This is an interesting eBay ad and question. There are 100 four speed cores for sale from this one seller and if you are in the restoration business it seems like this transaction may make sense but then again, these guys are in the restoration business and they are off loading them. What struck us about this is that the seller is very clear on saying that there are no junky old three speeds in here and there are no M-22 Rock Crushers either. Basically you have the transmissions that appeared in the majority of muscle cars during the era that we all know and love. But is there still a huge market for them?
As more and more people turn to companies like American Powertrain to upgrade their cars from automatics or to take their four speeds and make them six speeds for more driving fun, it would seem that these guys would become less and less valuable. Now, if you are restoring a car to perfect specs we can see the need for having the correctly stamped and modeled transmission in it but jeez, $60,000?
The ages of the transmissions range from 1964-1982 and according to the ad, “This is for ONE LOT of 100, (Yes, One Hundred!) Four, (4) Speed Chevy, Chevrolet, Corvette, Chevelle, Camaro, Nova-Chevy II, El Camino, Bel Air, Impala, Biscayne, Pontiac GTO, Buick Grand Sport, Olds 442, Used, Mainly Aluminum Manual Transmission Rebuildable Cores. These transmissions need rebuilding and that is why they are called cores. THESE ARE THE GOOD TYPES OF 4 SPEEDS, USED IN HIGH PERFORMANCE APPLICATIONS, NOT THE WORTHLESS SAGINAWS 4 SPEEDS, ETC., which we sell by the pound! It does include some iron and aluminum 1963 and newer Borg Warner 4 Speeds, lots of 64-68 small countershaft Muncie Aluminum 4 speeds, several 1969-1970 big countershaft course spline input, small output Muncie Aluminum 4 speeds, several 1970-1974 fine spline input, large output Aluminum Muncie 4 speeds, quite a few 1974-1982 fine spline input, large output aluminum and iron case Super T-10 Borg Warner 4 speeds, a few Camaro Borg Warner Super T-10 4 speeds with the special tailhousings and several other 4 speed combinations.”
What do you think? Worth the money or is this stuff actually losing value as time goes on?
CLICK HERE FOR THE EBAY AD FEATURING 100 FOUR SPEEDS
I have a friend who in the days before ebay used to attend auctions for piles of seemingly stupid things to buy cheap and sell at a profit. At one sale he saw a guy buy over 3,000 dog baskets (dog beds) – that makes even this job lot seem sane but unless you were to turn them into car seats they wouldn’t be much use for the average Bangshifter….
That’s $600 a unit! WAY too much. You can buy a fully rebuilt, case restored M20 for $1300.
Another case of “one man’s junk . . .is just that . . . junk!”
now go price out a date matching, code correct one for a vette, or a a 2nd gen f body
Nice plug for the sponsor.. as that was all it was.. (reminds me of the beasty boys song, she’s crafty)
Those building big money across the block vehicles are not sliding in 5-6spd aftermarket parts..
I’m betting the ebay poster knows 60k is high.. but it gets the word out..
and is cheap marketing, as the listing cost is tiny for a national/worldwide ad.
And if someone bites, all the better..
This would be like buying Petersen Publishing post-internet for the pre-internet price…no matter what it was worth once, times changed. The market for old Muncie transmissions is past being on-the-decline and you’re right, it’s because of all the ones taken out in favor of modern units. Even the resto crowd appreciates having an overdrive trans in the cars they want to drive, there are old good Muncies (not “cores”) that will never get used again sitting on shelves everywhere including at my house. So who is going to take the big loss on this stash of transmission parts that are now worth only a portion of what they once were? This seller would like it to be you, not him, but…good luck. They could probably be retailed off singly for the $600 ea. eventually but not this pile.
Oh the resto crowd appreciates,, is that the same crowd that buys them and stuffs them in a warehouse corner and they sit til they cross the block again..
See this blog for what it is, a way to plug the sponsor.. as the facts don’t add up to the reality of those buying the cars, and the values of the as stock to restomod, and it’s not even close.
Need to take these to a farm style auction. Some old parts hoarder will bite and hide these away for eternity. His heirs will be trying to sell them in 2036 when no one remembers a muscle car and gas powered vehicles need a $$$ special use permit.
tracy corvette is the pimp, & bangshift is the whore. no john here.
By the looks of the storage warehouse, seller has loads of cast iron on the selves and it cost money every month to store it. Carefully worded in ad about what is not included, probably the really rare units, means if he, the seller, thought it was worth while keeping these tranys he would. WAY over priced for a large lot. If seller really wants to get rid of them as a single lot, price will probably need to be dropped by about 60%. Not really surprised by the high price though, as Corvette folk usually have a very high opinion of themselves.
Well, about one-third of people who are into cars are total dicks anyhow (I thought of that just now, after reading comments) so it’s not just the Corvette guys.
and that leaves you where?.. . welcome to the 33 %
clearly you don’t get it, and never will , might want to look at the watermark on the ad photo’s..
In a bulk lot like that … six grand would be more like it.
Remember this one, “1 Used Lot of 300 Bare Big Blocks, $500k”.
Yeah, he’s still got em.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-1990-Corvette-Chevelle-Camaro-Chevy-Nova-1-Used-Lot-of-300-Bare-Big-Blocks-/390934870319
That price is insane.
First off anyone that pays $60K for that lot is going to lose money. 50 to 75 might be save-able or fixable units. Unless they they took them all apart and checked the cases first then re-assembled them, no way are 100 out of 100 good. That stuff is worth $150-$300 each at swapmeets. That’s knowing what the Transmission IS, and whats defective.Even sellinh online, in a retail shop and at Swapmeets: you may not find the guy needing it.
A number of Small: Supply houses, Restoration parts houses, New-Old-Stock sellers are packing it in. I am asking my self now why I bought the last 8 skids worth of parts. I could have made more money on stuff not car related. I keep getting more and more ‘I need to sell my whole inventory’ or ‘I have XYZ sized warehouse full of parts I need gone’ or ‘I have a 53 foot van trailer full and I am taking bid to your dock’.
Parts made in China & companies that give the impression china crap is better have killed the Resto parts business.