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Its always best when a private sale is made to someone that has really wanted the car and a fair price is agreed to. That would definitely be my preference as a seller!

A very simple, two sentence answer like this can be totally fine so long as you appropriately frame within which parameters a private party to private party sale is "best". I would argue that this particular deal structure can more often than not be "best" for the buyer of the car in financial terms. It can also easily be best for the seller from a financial perspective so long as that seller has a certain level of sophistication which MOST owners actually don't possess...regardless of whether they THINK they do possess that sophistication.

Only a fool would think that a question like this has a "one size fits all" answer. 

And if the perspective is, "I don't care about anything in the deal other than making sure that a dealer, or consignee, or intermediary of any kind sees absolutely NO money out of MY deal"... then this brief an answer works great... it achieves what a person with that mindset (regardless of the logic, or lack thereof associated with the prerogative) has set out to achieve.

But, again, its only one of many possible routes to go... each making plenty of sense depending on the circumstances and prerogatives of the parties involved.

And btw, I totally understand (you can feel it coming through the computer screen in this thread through a few replies) that "dealers" are constantly portrayed as villians in the hobby. I get it... many have done their share of helping us all get bundled together and cast in that same light.

BUT......

We aren't all the same. There are good...there are bad...there are mediocre...there are irrelevant...there are timewasters etc etc etc in EVERY business which exists out there.

There are many positive functions that dealers serve in ANY sphere of trading... and there are dealers out there who insist on conducting business to a certain ethical standard. Dealing with those sorts of guys tends to result in many positive aspects... which can actually include you getting substantially more money for your car than you otherwise might of. Additionally, it could result in the car going to a BETTER home than you could ever have found. Again, also depending on what you understand to be the ideal home for your car.

Kind regards,
Vern

in my opinion Hemmings is a good place to start for the beginning. I still like it as there are more older car guys and these are really nice people to do business with. But you maybe need some more time with Hemmings. Bringatrailer is good, achieves higher prices the most of the time, but you always have to pay them and the buyer also has a 5% fee.

One of the best sale opportunities is also old school go to car meets, have fun and maybe find some interested buyers.

You pay them 99 bucks which to me is pretty cheap and worth it(buyer is capped at 5 percent up to 7500). The only problem is that sometimes for their non "preferred" sellers they want low reserves.
 Vern, Well said. Very well said. Like Bob said you have come a long way in the hobby. We appreciate having younger people like you promoting the Marque.

BAT is a great platform on which to sell a car... I do it fairly often and I enjoy that particular way of selling.

I would direct readers back to my first post to the paragraph labeled "ability", though.

BaT is inexpensive to utilize as a seller... but if you dont have the ability to sell your own stuff properly on BaT..you're more than likely going to end up spending a massive amount of time to end up no-sale-ing your car.

BaT above any other avenue of selling requires an understanding of how to most effectively market a car on that specific platform.  It isnt "hard" when you understand the proper way to go about it... but it is time consuming to do it correctly... as most things are.

Kind regards,
Vern

I think that advice covers all of the bases . I don't think I have heard it put better . I am amazed at the knowledge,expertise,and good moral compass Vern has learned and shown since I first meet him when he was 15 a couple of decades or so ago. I know I am leaving myself wide open but I have to say, you have done well pilgrim.  

Ah shucks... thanks DAD 

There are so many ways to answer this question.. and the right answer for you depends on what you are trying to accomplish. When people are selling cars, what they are trying to accomplish through that sale can be wildly different on a case by case basis depending on what is most important to them. It isn't as simple as "whats the best way to sell a car?"... there are a million ways to skin a cat, same goes for selling a car.  


Some examples of factors which tend to influence the "right" route are:

Timing- how is it particularly important that you sell it quickly and get paid quickly? If timing matters (which is usually does) do you want it to sell in the next 2 years, 2 months, 2 days, or 2 hours? Do you want the money 2 months from now or do you want it 2 hours from now?

Money- do you feel motivated to get every last nickel out of the car or do you want someone else to spend the time and effort (and deal with the BS associated with selling cars/dealing with tire kickers, etc) to get that last bit out of it?

Next owner- are you sentimental about the car? Do you want to make sure it goes to someone you care about who you know will truly care about the car and enjoy it the way you have enjoyed it? This might come as a major shock to the system of some people reading this... but it isn't all about the money to many people who own these cars

Personal circumstance---this is a big one---do you like trying to sell cars? Some people actually enjoy it. I do it for a living but frankly I dont love selling.... I do what I do because I love to buy. Selling is the necessary evil of keeping the business afloat...it sucks most of the time and the only thing that makes it tolerable is knowing that I am making dedicated owners happy and helping them find cars that they have always dreamed of owning.  Do you have something else going on in y our life to where you simply don't have the time to sell your own car regardless of whether you like doing it nor not?  If you like selling,... you can use the sale of the car as a way to have what you consider to be a fun experience.

Ability- Even if you think you'd like to sell it yourself...CAN you sell the car? There is no magic formula to doing it... 90% of the process of marketing or "selling" these cars is being able to enjoy speaking with people and conveying the passion we all have for these cars. It sounds easy.. for some people it is easy... but it is very hard for others.  Depends on  who you are and what you are capable of.  Can you take nice pictures? Can you write a good description? Can you provide videos?

There are many other factors. Maybe if you tell us what factors are most important for you..we can make some suggestions.

The question reminds me of a saying that I've heard many oldschool car dealers say in regards to buying a classic car... "Do you want it good, cheap, or fast? You can generally pick 2.". Same sort of logic applies to selling.

Kind regards,
Vern

Why buy a nice car for 140 today when you could buy this for 115, put 100 more into it, and then have the same car in 3 years?

Helluva deal

[+1 ..... and Vern also. Fred]

Mr Gaines is special, do not question that 😉

Couldn't agree more!

Craig R.

+1 ..... and Vern also.

Fred

Finally... mom WAS right 

+1

A true ambassador of the hobby!

Better than all of the a$$holes holding stuff for ransom!!

Seems like the obvious and thing to do.. blows my mind that guys hold original owners manuals for ransom...I've seen people demand WAY above market value for manuals which are original to a specific car.

Truth be told, I have been accused of "holding for ransom" on two occasions in the past. I was accused by the owner of a 66 one time of holding a manual ransom when I wanted $300 bucks for it. At the time, 66 manuals were worth 500-650 and I paid $300 for it not even knowing that it had a serial number written in the inside cover at the time of purchase. Just wanted my money back. He paid the "ransom". I've never been made to feel more guilty for taking half price    For every bad experience there are many more good ones... it is fun to get these manuals back to the people who own the cars. I dont know how many I've helped get back to the original cars but its probably more than 10.  It is a fun challenge and I know id be over the moon if someone found an owners manual to one of my cars and got it back to me.

The most bewildering experience by far, though, is when you find an owner and they have absolutely no interest at any price in the manual. 

Kind regards,
Vern

Hi Vern, Wow, it was a Francis For Fords car, sold new here in Harrisburg. The address in the manual is only about a mile from me, a modest 1950's rancher with no garage.

The Beachley family is long gone, but there is an Eldon E Beachley shown as presently residing in Lebanon, PA which is about 20 miles away. His age indicates that he would have been 24 when #2096 was sold new, so he may be its original owner.

If you locate 2096's current owner, they may find this information interesting.

Thanks for the info Bill! Somehow I knew that the original selling dealer would excite you 

Kind regards,
Vern

Howdy folks!- I have been posting the below post on various social media platforms for the last week.. figured I should spread the word through the forum as well!

Does anyone out there know where 1968 Shelby GT350 #2096 is?

Two weeks ago I purchased the original owners manual for the car..it was listed on eBay for 49 bucks.
These manuals are worth in excess of $500 but I want to make sure it gets back to the car it belongs to. The owner of the car can have it for what I stole it for. 😂

From what I understand, the car is one of the finest unrestored 68 GT350s out there. Original Candy Apple paint still looking good and extremely low mileage. God only knows how the manual was separated from the car.

The car was last sold by BroadArrow Group from the Jim Taylor collection in 2022.
https://www.broadarrowauctions.com/vehicles/tj22_086/1968-shelby-gt350-convertible

I will only deal directly with the owner of the car in getting it back to the car. Please feel free to share this post with your Shelby friends in the hopes that we can find the owner!

If you know the owner- pass this post along and PM me. Thanks!

Still looking for these shocks but I can trade some original 1965 GT350 parts for them:
https://www.saac.com/forum/index.php?topic=29112.0

Tried to message you but your inbox is full... just fyi

I heard the new owner is a STUD!

A scholar, a gentleman, and a lover of the fine arts... just what I heard 

Great find Great car.
9 months sitting at the dealer is not unusual for a special car. The dealers order them as bait to draw foot traffic into their dealership. Sometime they also use them personal cars until the next special comes along - it would be interesting to see the mileage when the first owner bought it. I can't see the dealer installing the back seat to call it a 66. More than likely a subsequent owner had a kid or two and the wife demanded a back seat. Also I can't see the Doctor wanting a back seat - this was not intended to be his family car. They took his wife's Lincoln when they went out. The dealer would have tossed the rear shelf - or one of the mechanics would have snagged it for his car....

All good, logical points.. but the story of the car differs according to the long term owner and the paper trail.

The BoS an letter from the bank in December of 1966 refer to the car as a 66. The car would have been registered by the first owner after his 3/1/66 purchase date...it wasn't the "correct" thing to do in registering a car as the year in which it was sold... but it happened from time to time back then and in certain states. Looser times.

 First owner certainly could have installed the backseat or the air conditioning which was on it when I got it.... but both were on the car as of December of 66 when purchased from the original owner. Donald Dunford bought the car specifically for those features as it was for his wife to drive. He raced SCCA on the weekends.

To be clear.. I wouldn't be so brash as to come on here and claim that the AC and backseat WERE dealer installed... but I also have seen enough on these cars to know that dealers pretty commonly installed accessories and features on aging inventory to make them more sale-able. A 65 GT350 was a tough sale when you had a brand new, current 66 model sitting next to it... WITH A BACKSEAT, and the option for different colors, "more" visual features etc etc.  I owned a 65 a year or so ago which has had quarter windows on it since as early as could be determined with photographs to back it up. Car wasn't sold till January of 66.. could have been installed by the now deceased 1st owner (who also owned the car for less than a year) or could have been installed by the dealer. No proof either way. It is being restored with louvers now

As for the package tray- it stayed with the car since new (which, i agree, is unusual).. it did come with the car to Dunford. If you scroll on the below link... you'll see it resting (in mint condition) on the top of the old RV... was in this spot until the "barn" was cleaned out in April. https://www.vernonestesclassics.com/#/1965-shelby-gt350-335/

Kind regards,
Vern

Thanks for posting this, JP! And thanks for helping to tell the story of the car to the world.

Doubt I'll ever come up with a more original 65... but who knows.

Kind regards,
Vern

Ill take the valve covers..will PM you

If it has a VIN stamped in the side of it starting with 5R09K then it MIGHT be an engine which originally came in a GT350. The C5AE-6015 was a generic 289 engine block..used in everything from lower powered C code cars all the way up to K Code cars. Have you verified that it is, in fact, a HiPo block or are you just assuming that because of a C5AE casting number?

Regardless, I think it is unlikely to be a GT350 block with a 4H date code. JMHO

Kind regards,
Vern