Reply to "Controversial Goose"

Hey!

This car was up on ebay a few years back, along with two other Geese and a 40ft trailer at the time. Owner was up north of LA near Six Flags. He had basically scabbed good parts from the three cars to make one nice car. When I spoke with him, about missing parts...I got a very nonchalant "I think they're around here somewhere" which to me...meant "I have no freaking clue where all that stuff is...." Not to mention the fact that this car and one other sat outside in the weather for decades. Note the condition of the interior on this particular car....nothing does that but natural sunlight! The third car lived in the trailer...along with cats....ugh!

So, 4 years back or so, there was a set of wheels on the car. No steering wheel..... I would put money on this current seller throwing them out on the market to get what he could, since the getting is good.

As for buying this car now? $15K. No more. Why so low? Because I own one, and I know how much trouble they can be! The ZF is surely rusty....if badly, simply throw it away and find another box.....as you will pay and pay and pay for each gear that is pitted and unserviceable. I heard that blocking rings (synchro rings to some) are selling for $300 now....can't imagine what gears are going for! It would be cheaper to buy a -1 Pantera box and gut it for parts....swapped into the Goose box.

Engine- rusty cylinder walls....

Body- rusted. How much work and $$$ do you sink into this? There are no clear pictures of the underside of the hatches, the bottoms of the doors, underneath the fuel tank/storage areas....

As for Provenance, I scream !!! Windows are dated mid 69. No way in hell was this an early car if these are the original pieces of glass. The brakes are not normal early brakes. If you look closely, this car has 3 piston calipers all around...not the giant aluminum versions.... This car is a "heinz 57" car.

The hatches are steel, not sure about the hood, but that is a very early feature, unlikely to have been lying around.....except for on a car that may have been sitting at Ghia for a while....as the two headlamp thing was being engineered! (If all of that is true!) THEN, it came back to the factory where it was assembled further... Dates on the intake manifold and heads/block/distributor and part number of the bellhousing would probably reveal a 302. Early cars as this would have normally had the hipo 289... or at least a very good possibility of it.

Car $15k
Body work and paint $20K (presuming there will be significant rust and metal replacement-could go higher)
Engine $5K Nothing fancy!
Transmission $10K
Wheels and tires (refinished) $5K REAL conservative here!
Refit brakes and other hydraulic systems $3K
Interior $10K May be low... everything is trashed and needs replacing!
Steering wheel $1K Probably low.....
New lens on all the lamps, new side markers $1K Could be high.
New mufflers $1K They can't have survived!
New Headers $1K Will need to be custom made...unless you buy old junk from factory parts supply....
Air cleaner and parts $1K

Just this adds up to $73K. There is margin here to still sell a now pristine restored car for more, however, I believe that labor cost is not fully reflected in the price estimates and could up the costs very quickly into the $85-90+K range.

While there are cars that have sold for much more than this, I believe them to be the reflection of what a non-stock custom restoration will do to a car.....and unconcerned and unknowing buyers. I'm talking a restoration to stock looking style. Also, you have the stigma of being a two headlamp car vs the more popular 4 headlamp version.

Since you cannot prove that this was the "first" two headlamp car, without tearing into places to prove the serial number issue, it offers little confirmation. How much more would that make the car even if it was!?
As one old timer told me, just because it's the first of a line of ugly cars, doesn't make it any more desirable or valuable!" (except for a few!) Same thing for the 1 of 1 scenario. If the car was ugly when it was new, chances are that it will be ugly still! (I AM NOT saying that 2 headlamp cars are ugly at all!!!! Just making a point about collecting.....) IF the car had a history of a celebrity owner, I think that would add more value than the conversion thing..... Being the first of one of these, could mean that you will have a hard time finding parts!!! ...as chances are, things changed a little bit as production hit the line!

I really believe that if the guy had even an ugly set of stock wheels on the car, that it would sell for the $30K range....but even that is pushing it on a car that needs a TOTAL resto and then some. Most are not going to invest $50-60K to make $5-10K or so. You would buy this car to rebuild it for yourself. Only then would it be worth the initial cost! IMHO.

Steve