Harmon Estate Update...
Comments
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I was down at Jims a few years ago when I was looking for some parts for my convertible. What I saw was a lot of the sheet metal and other parts just wasn't in very good shape. I remember looking for rocker panels. He had maybe 20 of them leaned up against a wall and I looked through all of them and took the best of the bunch. They still had rustout in them and would take some major fixing to make usable. I never did use them. I also wanted some good hardtop/convertible doors. He had one, just one, for sale so I took it. Later on I found it had so much rustout in it that I ended up not using it. I was also at the national in Spokane and Jim had a trailer with a bunch of his stuff on it. I remember he had maybe 50 door thresh holds organized into size and which door opening they went in. I looked them over and I didn't see a nice one in the whole bunch. I noticed that nobody ever did buy any of them from what it looked like at the end of the meet.
Jim told me one time that he had parted out 40 parts cars.
I'm not saying there isn't some decent parts there, but there is also a lot of stuff that isn't.
I hope I'm not sounding too negative about Jims' stuff. I don't mean to be if I do. I certainly didn't go through all of it and it could be there is some real great stuff I didn't see. I'm just trying to give an idea of what I saw when I was there. Rob0 -
I too remember thinking I was going to be impress with Jims parts at Spokane. Then after looking the stuff over, I was thinking not much here that everybody has doubles of they cant get rid of (and his prices were high, example was a 53 hood ornamanet as a good chromeable piece was $175, Lew bird had a nicer one right there for $20...i went with Lew. I believe an auction grouping the parts together is they only way to go. Most likely a metal salvage yard will get most the of the stuff that is in bad condition. Maybe in the range of 15 to 20K for the whole package could be obtained, but have not seen his stuff.
Someone was selling ther complete inventory at Gettysburg for 30K. I thought with what he had there like 50+ door handles, four door stainless and such, that nobody is going to get a return on there investment. Just did not make business sense.
If Jim truly would not throw anything out, maybe 40% of the stuff is salvagable and in decent condition.
But everybody wants to get the most money out of there stuff and I beleive that is OK, but you have to realize you are selling a business to another business and you cant have all the profits.
Kgap was sold just for the cost of the inventory without markup and the moldings were included in the sale. That made buisness sense.
Only 1 in 5 new business make it passed 5 years.0 -
This is a great discussion. I been in the HET for over 21 years now. Not nearly as long as some of you guys. Only met Jim a few times. Aaron has a interesting idea, but, even if we all chipped in, where would this stuff be stored ? What happens to the next collection when its owner passes, or when as was said, time to fold 'em. Do we start on a path of buying parts collections when owners would like to sell out? To be candid, I think that the price is way too high. Example, a 53 hood may be able to fetch $200 but to profit from it, the seller should not have paid more then $50 originally. Of course, I have not seen the collection, but the family, if they were to just scrap out the collection, would they get $75k? IMO, they would see far less, as the estimates were based on potential sales not actual value of wholesale parts. What is the scrap value, because if no one buys this collection that is where it will go. The price of scrap + a bit more is more attractive to a potential buyer, who at a bit above scrap price can always get his money back. An offer of $25K might be worth it for some one who has the land ( & ordinance permission). This can't be a purely profit induced purchase, but a labor of love. No one wants to lose money.0
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The posting reads "OBO." I'm guessing that if somebody showed up with a cashier's check for $55 - 60 thou and the means to take it all somebody would be kissing their feet. However, opportunity cost has to be considered. What else could you do with 60 large + the removal cost (say $10 thou) over the period it would take to get your money back? It seems like a mind boggling undertaking to me, but then I've sold, traded or given away maybe 40-50 parts in my life...0
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On the other hand,
Here’s how somebody who wanted it all might proceed, assuming you have the do-re-mi and an adequately zoned yard for storage. I can’t imagine hauling the whole deal across the country, though.
• Buy a couple of very used semi-trailers locally (you are going to use them for storage, might as well own them.) I paid $900 for one about 5 years ago
• Pay somebody local with a semi tractor to haul them to the property.
• Get free pallets and rent a forklift
• Find somebody with a stake truck. You can load it with the stuff that’s useless as you go and haul it to the scrap yard. The guy who supplies the truck gets the scrap value.
• Advertise in Chapter newsletters for a specific weekend when anybody can come and buy what they want, maybe help load in exchange for parts.
• Try to load with a bit of organization. Keep a record as you load. (Most laptops have a voice recognition program to Microsoft Word. Even “Splasher block; Stepdown block; starter motor” etc. would be better than nothing.
• Make deal to store the trailers nearby until you’re ready for the final move. Probably a warehouse parking lot…last time I did this I found one for free, for three weeks. (It was free because we were a Museum though, and we only had one trailer.)
• Move the trailers to your destination. Unload at your leisure or use them for long-term storage. If you empty the trailers you’ll get what you paid for them.
I have no idea what I'd do with the parts cars...0 -
Al has basically what Sam suggests. He has semi-trailers full of Hudson parts, all organized & easily accessible. He usually has 12-20 parts cars on the property uncovered & also has covered parking for cars being worked on or to be worked on. His speciality is rebuilding trans. & rear ends but does complete restorations. He lives on the property which has a high wall around it. It's sorta "out in the sticks", not in an incorporated municipality, & in a commercially zoned (if any zoning ordinances) area.0
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Just thinking out loud here, my figures do have a fair bit of plus or minus in them. From one of Russell's posts, Russell had figured there were maybe 3 trailer loads of parts, which at say 40 tons per trailer comes to maybe 120 tons or so. At $75k for the lot that breaks down to $625 per ton, by the time its moved stored catalogued etc you will probably be up to $800 per ton.
Scrap steel buyers at the moment are offering maybe $100 per ton, and that is the fall-back position for a fair proportion for what is being sold. By that I mean the heavy stuff that will hang around forever like diffs, front subframes, worn engines, questionable hydramatics.
When you look at it in that light, and without wanting to seem too hard hearted or mercenary towards the sellers, an offer of twice scrap value or $25k is probably a more realistic offer in order for someone (or an HET co-op) to recoup their outlays and start to make a profit after a couple of years.
It would be interesting to look at the evaluation sheets of the professional appraiser (first post) to see if he/she is somewhere near what the Hudson community considers to be fair and reasonable value. Maybe that info is included in the DVD?0 -
Lester Harris might be interested @(775) 267-25590
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Who bought K-Gap; anyone know ?0
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Lester, at his age, "get outta town", LOL!
Dany Spring & wife bought K-GAP, which they seem unable to handle, so why would they want to burden themselves with tons of used parts with which to separate out, determine condition, set prices, then package & ship???????????0 -
THIS ALL SOUNDS LIKE ALOT OF WORK!! THIS COMING FROM SOME ONE WHO FLEA MARKETS AT ANY NATIONAL MEET I GO TO. THE SHIPPING EAST IS THE BIGGEST COST AFTER BUYING THE PARTS. THEM ASKING 75K IS WISHFULL THINKING I'M THINKING LIKE BOB WARD AND I THINK 25 K IS HIGH ALSO IT'S WAY TO FAR FOR ME TO EVEN THINK ABOUT BUYING0
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I don't know, Paul...maybe you could run the auction for the stuff. Sure did a great job at Gettysburg!0
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THANKS DON BUT THAT WAS FOR OUR THE CLUB THIS IS TO FAR AWAY
I ALWAYS LIKE TO MAKE AN AUCTION FUN LOL0 -
I think everyone is over-thinking this....Here's how you do it. 1 day a month, the family opens the doors and sells what they can for a flat fee of $10 per part. They should be able to commit to 1 day a month! If they have 5 thousand parts and eventually they all sell, they make $50K. I'd be there the first day with a couple hundred bucks to blow!!!! This way the majority of the parts are not scrapped and the entrepreneurial types could come and buy a bunch and make some money without having to rob their retirement fund...everyone is happy!!!!
Lee0 -
Isfirth - suggest you get out a map & find Banks, Oregon on it, LOL!0
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Unfortunately, the property has been sold and the parts and cars have to be removed by the closing date. The heirs have no place to put it all, should they decide to sell it piecemeal.0
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Sam - what is the closing date?0
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It wasn't hard to find, Pete - a few miles west of Portland. Out around Hillsboro where Bob Campbell lives.
Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN0
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