Hey all, I'm new here. Good to meet you all, and I look forward to hanging out on this forum and taking in all the information. I have a question I wanted to ask you all about a purchase I'm thinking about making and the possibility of making a profit in flipping classic mustangs.

Starting with the purchase, I owned a 1968 cherry red convertible Mustang throughout my high school life. I loved that car, paid for it myself, and put a lot of work into it. After high school, it became uneconomical for me to keep it, and my parents offered to buy it from me in the hopes that I could one day buy it back. Well, now that time has come. The car is in superb condition. It's not in show condition, but probably only $2-3,000 away from it. My parents being pretty awesome, are offering to sell it back to me for $5,000. I had originally paid $10,000 and they bought it from me for the full $10,000. So, this deal is really sweet. The only knock the car has, is that it's not considered original. At one point (before I bought it) it was stolen. When it was recovered, they assigned a new Vin number to the car. It now has an Oklahoma vin number, starting with the letters Ok and then a series of numbers. Though the car is gorgeous and technically original, the vin is now not original. How much of a knock in value do you all think this really is? I'd like to invest to have the work done and then turn around and sell it for a profit. The car looks gorgeous and runs great, it's just not really showable because of this.

Second question, what do you all think of, or does anybody buy classic mustangs, fix them up and sell them? I was thinking of trying to buy other cars that need work, finding a trusted body man and mechanic, bringing them cars, and then turning around to sell them for a profit. Do you all think this is realistically possible? Do you think the cost involved to fix the cars up would out weigh the finished cost to sell? I know it would completely depend on each car, but wanted to see what your all's general thoughts were?

Thanks a ton for any responses

Kevin

 

Do your parents know you're planning on just selling the car after you get it back? Probably none of my business, but it was in the thread so what the heck...

If you're planning on paying a body shop/mechanic to do the work for you, I think you'll have a very hard time buying project cars and then "flipping" them for a profit. Even doing the work yourself it may be tough.

 

Hey thanks for the response! I actually plan on telling them what I plan to do before buying it back. I wouldn't do it, resale it, if the sale was contingent upon me keeping it.

So, do you think the price to fix them up using a mechanic and body man would far out way what you could sell them for once fully restored?

 

Your going to pay a boat load in labor. Money that you will not make back unless you do the labor yourself. You can prep a paint job and have someone else shoot it. If you want to make a profit your going to have to get your hands dirty.

Unless you pay your mechanic with beer or partner up with him, etc.

 

Thanks for your response, too! I have no problem getting my hands dirty, as I've done it many times in the past with the car I had. Thing is, I couldn't turn a car around like a shop can, hopefully in a couple weeks. I could do some things, but ultimately I'd like to partner up with a mechanic with the promise that I would bring him more cars. Hopefully I could get some kind of discount for bringing a consistent flow of business, if the mechanic/body man could work it for me that I could still make a profit in the sale of the finished car.

I hope to take this car in to the guy who did a lot of bodywork on it in the past and ask him what I'm looking at for a full restoration. There's really not much left to do on this car, but if I show him I'm serious about doing it, than maybe he'll cut me a deal on future cars.

What do you all think the price of a 1968 Convertible fully restored goes for if the numbers don't match?

 

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Ouch lol glad to see the guy was ok.

that thing slid forever haha

 

LOL, thanks, I choked, then my internet service took a dump before I could fix it, I thought I had to post as an embed,,,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z8XVV9buwU

one more....

Sorry, I had to do it....

 

Couple things...

1. Having professionals ie shops do the work for you will eat up all your potential profit. In addition to body work / paint which is very expensive there is interior, ie upholstery, glass installation, and engine work, all that costs.

2. I doubt you can turn a car around in a matter of weeks, you need to think in terms of months at least. If a body shop can turn a car around in a week I would wonder why? Is it because they have no other work to do, if so why is that, because they are not that good, etc. etc.

3. If you do the work yourself you will need to tool up. Good tools cost money, cheap tools won't due, because you will need to reuse them frequently and often, it's not like you are doing it once and that's it.

4. If you do the work yourself you will need to learn and get good at engine work, body/paint, glass installation, tires, alignment, etc...

5. Time. If you are doing this yourself are you still working at your regular job and doing this on the side, or do you plan on quitting your job and doing it full time. Your competition is doing this full time.

6. In northern California there is half a dozen Mustang shops that want to sell you a car, ie they have plenty of inventory and not enough demand / buyers.

Don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer and rain on your parade, if you are to do it, then you need to hunt down the rare cars, forget the dime a dozen coupes, go after fast backs, convertibles, Bosses, etc... also don't waste your time on the 6 cylinders.

Maybe subcontract on a contingency basis, if anyone will go for it, so tell the painter they will get paid when you sell the car, then the painter is working for you, he should help you sell the car because when it sells he gets paid. He may have a picture of it on his front counter at work, or on a wall, etc. You could negotiate 50% up front and the other half when it sells, yada yada yada.

 

If you want profit flip this http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/1983231925.html instead of a common mustang.