Widow to sell Willys ?

[zzebby]

My buddy died 3 yrs ago and left a stock 41 Willys SEDAN.  His wife has never really recovered from his passing and the Willys was a very sensitive subject so most friends have not even mentioned it.  They married as teenagers and a 41 Willys was their first car.  He was not a major hot rodder,  but as the years went by he found a 2 dr sedan and restored.  Him and his wife actually worked on it together and she did the upholstery.  He was a member of the national Willys club and got some press there when he challenged a well know gasser coupe to a drag race, It actually happened and the magazine printed photos.  The guy was a major character and everybody knew him.........larger than life.   I got to know him well not through hot rods,  but through family get togethers and pool parties,  his kids and mine.  After his passing my wife became close friends with her and we see her often and she has joined us for the occasional social outing and has travelled with my wife.   The Barrett Jackson auction is coming up here in 2 wks and today out of the blue she asks my wife if I would help her take it to the auction and sell it!  
Well, I'm  very down on this auction.........waaaayyy too expensive costs and commissions and way too much pressure  plus I think that she may regret it later.   My personal feeling is that she should advertise it in the Willys club and let one of them give it a good home.  He was well respected and I'm sure she would get fair value.  Should I advise her that way or shut my mouth and help her drive it across the auction block ?

It is a bone stock 41 sedan,  all steel and no repro parts to my knowledge.  Even the grill is an original cast item.

[Inprimer]

I'd have an appaiser give her a ball park figure that way at least she some idea of what it's worth

[Bib_Overalls]

I think you have an obligation to tell her B-J is not the right auction venue to sell her particular car.  Unless it is a vary rare and exceptional vehicle it will not roll across the stage during the prenium selling sessions.   You need at least two inerested buyers of means to have a robust auction.  And, for the most part, B-J buyers are not looking for Williys sedans.  I agree that she should get an apprasal and list it in the hobby publications first.  If that does not attract a buyer then she can try eBay.  IMHO B-J should be a last resort.

[Jokester]

How to find out of she's really ready to sell.  Have someone get in it and drive away while she stands on the porch and watches.  That's what it will look like when it goes.  She'll know right away if she's ready.

I have a friend in the same boat.  She decided to keep it and drive it.

.bjb

[zzebby]

How to find out of she's really ready to sell.  Have someone get in it and drive away while she stands on the porch and watches.  That's what it will look like when it goes.  She'll know right away if she's ready.

I have a friend in the same boat.  She decided to keep it and drive it.

.bjb

She has never driven it.  He always drove it and he trailered it if they were going out of the Phoenix valley.  It is 3 on the tree and prolly non synchro.  Has run since he died.  She wants me to change the gas this weekend and drive it.
Yes I will ask her to watch as I drive it away.....a maybe bring a friend to take it down the road.

[Uncle Bob]

I agree that BJ very likely isn't the right spot.  Plus, they can be uppity about the cars they "allow" in which might hurt her unecessarily if they don't think it's "worthy" of their show.  However, there are a couple other more modest auctions that tag along to take advantage of the huge crowds of car nuts that come into town, and I've heard that there will be some "parking lot" sales "events" for just the kind of deal you're describing.  BJ of course clamps down on that sort of thing, but they can only control their own parking lot, I'm talking off site.  Gotta believe some of your buddies in the area know where these "events" will be held, or even that they are advertised.  You just need to help her put a realistic market value on it so that she neither has unreasonably high expectations, nor gets cheated.  If she's ready there'll not be a better time to make it happen with all those people and all those briefcases full of money in town at one time............and in a buyin' mood.

[GPster]

I would have your wife do the talking to her. There may be a lot more involved in the decission than what it's worth and how much she can get for it. A womans idea of the worth and the bother, pain/memories have a lot more involved than a car guy might be able to appreciate. When I started riding motorcycles I bought a used Harley Super Glide. My wife started riding and I found a Sportster that she looked at and she decided that she liked it. She wanted it so she bought it. She rode it until I moved up to a Softail. She wanted us to keep the Super Glide so that it could be built to her specs and when it was rideable she lit go of the Sportster to a woman friend of hers that was in our HOG club with her riding husband. She was always aware of her old bike (her first Harley) and how the friend enjoyed it. She rode the Super Glide for years and then got the fever for a new Low Rider. She didn't trade the Super Glide in on the new bike but let the dealer sell it for her so that she had a right-of-refusal as to where it went because she didn't want to see it again. This was a bike that had been built to her specs and color with no bad memories. Unfortunately the Super Glide went out of town and then came back to haunt her/us by constantly being out-of repair or parked in front of a bar. She had the Low Rider for a year (10,000 miles) when she convinced me to buy a new Softail. That's the one that I was on when I wrecked and she was watching me from the review mirror of her Low Rider. The next year is another story but she kept sure that the Low Rider stayed running and kept on the repair of the new Softail. When we decided to sidecar it went on the bike that she had watched me wreck and her first new bike went up for sale. Again with the right-of refusal so it would vanish. We put 15,000 miles on the Softail (my wrecked/rebuilt bike) with the sidecar on it. The sale and conditions of sale were started/left to me because it had been my bike. Except for my bike the sale and condition of the other bikes was not solely based on price because I was not the owner. The owner of the Willys didn't ask your (or RRT's) opinion of what to do with the car, she only asked you to do it. She may have an entirely different set of values than you do. GPster

[donsrods]

I agree that BJ might not be the right venue to sell it, and as Uncle Bob said, they turn away lots of very nice cars and only take super interesting or high dollar ones on.

This could also be a losing proposition for you because if you recommend something that doesn't come up to her expectations you could be seen as the bad guy.  Look at the guy who listed the Ramcharger car on BJ then was PO'd because it only brought $ 300,000.00.  Ended up in court.

As for her reasons for selling it, maybe it is just time to let go of the past, or maybe she really needs the money and is too proud to say.  I would have a licensed appraiser give you a REALISTIC idea of what it is worth.  I bet it is way below what she thinks because nowadays every old car is worth a million dollars because people watch the BJ auctions.  In the real world we know that isn't true, but the uninitiated believe it is.

I would have a long heart to heart talk with her over coffee  and give her the facts of life and the possibility that it might not be worth what she feels.  Then let her make the decision.  I guess it wouldn't hurt to email some pix to BJ and ask if they would even want to list it.

Don

[dragrcr50]

actually you have to be regestered 6 months or more in advance, the field is set and ads, booklets flyers etc all printed and done... and the title has to be sent in that early also ...  so i dont see how she could do it now any way ............