Not bad, not bad...for 55K

The Dennis Carpenter '34 has been sold at least three times in just over a year. Also sold for $59K in auction April 2025, sold again at auction in November 2025 and was also listed on several other sites besides being up for auction.
 
34fordy said:
With respect! I bought a car recently and paid way too much more than it's value even today, let alone in the future. It is not even roadworthy yet. It will never rival the roadster in condition or value. I just decided I was not going to wait any longer. I can't tell you how excited this 81 year old is everytime I go out to the shop and work on it. I have yet to buy an old Ford as an investment. I have never made a profit on any hobby car and I really doubt that most of us have. Someone bought the roadster in question that might be a Fordbarn member, might be his first purchase and is really excited. Now that the car is being "crucified" he or she may not want to share his joy with us. I would venture that the car will be transformed into just what the owner wants, and it might already be just that.
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If you have a BAT login, you can click on the buyers screen name and see all of the auctions they have bid on and the auctions they have won. This person seems to dabble in a wide variety of automobiles.
 
Randy in ca said:
The Dennis Carpenter '34 has been sold at least three times in just over a year. Also sold for $59K in auction April 2025, sold again at auction in November 2025 and was also listed on several other sites besides being up for auction.
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It'll be back up for sale in the near future. Click on the buyers screen name and you can see everything they have bid on and have won in the past.
 
34fordy said:
With respect! I bought a car recently and paid way too much more than it's value even today, let alone in the future. It is not even roadworthy yet. It will never rival the roadster in condition or value. I just decided I was not going to wait any longer. I can't tell you how excited this 81 year old is everytime I go out to the shop and work on it. I have yet to buy an old Ford as an investment. I have never made a profit on any hobby car and I really doubt that most of us have. Someone bought the roadster in question that might be a Fordbarn member, might be his first purchase and is really excited. Now that the car is being "crucified" he or she may not want to share his joy with us. I would venture that the car will be transformed into just what the owner wants, and it might already be just that.
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Good take and thanks for your input.....got me thinking!!!! My $ .02 worth certainly could be presented in a way different manor for sure.
 
Seth Swoboda said:
Could you put the car together for that price now? No way, not close.

Has the market changed for these cars, yes. One thing that scares me is if you buy a car like this now and you enjoy it for 10-15 years and decide to sell it for whatever reason, how much does the car bring down the road? Are you taking a bath on it to the tune of $10,000? In 20 years does the market turn around and suddenly folks are interested in these cars again and the market appreciates? If the market continues to slide do these cars depreciate like a new car? No one knows and that is a risk we will all have to either take or pass up.
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I don't get why we spend so much time talking about value. It's a hobby, either enjoy it at any cost, or be like the auction guys that buy high and sell low and enjoy your brief notoriety. We should be grateful these cars to tend to hold the value, or not swing widely like some makes. Look at the 57 chevy and Tbird guys from a couple of decades ago. They took a bath just like the 69 Camaro and 67 mustang guys are now.

Why sweat a $10k loss in 10 years? Did you get that much value out of the car in enjoyment during that time? Probably. Some things are worth the risk of depreciation, otherwise we wouldn't buy modern cars, furniture and other things.

The Model T's and A's look good! They don't track inflation increases, but the values have generally remained the same for several decades now.
 
Hitman said:
I don't get why we spend so much time talking about value. It's a hobby, either enjoy it at any cost, or be like the auction guys that buy high and sell low and enjoy your brief notoriety. We should be grateful these cars to tend to hold the value, or not swing widely like some makes. Look at the 57 chevy and Tbird guys from a couple of decades ago. They took a bath just like the 69 Camaro and 67 mustang guys are now.

Why sweat a $10k loss in 10 years? Did you get that much value out of the car in enjoyment during that time? Probably. Some things are worth the risk of depreciation, otherwise we wouldn't buy modern cars, furniture and other things.

The Model T's and A's look good! They don't track inflation increases, but the values have generally remained the same for several decades now.
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This indeed is a hobby. I wonder if forums for people who like sport fishing, RV camping, elk hunting, golf etc worry that the thousands of dollars spent on the membership, equipment, moorage, storage, insurance, repairs, fees, transport just vaporize over time. At least in the 'end' we have something tangible and beautiful to leave behind. Another thing I like about the car hobby is the vast majority of us can tinker with our projects at our own home, which is where I love to be.
 
GB SISSON said:
This indeed is a hobby. I wonder if forums for people who like sport fishing, RV camping, elk hunting, golf etc worry that the thousands of dollars spent on the membership, equipment, moorage, storage, insurance, repairs, fees, transport just vaporize over time. At least in the 'end' we have something tangible and beautiful to leave behind. Another thing I like about the car hobby is the vast majority of us can tinker with our projects at our own home, which is where I love to be.
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Kind of like all the money spent by sport fisherman. Fancy boats, fish finders, and all types of lures/bait. Probably works out to over $100.00 per pound for the fish caught. Even more if they get skunked.
 
51504bat said:
Kind of like all the money spent by sport fisherman. Fancy boats, fish finders, and all types of lures/bait. Probably works out to over $100.00 per pound for the fish caught. Even more if they get skunked.
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that may be low-balling it. :) i live on my sailboat and by necessity monitor new boats in the marina on a regular basis, and how often they are taken out.

last year a man showed up in what had to be a new half million dollar 42' SeaRay. he was out everyday at the dock for about a month fussing with the boat. then took the boat out one morning and came back about noon. because the boat was waxed and polished so well and came back with a bit of salt and seaweed here an there on it here and there, i guess he felt compelled to clean it up as it was before the outing. it took him about six hours to wash the hull and clean it up all "Shipshape and Bristol Fashion". i didn't see him for a month after that, but he did take the boat out twice more and spent a similar amount of time, each time, to clean it up as it was before the outings. a month later it was up for sale.

i can only assume that the work and misery required to keep the boat as nice as he wanted to keep it, wasn't exceeded by the pleasure derived from its use. not uncommon, i think.

...he didn't realize that one must be wealthy enough to not only make the payments, or buy outright, a boat like that, but they must be wealthy enough to hire people to clean it up after each outing too.
 
hueyhoolihan said:
that may be low-balling it. :) i live on my sailboat and by necessity monitor new boats in the marina on a regular basis, and how often they are taken out.

last year a man showed up in what had to be a new half million dollar 42' SeaRay. he was out everyday at the dock for about a month fussing with the boat. then took the boat out one morning and came back about noon. because the boat was waxed and polished so well and came back with a bit of salt and seaweed here an there on it here and there, i guess he felt compelled to clean it up as it was before the outing. it took him about six hours to wash the hull and clean it up all "Shipshape and Bristol Fashion". i didn't see him for a month after that, but he did take the boat out twice more and spent a similar amount of time, each time, to clean it up as it was before the outings. a month later it was up for sale.

i can only assume that the work and misery required to keep the boat as nice as he wanted to keep it, wasn't exceeded by the pleasure derived from its use. not uncommon, i think.

...he didn't realize that one must be wealthy enough to not only make the payments, or buy outright, a boat like that, but they must be wealthy enough to hire people to clean it up after each outing too.
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A boat is a hole in the water into which you throw money...:p
 
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