What's it worth '29 Cabriolet (again)

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PhoenixFear

Senior Member
I asked a while back how much my dad's Model A Cabriolet was worth, back when the site was under it's "older" construction I guess. I tried looking up the thread but read that it might not be available right now. Oh well, wouldn't hurt to ask you guys again.
From what I gather that you guys have said: the paint on the rims is not the correct color, the cowl lights are missing (however I have Model T lights to go with it), the cowl band has been painted over but is still there and in good shape, the top has been redone and the upholstery has been redone, as well as the engine is not correct color. Also there are two tail lights on the car, one is not working.
Anyway, I'll post pictures and see what you guys think. I was told that the top being able to be put down is a major selling point basically, so I'd like to know how or what to look for before I take the top down.
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Basically my mom wants to sell the car because she needs the money, I could use the space a little bit, and I have no idea when I'd get to the car as I am more interested in the '33 Ford pickup. I ordered a new condenser, points, battery plate, coil bracket, carb rebuild kit, choke shaft and nut as well as a few extra sets of carb gasket kits. I hope the instructions for rebuilding the carb are decent enough for me to rebuild it.
NADA lists a Roadster with rumble seat in low condition for about $17000. Not sure how accurate that is compared to this car, but basically the vehicle does start and is getting fuel, but no spark. Everything else should work. The underbody looks fine, wood looks fine, a couple of nickle-sized bubbles are coming up from the rumble panel, that's it. Rumor has it that my dad restored this car 30 years ago, stuck it in the garage and left it there. Makes sense as the upholstery and top look almost new.
 
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they say the true market value is what you can get for it...let's just start the bidding and see...I open bidding at $7,500
 
Flip the landau irons around before putting the top down.

Before you put the top down, you should flip the landau irons over. They are mounted upside down. The hinge knob should be on the top side of the landau iron (not the bottom side) like on this one:

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Your Cabriolet looks like a nice car with lots of easy potential...

Fordially,
Brad in Germany
 
The car is located in California. Seems like I am getting varying prices here. To be honest, I don't need to sell the car right away. It's been sitting in a garage for over 30 years, I'm sure another 30 couldn't hurt, but my mom could use the money at some point.
I'm wondering how much more work I'd need to do to get the thing to drive once I get it to run. I was debating taking it to the El Cajon car show on Wednesdays to see if people might be interested, I believe the car might sell better if people were shown that it can be driven.
 
If you want to "sell the car" 7,000 -10,000. The 30 year old restoration is not really correct to standard, if someone wanted to make it a fine point the car has to be redone at a cost of lots of $$$$. Even to make it a driver a goodly amount of money will need to be invested, on the plus side it is complete for the most part and 68 A Cabriolets are hard to find, wish my 68 A looked as good!
 
I think it just depends on who wants to buy it too, the local hot rodder won't want to pay more than $5000 for it because he's just gonna chop it anyway. The concours guy will need to spend upwards of $30-40000 to restore this car to factory original. I'll try to get it running, take a look at what it could need to get driving and see from there. I don't want to dump a bunch of money in this car to get very little more return.
 
I would leave the car as is and get it in good mecanical drivin condition....with some up grades....in fact I liked it better before you washed it...
 
Cabriolets have more value then roadsters, all else even. There are a lot of Model A Club members in California, and I am sure there are local knowledgeable members who can help you put a price on it, as well as give you assistance in getting it running.
You might even consider buying it from your Mom and enjoy it yourself.
I will be in San Francisco in two weeks and if you are nearby I would be pleased to look at it and give you some ideas.
 
Bruce Adams said:
Cabriolets have more value then roadsters, all else even. There are a lot of Model A Club members in California, and I am sure there are local knowledgeable members who can help you put a price on it, as well as give you assistance in getting it running.
You might even consider buying it from your Mom and enjoy it yourself.
I will be in San Francisco in two weeks and if you are nearby I would be pleased to look at it and give you some ideas.
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I'm down in San Diego. It is a neat car, but not something I can realistically get to because I have other projects as well. My dad also has a '33 Ford pickup with a '53 Mercury flathead in it that I feel that I am more interested in.
Like I said, I ordered a bunch of parts from Snyder's Antique Auto and have received them yesterday. I'm hoping the carburetor won't be a big deal to rebuild, it looks simple enough. The condenser and points are a worry for me as well. Everything else should be fine, it was getting fuel and the plugs look fine, they just need to spark.
 
Nice car as it is, whatever the value is now, spending $1,000.+ will not make it worth the $1,000.+ along with the time you spend.
 
Roadster62 said:
Nice car as it is, whatever the value is now, spending $1,000.+ will not make it worth the $1,000.+ along with the time you spend.
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That's what I was figuring as well. I don't have nearly that much money into it, but I do have a bit of time into it. Fine by me though.
 
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