Barn Car Value

[joel brightman]

I just acquired an 88 Bronco II XLT that has been stored in a barn (yes a barn) with other collectables for all but a couple of months a year since new. It was purchased by a family in NYC and transported to the Maine lake country to be used by the elderly grandmother who is now in her mid 80's. The vehicle has been driven less than 2000 miles a year and appears as though it just came off the show room floor!!. I just polished it for the first in 25 years (after using a light rubbing compound) and it shines like a "apple". There no road pits in the paint-it appears that the vehicle was never driven in weather. It is red and tan.

Am thinking about putting it in Owls Head Auction next summer, after leaving it in storage for the winter. Any ideas about what it may be worth would be appreciated.

 

[Explorin94]

Picture of said Bronco II would help tremendously.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Auctions can be funny - my uncle got $15k last fall for his 1500 2001 Dodge Ram with over 100k miles when he consigned it on a estate sale. About 3x what he was asking for it for the 9 months prior and he didn't get much more than a nibble. Aside from needing ball joints there was absolutely nothing special about it. The auctioneer actually came over before the sale and suggested he lower his reserve.

Barring something like that I would think $5k would catch it pretty easy if it is as nice as the mint one in my mental picture. It is really neat to see something like that to an RBV enthousiest but you probably won't get enough interest to get it to bring big bucks like if it was a musclecar or something like that. It is sad because there is no way you could think about fixing up even a decent one to the level of a really nice original but that is just the way it is with off the beaten path like a BII.

But it is an auction, it all depends on how bad two people want it. It is only worth what someone will give you for it.

 

[3hokies]

Red/Tan was one of the best sellers in '88...It looks good, but how are the systems...engine/trans/brakes/AC/belts/hose....etc...dry rot may be your biggest problem...a good un-restored original will bring more than a resto... replace any dryrot issues and take it to Ford-Carlyle and put a for sale sign on it.