Hi,

I've been interested in buying a '57 Tbird for awhile now and I'm trying to get a good estimate of what other cars have gone for before I actually bid on one. I found this interesting website online called collectorcarnet dot com which sells a database of actual classic car sale prices and I'm considering buying it to help me with my purchase. It looks like a pretty reliable website, but I was hoping to get some feedback first. Has anyone used this website and bought their database before? What did you think?

Thanks,
Brooke

Don't create two threads for the same topic.

I dont think this is spam.

why 2 threads the same? 1 is enough.

^^^ Same as the above^^^

why 2 threads the same? 1 is enough.

I think it's because he's a new member and the first post was in the General section so he realised his mistake and put it in the Marketplace section now knowing that the mods could move it.

Welcome.

To really determine the value of a classic car you need to look at what is being offered for sale. There are many class t-bird clubs, one of the larger is classic thunderbird international see here:

http://www.ctci.org/

Then on the left side, click on cars/parts to see a listing of available cars and their prices. You may want to join and pose a question there providing specific details but refrain from id'ing a specifc car should one of the members in fact own the car you are looking at.

Best of luck!

I merged the two threads, please only make a single thread in the future.

Hi,
Sorry for the multiple threads. I'm new to the forum and figured that posting more than once meant that more people would see it and be able to respond.

LSixer, I definitely agree that the price I will be paying is largely affected by what people are offering to sell them for. What I've heard from other people and through my own reading though is that it is important to gauge how the market for a particular model has been doing in the past. The prices that a car has been sold for previously, if prices are going up or down, etc. I don't have to buy my car tomorrow, but would like to do so if prices are lower right now than they have been in the past. If they're higher, I'm willing to wait a bit before I buy. I don't feel like I'd be getting the whole picture just looking at listings for cars available right now. That was why I was looking into the database at collectorcarnet.com. Thoughts?

Hi,
Sorry for the multiple threads. I'm new to the forum and figured that posting more than once meant that more people would see it and be able to respond.

LSixer, I definitely agree that the price I will be paying is largely affected by what people are offering to sell them for. What I've heard from other people and through my own reading though is that it is important to gauge how the market for a particular model has been doing in the past. The prices that a car has been sold for previously, if prices are going up or down, etc. I don't have to buy my car tomorrow, but would like to do so if prices are lower right now than they have been in the past. If they're higher, I'm willing to wait a bit before I buy. I don't feel like I'd be getting the whole picture just looking at listings for cars available right now. That was why I was looking into the database at collectorcarnet.com. Thoughts?

Well, I know several car nuts close to me that own the 55's to 57's and they have regular shows in and around Chicago. The link I sent to you was my idea of determining what you can expect to pay and what condition that price brings. The guys I know research thoroughly those and use them as a benchmark for their cars. The same goes for other classics. That said, you are stuck paying for a car that a collector probably holds very dear and has a high intrinsic value to them. Thus, bargains are rare.

An alternative is to look at large cities online newspapers. There you may find local bargains that do not reflect a market price.

Example: Search through Atlantas online newspapers classifieds in the car section. They change frequently of course and you'll need to be vigilant. That was how a few of my bimmer buddies stumbled upon some nice examples of e24's.

Keep us updated on your endeavors.

I built a chassis for a hot rod 56 thunderchicken years ago........that was a difficult one. There is so little underhood space, I had to lift the body off the frame 2 inches, then relocate the suspension so it did not look like a 4x4/off road vehicle...........When I was done a 514 inch big block went in it, with no hood modifications

My grandad has restored probably damn near 50 Thunderbirds. He mainly sticks with 56 and 57 as those are honestly the best looking of all the thunderchickens out there.

There is a local place in Oregon that specialises in 55-57 Thunderbirds, and they offer lots of advice and parts if you are resoring one. They also are a good place to sell your Bird there if you want.

http://www.birdbrains.net/door/

You might want to check that out and see if you can glean any info off of them. They know more about Thunderbirds than...well pretty much everyone.

My grandad has restored probably damn near 50 Thunderbirds. He mainly sticks with 56 and 57 as those are honestly the best looking of all the thunderchickens out there.

There is a local place in Oregon that specialises in 55-57 Thunderbirds, and they offer lots of advice and parts if you are resoring one. They also are a good place to sell your Bird there if you want.

http://www.birdbrains.net/door/

You might want to check that out and see if you can glean any info off of them. They know more about Thunderbirds than...well pretty much everyone.

Yer grandfather is a god.

And we know of course that Lee is the rebuilder God as well. Hell, we could poke out one eye, chop some fingers off and he'd still have a car rebuilt in no time. :rolleyes:

Well I will say that my grandad has probably had more time to just rebuild cars than even Lee is old...so he does have the time advantage on him there. He is getting a TAD bit slower in his older age, but he still knows more about older cars than I ever even dare to dream I'll know when I'm his age.