VALUE OF VANS

hey Dan....the saying always goes... there is an #ss for every seat...just gotta find a big enough #ss
to the right person your van...(or any other)
could be worth $10,000..the the guy next to him...maybe $50 bucks..it's all in the market and who wants it....if it's as nice i think...maybe you should try e-bay...and list it under classics...or collectable,antique maybe...it's all in the listing..and who finds it and wants it
-i had a similar problem when i sold my 69'
star spangled van...when i first painted it
i was asking 2000.00 ...had a BUNCH of people say..well how much if you paint it this color?....hello? it was just painted!
then someone trashed the paint job...and i put it in primer from the doors back
sold it the next day for 1250.00...300 less than i had into it...not counting time
it's the luck of the draw..or in this case the listing....try vann'n . com's forum pages too...there are alot of vanners over there with late models but if the oportunity grabs em ya know? http://www.vannin.com/cgi-bin/ubb/fo...=20&LastLogin=
..wish ya luck....take no prisoners...and don't sell out cheap
VAN~On

DAN, LF is right. I missed bidding $1200.00 on my van on Ebay by 3 minutes. It had no bids when the auction ended. The guy relisted it and I ended up getting into a bidding war with another guy at the end of the auctiion. I got it, but I ended up paying $3000.00 for a bone stock Sportvan. There weren't any out there for sale at the time of this auction, so I guess it was supply and demand. Then I had to have it shipped to me for another $600.00. Spent another $1000.00 getting it the way I want it and now the engine is tired. I probably could sell it today for $2500.00---maybe.
But considering what new cars cost and the loose you take on them, I guess I shouldn't complain. I am use to having classic cars and have never really lost money on them, but if I had kept them, each another 4 or 5 years, I could retire with that money. You just never know.
greg

dan this is tom from indy.take a break from the vans a couple of months and you should regroup your thoughts.the problem with the value of the vans are that people just can't pick up the phone and place an order for parts.lets face it parts for our earlies just don't exist.yea there's door handle"s etc. but all the major stuff is pretty hard to find.doors etc.if it wasn't for you hooking me up with parts i also would have been in a bind.also economic times are tough right now.i should know i work for ual.sh#$ not only may i lose my job but i got the whole media/society telling me that its not worth saving the company.how do you think i feel.lets face it,it's easy to get discouraged.anyway back to you.i seen your van its nice and you put your heart,time and money into her and you feel let down that no one out their wants to give you anything for her.you should be pissed.if it were a chevelle/camaro that baby would have sold in one day.actually people would probably fight over your ride to own her.vans unfortunately are not the vehicle of choice today rice rockets/muscle cars/street rods are but thats what makes us a unique group.we don't run with the me"2's".we are not main stream.but i guarantee this(which you already know)that when you pull in to a drive-in,gas station etc. people come up to our vans first.reason is their the coolest/the unusual.but whats sad is you go to a insurance agent and they don't even considered our rides as collectable.don't know really what to tell you other then i/we don't want to lose you as a fellow vanner.its like losing roger/taz/smiley/etc.you always help people out with questions,parts etc.as well as being good people.man i only met you twice once in branson and the next time at your house for parts and i'll tell ya when it comes to vans you know your stuff.hope you reconsider for losing even one of us early vanners indeed is a tragedy.keep the van man.we hate to lose ya.take care tom.

Hey Greg,
Didn't you buy the white one with the red interior a few months ago and it belonged to a bike shop or something?

Dan.I don't know if this will make you fell better about the price your getting for your truck but here goes... In 81 I bought a 65 no side door for 850.00 I thought it was a deal!I compleatly restored the truck.Rebuilt the engine,pianted it twice did a complete sewn pleat and yellow pine interior inside of it ect,ect,by mid 86 I was married with one little one.Wife wouldn't drive it because it still had the manual 3 on the tree in it .So I put it up for sale ....It took me a year but I found someone to give me 2500.00 for it ..if you do the math I lost my butt on this truck,butI had a great time doing the work on it,traveling in it,going to truckins, people giving me the thumbs up as they drove by. When I add all of that into the mix I feel as though I broke even on the truck.Now I have a 69 and i'm starting all over again.I guess I'm a sucker for punishment.I know full well that when I'm done with this van.That I deffinatly won't get as much for it as a Chevelle ,or a Camareo, or even a mopar of the same year. If I have half as much fun with this van as I did the 65 I'll be happy to break even agian .Good luck on your sale....Wookee

I sold my '65 in '74. Regretted it ever since. Your van is your vision and you built it to satisfy your needs,just 'cause there isn't somebody ready to buy a van right now who shares your vision doesn't reduce the value of your van. I also encourage you to keep it.

I think one word sums it up
Passion.
Just as a lover and builder of a 32 roadster
or a Nash Metropolitan.
If you get into it for the money you'd better not need your money back fast. It would be great to trick them out to sell threw this site.
I will consider another soon and mainly to save it from the jaws. I'm sure I will make it fit and sell it.
Hang in there man.
HD.

In the mid 80's, I put close to $30,000.00 into a 1975 K-5 Blazer. Real nice monster truck. Chrome everything, never off road, you know what I mean. Sold it to a jerk for $6,500.00 and watched him roll it that afternoon. It meant a lot to me, but it meant **** to him.