Vintage Karting Forum

Can someone tell me why I havnt gotten any interest in my fox karts.price? Color?shape? Shipping? What gives.tell me I can take it . Thanks

Steve, the rig looks well worth the price. Maybe guys are superstitious about green race cars? You never know. I thought my asking on my Swoopster was reasonable, but I got no bites on it. It sits out in the garage collecting dust and twigs blown in from the desert. I wish you the best of luck. Ted

You just have to keep telling folks until someone comes along that wants it, most of the core group just wants parts,
then someone new to vintage Karting get's involved and they ask a lot of questions.....some buy, most just ask questions.

Buying and searching takes time, selling takes even longer........this stuff is vintage, you have to be able to maintain it
younger people just want to buy and drive, plus most looking want to buy it for next to nothing, supply and demand

Not much demand

Steve,
This my humble opinion:
Most people on this site, buy karts cheap, and restore them. Over the years that I have been on the forum, very few restored karts have been sold. Most are original, IE, don't have an extended porch. Things have really changed since the VKA went to 1985 karts. It's really now all about "racing" 1980 to 1990 karts without any rules. The vintage stuff that a few of us like & prefer is so much old news. I just put a thread on the forum about the Caretta that I just purchased, & started working on. I don't say it has to be everyone's cup of tea, but hundreds of looks at the thread, and no one reply. It's not 3 years ago, things have changed, prices are going down. The baby boomers are 10 years older, and Moms not interested any more. Remember when Harley's were selling like mad, well, not any more. It the same thing with any motorsport based on baby boomers. 10 years ago, they were 60, now they are 70.
Prices will continue to go down, the odd special kart will still sell, but the tend is down all over the nation.
Sorry for the bad news.
Brian

remember vintage karting as a sport is barely vintage.
i think actually it's not even vintage yet if you figure around 1996 for the start of the whole vintage karting thing. thats about 21 years and vintage karting needs 25 years to be vintage!!!

so i can't agree with that whole vintage karting is dying out.
or i guess pre 1975 vintage karts.
i've seen literally a ton of well made well excecuted restorations in the last three years.
i know collectors who have over twenty karts already who are totally new to vintage.
i also see new people coming into the sport.

also
the gauge for determining participation has always been the up or down value of parts selling and how many attend events.
the problem with that is we have people for their own reasons NOT ATTENDING EVENTS and values vary almost daily on some items.

i remember a time just a few years ago when a set of front brakes were going for 1400 now not so much.
it seems to be kinda random. but also parts have lost value as replacement parts become available.
almost 1/2 maybe more the cuyrrent members of this forum would probably think i'm insane to say we actually were discussing what would happen when we ran outta pistons for mccullochs a very real concern at one point. bearing and seals were going for stupid money for 50 year old stuff till someone pulled a mike out and matched up old bearing and seals with new production.

now we are flooded with parts in some ways.
in other ways we have parts drying up and i do see serious gaps .
but as time passes i actually expect to see them filled.

 selling finished karts issue is the same as it's been since before i started.
they are hard to sell if you try to even break even.
finished karts like custom bikes never bring a decent return for the so called "investment".
plus like about anything custom the buyer will rarely LOVE WHAT SOMEONE ELSE BUILT.
with vintage restored cars and bikes you set price off how perfect ,desirable and original they are for collecting.

with karts its moere custom so matching a buyer with what you thought is cool colors, chrome, wheels whatever is  ALOT harder.

even great complete deals are hard sells mostly because we all are idiots when it comes to real world cost estimates.
i know i've had to spend many many years learning the more complete a kart is the better the deal almost regardless of the price.
it's the smalls that add cost but few really go to adding up all that at one time.
i think it was steve welte who figured somewhere about 1200-1500 was the basic cost to redo a kart and that's with a rattle can paint job.

and there is a continuing supply coming into our sport .
vintage karts are still pretty plentiful even if it seems not to be true to older guys who've been in this a while.
i myself have bought about 6 karts this year all fairly complete and some really rare for about the same as i've paid over the last 15 years no more no less.
the difference is more people are looking and buying but the picker supply has remained about constant.
there was time time few remember when there was a countable on one hand amount of rathman exterminators.
the pricing was insane but has leveled off somewhat as more and more were dug out and became available.
i could go on but maybe i've made my point.
be patient it'll sell just not real fast.

Steve,
Sorry to highjack your thread:
Dave, the guy that purchased all the stuff in Texas, and has run this web site for years is claiming to be the normal everyday vintage go karter? Dave take a look at the number of guys & gals using this site, the number is much smaller that a few years ago. Actually I think most are on Facebook now. Every time I go on the Facebook sites, almost all the talk is about 1980 to 1990 karts. What the heck an I missing? I purchased a few new Vintage Speed tires last week, just to stock up, from the guy that sell tires to all the old vintage guys. He agrees,  if anyone should know, it's Gus.
The time line of the sport has zero to do with anything, except that we get older.
Brian

Vintage isn't dead or even dying, but money is very tight for those parents with kids in the grade school age bracket
and having working class jobs, skilled labor and some self employed have more cash to spend on family recreation .

A lot of people would like to buy Vintage karts, but most of us that have restored karts just cannot sell to these folks
they don't have the cash,  I have a decent "Fun" Manco roller $200 way less then I paid and I have people wanting a runner for that price.......same with mini bikes.......two Doodle Bugs sold for $200 for the pair complete......that's the CL market place.

We all love the barn find, but it better be a keeper or don't invest in a restoration and think you'll get your money back
.....this for most of us is just a hobby, for the few that love to buy up stuff at events, it can have it's rewards.....in time .

Selling my collection off is painful, but life changes......a friend just purchase my GK 1200 that I said I would not sell,
another friend from back in my drag racing days decided to get into vintage karting.....so the collection is slowly
being redistributed to people that see the real value of this hobby and of course the members here are buying the karts that were on my project list........thank you guys !

The last kart I sold was completely restored and it took me a year and a half to sell it off. To date I've never made money on a ready to run restored kart. As it was pointed out above most people on the forum find a ratted out kart and bring it back to life rather than buy RTR. 

And from what I've seen new people that want to relive there past and are trying to get back into the sport want something that is ready to run. But they are shell shocked when they see what a kart and equipment sells for today. They think they can get back into the sport at 1970's prices. Face it even though prices have fallen vintage karting is still very expensive. 

For me there is another issue that always come up when selling a kart. The sell stops when the buyer asks "where can I ride it?" The answer is nowhere close. The local track here won't allow vintage and it's a 4 hour drive to find one that will.  

There are lots of reasons for it not selling but the bottom line price, finding the right person, and time.

as others have said..its very difficult to sell some thing you customized for your self, your tastes....the only way to get anything near what you spend(invest???..LOL) in it is to bring it back to the way it was sold....

minor safety upgrades allowed...brakes steering shaft..newer tires ( Vintage Speeds)...you start doing stuff that you think is cool doesn't always appeal to the masses..

and if your buyer is not willing to travel to Vintage events,,,keep it....NO SALE ...

BTW..I don't think I have ever made money on a restoration,,,,,but I make sure I get it in the hands of people that will use it and get it back on the track,,,more fun on the track than hanging in a garage..

gwr

Well said Gary. I am soon to be 72 years old and have decided I need to stop buying stuff other than what I need to run the classes I do which as I get older will certainly go down to 1 class. My son finally has been able to get days off work now so that he can run some of the events next year but the 3 day ones are probably out. If you consider the price of racing today vintage karting is still the best value. I still maintain that there are plenty of people out there that would love to participate if they knew this existed. I was one of them. I have been in this for 6 years and have 7 karts but they are all runners and I have sold 2 since I started. No show karts or trailer queens for me so the ones that are too pretty to get dirty I will never buy. And I am like you Gary, both of the ones I sold will be on the track which is one of the reasons I sold them!