Need help in PA (4) 1966 convertibles, tons of parts need assessment and buyer

[jmurrayent]

Need help placing a collection of (4) 1966 Cadillac convertibles and tons of parts.  These belonged to a man in Honesdale, PA who passed away and left it all to his daughter.  She prefers to sell it all to right person and doesn't have the time or energy to sell it piece by piece.  If you can help her assess what she has and give her a reasonable price range, it would be greatly appreciated.  Included are (4) 1966 Cadillac convertibles that are project cars, but from looking at photos of the parts, I suspect all the parts are there to finish them off.  The other cars are a 1970 Eldorado, 1969 Buick Riviera and (2) 1984 Biarritz's.  Also included are paint charts and literature along with tools and 50 years of man cave stuff.  I sent the owner a link to this post so she could follow the comments and contact who she feels is trustworthy, so please keep that in mind.

I've attached a few pics so you get the idea, the owner has a lot more photos, too many to post here.

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

After thinking long and hard about this conundrum, I think that if the lady gets out of this without having to pay someone to clean up the property, she's going to be lucky. For what it would take to fully restore just one car, you could buy at least one, if not two very nice 1966 Cadillac convertibles.

I think she needs to price the entire lot so low that some fool will show up and take the best car(s) and (probably) leave the rest for her to clean up.

[jmurrayent]

Thanks for your input Barry, you might be right.  Hopefully she can find that '66 lover who has timeand space to store and sell off parts and cars to fund a restoration.  I purchased Robert Pelter's collection of (25) cars and and garages full of parts, and its definitely a ton of work and I still don't know what all I have ten years later..........

[fishnjim]

to all the other collectors out there with their "pile" they don't have time for, get rid of it before you pass, not fair to leave to your heirs that don't share your interests.
Been there done that, but not with autos.
Unfortunately, it would take a trip/time for someone to assess and catalog all those items.   My suggestion is call the auction house and let them do they're stuff.   It's what they do. 
The collectors interested will show to the auction.   Inductive vs deductive reasoning.  Come to me or go to them?

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

Several years ago, I got rid of all the "good" stuff that my wife and heirs would have no idea of what was what. Even longer ago than that, I made a nearly 200 mile round trip to make sure that a deceased friend's 1948/49 rear coupe fender moldings that he'd stashed in the garage rafters were OK and the kids knew the value of them. (They'd known about them.) So, if you have something hidden away that is worth a relatively large sum of money, either make sure your mate knows about it, or sell it yourself.

I sold some parts for a widow several years ago, and while we were talking, she mentioned a foot stool her husband used that they were wanting to trash, but couldn't figure out why it was so heavy. They finally got into it and found it was full of change. She had no idea her husband had tossed his spare coins in it, and they were ready to toss it.

I had a locksmith friend who was called. The only clue that the family had was a cryptic note saying "back yard" with purportedly precise directions. Nothing there. Harold ended up digging up the entire back yard and finally found the stash under the back cement walk to the garage.

The guy evidently didn't like any of his original choices. So, don't be "clever." Let your loved ones know what you have and it's value. Especially if they might think it was trash and not worth anything.

[skinny_tom]

I was reading the Self-Starter this morning and noticed several ads for people who buys cars and collections had placed ads in the classifieds.

Perhaps one of them would be interested?