So heres’s the latest massive cache of parts that has come up for sale on eBay and it’s biggie. Like the rest of them it carries the same question. Is it worth it? Is this an investment on future earnings? Is this really something that someone can sit on and then make a pile of dough years down the road? What you are looking at is a portion of what the seller has up for grabs. Yes, the sale is featuring 300 bare big block Chevy blocks for $500,000. If you do the math that works out to $1,666 (and some change) per block. These are lumps of pig iron ranging from 1965-1975 and on. There are some tall deck blocks in here, there are some 502 blocks in here as well. The meat of the collection is 1960s and early 1970s stuff though.
There are 396 examples, 427 engines, 454, and 402s as well. The specific number is not given but there is a list of casting numbers apparently showing every block that they have in inventory and every one that the potential buyer will have on their hands if the sale is completed. Outside of the obvious questions around money, there’s also the logistical question of transporting 60,000lbs of blocks to wherever you want them and having the place to store them so they do not get wrecked by mother nature.
Ultimately, properly date coded blocks are not going to go down in value. People will be restoring Corvettes for decades to come and they will need the right stuff to do it with, starting with a block. There are certainly some pieces in this collection worth more than the “unit price” of $1,666. We’re thinking some of the late 1960s 427 high performance blocks are there. Those are offset by the mid-1970s low horsepower stuff that seemingly would not be all that desired as the cars are not worth all that much at this point. Will they be in time?
Oh, and if you were thinking about their value in scrap weight? That’s about $5,400 in today’s market.
Whack the images below to see the eBay listing – 300 bare blocks for $500,000?!
$500K? I see them sitting on the shelves for a long, long, long, long time!
W.C. Fields was right!
That was actually P.T. Barnum.
Well thats just plain ‘ol crazy!
Believe-it-or-not, interest in doing numbers-correct restorations is dropping. Reasons like saturation (they’ve already been done where they were going to be done) and people who care aging-out. The guys who want real horsepower are buying newer stuff. This pile would be good for cherry-picking off a few pieces, or if it were a bargain which it is not. Good luck anyhow.
what a joke. blocks with no cranks, no rods or pistons. if no main caps then a line bore is needed. freaking costs were be high for any restoration.
these guys are on drugs….
“So here’s the latest massive cache of parts that has come up for sale on eBay”
No, it’s the same pile as before. Tracy Performance Corvette Parts
Wouldn’t they do better one at a time? Get somebody to do 300 eBay listings and take it from there. Geeze 20 a week even would bring some nice cash.
As long as people are willing to pay these way overinflated prices then rip off artists like these guys will always try and make a buck!!! There may be a few decent blocks there but that kind of money for pig iron is ridiculous!!
What are the odds that maybe a dozen are ‘desirable’ blocks and the rest are motor home & dump truck blocks – and that’s even if those dozen aren’t cracked, machined beyond saving, etc
A half-a-mil!? They must be including the warehouse, land, a house and a couple of cars too.
W.C. Fields: “never give a sucker an even break”
I see about 290 boat anchors.
These are the blocks that were replaced by dealers. And I\’m willing to bet they haven\’t been check for cracks.
I used to think I shoulda hoarded a bunch of big block stuff even though I never really had the money. Now I’m so glad i didn’t, the door is closing fast! In 10 years the Millennials will look at a stash like this the way a fish looks at a calculator! Talk about distressed merchandise.
So they compiled a list of all the casting numbers, and didn’t cherry pick the desireable ones out? Lol sure I believe that.