I see that the red re-body GT-E is for sale again.
http://m.ebay.com/itm/371250774250?nav=SEARCH
Steven
I saw that last night but did not look at any details on it yet, except a big price tag.
It’s a good looking car. At least this time it clearly states that it’s a rebody.
Steven
Insanely big for a re-body, IMO.
At least it is being listed honestly.
This is Mercury’s answer to the Boss 429. A much more special car and extremely rare. This was the last of Ford’s breed to utilize the side oiler 427 engine found in Million dollar shelbys!!! If you have seen the values of the Boss you can rest assured this will be next!
Above is a cut and paste from the eBay listing. My answer when someone asks me what is so special about a GT-E over a regular Cougar? I say it is like the difference between a Plymouth Barracuda and a Plymouth 'cuda. The difference being all of the special trim. A W-code 427-4V GT-E could be compared to a Hemi 'cuda.
IMO, the rebody thing kills the “rare” claim. Yes, the original car was rare, and all of the parts that were scrounged from it are rare, but putting rare parts on a common car doesn’t make the car any more special in my book. Besides, is it just me or is the front bumper bent? Also, it looks to me like the rear bumper corners are in upside down- yes, no?
You’re correct on the bumper rubber fillers are upside down and the front bumper looks bent. If it’s not bent it sure needs a alignment with the bumper “stick” before tightening it down in place. The rebody thing doesn’t bother me as much if you know what you’re buying and the price reflects it as such. A car like this would be a great driver/cruise-in car.
Steven
This is Mercury’s answer to the Boss 429.
How did Mercury build the GT-E as an answer to a car that didn’t exist yet? 
I guess that just shows how far ahead of thier time the Mercury designers and engineers were!
I agree with Mike the GT-E was a year ahead of the Boss 9. I think Mercury was trying to one up the 68 GT 500 with the 428 PI engine, since the 427 was Fords top performance engine. I do not think the value will ever reach the Boss 9 values but since the 427 GT-E is very rare it should out value a 68 1/2 CJ Mustang by a long shot.
IMO, the rebody thing kills the “rare” claim.
+1
A car like this would be a great driver/cruise-in car.
Yeah, if was $29,998.00 instead of $129,998.00.
+1 hundred thousand…(agreeing…see what I did there??)
In my mind, it’s essentially worth the value of the GTE parts, plus the standard body.
There are lots of restored 1968 Cougars with 289 engines that cost more than $29k to restore.
Valuation has to be looked at from the stand point of cost to duplicate. This car on the surface looks like a pretty decently restored 1968 standard. Add in a complete set of restored GT-E trim, and I presume a numbers matching side oiler 427, matching C6 transmission, and nodular 9 inch rear end assembly. It would cost $50-65k to build a twin to this car, much more if all of the labor was done by an outside shop.
And since you typically only get .50 on the dollar when you sell a “restored” car, $30K is probably the right number for this car.
It is good that a rare GT-E was preserved if the original body absolutely could not be preserved. Although, if it was in any was salvagable, it would have been better to graft replacement components on to the original body to avoid having to go the re-body route.
Agreed. This same type of topic was covered on Graveyard Carz. The car/remains in question was a 1969 Dodge Daytona. There just was not enough left of the original car to even consider a rebody.
Steven
There just was not enough left of the original car to even consider a rebody.
In my mind, it’s essentially worth the value of the GTE parts, plus the standard body.
And since you typically only get .50 on the dollar when you sell a “restored” car, $30K is probably the right number for this car.
100% agreed.
Let’s look at this another way. Suppose I have a nice '68 Cougar. I’ve also collected a complete set of GT-E parts. I put those parts on my Cougar. Doesn’t that make it a GT-E clone? The nice Cougar did not become a GT-E. I think when the decision was made to toss the original GT-E body, the GT-E went off to car heaven along with all its brethren that did not survive to the present day for whatever reason. It is gone. Finished. Kaput. Outta here.
Now the seller is very careful/crafty in the way he represents the car in his eBay ad. So why then does he put a $129K price tag on it? Caveat Emptor.
Two questions:
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Why invest so much effort and expense into a rebody GT-E? There are GT-Es at reasonable price ($40-60K) available that don’t need rebodying, far better candidates for nut and bolt restorations. And they are then candidates for the full value of a restored GT-E.
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when does a car cease being original - when you replace 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 90%, or 100% of the body???
Gary, and others – I have communicated with the current owner/broker. He paid too much for the car, because he didn’t do his due diligence and contact the Registrar before he bought it. That’s the reason for the very high price. I’ve already suggested that a fair market value for the car is about $50-$55K. His greed may suffer the consequences.
That said, some have asked how much of a car (percentage wise) has to be replaced before it is no longer the original car? We can’t even get two cougar-o-philes to agree on the condition of a car right in front of them, much less agree to such a subjective criteria such as degree of originality. There are as many answers as there are questioners. A rebody, as defined by the Registry, is when you take the tags off a car, cut the inner apron vin stamps out of a car, reattach/weld that stuff on another body and otherwise make it “appear” to be original. I’ve had to have such a definition applied to the Registry, so that we do not get into the position, over the years, of describing a car with a variable definition.
Therefore, an original GT-E say, that keeps its original unibody, with dash tag in place, door tag in place, and has had the entire front clip replaced, but the original vin numbered apron pieces welded into the new clip, is not a rebody, even if the floors have been replaced, the roof cut off and replaced, both doors replaced, both fenders replaced, both trunk and hood replaced. Not everyone agrees with this definition, but it is the one I have used now for 22 years.
Good response, Jim.
Jim - That is a very clear, well thought-out definition. But:
We can’t even get two cougar-o-philes to agree on the condition of a car right in front of them, much less agree to such a subjective criteria such as degree of originality.
In my opinion that car is a very nice clone however “painstakingly” the vin tag was “removed…and replaced.” I do agree with your valuation as an asking price, and I would call that “high blue book” for this car. I’ll stick with my $29,998. (What can I say, I’m cheap!) 