Re: [Chrysler300] 1957 Chrysler 300C convertible

I enjoy watching Wayne Carini going about his business too, and I think I saw that Ferrari episode recently.

To me, the way to see and understand the "barn find" attraction is to view it as an entirely different type of pleasure. It's more like finding a pirate's treasure chest buried in your back yard - it's exciting because you found a valuable thing that was just part of the dirt until some magic moment of discovery. And the more potential the found object has, the more exciting the discovery. So you leave the dirt on it for a while to tell the cool story.

But in the long run -say it's a Deusenberg J that was dragged out of the barn - a valuable collector car will be brought back to beautiful in one way or another, and then the story will turn to being about the car instead of the barn.

You can turn that car into anything you want if you own the title; and some day when you go to sell it, the market will simply tell you whether that's what they would have done to the car. In the broad spectrum of collectors what bothers one person a lot might be admired by another.

Very little seems to get a free ride in universal agreement, but I think most will be disappointed to find a car's very features don't match the factory stamped trim tag. It makes me wonder: would that Ferrari have a trim tag on it that would indicate its original color? Or would color have been considered to be a highly original prerogative of the original buyer of the car - and thus immaterial to subsequent owners as well? I really don't know.

I still love the black on it, yet I think he should have left it white if the plan is to cash out the highest at auction.

Keith Boonstra

On Sat, Mar 29, 2014 at 12:51 PM, Michael Moore <mmoore8425@xxxxxxx> wrote:

John,
I think I agree with you-but I have become a fan of Wayne Carini (Chasing Classic Cars) for the last year or so. He seems to know his business and be well respected. I have learned a lot from watching that show. Standards of top cars seem to be changing.

I was working at Pebble Beach as a United Way volunteer (handing out programs etc,) the first year the Preservation Class was introduced. I could not see why it made any sense to ship an old Mercedes from Germany with half an inch of barn dirt on it! Why not at least wash it? I am seeing that change where now some people are saying if the car is clean and original it's better than restoration or bard dirt. In fact, I heard the comment made that many wonderful old cars were ruined in the last two decades by restoration to a level far beyond what the factory could do.

Now, Wayne deals with a lot of multi-million dollar cars, and I have seen him consciously paint a Ferrari 275GTB4 (I think) a color other than the factory color (he painted it a gunmetal gray) and install a different color upholstery (cinnamon).Maybe it doesn't matter when you get to stratospheric prices, like the $27.5M 275GTB/4NART car. For that kind of money, I suppose the cost of restoring correct paint and upholstery colors is a fly speck!

Probably like you, I think a non-factory standard color for a letter car is very noticeable and to my eyes, looks dead wrong.
Mike Moore
300H factory colors all around :-))

On Mar 29, 2014, at 9:29 AM, Keith Boonstra <kboonstra@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

It does need some tweaking to be correct, but the main thing that strikes me is that no "investment grade" any car will be painted in a color it did not exit the factory in. The car looks gorgeous in black, but it will only be investment grade when it is returned to white.

Keith Boonstra

On Sat, Mar 29, 2014 at 11:14 AM, John L. Chesnutt <chesnutt@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi George,
It is missing the spare tire metal cover also does not have the stainless rock shields in front of the rear tires. It appears to have the surround around the trunk 300 emblem.

Hope you are having better weather then we have in Portland – record rain fall for March.

John C , 57 300C,

From: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of George McKovich
Sent: Friday, March 28, 2014 11:42 PM
To: Rich Barber
Cc: <Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] 1957 Chrysler 300C convertible

Something is wrong with the trunk lid emblem also... It is missing the surround that goes around it. I wonder what happened to that??

George

On Mar 28, 2014, at 3:39 PM, "Rich Barber" <c300@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Interested fans may wish to view an “investment grade” 1957 Chrysler 300C convertible on e-Bay at: http://tinyurl.com/l5e68mg. No VIN given. Scroll down for a god set of pictures. Bidding already to 90K, looking for 180K. A rising tide lifts all boats (and land barges).

Rich Barber
300K (model, not price)