Having a full blown classic car inspection done, coupled with a certified car appraisal is where you should start if you’re serious about selling your muscle car or antique car in today’s on line market. Buyers typically expect that the one’s selling their own car will reveal the car in a very favorable fashion….to be expected. This process gets worse when you add in a broker that hasn’t really seen and studied the car. Most of those deals fall apart mid flight, due to lack of confidence on the buyers part. If they do end up selling, it’s for a lower dollar than they should have sold for, because smart buyers don’t overpay for a car they are not confident in. The key to success? Earn the buyer’s confidence. Not just through salesmanship, but through honest, accurate depiction. Having the car inspected by an outside, professional 3rd party inspection company will reveal the car’s strengths and weaknesses, and help both parties get down to the truth, which leads to a truthful and favorable outcome for both parties.  Our process includes jacking up the car and test driving it when possible, along with magnet test results, and in some cases video presentations, when personally conducted by the owner. Even if you have some computer skills, the management of a successful selling campaign on line can be a arduous process. Having the time to send out 100’s of photos, over and over to different prospective buyers, teaching them how to link to and or view videos, answer dozens of questions, and continually follow up  with people is what is required. You can utilize the reports and photos that Autoappraise.com will create for you on site to sell your car, or better yet, you can let us step up and handle the whole task for you. We have sold EVERY car that has been consigned to us, through our unique process of thorough accurate depiction. Don’t just take our word for it. Auto Appraise will put you in touch with the actual sellers of the cars we’ve consigned, so you can hear the stories of our success from them….which is really their success. Put the hard work and skills of certified auto appraiser  Jason Phillips to work for you. Please call us to discuss your unique situation. We offer discounted service for car collections. Auto Appraise Inc. is well reviewed in the Classic car field, so check out what our client’s are saying! Call us to discuss your needs. 800-301-3886, or 810-694-2008. M-F, 9am-7pm, Sat 10-2pm, EST.

Technorati Tags: auto appraisal, auto appraiser, buying a used car for sale, Classic car chat, classic car for sale, consignment, muscle car for sale

This 1964 Restored Belvedere 2-dr post  is for sale in Michigan. Inspected by certified classic auto appraiser Jason Phillips,  It’s a high end, very showable car. 440/bored472 C.I. engine, mated to a stock 4 speed, 8.75 rear 3:91 posi, which have all been fully rebuilt (receipts viewed). Resto pics show car stripped down to bare metal. Very clean, all steel original survivor body hand blocked straight and flat. Impressive, right down to  the rocker bottoms and jamb surfaces. Excellent magnetic adhesion all around exterior and underneath. Fully rebuilt suspension front and rear. Collision free, rot free underbody with no patch panels. Nicely restored period interior with great glass and trim all around. Very high quality rebuild/restore on a radio delete car. 17″ American racing wheels in rear, 15″ matched fronts, are like new, mated to Mickey Thompson ET street radials in rear, show virtually no wear. Upgrades away from factory (other than wheels) include the bored 440, MSD/billet distributor, disc brakes and gages. Rest of car looks bone stock.  In today’s dollars, it would cost well over $80,000 to do one up this nice out of a solid survivor body. Car rocks down the road, tracks and brakes nice with plenty of power and aggression in throttle. See videos posted on youtube.com of test drive and walk around. $1800 rebuild on factory 4 speed completed in July 2011. Rear end rebuild done in 2010, engine approximately 2000 miles ago. This owner has spent a lot of money to build a very nice car. We’re asking $45,000.00. 800-301-3886 or 810-691-2664. email cars@autoappraise.com. Request a well written, narrative report, along with over 300 photos completely detailing this car. Feel free to come yourself and drive it, or send your own KNOWLEDGEABLE Mopar inspector.

Update: Thanks for looking, we have sold this car.

Technorati Tags: 1964, auto appraisal, auto appraiser, Belvedere, classic car, for sale, Mopar

This 1963 Ford T-Bird is a wonderful survivor car. The owner, who recently passed purchased it in 07 for close to $50,000, according to the records.  It has excellent magnetic adhesion all around with visible factory spot welds present everywhere. It’s had one nice repaint in the original medium blue metallic. Paint underhood and inside trunk appears original.  All trim is still very presentable, some with varying grades of patina present, but all very acceptable on a 2-/3+ show-able driver car. The complicated top system has gone through the typical $3000.00+ rebuild of all the solenoids with a replacement canvas that is very nice. This top works flawlessly, see pics. You’ll see in the YouTube test drive linked below that the 390 c.i. engine runs very well and the tranny shifts nicely. The underbody and trunk remain very solid. No patch panels, no repairs, no rot. All is very solid underneath. It could use a good long day’s worth of steam cleaning and paint detailing to the underbody on a hoist, to really make the bottom stand out. All dye holes are clean and uniform on the frame rails, and the spot welds from the rail flanges to the pans are easily seen. It’s obviously a collision free body. Interior is a combo of mostly new vinyl components and carpet, mixed in with well survived original pieces. The whole car presents in a really nice fashion. The previous owner, spent a lot of time and money in upkeep, and it shows. Links are posted below to youtube videos of the car. Autoappraise.com conducted a 3 hour long inspection on this car. We have over 200 photos and a well written detailed narrative report that will soon be viewable on our blog, see link below. The best thing about the car….just get in and drive, it’s ready for summer without delay. We are asking $35,000. 800-301-3886 or 810-691-2664, or email cars@autoappraise.com. http://www.autoappraise.com

Technorati Tags: auto appraiser, classic car, Classic car chat, for sale

The current owner purchased this Corvette in the summer of 75, and it has remained in his garage ever since. It’s original code 74 Dark Red paint is still in very nice shape, and has had some cosmetic repaint work done to repair stone chips a few years back. The code 142 referred to by many as “Silver moon” interior still looks very nice and has survived well. This is rare interior color fior 1975, less than 1000 units of the 38,000+ came equipped this way. Mileage claim is supportable, based on how clean the date coded side glass is, firmness of window regulators, lack of substantial interior wear in driver’s compartment, as well as limited wear showing on pedal rubbers. Left seat bolster wear along with carpet wear are present, and acceptable for this level of mileage. The underbody is very solid, no frame damage or rot ever, easily seen because it has NOT been masked with undercoat.Cosmetic oxidation and surface rust are present, and could certainly clean up and detail out nicely if one so chooses.  Original bonding strips signify no past collision history.  The engine, transmission and rear end have all been verified as “number’s matching” by Jason Phillips, owner of Auto Appraise Inc. The car runs and shifts excellent, has recent tires and updated stainless calipers with newer pads. The stock A/C blows cool and all equipment is in good working order, right down to the ignition buzzer. Comes with original owner paperwork. You’re invited to come and see for yourself or send an appraiser. We have over 50 photos and a detailed narrative report that was written after a 3 hour long inspection and test drive were completed. Contact our office for a password to view report and more pics. http://www.autoappraise.com . e-mail us cars@autoappraise.com. 800-301-3886 Click on the link below to see a walk around video that’s about 2+ minutes long. We are asking $14,900.00.

UPDATE: Thanks for looking, we have sold this client’s car.

Technorati Tags: auto appraisals, auto appraiser, chevrolet, classic car, corvette, numbers matching

I knew when I was walking up the driveway on this last auto appraisal that there was going to be drivability issues. The left rear tire had some major negative camber issues. This is spotted easiest by kneeling down behind the car from 20 feet away, and looking at the tilt of the rear tires. It can be adjusted some, by rotating the cam washer, or replacing the non-adjustable lower torsion arms with aftermarket adjustable ones. The car had all original bonding strips in place, and a very good original un-hit frame. The dog leg caps had some rust, but nothing structural to be concerned about. On the high side, it had a tank sticker, both tops, and was a numbers matching big block 427 car, with the original muncie and original rear end. The rest of the suspension had been rebuilt, which was nice. It ran surprisingly well, and had really nice paint, for a 20 year old respray. It’s still for sale, the guy want’s $25,000. Contact us if you are interested in this car. 800-301-3886

Technorati Tags: 427, big block, corvette, for sale, numbers matching

So many people ask me when I’m conducting an auto appraisal if I can confirm the “matching numbers” on the motor and transmission. When selling, seller’s often refer to their cars as numbers matching, but only because most of them cannot be confirmed on sight. FE blocks (12 versions in all) for the most part were not vin stamped, unlike GM cars and Mopar’s. Casting dates is about all you’re going to end up with off the engines. During an on site inspection, these are not possible to see on a small block, unless you brought your tool box! Some dis assembly IS required.

Technorati Tags: ford, mustang, numbers matching

auto appraiser Jason Phillips notes that Mustang’s were built in 3 plants in the USA. San Jose built cars were the only ones that no buck tags were utilized. That leaves Metuchen built and Dearborn produced cars. Tags were used from 1964-1968. The Metuchen tags, at least through 1967, had wavy edges, whereas the Dearborn produced cars had flat, rectangular tags with 90 degree edges. The little holes you see punched in both versions were put there by assembly workers. These punches indicate that workers acknowledge their instructions on what that particular car was to receive. Punch holes had different shapes and symbols, based on what was being confirmed on the order.

During an auto appraisal, it’s difficult to assess on site whether or not the mid frame rails traveling through the body center are very solid. The problem is that they recess into a cavity along the floorboard, allowing only visual confirmation of solid floor supports through a narrow, 3/8″ gap between the inner rocker structure and rail itself. Having a mirror on a stick isn’t particularly useful in this case. This is especially important on convertibles, as they tend to be more rusty, due to the top leaks over the years. A long, thin ice pick is your best defense to polk around, IF you can get away with it! The best way of course is to pull back the carpeting from the sills and look from the inside.

Technorati Tags: Buick, frame, inspection, oldsmobile, rusty floors, underbody

As an auto appraiser I’ve been asked many times about the VIN stamp on 1969 Z-28’s. People see the engine assembly info on the motor stamp pad, but see no vin derivative next to it. Most of the vin numbers I’ve verified are on the stamp pad near the oil filter. Knowing which casting number your block has is a big help.

Technorati Tags: auto appraiser, classic car, muscle car

Back in the day of the middle 60’s, GTO’s ruled the streets. That is until Oldsmobile introduced the 442. This classy car had plenty of muscle. It could run mid 14’s straight out of the showroom. And if it was a convertible, all the better. Not many 67’s around. This one is in showroom condition and painted to match the trim tag. Just remember the tag line. “This is NOT your father’s Oldsmobile”

Technorati Tags: 1967, GTO, Muscle cars, Pontiac