Price/Value Guide

HOW MUCH ARE THESE BEAUTIES WORTH?

The one thing every owner of an old car wants to know is how much their car is worth. We take numerous phone calls every day, along with many letters and seemingly endless e-mails from owners asking our opinion about the value of their old car. We’re proud that so many enthusiasts look to National Parts Locator Service to find out the value of their collector car-but the truth be told, it’s basically impossible for us to provide an honest assessment without inspecting the automobile, truck or motorcycle ourselves.

We can send you an honest book appraisal for your vehicle.

Ask any appraiser and they will tell you that a thorough, up close inspection is a must in order to ascertain a car’s true condition. Only by seeing all the car’s flaws in person, as well as seeing what’s right and what’s wrong, can the appraiser accurately provide a value. Looking at photos or taking a description over the phone just doesn’t work.

Car appraisal is not an exact science, and that’s simply because each and every car is completely unique. Cars are like humans; no two are exactly alike, and each has its own DNA. Sure, they may be the same model and color, and have an identical interior and engine/transmission combination, but there are so many more important and unique features that set identical looking cars apart from each other. When combined, all of these factors can greatly affect a car’s value.

Apart from an automobile’s immediately apparent qualities, such as the year of its production, make and model, and its physical characteristics, like which engine and transmission it has and any desirable options such as air conditioning, stereo and power assist variations, its condition inside and out is what really makes one particular car worth far more-or less-than a similarly equipped model that looks a lot like it.

Cars that have their original body panels and floor and trunk pans-the exact same panels that were installed at the factory when they were first assembled-are worth considerably more than cars that have had many of their body panels replaced; this is especially true with cars that have had reproduction panels fitted. However, if those original panels are rusted and damaged, the car’s value will go down. If those rusted metal sections have not been repaired correctly, with the same type of welds that they were originally assembled with, then that, too, will lower its value.