Guys I give up. I just can't take dealing with selling my Cobra.
 

I'm about to just give up, and keep the car.

The idiots out there are wearing me down. Now don't get me wrong, its always hard selling a vehicle, and I've sold many daily drivers for many years without too much frustration.

However, selling my Cobra is a whole other ballgame, and really starting to make me vicious, and short in dealing with people asking over the top stupid questions

For example, I get several people asking, "is this a REAL COBRA". Yeah, I'm selling a "real" Cobra that sells for nearly a million dollars for $49k.

Next is the idiots asking me to sell my damned hard top off the car. This one I really can't understand. I mean, sure, let me get rid of my finished, painted, fitted, and installed LaMans hardtop, which might actually help me sell my car vs another comparable car without a hard top.

Oh, then the people griping about the top itself, as in "its sacrilege to put a top on a Cobra". Well, it IS REMOVABLE!

The list goes on, and I'm sure some of you guys who have tried to sell your Cobra have heard worse, but I'm seriously just thinking about keeping it, and installing a stroker kit to the 428fe, and some good aluminum heads.

I would agree that I'm to blame in some of this by listing the car on Craigslist, and Market Place, but you would think people who are seriously looking to buy a Cobra would know a little about what they are buying [ie joining a forum like this would be a good start].

Lets here your "Cobra for sale" stories. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.

I've sold a number of Cobra replicas. I'm also always shopping for them. I will tell you that this frustration goes both ways. The best a seller can do is document everything, pay for a professional to help you take photos, assemble your build details if necessary and write your ad copy. The more info, the better. This will weed out most of the tire kickers. Anticipate any questions and answer them in your ad. Take care of the maintenance issues that need attending to. Spend some money to advertise properly and in the right places and you will be rewarded (if the car is a good one). I don't know you or your car, so this is meant to be general information. Not specific to you or your car. Best of luck!

The worst question is. "What's your lowest price". Why would I tell you that, make a offer and I might consider it and come to some agreement. JD

Just let it go. You've already mentally made the decision and questions about why will merely extend the time it takes to sell it which you will ultimately do anyway.

Putting a pricey engine in it won't change the original reasons you decided to sell, but it will provide way for you to send 20-30K to someone else and the result won't make your care more valuable. Don't do it.

If you haven't already put an ad in www.cobracountry.com.

Or, and I get this quite a bit, "would you be willing to trade for my Harley"?

Even with the words, "no trade" in the ad, it seems to escape some people to actually read the ad.

I guess I will have to gamble the money, and put it in a proper ad. I've always used classic car trader with pretty good results in the past on classic, or performance cars.

Thanks for all of the replies.

Try Cobra Country.
Serious buyers check it out.

.
Had that one. Showroom Harley, he spent $120.000 sell for $85000. But will trade and give me money. :eek: Good luck. I've been trying to sell for years. Guess I'll have to keep dropping the price. JD

I'd turn it over to a consignment dealer. Most charge a flat fee (here in TX its $1500 for the dealer near me). They advertise it on the usual sites, store the car, haggle with prospective buyers, and answer questions.

Your profile denotes Alabama.
This one is in Birmingham. https://steelcityclassics.com/about-us/

All too many want something for nothing.


John
ERA #3010 Slabside 289 BRG

Do your homework before you do something like this. Lots of horror storys about taking your $$$ an runnin with it. OR say they have it sold but they had to spend $10k fixing stuff for the new owner. :JEKYLHYDE

HINDSIGHT.
Good luck, going forward.

I have sold several Cobras through the years. The last one I let a local dealer sell for me because he sell high end cars world wide. He charges 8%. Most charge 10%.

Sold within a few months. The fall is not the time to sell a car with no top. But he did it.
He got within $1,000 of my price. Good for the buyer, I was happy and he cut his commission to make the deal.

I don't know where you live but look for a dealer near you that can sell your Cobra. You need someone who is familiar with the Cobra market.

Lots of dealer with indoor show rooms that can market your car world wide.

You can not blame someone for asking. Sellers change their mind also. Maybe someone wanted the car without the top. And I'm surprised at some seller who will sell for half of what they asked.

Dwight
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/m-Vintage-Autos-sp434014

When you list something to the general public, you will have interest from many people who see the add, but they were not looking for that particular item. So hell no they haven't done their homework and no nothing about a Cobra. It was your job to explain what the car is, in terms the general public would understand. It is silly for you to expect the average Joe to have known all the things you have learned over these years.

From a point of view of a buyer, I made the mistake of telling my wife I was going to buy a set of two way radios to go mushroom hunting in another state where their is no cell phone coverage. So she sees this add on a facebook or some other selling wall app for Cobra radios. So I am trapped in texting through this app. Do they come with a charger, I ask? No they take batteries. Well that told me a lot. What type of batteries, I ask. I think any will work. What size as in are they a AA? Oh AA. What is the range, I ask. I never tried to talk more than a block or two. What are they advertised for, I ask. I don't know. Exactly what model are these, I ask. MicroTalk. They sell about 50 different models under the brand name MicroTalk. I'm not interested, I text back.

It is amazing to me how many people advertise things and do not give me any useful information to figure out what it is, so I have to contact them. Then I get Microsoft answers (technically correct but useless information).

+1 Cobra Country, I sold my Backdraft in a month, significantly weeds out the tire kickers. Not sure where you are located, James Yale at Radical Roadsters here in Texas took care of everything, all at a very fair price I might add.

Bring-A-Trailer, real bids, real people, success rate over 99%, and it's $99 for a week's auction. Plus you have comment section, that the dumb people, get raked over the coal's, by people in the know ;) I've sold 4 cars there, got more money there, then anywhere else, and 3 of the sales, found 3-new friends, (Real Car People). And you can have a Reserve, work that out between you and BaT. cheers TommyRot.

I went through pretty much the same thing selling my unfinished Contemporary. Guys who were "on their way" only to have some major life altering catastrophe the day they were supposed to be here. Guys who "I want it. I'm a serious buyer" who strung it out for weeks. "i will take it, I'll be there this weekend" (local guy) just to have a whole litany of excuses to postpone, then to try and low-ball at about 1/2 price. All these clowns wear you down to the point of screw it I'll keep it. When I did sell it , it was to a serious buyer at a price I wasn't happy with but then atleast I didn't have to deal with all the tire kicking mouth flappers that were "serious buyers".

A suggestion: Write up a two page advertisement on your car. Make sure to document, what it is, manufacturer (who assembled what parts), dates, options, all the details. Make sure you put contact information in a conspicuous spot. Now print the two pages on good quality paper, using both sides. Print a stack of these fliers.

Enter the car in every car show you can drive to. Put a for sale sign in the windshield and invite people to take a flier. Sit in a lawn chair, with a friend and enjoy the day. Now you are available for questions, and the less serious folks will be happy with the flier for the most part. Some folks may have to stew over it and check finances. Talk to the wife. Perhaps sell something. You may get the call a couple months later, from the new owner. Well that's assuming you don't treat people like ****, who dare to ask a question that you feel is beneath you or too uninformed.

Is your Cobra listed here. I bought my Backdraft 1 month ago on this site.
Thank you CLUB COBRA!!:)