Is the Parts worth more than the complete Car?

[tesgt350]

Is the Parts worth more than the complete Car?  For example I will use a CSX 2000 Slab Side Cobra.  If I had a very nice original one in my Garage and I decided to Part it out, remove the Body and cut it up at the seams Engine, Trans, Suspension, Frame Interior, everything, sell it off piece by piece, and would the Engine bring more selling it piece by piece?  What would a Door Sell for, a Hood, Deck Lid, front Fender, Nose, Rear Quarter, lower Rocker?  The Cars are selling for over a $Million complete and driving, would a Door be worth $50,000.00 a Hood worth $75,000.00?

[acman63]

Is the Parts worth more than the complete Car?  For example I will use a CSX 2000 Slab Side Cobra.  If I had a very nice original one in my Garage and I decided to Part it out, remove the Body and cut it up at the seams Engine, Trans, Suspension, Frame Interior, everything, sell it off piece by piece, and would the Engine bring more selling it piece by piece?  What would a Door Sell for, a Hood, Deck Lid, front Fender, Nose, Rear Quarter, lower Rocker?  The Cars are selling for over a $Million complete and driving, would a Door be worth $50,000.00 a Hood worth $75,000.00?

I think onl;y the premiere examples are in that price range.  been a lot of suspect cars sell for a lot less.  Not even close to part it out!  Id guess less than  10%  on a Cobra

[ITHERTZ]

I can think of several examples of "good" cars that are worth less than their collection of parts value.  Hopefully people don't do this just to make a buck.  A Cobra doesn't come to mind, though. 

[Bigfoot]

And condition is a factor

[BGlover67]

I had a pretty nice 2006 Mercedes 500SL that I sold recently.  Brand new the car cost $92,000.  Selling it privately, I couldn't get more than $14,000.  Try and buy a hood for that car.  I paid $1500 for a new windshield, and $600 for a used passengers side mirror.  If I had the time and space to store it, I could have tripled my money parting it out.  Classic cars that are on most people's list to own will never be worth more in parts.  10+ year old expensive new foreign cars sure seem to be.

[Bigblock]

Is the Parts worth more than the complete Car?

A guy here in Cleveland who possibly has the most original KR told me he should part out the car instead of having to pay capital gains on it. I told him I'll buy the rear defogger unit and original wheels/caps.

[Bigfoot]

I think an example could be a nice 68-350.
Have seen many examples in the last 5 years for reasonable money with mostly original parts.
1. What's the hood worth ?
2. Dated fenders?
3. Dated doors?
4. Glass,..especially front and rear.

Remember that all these parts can fit 500
5. Wheels
6. Decklid
7. Interior....

[Dan Case]

Original Cobra (The term "slab side" is something the replicar folks came up with in about the late 1990s. Look up the definitions of "slab". There is nothing about an original Cobra flat in any direction.) probably not. The major part of the value is legal ownership of the VIN. To most people the parts are just parts.

Cobras are one of the most modified car types of all times, sort of like 1932 open top two door Ford. What is a good car to many people might contain as many as 800 replacement or reproduction or aftermarket or pure custom parts while other cars might be total recreations from an old bill of sale. An original part X might be worth $ while anything else that just looks like it might be worth $ divided by two or hree or  four as a used part. 

It could be a bad assumption than anybody wants any given used original part X from any Cobra, even if the part is in excellent condition, two quick reasons. A) Nobody wants it. Is there really a market for something like a HP260 mechanical advance dual point distributor as used in some early Cobras when only a few  of cars still have their original engines and they already have distributors? B) Many parts don't interchange well. I'll use doors, bonnet, and boot lid as examples. Each part (actually assemblies) was hand fitted to a body placed by hand that was made by hand in one of several different contractors by hand.  AC Cars applied VIN numbers to these parts so if separated they could be returned to the correct chassis.  Parts from one car normally don't fit others very well. Yes you can rework something like a bonnet from one car to fit another but generally it would cost about half as much if the shop started with a pile of raw materials and just make what is needed.

Engines. I will stick to HP289s as 260 anythings are not common enough for there to be a market for. Other than an original engine for a particular car once out of the car an engine original to a Cobra just becomes another HP289.  Somebody trying to find the original engine for the Cobra they own might pay $X for it but otherwise as a HP289 it might be only worth half as much or less.

One of the easiest "things" off an original Cobra to sell is the original suspension off a car CSX2201 and later.  Oddly enough every couple of years for quite some time a complete system has come up for sale. The typical source is a car being converted to vintage racing. The original parts are of little interest to somebody wanting to be competitive. Since about 2004 a few very complete systems brakes and all have sold less than $25,000 and that covers hundreds of individual parts. One won't get rich selling off complete suspensions even if they are in great shape and complete.

This commentary could go one for a very long time as different subsystems are covered but you get the idea.

Last but not least, maybe 90 to 95% of Cobra owners are perfectly happy with reproductions or aftermarket everything if originals cost more than anything else, even just a little.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Complete car should be worth more. If you parts out a Cobra your should get the most money for the right footwell with tag and title. From that someone could create a new car. You may make some money selling valuable parts then offering the car as restorable. Somebody looking for a driver may not miss the smog equipment. When all is said and done you will be stuck with some parts that don't wear out or need replacement - something like the transmission tunnel comes to mind.

[Coralsnake]

A guy here in Cleveland who possibly has the most original KR told me he should part out the car instead of having to pay capital gains on it. I told him I'll buy the rear defogger unit and original wheels/caps.

Most original and rear defogger? 

[KR500]

A guy here in Cleveland who possibly has the most original KR told me he should part out the car instead of having to pay capital gains on it. I told him I'll buy the rear defogger unit and original wheels/caps.

Most original and rear defogger?

If you are going to bring up the defogger how about the dealer added A/C? None the less it's a very nice car, although the first/last time I saw it was about 25 years ago.

[Dan Case]

Complete car should be worth more. If you parts out a Cobra your should get the most money for the right footwell with tag and title.

The aluminum tag AC Cars used on CSX2xxx chassis CSX2201 and later haven't proven to be all that valuable. 1) Many owners of prior chassis have added tags to cars that didn't originally have them. As such they are a non stock addition. I know of several different versions of counterfeits, reproductions, and replicar versions. 2) It varies a little over the years but for whatever reasons around 11% of CSX2201 and later chassis (my data collection) are now using some kind of replacement for the original tag. So far the lack of an original tag has not affected the market desirability of those cars. Indeed, complete recreated from near nothing cars sell for big sums "original" tag or not. 

Yes, the title can be "worth" a surprising amount in six figures, even if the car is not much more than a pile of rubble. The more famous the car the remains use to be the more valuable the "title" to it might be. It is the history of a chassis that affects "value" more than anything else. That is most likely why creative new unknown histories suddenly come out of nowhere for cars like: always a street car going into a restoration shop and coming out with claims of being a successful Shelby race team racer.

[tesgt350]

SO, what I gather is, instead of Stealing and parting out a Cobra, I should do that to 1967-1970 Shelby Mustangs...........gotcha   

[Side-Oilers]

IMHO, parting out a "very nice original" Cobra is so wrong to even contemplate.

[zray]

Is the Parts worth more than the complete Car?  ....."

no they isn't.

Z