1939 AC saloon

[Ed5995]

I know a guy who bought a rare '39 AC 4 door saloon with the intention of chopping the body off and using the engine/chassis as the basis for a special. However, the car is of the "wide" chassis variety so he is having second thoughts. The engine is a 6 cylinder which had been fully rebuilt. A sheath of paperwork is with the car. A previous owner had the seats retrimmed. It's stripped to the chassis but bodily it's sound (aluminium) but needs properly repainted, new headcloth, and put back together. He says he's open to offers but still keen to convert it into a special which he says will be worth more than the saloon. Pity to see such a lovely car chopped. What's it worth in this state...and what might it fetch if restored. I've spend money before on restoring cars which I haven't a cats chance in hell getting back so I'm not driven by making money rather I'm trying to avoid losing a bucket-load.

[crankedup]

As with most post vintage / modern classic / classics you will not find an book price. OK you might be able to establish a ball park figure by looking at similar cars previously sold in recent past. But many cars this will not be the case as not enough exist to be able to draw comparisons. Best to market the car at a price that feels fair perhaps and be prepared to drop that price according to responces, or lack of. IMHO

[Fane]

If he junks the body of a perfectly good saloon to make a special, he'll find that the car won't be vscc eligible, and rightly so.

[Ed5995]

Fane - thanks. I wasn't aware of that. Although the saloon body is a bit ordinary nonetheless it is a very rare car...apparently the last AC made before the outbreak of WW2.

[RichB]

In my opinion it would be a travesty to chop up a rare AC, why not sell it and but something more mundane to build a special on?

[austin]

Fane said:

If he junks the body of a perfectly good saloon to make a special, he'll find that the car won't be vscc eligible, and rightly so.

And as it was built in 1939 it won't be eligible anyway surely???

[ettore]

austin said:

Fane said:

If he junks the body of a perfectly good saloon to make a special, he'll find that the car won't be vscc eligible, and rightly so.

And as it was built in 1939 it won't be eligible anyway surely???

All pre-war AC`s are eligible (post '30 as PVT's). As Fane points out though, the VSCC take a dim view of this behaviour and VSCC eligibility, whether right or wrong, directly impacts the value in this instance.

[austin]

ettore said:

austin said:

Fane said:

If he junks the body of a perfectly good saloon to make a special, he'll find that the car won't be vscc eligible, and rightly so.

And as it was built in 1939 it won't be eligible anyway surely???

All pre-war AC`s are eligible (post '30 as PVT's). As Fane points out though, the VSCC take a dim view of this behaviour and VSCC eligibility, whether right or wrong, directly impacts the value in this instance.

I wasn't sure about the PVT vagaries Hopefully losing the VSCC legibility would have such an effect on value that it would become a pointless exercise...

[ettore]

austin said:

ettore said:

austin said:

Fane said:

If he junks the body of a perfectly good saloon to make a special, he'll find that the car won't be vscc eligible, and rightly so.

And as it was built in 1939 it won't be eligible anyway surely???

All pre-war AC`s are eligible (post '30 as PVT's). As Fane points out though, the VSCC take a dim view of this behaviour and VSCC eligibility, whether right or wrong, directly impacts the value in this instance.

I wasn't sure about the PVT vagaries Hopefully losing the VSCC legibility would have such an effect on value that it would become a pointless exercise...

You`d certainly hope so...