At $59,000, Do You Long For This 1931 Ford Hot Rod Limo?
The ad for today’s Nice Price or No Dice hot rod Limo claims it will garner its driver “compliments and thumbs up everywhere you go….” Let’s decide if its price is just as worthy of a thumb in the air.
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Yesterday’s 1983 Autobianchi A112 Junior proved cute as a bug and almost as small as one, too. That adorable nature combined with a hot drivetrain proved a palatable pairing, making the $6,500 asking price a solid deal, at least according to the 60 percent of you who anointed the little hot hatch with a Nice Price win.
With a wheelbase of just over 80 inches and an overall length (with its missing bumper taken into account) just shy of 127 inches, yesterday’s Autobianchi is arguably a tiny car. In fact, it’s so little that it would handily fit within the running board space of today’s 1931 Ford Model A Limo. Of course, very few prom arrivals or bachelorette parties could be handled by the Autobianchi.
Now, as oddball a car as this Model A limo is, let’s consider it on its merits. The obvious market for it is not the general hot rod enthusiast nor anyone with parking space limitations. Instead, it’s of interest to a livery service or maybe one of those party bus companies looking to diversify while at the same time letting their freak flag fly.
Amazingly, this once was a real Model A. In fact, it apparently took two Model As to build. According to a previous ad for the car, the bodywork is all metal save for the extra-wide rear fenders, which are fiberglass. The ad also notes that the whole thing rides on a bespoke frame comprised of rectangular-section steel tubing and is so long it requires two driveshafts.
This being a hot rod, the big block 460 CID V8 is shown off to good effect. It breathes through an Edelbrock four-barrel and has been dressed up with lots of polished parts and chromed accessories. That’s paired with a C6 three-speed automatic with its own oil cooler and actuated via a floor-mounted shifter. Suspension is unequal-length A-arms and coil-overs in front and something else holding up the 9-inch rear end in the back. And speaking of the back, if you’ve ever wondered why the luggage compartments are called “trunks” this is why.
Both the driver’s compartment and the seven-seat passenger space are air-conditioned, and there’s a glass panel separating the two so farts don’t co-mingle.
According to the current ad, the car has 6,500 miles on the clock and a clean title. It also claims the engine to be a small block 351, so there is some discrepancy between this and the older ad. The valve covers lend credence to this being a big block, however.
Something else we can glean from the ad is the car’s overall condition. The pictures show a clean and apparently well-assembled car with nothing needed save for the twist of the key to get driving. It was once part of the Volo Car Collection, something noted with a certificate in the current ad, and as Volo was the seller in the previous one. Now, it asks $59,000 to go to a new collector or be put into service for hen parties and red carpet arrivals. Does that seem like a fair price?
Look, I know this limo isn’t our communal cup of tea, but its audaciousness in just being a thing is a hoot and a half, and I, for one, am glad such a car exists. I think you should be, too. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s worth that $59,000 asking to exist in a new owner’s necessarily very-long driveway anytime soon.
What do you say? Is that a fair price for this custom Model A as it’s presented? Or is that too much for a car with so limited an appeal?
You decide!
Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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