308 "barn find"

Steel car?

Probably $30,000 +/-. Somewhere in that neighborhood. Problem is you will very likely only make money if he gives it to you AND you do all the work yourself. If you pay anything for the car you will wish you never bothered with any of this to begin with about half way through the project.

If you buy it AND hire someone to fix it for you, you will be very angry at the world by the time it is finished. If you are married, you wife is going to be even more pissed.

I am watching this happen to someone this very moment. Same exact year model. Same story. Sad.

 

Saddest part is no one drove the damn car and it still needed a respray and needs a mechanical overhaul.

I love the 308s, but the whole mentality of 'never driving your Ferrari so the miles stay low and it will live forever' is stupid.

 

+1

 

Unfortunately, the highest value “as is” for this car is probably in just parting it out.

 

You guys are really discouraging. No one as seen the car. If the price is right this car may be Worth to be back to life. And believe me I KNOW what I'm talking about.

To the OP if you have pics and more détails please post them. What is the asking price?

 

Your right, it could be a very good "school" project with all the labor required for the job donated for free. I would love to take that auto shop class.

 

Yeah, I'm wondering about that 5,000 on the odometer. Even if the previous owner decided to do a mechanical overhaul, I can't see why it would need new paint as well unless they just wanted to change the color. IF the mileage is accurate and the car were put back together so that it was in 5000 mile or better condition, I'd say it could be worth around $35k.

Lots of questions though - is the mileage correct, what is the quality of the respray, is it the original color,maybe most importantly, how apart is the car currently - that will tell you what it's going to cost to put it back together again.

Like Tommy said, if it's really all apart, it'll cost a fortune to pay someone to put it back together.

 

True, probably risky to assume that "5,000" is anything close to accurate.

I wonder if the barn itself was in good shape. I assume that was the exciting news being reported in this thread.

 

If you have to pay for labour forget it. It has to be free labour. If this is a personnal project because you'd like to own a Ferrari go for it. I did it 14 years ago and never regret it. If you want the car to make money forget it. But a 1977 GTB is Worth saving for the right person. A friend of mine would probably be interrested.

 

Got pics?

 

So do I.

Like I said, same thing is happening right here right now. 1977 GTB "barn find". Last I check - when he called me to come look at it - he was about $40-$50K into it and it was still parked. He finally had it shipped to Atlanta to finish it. I was told to not say a word to his wife.

Take a guess how much he just ended up paying for a "great deal barn find" 308 GTB? I'll give you a hint: you wouldn't pay it. Not in a million years.

 

I hate stories like this.

They hold so much promise and so much heartbreak all at the same time....




PDG

 

Part of what attracted the guy to it was that it used to belong to Elton John's drummer. So what? I had to google "Elton John's drummer" to find out what his name was. No one I know has ever heard of him before - not that people don't know who he is - just that unless you were a big Elton fan back in the day, you could give a ****. I don't AND I have forgotten his name again. Nigel something I think. Who cares.

Anyway that car had been sitting in the same spot since I first saw it in 1983. It sat here and sat there all through high school, college, dental school, etc. It was STILL sitting there back in 06 when he had a big estate sale and I bought a ton of cool stuff.

But hey, it's a great deal, all you have to do is put it back together and don't forget, it belonged to Elton's drummer....

 

Need more info and pics to really help you. It's not clear how much is involved and what your ultimate goal is. Do you want it to be factory-perfect, or just a driver, or....?

A well-maintained "driver" of the same year is worth ~30-50k in the US - depending on condition. So, as others have pointed out, you can quickly exceed the "market value" of the car in restoring it.

Can't trust old odometers either - should confirm the mileage with the last time it was registered - if possible. I'd also be concerned about missing parts.

All that being said, I've already dumped a bunch of cash into my 308 and it has more into it than I could sell it for currently. That doesn't matter at all to me though - I specifically don't keep track of costs with this car because it's more about the experience than the cash....and I plan to keep it forever.

There are various examples of complete restorations here as well - just depends what you are looking for out of the car.

If you are solely interested because you think it could be a "great deal", I would suggest that it is likely not the case. Again, pictures and more info will help. As someone pointed out, good chance you might make more parting it out instead of restoring it. Again, if the goal is to make money or an investment.

 

If you want to have some fun, it is worth it. Enjoy bringing it back to life, driving it and maintaining it. That is the value here.

If you think you can make money, forget it.

 

Nigel Olson I think. But yeah, whateva.

 

Take a good assessment of what you CAN do and what you are going to need to farm out. Try to put numbers on the needed subcontract work

Have you put cars like this back together before. Are you a good general mechanic, skilled in electrical work, minor fabrication, upholstery & paint work?

Do you have the shop space, tools and time to take on a huge project like this.

Are ALL of the bits there, protected and labled? You will probably need a single car garage to store the parts.

Is the engine together, or are you going to go through it, dump the sodium valves.

After this many years, you are probably going to have to have the shocks rebuilt, completely rebush the suspension, wheel bearings, hopefully, the engine was kept dry, not rained on or full of corrosion.

There are a ton of expenses you could encounter, rusty transaxle bearings, mouse chewed electrical stuff and MISSING / hard to find parts.

You are a brave man to even consider it,
Best of luck,
chris

 

+1
(I just bought one that looks to have been sitting a little while, and it cost me $15k to have it put back right.)

 

parts car.

 

If the price is right buy it and put it back to life.

 

If I may, I agree with Dr Cosgrove on this one.
This project is good if you have another one you can drive while this one is sitting on the blocks getting repaired.
No time limit and a toy to play in the garage.

Not the same car of course, but I found a 72 Vette a while ago and took it appart to repair it.
Complete frame off.
Didnt give myself any time limit and I'm doing all the work on it.
It's a toy and it's taking forever and thats ok since it was part of the plan + the wife is ok with this because when I cant afford parts, well I wait, no rush, no pressure.
But I cant drive it yet.

I was planning to do the same with a Ferrari but the experience with the Corvette made me come to the same conclusion as the good Dr came up with.

Sooo If I get a Ferrari (matter of time) it will be in one piece and drivable.

 

Was the car repainted due to a wreck, or rust repair? Back to the original color, or a color change? If the car was repainted years ago when the cars had a lot less value, wonder how good the quality of the prep and paintwork was done? It would be nice if you could have a first class paint/bodyman, look at the car to get his opinion. Quality paint jobs today get expensive$$$, fast! Someone told me recently that some shades of red, in Sikkens(one of the best brands), are over a $1000.00 per gallon.

 

That's him.

I am not trying to put him down either. It's just that when you filter yourself down to that celebrity level - the only market are people that have actually heard of him. Therefore the value is increased exactly zero for the other 99% of the world. If I were buying it, you can keep the Nigel Olson mark up. That surcharge would be a deal breaker for me. I may throw in a few $XXXX more if it actually belonged to Elton, though.

BTW, it really did used to belong to Olson. This wasn't some bull**** to fluff up the value or whatever. He bought it from FAF but I want to say he bought it used, not new, but I could be mistaken. Not sure if it ever left the states or just stayed here at one of his homes or something.