In fairnness to a widow.

[oilnsteel]

A friend of mine passed recently, and in his estate is a 1957 Golden Hawk parts car. I could use said car to save an engineless GH project. To be completely fair to my friend's widow, an estimate
of value from the neutral and unbiased people on this forum would be very much appreciated.

The facts:

Rusty midwestern car, frame, floor pan, cowl posts completely shot.

Car is complete. Chrome pitted. Engine stuck, supercharger seized. AT fluid smells and looks OK. Last licensed 1979, stored dry inside since. I remember it being yard driven about 20 years ago. Interior fair. Glass is good. PS and PB, R and H.

Thanks all, JT

[StudeRich]

I guess depending on where and who you ask, this could vary a bit.
With Scrap going for unheard of Low prices and few parts usable as is, only Core value, Body and Frame gone, I think $500.00 to $750.00 could almost be too much for a rusted out Parts Car, Golden Hawk or not.

The only real Value sounds like it would be the Supercharger, it's mountings & minor parts, the Dash and the Stainless Halo on the roof.

[X-she]

Maybe some pictures can help...

[Rafe Hollister]

Yes, always pot pictures.
Rafe

[Mark L]

Also, if you can get the serial number and pass it to Frank Ambrogio for his Golden Hawk registry, I'm sure he would appreciate it.

[56sghor]

No Mark, I track the 56J Only. But thanks for spelling my last name correctly. (with a G, not an S)

[Mark L]

I actually misspelled it with an L near the end, but thankfully the edit function is still up and I corrected it.

[brngarage]

If the GH has a supercharger (factory installed) it has to be a 1957 or 1958. Frank Ambrogio keeps a register of 1956 Golden Hawks only (I think).

[56sghor]

The last Old Cars Price Guide I bought was in April 2011. It shows a 1957 GH parts car as $1920. Described as:
May or may not be running, but is weathered, wrecked and/or stripped to the point of being useful primarily for parts.
This is an incomplete or greatly deteriorated, perhaps rusty vehicle that has value only as a parts donor for other restoration projects.

I don't know how much prices have changed since 2011, but I doubt they've gone up, and that value isn't cut in stone. StudeRich could be right on the mark. Based on oilnsteel's description of the car, and the one from OCWPG, maybe a fair price can be reached.

[swvalcon]

You can't believe how many times I have had a car for sale and let people know about it and what I'm asking. After I sell it some clown always says Well I would have given you that for it. So why the hell didn't he?

[PackardV8]

From experience, it doesn't matter what you pay. After the sale, some friend or relative or multiples thereof will second-guess the amount; they'll tell her she was robbed and that was a rare and valuable classic worth tens of thousands of dollars.

jack vines

[Dwight FitzSimons]

When I sell something and am asked how much I sold it for I never reveal the amount. The reason is just what you stated.

[Mark L]

Currently at collectorcarmarket.com a running #4 Fair is $12,950. #5 Poor has no stated value, but is 40%-50% of the #4 value. A parts car is 50%-60% of the #5 value.

Based on this, the lower end would be $2,590 (50% of (40% of $12,950) ).

https://www.collectorcarmarket.com/

[StudeRich]

That probably works well on a GM, Ford or Chrysler Product, but not so much on a Rustbaker !

[Rafe Hollister]

I bought a very nice 56 Champion with 35,000 miles for twice that, and a 56 PowerHawk daily driver for a little bit more. So that seems a bit hight to me. Still, If you have the money and want to do her a favor...
Rafe

[oilnsteel]

Jack, what you said is precisely what I'm afeared of.

[Dwight FitzSimons]

Studebaker parts cars, even Golden Hawks and R2 Hawks, seem to sell for much less than the value of the sum of their parts, so my guess is between $1000 and $2000. $2000, or near-abouts, should prevent any repercussions, at least any reasonable ones.

--Dwight (have a '63 R2 4-spd Hawk parts car I bought for $1500)

[ddub]

To get a real world estimate you could put it on ebay with a reserve well above what you would be willing to pay. If it sells, the widow gets a good price. If it doesn't sell, you get a good estimate of the value in today's market.

[mbstude]

As an unbiased third party who has no interest in it...

It's an old junk car. Some (not many) of the parts have value, but one has to factor in the labor to extract those parts, the time and effort to sell and ship them, and then you still have to deal with the rest of the junk car afterwards.

Realistically, the car is worth scrap value, less what it costs to hire a wrecker to haul it to the scrap yard.

Anything above scrap value is more than fair to your friend's widow, IMO.

From experience, it doesn't matter what you pay. After the sale, some friend or relative or multiples thereof will second-guess the amount; they'll tell her she was robbed and that was a rare and valuable classic worth tens of thousands of dollars.

jack vines

I've had that happen a few times. The best response I've come up with when being accused of such things is, "If it's worth so much money, why didn't you offer to buy it and sell it for that? Sounds like an easy investment." Shuts them up every time.

[Andy R.]

Yep. They never consider the additional $$ and hours of work required to revive, refinish, and return it to roadworthy,

[Buzzard]

I witnessed this similar situation just yesterday. I was advised as to a collector who had lost his storage on three Studebakers. I had high hopes as I had seen these cars about 8 years ago. Evidentially lots can happen in 8 years.
1) 1956 Golden Hawk-Beyond salvage now.
2) 1964 Wagonaire-Sliding roof- Standard Trans W/ OD no use to me.
3) 1960 Lark V8 Hardtop-totally destroyed except running gear.
I passed on everything as all I was looking for was a V8 Auto anything that I could remove the existing and install my 308 CID Jack V for break in purposes only. So it would only need to be run for half an hour deeming a solid exhaust system and automatic trans as well as a good cooling system.
I guess I'll be building a break -in frame as I have a radiator with electric fans.
I forgot to mention, the owner still thinks these rarities are worth a lot of money.
Bill

[jetboat]

I was just told that someone sold the title and vin tag from a 57 GH for 1500. Dollars.

[mbstude]

I was just told that someone sold the title and vin tag from a 57 GH for 1500. Dollars.

I have a junk '57 Golden Hawk with a title. It doesn't have any more good parts to give, and if someone wants to drag away the carcass, it'd be a lot less than $1500.