Hoping to Buy a CJ3a need advice

[Mayhem]

Hey Everyone, I am pretty new to the forum, hoping to get a jeep soon, and I have a few questions. I am currently looking at a 1951 Jeep CJ3a and am trying to figure out how much I should offer the guy selling it. It was a frame off restoration, but the current owner bought it off the guy that did the bulk of the restoration, the current owner is a mechanic and finished the renovation, but doesn't know much about jeeps in general. This is what I could get from him. The frame is original, the body is new, the axles are from a CJ7 it has a chevy vortec v6 engine with around 60k miles on it (I just have to take him at his word that this is correct), borg warner Transmission 4 speed, power steering, and no top. It is in pretty near perfect condition, no rust on the body, hardly even any at all on the axles or anything. I can Attach some pics which should help. I am really interested in buying it, but am not sure what a fair value is for it. Thanks in advance for any insight!

 

[elwood blues]

It's always very hard to judge any kind of value of something from pictures. But from your description and the pictures I would say somewhere between $4,000 and $6,000.

It's tough to say when it's a custom vehicle. If this was a straight '51 CJ3a restored to stock it would be easy to put a pricetag on it. It's going to depend on how well you think the custom work was done. Does it look like the axles and suspension were just thrown in place, or is the geometry look like it's correct? Take a magnetic level and start checking angles to see if they're the same. How does the engine swap look, it's a newer engine dropped into a 50 year old engine bay, is everything there? Is it going to require dropping the engine mounts to replace a spark plug? Was the wireing harness a hack job, or is everything color coded and semi-organized? Those are the things I would look at before offering cash.

But that's just my 2¢

 

[CJ]

That is a great looking cj3!

How much? I would never buy a CJ by an offer... Or if I did I would offer a ridiculously low one - let him counter so you know what he wants...

The price that is worth is what you are willing to pay and what he wants... Trust me - he knows what he will accept...

 

[Mayhem]

Hey thanks for the insight so far. Its easy to forget about all the little details like the spark plugs for instance when checking out a car. I talked to him again and told him I really need some idea of what he wanted for it before I could make an offer, I should also note that when I went to look at it he started it up which was very easy, one turn of the key, but wouldn't let me test drive it until I made an offer. Which I was pretty bummed about, its hard to make an offer on something you haven't driven in my experience. Anyway back to the point, he told me he invested 9k in the jeep and wants $8500 for it. Which I thought was pretty high. In most cases i have seen and experienced myself building jeeps up, you never get close to the money out of them that you invest in them. I am thinking maybe 5K would be a reasonable amount, I am though I guess getting more worried about the fact that there are so many parts on the jeep from different vehicles, which might make future work more difficult. The work done so far looked very well done, from my perspective. I am not a Mechanic though so I don't know everything to look for but, I have done lots of garage work on jeeps and it looked pretty legit.

 

[Petescj]

Thats a pretty clean flattie for sure. The motor upgrade looks pretty well done from what we can see in the pic. Thats a plus for me. So is the nice clean body. Is that tub steel or fiberglass? There is no WYLLIS emblem on the hood either. My 49 had it , maybe not on a '51 Im not sure. If that tub is Steel and not full of Bondo I like it very much. Not easy finding one in that shape here on the East Coast. As far as $8500 Id say no. $5000 seems a little low to me though , but you could use that as a starting point. Id go as much as $6500 if I really wanted it.

 

[CJ]

~~~but wouldn't let me test drive it until I made an offer.~~~

Huh? is that about? Not even a small test drive? It's a great looking CJ and he may have been burned before but that would piss me off...

I have no patience for individuals like that.

 

[Mayhem]

It has a new steel body which is in almost perfect shape, there are just a few minor scratches in the paint, and the interior of the tub is lined with some truck liner material that is very hard and gritty. here are a few more images

 

[Mayhem]

Huh? is that about? Not even a small test drive? It's a great looking CJ and he may have been burned before but that would piss me off...

I have no patience for individuals like that.

Yeah I was initially pretty confused as well. either he just doesn't want people wasting his time and coming by just to drive a jeep, or he is trying to hide something, not sure. I run a bicycle shop though and my main goal when trying to sell someone a bike is to get them out on a test ride, you want the buyer to get a feel for it and take ownership, then they will buy it

 

[CJ]

I'm willing to bet that he doesn't want people to waste his time, but his philosophy - he removes a large amount of his costumer base...

 

[Petescj]

Im willing to bet hes pretty firm on his asking price then also. I beleive he'll be sitting on it awhile. Maybe that will soften his stance.

I'm willing to bet that he doesn't want people to waste his time, but his philosophy - he removes a large amount of his costumer base...

 

[CJ]

Im willing to bet hes pretty firm on his asking price then also. I beleive he'll be sitting on it awhile. Maybe that will soften his stance.

Exactly, I'm sure he knows what wants - just wish he would say it... (new smiley)

 

[IOPort51]

"I am not a Mechanic though so I don't know everything to look for but, I have done lots of garage work on jeeps and it looked pretty legit."


If you’re not a mechanic now this is your chance to become one.
​

 

[LongHorn]

That is a great looking cj3!

How much? I would never buy a CJ by an offer... Or if I did I would offer a ridiculously low one - let him counter so you know what he wants...

The price that is worth is what you are willing to pay and what he wants... Trust me - he knows what he will accept...

X2 on that. I have to agree with CJ.

 

[chris insull]

Good looking CJ for sure! Not letting you test drive it or even taking you for a quick spin is BS! Maybe he's not REALLY interested in selling but just trying to gauge interest. As far as the price goes, he'll probably get it once the weather starts to warm up again... Out west it wouldn't take a week!

 

[Petescj]

Heres another in Pa thats been for sale for awhile. Cheaper but not as nice.

Jeep CJ 2a

 

[BajaEdition]

here is my take on a classic jeep such as you are looking at: It seems all the classic value of that jeep has been destroyed when they swapped out the drivetrain. One of the reasons to get a Flattie is to keep it original and have a really killer classic jeep, he has destroyed that by chopping it up to fit in the v6 and also replaced the rest of the original tranny,tcase and axles, it would cost thousands to restore it to original.
OK that said, sounds like a killer Jeep that has been upgraded really cool, My mouth waters at the thought of it.
So here are a few lessons on horse trading.
look it over, mention that nothing original is there and it would take a lot of work to get it back to original. Ask what he wants and if he tells you, just make a grumpy sound and lean back a bit and look at it. Never, I mean never, mention a price to him, if he ask what you will offer tell him you are still thinking about the fact the collectors value has been destroyed, just keep looking around and stop talking by all means.
Let him sweat a bit, he has a person interested, you prove that by not leaving, but knows that you have not made a deal, if he ask what it will take to sell it, tell him you are waiting for a fair offer. Pretty soon he will break, and if he does not, and you do, he is a better horse trader than you are.
Any jeep running is worth 2500 out here, good rebuilds like the one you ar looking at, if finished go for 4 to 6 gs, some go higher but then a fool and his money are soon parted. Resorations to original go for a lot more.
If the jeep is not finished, or has licenseing problems, it is worth about 1000 to 1200.

 

[BajaEdition]

It has a new steel body which is in almost perfect shape,

the more you tell me about this jeep, the more I think you are looking at a possible nightmare, new body, no original drive train, just what about his Jeep is a 51? and why did he not buy a logoed body, to save money? what else did he save money on, If I was redoing a 51 willeys, I would buy a logoed tub for sure. I say go back, offer your 5 gs and if he does not jump, forget it,

Let me ask you this, with so much changed out on that rig, if you need to fix a broken part, how long is it going take you to research where the part came from? he after all is not the first guy to start a major changeout, so he would not know all the answers. Now also, if you do get this possible money pit, do you have the mechcanical ability to figure stuff out or are you going have to pay a mechanic to figure out the brakes came off a 72 gmc so you can change the shoes, and if the slave cylinders are leaking was that a 52 gmc or a 65 ford part?

 

[CJ]

All great advice!

Baja is our resident expert on 'older' Jeeps! Hence his new title!

 

[IOPort51]

All great advice!

Baja is our resident expert on 'older' Jeeps! Hence his new title!

and just where is the , in this title??
resident old, jeep expert or resident old jeep, expert?

 

[BajaEdition]

I will acept the title if we change expert to Dali Lama, or maybe Shaman, I really like Shaman. after all by no means am I an eXpert, the guys at ECJ5 blow me away, but loving and messing with pre 72 jeeps all the time I can tell you that you need to research everything about them and keep it up as you will find a lot of stuff kitbashed.
My advise on CJ2s and CJ3as is that you keep the oriinal engine in them, the CJ3b was given a higher hood to accept over head valves, to put an engine with overhead valves in an earlier jeep you have to lower the drive train, defeaing lifts. But that is just my opinion. CJ5s and later have tons of room under the hood.