Advice/expert needed widow with barn full of cars

I met a lady whose husband recently passed away. He was a mechanic into mostly Nissan's. 
 

She now has quite a few cars, in verifying states of condition. I told her there has to be a better way to sell them, to get the most from them, then just listing them on fb market place. 
 

I am looking for advice to give to her, maybe thought someone might have a contact. 
 

there were probably 3 Z cars (240,260,280) on parked on concrete, that were rust free California cars when parked and 3-4 other Z cars parked on stone. 
 

Maybe 2-4 Datsun 2000's parked on stones. 
 

2 MGs parked on stones one was a gt car, did all these just have a center lug wheel? 
 

2 Jag XJs V12s on concrete 

then two Datsun 2000 race cars in a separate garage. 
 

might be more I can't remember, just trying to help this lady get the most for her deceased husband's collection. 

In reply to Somebeach (Forum Supporter) :

Location?

I think it is depends on what the end goal is. Get the most for them?I think listing them individually acrosss the web is your ticket. May have good luck with FB groups for local brand fans.  Cars and bids for the nicer ones. It's also the more labor intensive way to sell them off.

Get rid of them quickly? list the lot for cheap and maybe you'll find someone someone out there who would pay less for the lot but would take them all at once.

Or pay a service and get and get a cut of the proceeds? Estate auction.

Estate auction would be the cleanest / easiest route, but also likely the least profitable.

Individual sales might be a good option as well, depending on vehicle / title status. 

wonder what she would want for the lot? Out of my price range, I'm sure, but could be a worthwhile investment for some one

So I did this for a friend a few years ago. I did basically 3 prong approach. 

1. Contacted all of the local car groups for that brand or genre. In his case it was the LBC and Jag community. 

2. Talked to the local specialty shops for that brand. 

3. Advertised in the FB and CL at the time. 

Go in with the question on does she want top dollar or just gone. If it's the first then spending a little to make a little may not be a bad thing. Especially if they are rust free. Just showing the engine spins is a good thing. 

Get a good idea of the values. It's a little tougher market to sell in right now for toys so they may sit a little longer than this time last year. 

In reply to Somebeach (Forum Supporter) :

Maybe start here for advise or maybe they'll broker the cars. It's probably "local" for you. 

https://g.co/kgs/H1QSvb

Their brokerage rate seems to be 10% of sale price ($2,500 per car minimum) and for that they list it on BaT and similar

https://www.snooksdreamcars.com/sell

Cacaw! Cacaw! 

Is it a bird, a plane? Is that a huge swarm of GRM vultures circling over head?!?!

Good thing he wasn't a Maserati Biturbo or ASTRO minivan mechanic or you would be getting stalked harder than Kylie Jenner during the golden globies. The Jag deets will definately be required by frenchy I am absolutely certain. He's willing to go deeeep under cover for that info.

The 2000s and 240Z will sell easily.  The 260Z and 280Z will sell but for less money than the 240.   Of course all of this depends on condition.  You could try FBMP or ebay.     

Bring A Trailer or Cars & Bids?

FB market is the best option. Take any offer you get if it is cash and gets the junk off the property.

This stuff is scrap metal to the widow that is keeping her from closure. Most of the times, if you count hours spent to deal with tire kickers and piecemeal sales/settlements/tittle transfers...she would be bettor off calling the scrapyard to come get the lot. Get it done and move on.

FYI, my wife would scrap all of it based on my instructions  because I would not want to be a burden to her beyond the grave. 

If the widow is desperate for $$$ then my advice might be different.

In reply to dyintorace :
location:NW Ohio. 

In reply to Somebeach (Forum Supporter) :

All I can help you with is the Jaguars.   Others have said as much.  This is the wrong time of year to sell.  
  I'm a extreme cheapskate and all fall I've been offered different deals on Jaguars.  I recently paid $500 ea for 2 solid nice Jaguar sedans.( 1972&1985) near flawless interiors. Properly stored, ( oil fogged engines, antifreeze drained, rust free examples).  
     The oldest are the most valuable sedans. Those from 1981- 1992 are bottoming out while the 1993-1997 have retained value beyond parts cars. 
   Visible  rust puts it in the parts car prices.  No tittle drops below parts car prices.   Running, driving, adds at least $1000. 
   In the spring $2-3000 is added to the asking price but as summer passes the 4 of July prices drop.  
         
    

VanDerBrink Auctions specializes in selling car collections.  https://www.vanderbrinkauctions.com

To answer your question on MGs, both spline drive (single center lug nut) and regular bolt on were common. The spline drive goes with wire wheels and regular goes with stamped steel generally.

On MGBs, neither really seems to be worth much more than the other. Just a preference thing for looks and maintenance. 

She needs to have an inventory, 10 minute inspection on each and current market estimates.  Before posting one of them on fb ask for a retired car person who is willing to spend some time in exchange for a percentage of the sale.  If you want to be cautious have 2 or 3 old f@rts do the same thing then pick one to do the marketing and sale.  

If this was within an hour of me I would be all over it.  

Olemiss540 said:

Cacaw! Cacaw! 

Is it a bird, a plane? Is that a huge swarm of GRM vultures circling over head?!?!

Hey are you a mind-reader?? Would love one of the 2000s and am close enough to be dangerous, but the disassembled 280z in the garage means I cant follow through. Sad day.

porschenut said:

She needs to have an inventory, 10 minute inspection on each and current market estimates.  Before posting one of them on fb ask for a retired car person who is willing to spend some time in exchange for a percentage of the sale.  If you want to be cautious have 2 or 3 old f@rts do the same thing then pick one to do the marketing and sale.  

If this was within an hour of me I would be all over it.  

This is what I was thinking too (being an old, retired f@rt myself). If I wasn't 3 hours away would definitely look into helping her with what could be just another thing for her to have to deal with. 

I'd be interested in a 2000 even though I shouldn't.

Interested in an S30. If she wants an offer on all the Z's to make them go away I'll go out there with you.

Estate auctions are online bidding these days and have a pretty good return on cars from what I've seen.  The best advice would be to go that route so she can get closure.

A reminder I need to create an inventory of my crap.  I've already started to write on boxes of parts what is inside the box.  Especially important when I have parts for so many different cars stashed all over my house and shed...  At least I do have titles for everything in a central location. 

You need to ask the wife if she is OK having a bunch of people coming over to her house , 

if not ask who the husbands car buddies are and ask them what they think is the valuable stuff ,

it may not be what you think  , 

Good luck....

Thanks for all the input.  Just to be clear I don't have any affiliation with this lady, but just met her, seems nice  and she has some cool cars. 
 

I passed on the ideas posted on here. Her goal is to prioritize getting more for the cars vs selling them quickly. She said that she is not in any real hurry to sell them. 

Somebeach (Forum Supporter) said:

Thanks for all the input.  Just to be clear I don't have any affiliation with this lady, but just met her, seems nice  and she has some cool cars. 
 

I passed on the ideas posted on here. Her goal is to prioritize getting more for the cars vs selling them quickly. She said that she is not in any real hurry to sell them. 

Her husband's name wasn't Lee, was it?

That's who I bought my 1200 GTlite from

the basement is FULL of all of the leftover NISMO 1200 and roadster parts. Guy was a character but a real car guy.