Parts vs Whole

[71vert340]

 Several years ago, I remember a guy posting over on another site where he was disappointed he couldn't sell his ebody for what he thought it was worth. He parted the car out instead and figured he'd make more completely selling off the parts - quarter panels, frame rails, floor pans, etc. I never did see any follow up on how he came out on the money. I was just wondering if a rare no rust ebody (ie: 71 Cuda convertible) is completely disassembled and totally parted if it would be worth more for it's parts than it would be as a complete car. Everyone would rather use original parts than repro parts. Even all the screws, brackets, electrical, glass, gauges, etc. and clips could be sold. Thoughts? I know some here would think it's a terrible thing to do to a rare complete car but just consider the price of buying parts for a total restoration. Interesting
Terry

[Katfish]

Without a doubt, these cars are worth way more in parts than put together.
Most people don't want to deal with aggravations of shipping.

I paid $3500 for my piece of crap car.  I now have over $30k into it, people wouldn't dream of giving me $20k for it.
The little piece parts add up quickly when putting a car together, but no 1 pays for that when the car is "whole'.

[71vert340]

Yes, shipping can be a hassle but if you decided to deliver the sold large parts to the buyers at a few major shows, it might work.
Terry

[RUNCHARGER]

It has been that way however these days the "finish paint" stage is really costly. A person would be a fool not to put a value on the final body work and paint on a restored car. A rougher car no problem.
I guess it's really a question of do you love the cars or do you love money more. I have never parted a restoreable car, even a "lesser" model.

[cuda hunter]

I think it's a wash. 
If the car looks good and is all together and runs you can sell it for more than all the little parts.
The labor time of removing, bagging and tagging, marketing, dealing with tire kickers and finally shipping those parts is very costly and time consuming.  Plus this takes a lot of space to store these parts.

  Pretty much any convertible seems to sell in the 25K plus range.  Even when they look horrible.  I can't think of enough parts to add up to 25K.  Maybe close on a beater but can't be much more than that.  Speaking of a vert only with the vert parts.

Hardtop cars I would say definitely not.   

A professional restorer buys parts for pretty high prices I would think due to being restored.  Or puts money into the parts restoring them.  25K worth of restored parts, perhaps.   But not original in need of work. 

My opinion of course.

[aussiemark]

If you sell every single part then I think it will be worth a lot more in parts and if they are sold locally the buyer can remove the parts.

[anlauto]

You're not going to cut up a "rust free 1971 Cuda convertible" and come out ahead parting it out....NEVER.

[js27]

I agree with Alan on a 71 Cuda Conv. not so sure with less sought after cars. I think it would be damn near impossible to sell every part. I have been selling of my collection for a year now and only managed to sell 1/2 so far. I offered it all up as one lot in the beginning and no serious taker.. I sold off 1/2 and now just this week offered all the remaining parts as one lot at 1/2 price. Retail $12,000.00 on sale for $6,000.00. No takers yet and I do not expect any unless a parts dealer want to buy and sell them. I fell my prices must be fair as I did sell off 1/2. I can tell you it is a pain in the butt selling lots of parts. Advertising--Boxing them up-getting a shipping quote-getting paid-getting them shipped off. Lots of work and running around. I would never go through this again. So for anyone wanting to parts off a complete car--Good Luck and Have Fun.
JS27

[HP2]

I agree with Alan on a 71 Cuda Conv. not so sure with less sought after cars. I think it would be damn near impossible to sell every part. I have been selling of my collection for a year now and only managed to sell 1/2 so far. I offered it all up as one lot in the beginning and no serious taker.. I sold off 1/2 and now just this week offered all the remaining parts as one lot at 1/2 price. Retail $12,000.00 on sale for $6,000.00. No takers yet and I do not expect any unless a parts dealer want to buy and sell them. I fell my prices must be fair as I did sell off 1/2. I can tell you it is a pain in the butt selling lots of parts. Advertising--Boxing them up-getting a shipping quote-getting paid-getting them shipped off. Lots of work and running around. I would never go through this again. So for anyone wanting to parts off a complete car--Good Luck and Have Fun.
JS27

RE the bolded part, this is exactly why I got out of the parts business. As a business model, all this time erodes profit. If you are just doing simple math of asking price as a whole vs total payments received for selling parts, it may be a wash. Add in all the time it too get there, and parting it out suddenly looses big time.

[Crocha617]

You're not going to cut up a "rust free 1971 Cuda convertible" and come out ahead parting it out....NEVER.

I agree with Alan it'll never happen. The value is in the rarity of that particular car. I think a 71 Cuda Convertible is a bad example. I'm thinking a 340 4 speed hardtop challenger with Ralley Gauges and some other rare options might get you closer and be a better example.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

PARTING THINGS OUT IS A CRAP TON OF WORK ! Trust me I've been doing it for 35 years. I dont care if it's a classic or late model. I remember when I bought Gary W's HEMI parts... Make money ... YES... but it took 3 years and constant ebag and craiglist bullshit.

When it comes to cars you never sell everything... NEVER.  An shipping in today's world... yeeowwzza! Example - my 69 RR has new (ish) Q's on it. I've had chances to sell them a few times BUT factoring in freight (need to build a crate) really need a commercial (not residential) delivery addy. $$$ ka ching!!     The list goes on an on........... 

[js27]

You are right about shipping parts. I have spent well over $2500.00 in shipping so far in the last year.. It is outrageous what they charge these days. I get a kick out of buyers when they say if you throw it free shipping I'll buy it. HAHA never going happen unless I already included it in the price. I think of how all the shipping prices almost doubled when we had the gas hike a few years ago. It went from $1.75 a gallon to $4.50 a gallon and the shipping prices soared to compensate for the fuel cost. Now gas is back down to $1.90 a gallon and the ship[ping cost remain the same ..what's up with that ??
JS27

[340challconvert]

Back in the 70's and early 80's I ran a Mopar car parts business (XTINCT Mopar Parts)
I used to buy up cars and either fix or get them running to sell
or (hate to say this) I broke them up for parts to sell.

When you could pick them up for 3-500 dollars, you sold what you could and junked what was left.  Today, every part is valuable and potentially could be sold.

Way too much work to part out and try to sell all the parts/pieces today, when even a rotted out chassis sells for higher dollars.

Cars in very poor or abandoned condition; may be if you wanted to invest the time
Cars that have some pedigree; better to improve on it or restore rather than break it up. Worth more money that way
Different world today.
JMO and 

[torredcuda]

The time you have taking it all apart plus the hassle of selling it all and then the  time, cost and hassle of shipping even small parts never mind the larger stuff would make it not worth it even if you made a fair amount more money IMO.

[70 Challenger Lover]

Shipping is the biggest deterrent here. I sell far less on eBay than I did a few years ago. Damned shipping companies were making far more than I was half the time.

For your idea to work, you'd have to take the stuff to Spring Fling in so cal or a similar venue. I've made great money there. You would need to pick your venues carefully. In so cal, people spend freely at the Spring Fling but only penny pinching cheapskates attend the Fall Fling.

But as stated, more than half the car won't sell. As long as you didn't cut it, you could always sell the remaining shell off with whatever stuff didn't sell still attached. It would need a vin and title though to be appealing as a shell.

I think a different approach if you had a really nice driver would be to strip off good stuff and sell it, then replace missing items with lesser quality driver stuff so you could still sell a running driving car. Keep the Dana and put in a tired 8 3/4. Keep the $1200 perfect tail light assemblies and put in $100 lights to fill the hole. That sort of thing.