Re: Passing of Forum Member Hal Renninger, "Cobralcon"

hillbillyerv June 1st 2010, 12:19 pm

so sad. God Speed Hal.

RapidRuss June 4th 2010, 4:43 am

R.I.P. Hal, Our thoughts and Prayer's are with your Family !

Help · cobralcongirl October 16th 2011, 9:13 pm

Hello!
I am Hal's daughter, Kristen. I have been googling the Cobralcon and posting a plea to get some advice from some of Hal's old friends for help. Hal built the Cobralcon. It was his dream and I consider it his legacy. We have had a tough year and a half without Hal. We miss him so much! Unfortunately, the Cobralcon has been in a garage since Hal's passing. My mother just got an offer to purchase it for about $42,000. Hal had been ill for a long time before he passed, and he spoke with me many times about the amount of money that he put into the car and how much he thought it was worth. We know that he put close to $100,000 into the car. We just don't know enough about cars to know if we should sell it or not. We don't have to sell it now. We don't want to dishonor Hal's final project by selling it too cheap, but we hate to see it just sitting in a garage. Any advice on the value of the car? Should we hold onto it until the economy improves or my 3 year old son (a true car lover) grows up? It's just such a hard and emotional decision. It's only made worse by our own lack of knowledge about these types of cars. We would appreciate any advice that any of you can offer. Thank you so much...and also thank you to all of you who posted and talked to Hal about the Cobralcon. You were truly a very bright spot in his life!
Kristen

f250mike October 16th 2011, 9:29 pm

Kristen I followed you dads build and hope I can do the same some day.
I'm sure Hal invested way more than the car will ever sell for.
I'm no expert but I would think an expert appraisal would be a good idea before accepting any offers.

Hope this helps
Mike

cobralcongirl October 16th 2011, 9:37 pm

Thank you Mike. Where would I find an expert appraiser? This makes me feel a bit better. My mom and I were saying that the difference is worth the joy that Hal got out of building the car. Thanks so much for your response, and thanks for following the car. We're hoping that if we sell it, the person will show it, so that we can take the grandkids to see what their Grandpa built! Thanks again for your advice.
Kristen

56Tbird October 16th 2011, 9:39 pm

Kristen , I'd say that is a fair offer ,IF you want to part with it ? But keeping it for your 3 year old son is going to be more than just letting it sit for 13 more years. The car will need to be started and drove a few exercise miles about every 3 months or so. It'll sit there and go to pieces if not. Seals will dry out and metal parts will rust up in the driveline if not started and moved around. I'm kinda in the same boat with my stuff....nobody in my family has any interest in cars.Good luck on your decision!!

69F100 October 16th 2011, 9:40 pm

For the new ones on here and don't know about this,this is the car he built
https://www.429-460.com/t732p30-cobralcon-build?highlight=Cobralcon

I would not sale it at that price knowing all the hard work and money he had in it and the love for it.You said your son love cars this would be a great car for him if you have some where to store it for him.You could still take it out from time to time for shows in the memory of your Father (Hal) for him.If I remember right he carried it to a show before his passing and was very proud of it.

Jim

f250mike October 16th 2011, 9:48 pm

Kristen You might try the Hagerty Insurance company. They insure classic cars and may be able to do appraisals. Here's a link to the Hagerty website http://www.hagerty.com/ .

dfree383 October 16th 2011, 11:53 pm

IMO Sell the car and put the money in a school fund for the Kid, it will give him more in life and when he has a good job he can build his own car if by that age he's into it. Storing a car like that and keeping it nice for that kind of ammount of time is a total PITA and will cost $$$.

I followed it to and its a beautyful car, but .50 on the dollar with the economy the way it is right now is not horrible, in may be very tough to get anymore anytime in the future and remember tastes change and it may not be worth .10 on the dollar in 5 years.

windsor October 16th 2011, 11:56 pm

Kristen - I'm glad you found this thread and I'm sorry for your family's loss. Your father seemed like a very, very nice man.

Good luck with whichever decision you make. I'm sure if you do sell it whoever gets it will be proud of the legacy this vehicle has to offer. I don't think you need to rush.

johndickjr October 17th 2011, 1:53 am

bbf-falcon October 17th 2011, 8:58 am

dfree383 wrote:IMO Sell the car and put the money in a school fund for the Kid, it will give him more in life and when he has a good job he can build his own car if by that age he's into it. Storing a car like that and keeping it nice for that kind of ammount of time is a total PITA and will cost $$$.

I followed it to and its a beautyful car, but .50 on the dollar with the economy the way it is right now is not horrible, in may be very tough to get anymore anytime in the future and remember tastes change and it may not be worth .10 on the dollar in 5 years.

X2,I totally agree w/Dave on this one. Your Dad built a beautiful piece there ,and like was said probably put 2 times that into it not counting labor.But,these are tough economic times and buyers of very expensive cars are scarce too say the least. I would give the buyer another price(maybe 50K) and see what happens. Smile

Good Luck and God Bless you and all of Hal's family.

jasonf October 17th 2011, 9:59 am

Kristen first off I am sorry for your loss. I never knew your father but that is a sweet car he built. You can get the car appraised but it is going to be an appraisal of what it is worth not representative of street value. If you have no interest in keeping the car then I would sell it. If you have someone offering you $42k for it I would jump all over it. The thing about hot rodders is 99% of them are cheap and are usually trying to nickle and dime a car together. A very small percentage of them actually have the bank roll to go buy a car of this caliber. Expensive cars are very hard to move. If it is an brand name car with a builder like Foose or Kaase some rich guy might come along and give you more but in reality it is a slim chance. The car is going to nothing more then depreciate and 40-50% return on a car you build is about the right number in my opinion. Btw you could try the local hot rod shops for appraisers. They usually know who they are and how to get ahold of them.

Good luck with which ever way you decide to go.

nuclearcobra October 17th 2011, 12:59 pm

Kristen for a car like if your gonna sell it it needs to go to a auction place like barret jackson or barrys hot rods and mecums auto auctions,but i bet your dad would love to have his work seen on national tv and you would most likely get the most for it at those places, the people that go there to buy custom cars already have the big bucks and the ecomony isnt hurting them as bad as well how do i say it ... non rich folks, hope it helps ya and worth checking into imo,& sorry for your loss,Bryan Gallo.

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