Need to establish value of an unusual '54 Champion sedan

[53k]

Recently a man in Baltimore, MD contacted me for help on establishing the value of a '54 Champion four-door. The car belonged to his deceased father in-law who loved the car and was working on it when he was struck by Alzheimer's. He simply walked away from the car about five years ago and never went back to it. In the photos you can see that he was prepping it for paint. He made some drive-ability modifications- installed an overhead valve six and apparently a power steering setup from a '56 (complete with the '56 wheel).
The son-in-law doesn't want to sell it, just establish a fair value so his brother-in-law can buy it fairly from the estate.
The Body Serial # under the hood is 15G W3 3804. It is a 4 door. The Serial # on the Title is G1298228.
Any ideas as to fair value? Thanks.

[jclary]

Since this is a six cylinder four door sedan, it wouldn't take much to be way upside down on the value of this car. With the cost of today's automotive paint and labor rates, a professional paint job would be bumping up against the resale value. Add interior, chrome and tires and you quickly begin to get the picture. I would try to find and compile recent histories of 53 to 55 sedan "driver" sales and look toward the low-end of those numbers. The car looks rock solid from what I see in your pictures.

[Bob Andrews]

You want a number? Based on what you showed, I'd say $1500-2000.

[JDP]

You want a number? Based on what you showed, I'd say $1500-2000.

Bam's is pretty close since it's a 4 door project, and you'll be upside down when done even at that figure.

[studegary]

The most value in the car was to the guy building it. Being a low value car when finished, in a mid-project state I would put the current market value at $500-$1000.

I was just recently contacted in a similar situation, but in that case the car is a '60 convertible, V8, in good condition. I put a value of $10K-$12K on that one.

[Bob Andrews]

Gary, I would say your price is what it would do on eBay. I went a little higher because it's going from one family member to another- another grand might keep the peace in the family, especially sine the BIL actually wants it.

Only catch would be if the BIL wants it to flip, thinking it's valuable. Hopefully he's just wanting to finish it and enjoy it, then it won't matter

[candbstudebakers]

being a 4 door, 6 cyl. and wrong engine at that $500.00 -$1000.00 is a good price to get it for if you really want it, keep it in the family always means buy it a little cheaper, finished in tip top shape what do you have ? not much

[Invalid User Name]

Before reading any of the other responses, I thought $1,000. There is no way anyone is going to make much money on this car short of parting it out. I hope the BIL wants it for sentimental reasons and will finish the restoration. Good luck getting the masking tape off after several years of exposure.

[Jeff_H]

I don't think that is a '56 steering wheel. Mostly likely '57 or '58. A '56 wheel would be the "same" as the original '54 wheel depending on trim level.