Hey all,

My grandfather was a big collector of classic cars. In one of his transactions, he acquired about 2500 sqft of classic car parts. It’s all new old stock ranging from model A era parts to about 1965. Trim pieces, door handles, carbs, springs, wires, light assembeies, you name it.

He passed away this past week and our family is trying to figure out how to sell this stuff. It obviously has value to the right person, but we don’t know how to go about selling it.

Anyone been in a similar situation or can offer advice on what to do with it and how to price it?

I would pick up a Hemmings Motor News and see if any of the vendors would be interested in buying the lot. You can also see what the parts are going for in the listings.

If the stuff is labeled with part numbers you could sell it yourself to net the most money. Genuine items are likely to have some valuable stuff there but a lot that isn’t.
Otherwise take some good photos of the lot and sell it to someone that can do that themselves. You will net way less but if you value your time.....

If it is Ford related Green Sales is likely the biggest folks in the new old stock game.
I am not sure how they acquire their parts but they may be interested.

I have only purchased from them and they have been nothing but top notch.
Don’t let their website fool you.

www.aaca.org for another source of people who need parts. Forums there, lots of knowledge.

Tagged for future reference since I'm in a similar situation.

My father in law was the second generation owner/operator of a small garage/transmission shop. He has been hoarding parts for years in the garage and two adjacent buildings he owns. Failing health and declining business caused him to shut down operations January 1 of this year. Family has been after him to liquidate his inventory, but he refused.

He died yesterday, leaving my brother in law, my wife, and me to deal with his mess. My wife is executor of the will, so we will bear the brunt of it.

tk13,

For your transmission parts you may want to contact these guys:http://www.nwtparts.com/

Northwest Transmission Parts are in Winchester Ohio, east of Cincinnati. My contact there was John but the last time I ordered from them while being semi-retired he was there.

I've dealt with them for my cars and for others and they always seemed to have fair prices and they do know what they are talking about. You might want to start with them.

Best of luck, If I was closer I would help you figure out what you have and how to deal with it.

How much work are you willing to put forth in order to sell all of these parts? How large are the parts? Are a lot of them large items like fenders, doors, hoods, etc. Or are most of them small parts in bags? You have 3 options.

1. Get a space at a large antique car show and bring them all there, price them, and sell as many as you can. But you have to know what they're worth and spend your time working the show, boxing them all up at night, etc. and on and on.

2. Sell as many of them on EBAY, but this takes a lot of time to take pictures, deal with the listings, and ship them. Could also find someone who specializes in selling on ebay for a commission that also knows a bit about car parts.

3. The easiest would be to go to a large car show, walk up to the venders selling parts like you have and ask several of them if they're interested in coming over, taking a look and buying the lot. Granted you'll probably get 50% of what they're worth. BUT, it takes a long time to sell some of these specialty parts. (Or finding these people online) Could also approach local businesses near his that do the same type of automotive work.

In your situation I'd go with option #3. Boxing and shipping all of these parts would be a nightmare. If you don't know how to identify what most of the parts are for is another nightmare.

Your job will be much easier if you have an inventory list and the stuff is organized.
If it's a big open room with a bunch of parts piled around, it will be much harder.
Your available time, expertise and the value of the items will all determine the best approach.
Find a few of the parts with part numbers and google them to see what other sources are asking. That may give you some idea of what you have.

Another approach is to ask any of his friends that may have known about this stuff.

Also contact an auction company that specializes in automotive stuff Maybe look in Hemmings magazine).

tk13,

You might look at this event. Even though it says Chevy it encompasses everything.http://tca567.homestead.com/peotone.html I've attended, it is huge.

What Jimmy says is probably your best bet, talk to the big vendors and try to get them to buy it all.

barsadO, I'm sorry but not much help on that side of the country anymore, biggest events I know of are the swap meets at Pomona.

A fine tribute would be getting the parts into the hands of collectors who will appreciate them. Maximizing the $ return would also be nice.

If it's really that big- A formal appraisal and sale at the correct auto auction would be called for.

Over the years I've met people looking for help selling massive collections of this or that- Only to find out they weren't was described and not worth any effort.

Sorry to the O.P. for the threat drift away from you.

Thanks to those who offered advice on my situation.

I've restored a 59 Impala using NOS and aftermarket/reproduced parts. Some people are willing to pay top dollar for NOS.

In your case, unless you're willing to create an inventory, it's going to be hard to assess its value. You say there's valuable stuff, but there's also stuff of little retail value.

If you have no interest in selling it personally, then you'll be better off attracting a buyer as is.

Can you tell us whether it's GM, Ford, or Mopar?

quote:

Originally posted by barsad0:
Hey all,
... It’s all new old stock ranging from model A era parts to about 1965. ...

Specific auto manufacture or multiple?

maybe contact those guys at Antique Archeology,
The main guy Mike is into old Fords big time and
they are always looking for leads for picks.


http://www.antiquearchaeology.com/got_stuff.php

He Might buy bit of it and if you can get on his
show, I'd bet you get people calling you off the
wall to buy stuff.

If it's a lot of items it could be quiet a while to
sell it piece by piece especially if you have to work
at the same time.

Perhaps contact an auction house that deals in these things, see if they
will create an online auction and catalog the stuff
they do all the work and take a piece but it's better
than trying to do it yourself,

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

quote:

Originally posted by barsad0:
Hey all,
... It’s all new old stock ranging from model A era parts to about 1965. ...

Specific auto manufacture or multiple?

All different brands: I know for sure there are Chrysler, Ford, Plymouth, Lea-Francis, Dodge, and Studebaker.

It is all either boxed or the loose stuff is boxed by part and on warehouse racks. There is a box of 4 identical 2 barrel carbs for example, and another of about 75 identical door handles.

I want to clarify that I didn't mean valuable as far as how much it would sell for, but rather there are probably not many new 2 barrel carbs for a 1950 vehicle. Valuable to a restoration guy in rarity, not necessarily in value.

Thank you guys for the leads, I'll give them a call.

My friend was in a similar situation 2 yrs ago with multiple buildings of parts to deal with. How he went about selling his stuff was taking pictures focusing on part numbers and going to the internet to get a ballpark of what they were selling for.

Next he contacted the local car clubs to see if he could advertise on their website/newsletter with the promise of a 5% kickback without joining the club. He decided to have an open garage sale instead of advertising individual parts, and held them every weekend until pretty much it was all gone. Gave away stuff if the guy dropped some heavy money.

Now is a good time to do this since car guys have parked their cars and rebuilding them. Good luck. I should mention that if the internet price was 20.00 for a bracket his asking price was 10.00 or lower just to move it.