How much should I pay

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harleyboy

Never to old to have a happy childhood
Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
376
Location
Jacksonville, N. C.
Today I found a man restoring a bunch of old Hudsons. He had about 6 cars in his garage in various states of completion. I personally don't think he'll ever finish any of them. I found a set of wide whitewalls sitting in the corner of his shop and I asked him if he wanted to sell them as I was looking for some for a rat rod project. He said yes and to make him an offer. They had pretty much tread and the ww looked good. They had some cracking, I guess some dry rot, but not much. I offered $50. for the 4 of them. That wasn't enough because he said that he would have to think that over. What I would like to know is what I should offer for them. They were 15" tires and two were a little bit wider than the other two. I'm sure the bigger ones were on the rear of whatever they came off of. I don't even have a project for them yet. They would look good on the truck that I'm fixing but I'm planning to drive it alot and don't want bias plys on it. Thanks in advance for the info. Harleyboy
 
New Cokers cost me $180 a piece for the 5.60 fronts and $210 a piece for the 7.60 rears. Bias plys are a lot cheaper though. Try Cokers web-site. If they were old and cracking, I wouldn't imagine they would be worth much for a driver.
 
Is the art of "haggling" lost? When you offered him the $50 and he would "have to think about it" unless he is desperate for money, that meant NO (much like when your parents said "maybe" when you were a kid). You should have said, "well, what did you have in mind?". Why should YOU have to put a value on what HE owns?
 
I am with LWSR on this one. I'll deal the devil out of his pitchfork if it is what I want. Your next line is well then what'll it take. He then says 150, you say 100, he says 125, you say sold. Done. If you are not happy with the numbers walk away. The best deals are when both people are happy in the end.
 
I don't think I would pay a whole lot more than the price you offered for them if they are used and already cracking. Although you would pay substantially more for new tires.

Just a side note - I've got thousands of miles on my bias ply tires and I love them. No they don't handle quite like radials but I don't consider it a sacrifice
 
Could kick myself

I bought my wife a 57 TBird and it had brand new WWW's on it. It was restored for concours (sp) shows. The first time she drove it she said that it wandered all over the road and she didn't like it. I knew that the bias ply's were the problem so I bought some new Coker WWW radials, almost $800. She loved them. I sold the new bias plys for $125. at the Charlotte Auto Fest and never dreamed that I would love to have those tires back one day. Well lets see what else I would love to have back; 65 Mustang, bought new, 67 Camaro bought new (first one in my town), 69 Road Runner, bought new cause I got outrun in the Camero. Things started going down hill after that. Harleyboy
IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e118/harleyboy52/tbirdandrod.jpg[/IMG]
 
Here it is

I must have had the pic to big.

tbirdandrod.jpg
 
Niiiice harleyboy,

I don't want to derail your thread but I'll say I agree with you that bias ply's aren't for everyone. I enjoy them (visually) on some cars and the handling doesn't really bother me. It's kind of funny how that before the advent of radials, people didn't realize there was an issue lol.
 
This is one of the oldest arguments going among car enthusiasts.......radials vs bias plys. I'm on the side of bias plys. I run them on every car we have and love them. I get good wear and handling out of them and have never had a problem, plus, I think radials look out of place on a fenderless hot rod. That is just me.

As for the used tires you are looking at, I don't like used tires. Your life depends on them, and age and ozone take their toll on the rubber, even if they look good. I have a set of wide whites on the back of my 27 that are 20 years old and still have good tread left, but when I redo the car to go back on the street they are coming off and getting scrapped. For a hundred bucks apiece I am not going to risk a blowout.

Don
 
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Is the art of "haggling" lost? When you offered him the $50 and he would "have to think about it" unless he is desperate for money, that meant NO (much like when your parents said "maybe" when you were a kid). You should have said, "well, what did you have in mind?". Why should YOU have to put a value on what HE owns?

I agree, I have been horse trading a long time and that is the first rule, the seller prices his own stuff, not the buyer. That is the beginning. That old "How much will you give?" thing is a crock of bs, everyone has some idea what they want. When I get that I respond with, how about a buck. That usually gets them off center. Of course when you are just wandering around someone's shop asking what this or that is worth and it wasn't really presented for sale..well..that's a bit of a different deal. I say forget the dry rotted tires unless you just want them for mockup. Tires and brakes are not places to compromise.
 
Right

Y'all are right about used tires. I don't know why I would buy 20 year old tires. I just like looking at cars and parts. I think half of the fun in a project is chasing parts. My wife says that I just like the chase and once I get it I'm wanting something else (everything except her). I've had my Model A for 12 years and that's a record for me. Harleyboy
 

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