the expensive part. How much frame damage does it have. I am guessing the rear crossmember and right frame rail will need replaced jusging by what I can see. Doing the repairs himself would be about $3800. Hiring it done would be closer to $7,000 at a guesse. Rod

[bobbycoke]

Also after further looks at pix the doors are all out of whack [4] and body pulled above fenders it probably is close to a "total". I think kelly's restoration is a little optomistic but 10-12k is motre realistic..imho

[Mitch//pa]

over 10k

[montanafordman]

That's the sad reality about resale value and totaling vs. what it would actually cost to fix or restore. I'm guessing resale value for a car like that without the damage would be somewhere around 15K or slightly more and with the damage I see - if farming out the work you could easily hit that figure. The moral of the story? Insure your car for an agreed value as high as the insurance company is willing to commit or as high as you can afford!

[gweilbaker]

That looks like it got into the drive train, is the flywheel cover/motor mount OK?

[Dave72dt]

Really hard to say without a full inspection of the damage. Probably frame damage, definitely some interior damage and without a teardown it's hard to say how extensive it is. A hit that hard can telegraph a long ways forward plus considering the level of restoration desired during the repairs, it would be difficult to determine the number of hours needed and the cost of the hard parts.

[Rowdy]

Looking at the pic's alittle harder I would guesse buying a replacement chassis like this and repairing it would be cheaper than repairing the frame under this car and replacing other parts one at a time. JMHO. Rod

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18465

[Scott NY]

Just remember that this body is metal panels formed over a wooded structure

[1931 flamingo]

Buy it cheap, parcel it out.
Paul in CT

[Logan]

You're buddy is better off finding something else. That back panel is pushed in really far, and the bottom bead area is gonna be pushed in and up. Do the doors even line up anymore? I notice the drivers side aren't fully closed. The frame may be bent or twisted. Woods going to be broken, the back seat frame will probably be broken, the rear axle may have some damage, two new fenders, and then strip and paint the entire body, cuz you're not going to be able to match that color and blend with that big of a damage area.

There was a '30 fordoor hit in the back left a few years ago here in Fort Worth. I don't think it was as bad as this one. But the wood in the back of it just split in half. The car ended up being fixable, but the wood was a bitch. I had to go in there and "patch" the wood back together with glue, and screws and anything else you could imagine. It went back together and looked like it had never been hit, and all the upholstery was fine. But it's something I'd never want to get into if I were looking at buying a car, especially if I didn't have any body work experience. That back panel is going to need to be pulled out,not beaten out, it's pushed in way to far to be hammered out. A replacement panel from another body might work, but then you have to take into consideration if the new panel has also been stretched at one point or another, and if it's going to actually fit.

So as for your original question, 10+ thousand dollars probably. It would be a restoration, not a fix job. And with that back panel, it would cost even more than average to restore it. Once you get new rear fenders on it, you're gonna have to paint the front ones too so that they can match.

[Skrain]

Looks like it might be better to just part it out!
Sell what's still viable for use and scrap the rest.

[Purdy Swoft]

I agree with Logan. Its a job that I wouldn't want to get into and I'm a body man. The wood subrails will probably need replacement unless you want a patch job. The body would need to be disassembled to correctly replace the wood subrails. It would be a job for a restoration shop like Brent in ten uh see instead of a body shop. Most body shops couldn't handle the wood work. With a wood framed body, it would be hard to tie off the body to make a pull without causing more damage to the wood work. I would call it a total.

[Skeezixx]

A "Brookville" roadster body costs $6800.

[Purdy Swoft]

Skeezixx makes a good point. By the time that you figure the cost of the other parts needed to fit out a new roadster body plus paint and labor it will probably add as much or more than a new roadster body would cost. Then shipping charges for a new body would add quite a bit to the overall cost. There is no cheap or easy way to go, even if you can do it all yourself.