High Cost Engines

Boy that is Nice But as Bob said he is off alittle on the Price !

I’d jump on it but the cost of shipping is just too much

Couple of extra zeros in the price maybe? Or maybe they are Zimbabwe dollars

For about the same price you could get one of these:



Attached to one of these:

Wow !!!!!! Does the word "delusional" pop in your mind too !!!! I never dreamed of such a price !!!
A few weeks back on my seemingly never ending search for a muffler for my Italian Cipolla Junior .09, I ran across a Buy It Now for a Cipolla .09 car engine NIB..
The BIN price was EU 2,500 Euros ( $2701.00 USD) plus $27.95 freight !!!!!
I was drinking coffee at the time and laughed so hard it came out of my nose !!!!!

Unbelievable !!!!!

Friends, it's a beautiful engine, but if that engine is worth $ 77000! ... then how much is a Cox !!? ... I like the Cox .020 rc !!.... $ 78000 !!!

I'm trying to give this fellow the benefit of the doubt.

What if he machined each piece - the trumpet exhausts, the crank shaft, connecting rods, wrist pins, pistons, cylinders, all the way through to the plugs, that must represent thousands of hours of work.  

Then there's the case, base, and paint.  Looks like quality work.  Checking his other auctions he offers some very nice engines but nothing priced like this one.   The $77,500 price must be valid as he also mentions it on his shop site.

"Or best offer."  I'm thinking $7,500.00

LOL, I think you all are right. It is a beautiful engine, but the cost indicated is far beyond reasonably what one would pay. I don't know, may be he'll get a buyer.

House across the street from us, a 6,000 s.f. with indoor swimming pool and horse stables behind on a 1 acre lot is going for $650,000. It has been on the market for at least 10 years. Here in this small rural town of 38,000 people with a small air force base nearby and some retirees living in the community, the industry is agriculture, surrounded by 18 dairy farms and a cheese plant just south. Nearest large cities over 100,000 people are Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas, 95 miles and 2 hours away.






With the salaries this town pays, only a few can afford that much for housing. Those who can opt to build their own to their own liking. The dairy owners build their houses on the farm.

There are just some limits to what the market will bear. I see here locally used Harley Davidson motorcycles being advertised for sale by owner at near new prices. You see the same ads month after month. Yet, they still remain unsold. Some have an inflated view on what their ride is worth.

The engine has a nice fuel tank, fancy exhaust dual exhaust per cylinder, but is more of an art statement than it is an object of function from past history.

But for art, one doesn't need to make it functional, even mold it out of plastic and chrome it, sits on one's desk as a display, with a volume sufficiently produced so the seller can make a profit at a price people will buy.

$7,500 as what Bob pointed out is what I think it ought to have been priced at.

We call it "The Pinstripe Effect".  Take a $5000 Harley, add some custom sheet metal, a set of cool shotgun pipes and a killer paint job, it sells for $40k.  Doesn't matter if it's rideable, it's cool and someone with money just has to have it.

I'm in the jewelry and engraving business and I can say with complete confidence that bling sells.  It can sell for huge money too.  I've seen $3000 shotguns with some really nice engraving sell for well into the six figures. My wife is into porcelain dolls.  You'd be shocked at what some of those little babies can bring.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see someone like Jay Leno buy that engine for full asking price.  One thing for sure, the guy selling it won't ever get $77k unless he asks for it.  But because he did, he just might.

Thank God I live in a country where such things are possible.

Dave P. wrote:We call it "The Pinstripe Effect". Take a $5000 Harley, add some custom sheet metal, a set of cool shotgun pipes and a killer paint job, it sells for $40k. Doesn't matter if it's rideable, it's cool and someone with money just has to have it. I'm in the jewelry and engraving business and I can say with complete confidence that bling sells.

Dave, I'm sure in the right market one would probably be able to get $78k for that model airplane engine. Some people have money to burn. Regarding the Harley, again the right market. We live in a economically depressed area. Here, it's just not the right market. Bling does sell, but only up to a certain point. When mama is working as a maid at a local motel and papa works as a night shift restocker on Walmart shelves, after paying rent on their apartment and clothes for the kids, groceries on the table don't have much money left for bling.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see someone like Jay Leno buy that engine for full asking price. One thing for sure, the guy selling it won't ever get $77k unless he asks for it. But because he did, he just might. Thank God I live in a country where such things are possible.

Yeah, Jay Leno might be someone interested or another eccentric. Trick would be getting such listings visible enough to the well to do crowd.

Some time back may be 2 years ago, there was someone who was trying to sell 1963 RTF left over engines on E-Bay, the .074 and .11 A.C. Gilbert Thunderheads with powder coated crankcases and polished aluminum parts for $75+ AFAIK. They looked pretty but didn't seem to be getting much sales.
I guess you can only add so much lipstick to a pig.

All that is absolutely true.  Location, location, location.  eBay would probably be the best place to list it if the objective is to put it in front of as many people as possible.

Isn't it great tho to be in a place and time where Dad can sit down at his third-hand Sherline for a couple hours an evening after stocking Walmart shelves and after a couple years crank out something like that engine, that might appeal to someone of means enough that they would buy it from him for more than he makes in a year?

I can't afford to be my own customer, so I get where you're coming from.  There's not many people that have both the means and desire to buy something like that, but all it takes is one.  I'm glad they're out there.

I thought this TD .049 would bring some bids, even though high to begin with. I guess there is still time.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/352463961941

Another quick thought, I have to admire the guy.  First for having the skill and fortitude to see such a beautiful piece of artistic engineering through to completion, and second for having enough pride in himself and his work to have the nerve to ask what he really believes it's worth.  What it's worth to him anyway.

Engines aren’t getting more expensive, your dollar is just shrinking!

crankbndr wrote:Engines aren’t getting more expensive, your dollar is just shrinking!

Today:

Better Price and more worth the $$$ https://www.ebay.com/itm/183360892475

getback wrote:Better Price and more worth the $$$  https://www.ebay.com/itm/183360892475

But the other one has 4 mufflers, a fuel tank and a custom engine stand for $76,000.

getback wrote:Better Price and more worth the $$$  https://www.ebay.com/itm/183360892475

Regardless of price, how do you mount it?  Timer housing is in the way as far as I can tell.
Still, a neat looking engine, but beyond my budget. I want a full size engine for that figure.

Oldenginerod wrote:

getback wrote:Better Price and more worth the $$$ https://www.ebay.com/itm/183360892475

Regardless of price, how do you mount it?  Timer housing is in the way as far as I can tell.
Still, a neat looking engine, but beyond my budget.  I want a full size engine for that figure.

It has mounting lugs that would require some type of standoff mounting to clear the distributor points housing. I guess if the buyer was someone like Jay Leno could have his auto shop machinist make a custom polished mount out of aluminum, mount it to a properly scaled pre-WW2 free flight model aircraft like an Aeronca C-3.

Outerzone UK: 1949 Air Trails Aeronca C-3

Here's a twin that would probably go for less but is rather purdy and be worthwhile to get.    

GallopingGhostler wrote:

These are our $AUD$ 1972 prices

Hey, only 4 years to my senior's discount. WooHoo!!

Oldenginerod wrote:These are our $AUD$ 1972 prices Hey, only 4 years to my senior's discount. WooHoo!!

LOL, except those sandwiches were not offered in 1972! Not all McD's offer senior discounts here, locally managed.

Dave P. wrote:Another quick thought, I have to admire the guy.  First for having the skill and fortitude to see such a beautiful piece of artistic engineering through to completion, and second for having enough pride in himself and his work to have the nerve to ask what he really believes it's worth.  What it's worth to him anyway.

This isn't his only 3ngine, he's been cranking engines out for years, singles, 2, 3, 4, 6 cylinder. Masterpieces!