Another ultra-nice original Virginian at auction Oct. 6th

[KWZ]

Anyone know this car?

http://mecum.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=DA1011-114799

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Green/Green Virginians were late production automobiles;  I wish they would have listed serial number tag numbers

[Roadmaster49]

Eye candy.  When I get my Virginian delivered in October I will post the data plate numbers.  The dash is a seafoam green metallic. 

[Jim B PEI]

That is a gorgeous car! No reserve....

I suppose someone could send a very polite message to Mecum asking for the data plate information, so as the confirm the production sequence and history of this quite 'rare' car to see if this is a previously unreported example.

[KWZ]

So, uh, what did this thing go for?  Anyone know?

[custom]

Sold for $15,000

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

It was a good deal for someone, even with the funny script on the deck lid (or it appears to be funny script upper left quadrant).

[KWZ]

Sold for $15,000

Oh f*** I would have paid that!  What a giveaway! That car could not be duplicated for three times that amount.  Trust me.  It just all depends on who shows up to these things.  I wonder where it went. 

[Roadmaster49]

Well, the lower prices most KF cars sell for and such, also makes it an affordable hobby for those of us who truly appreciate the KF cars.

[KWZ]

Well, the lower prices most KF cars sell for and such, also makes it an affordable hobby for those of us who truly appreciate the KF cars.

Very true.  One '54 Vette or a Hemi Cuda are worth more a piece (like, way more) than all three of my KFs, but who would want one?  Is your Virginian a twin to the one at the auction?  Can you post some pics, regardless?

[joefrazer]

At 15 grand, that car was the big deal of the day. There was another 49 V for sale on the west coast for less than 3 grand that needed alot of work..but was a runner. I'd have bought it except that shipping was almost what the car was worth. As an aside, I was at Hershey and looked seriously at a 40 Buick...a full CCCA classic with dual side mounts. A decent builder, it was complete and had all of the chrome redone. It needed an engine but the seller only wanted $2900 for the car. This seems to reflect the complexion of the hobby. Nice, done cars bring fair money, everything else goes wanting...

[Roadmaster49]

It needed an engine but the seller only wanted $2900 for the car. This seems to reflect the complexion of the hobby. Nice, done cars bring fair money, everything else goes wanting...

Interesting. I followed a 40 Buick Limited on an ebay auction from Oregon last month and it too had the engine out of it, that would be a full CCCA classic. It ended in that price range and came with spare parts and 2 engines so I wonder if the car you were looking at at hershey was the same car that was on ebay in Oregon last month? 

I also believe your comment on the project Buick is 100% correct. I spend far too much time watching prices on project cars.  We are in a different culture then what was in place in the hobby 40 years ago. 40 years ago seems like a long time ago but that's the early 70's and I was 6-10 years old.  In those days, guys would take over the garage to restore a car. Restorations were probably less then concours quality.  The wife did not have the same influence she has now. Now, most wives TELL the husband "no way you are putting that in here!"

2nd is the huge cost of a restoration. Everybody says (and they are right) you can't restore a car for the price of purchasing a nice #2 car, like that mint green Virginian.  $15K is a bargain.  Finally, #3, up until the 2008-2009 stock market crash and 401k correction, baby boomers had a lot of disposable income and went one of 2 directions. They bought an RV or an old car depending on their inclination.

They didn't want a restoration project that might take 4-6 years to restore. They wanted "instant gratification" in the form of a 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS for whatever the dealer wanted. They might very well overpay for that car but they didn't care. Their working lives in the rear view mirror, they wanted to enjoy retirement NOW.  And so demand for worthwhile projects has slipped and the impact of the overpriced "classic car dealer" was increased. 

I have no idea if the restoration culture will change, but my opinion is NO. I think we will continue to see project cars languish at bargain prices because the difficulty and expense of restoration will make it a bad decision. I 100% do not blame those who pass on project cars.  I have owned 140 cars in the past 15 years and lost interest on most of my projects. My average cost per car was probably $1000 per car so that's $140,000 spent with nothing to show for it. A staggering amount. That would have purchased how many of those $15,000 mint green Virginians?  10-15 of them! 

I have restored a few of those and enjoyed some of them as drivers but gave up on a lot of non running projects too.

Oh well, live and learn.  People are still restoring cars but the pace is much much less then it was in 1971.

[Roadmaster49]

Well, the lower prices most KF cars sell for and such, also makes it an affordable hobby for those of us who truly appreciate the KF cars.

Is your Virginian a twin to the one at the auction?  Can you post some pics, regardless?

My Virginian is awaiting delivery from Isanti, Minnesota any day now. It is a non running project car. I have had a photo set for awhile but they are not digital so you will have to wait (like me)

I know this. It appears to be a light blue body but also looks to have been painted. The roof fabric is largely missing. The dash is clearly a teal green metallic. The windows (thankfully) are manual.  The first thing I will do when it gets delivered is run the numbers. I don't think it was Mint Green.   It's basically my early Christmas present.  It's rough, but as with JoeFrazers comments, no one else was going to restore it or buy it and the owner was being taken over by a Twin Cities subdivision and this car was in danger of being crushed. The owner is eccentric and elderly.  I offered and he accepted - $600.   My shipper is also in that part of MN and will pick this car up in the next 2-3 weeks.

Once it is here, I will post the numbers and hopefully some photos. Don't laugh at it please. Then it will get a car cover for the winter. I might put it in the 3rd stall in the 3 car garage for the winter.  It was slated to go into the 2nd stall but my 36 Buick showed up from Pennsylvania before the Kaiser. (I have 4 cars coming in)     Thank you for asking.

[Gordie]

I'm an old timer in the car restoration hobby and started buying cars in the 1950's.  I still have the 1940 Ford coupe that I bought in 1958.  In those days in California there were lots of nice original cars that had never been repainted and we would never consider a car with any rust or four doors.  They were strictly parts cars.  By 1961 I was a car dealer hnd have had over 10,000 cars and fortunately saved a few.  I remember a 1951 Kaiser Dlx club coupe that I had in the sixties but sold it and always wanted another so about  twenty five years ago I replaced it and kept upgrading with better ones until I found the one I have now with 39,000 miles and all original.  Buying a nice original sure saves a lot of restorarion costs.

[Fid]

Wow. That makes 3 Kaisers I know of that came out of Isanti, MN in the last few years. I don't remember hearing of any there at all till the internet. It's about 5 miles from where I used to work.