Thread: 37 Buick Century in pieces, should I buy?

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It can go either way in this market. I'm in the camp that believes you can make more selling it in parts than whole. Last year I had a pretty complete '40 ford sedan that came to me in pieces, a stalled restoration pretty much like you described. It came with a pretty thorough listing of the parts (stock/rebuilt/NOS/repop), that I just had to expand on. Turns out it was only missing sunvisors and one splash shield. I tried for three months to sell it complete, but being all apart limits the field of buyers to either the very knowledgable or the very gullible. Got the usual flood of "send me pictures" types, and one young tire kicker who "had to ask the wife" , but no serious takers. Finally got tired of that BS and posted up ads for the parts individually. In about 3 weeks I was $2k ahead of what I would have sold it for complete, and I still have a few boxes of small stuff to sell. Funny thing was, two of the guys that bought parts were from the "send me pictures" group. I let them know they missed the chance to make the extra money...........

Being that it was a Ford made my chances better than I would guess yours would be with a Buick, the audience is way larger for the Ford. That being said, you're getting the Buick for what I think is a pretty good price if it's complete and as "nice" as you've described. Especially if it's got a title. I'm not tuned into the Buick market, but if I remember correctly the grille on those is cast. If that one is really nice and not pitted or pimpled, I'd guess you could get most, if not all, of your initial pay out back on that part alone. If you've got the time, patience, available money, and space sounds like a plan to me. I find ebay a good resource for determining price potential, it reflects what people are actually willing to pay (understanding that that is just a snapshot of any given day in time)rather than guesses/opinions. You'll likely get more money for the pieces if you go to a national/international market. As suggested above, a Buick forum is a good place too.