I recently went to a local auction.  It was a little unusual in the fact that there was several 1930’s era cars offered.  I ended up buying only one car, a 1937 Cord S/C Sportsman.  The car is about half restored.  You can follow the completion of restoration here on the website in the coming month’s.  I’ll post pictures and my thoughts as we go along.  Feel free to ask questions and post comments.

 

One of the cars there was a 1936 Auburn S/C Cabriolet.  It sold for more money than I could afford, but it is still a good project.  The new owner called me and asked me to restore it for him.  Every restores dream is to have the phone ring with such great cars.  This car is right up our alley.  We have restored many Auburns of this vintage.  Other shops that specialize in muscle cars have the same feeling when that special cars owner calls up and asks for help.  A sports car shop would certainly never turn down a D Type Jaguar.

 

I found myself talking the guy out of it.  It dawned on me after the conversation that kind of thing happens quite frequently.   I told him the good, bad, and the ugly.  He was a little disappointed with me view on things with his project, but he thanked me for my honesty, and we agreed to talk later.  The fact of the matter is, that in this current market, many restored cars can be bought for less than the cost of restoration.  Of course, one would be a fool to assume that all cars are the same.  They may have been manufactured in the same factory, in the same year, but that is where the uniformity ends.  We deal with a heterogeneous product.  It is very true, no two cars are the same.  Keep this in mind when comparing prices. 

 

Honesty has always served me very well.  Sure, I have lost some work, but we have always been booked for at least one year, and throughout most of our existence, we  have been booked for over three years.  The owner of the Auburn called me the next day with an excellent proposal for both of us.  Now we have an opportunity to have another happy customer. 

 

Moral to the story; look for a straight shooter.  You may not like what your hearing, but you will always know where you stand.