Value of a ’37 Sears Water Witch

[roj115]

Hi,

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve posted here. Thanks to the help of your members I was able to find a member of your group in my City whom I was able to give a complete ’61 Johnson Seahorse 10 to. I now have another question to ask of the membership. I have a line on a ’37 Sears Water Witch outboard that a guy wants to sell and I want to buy. I am still waiting for him to send me some pics of it but he says it’s in pretty decent shape. It’s not all polished up like the one in the Photobucket pictures I’ve provided a link to but he says it still has most of the original decals although they are not in perfect shape.

http://s3.photobucket.com/user/localboymark/media/Denny%20Akers%20house%2009-21-10/DennyAkers023.jpg.html

I don’t know if it runs or not and to tell the truth I’m not that concerned about that as the things are so darn cool looking I’m happy just to have it as a display piece in my cabin if it doesn’t run. What I’m unsure of is whether he’s asking a fair price for it. He’s asking $200 CAD which is about $155 USD at the current exchange rate. Once I’ve got it I’m also looking at having to have it shipped across most of Canada so that’ll be a bit expensive. That price doesn’t sound too out there for such a cool motor of that age but I have no idea how rare or common they are and how much demand there is for something like that so I have no idea if the asking price is high, fair or low. I’ll post some pics of it when he sends them to me but in the meantime, I’d appreciate your opinions on whether the asking price of $200 CAD/$155 USD is reasonable for such a motor and what the value of something like that is so I can figure out if it’s going to be worth it after paying all the shipping costs.

Thanks in advance.

[westwind]

Condition is everything on those. Most have dented tanks and missing front covers. The price doesn’t seem too far off it’s got the front cover and is relatively dent free and not siezed.

[chris-p]

Agree with above. I had to pay up for mine as well. They seem to hold their value well, as even non collectors like their styling and cosmetics to hang up in their cottage or man cave. Or the old Mae West fans! If its not stuck, and not dented up badly, 200 cdn is not out of line. Pretty rare though to find those tanks totally dent free. They are sort of prone to dents, with their design.

[roj115]

Thanks for the info. The motor is in another building of his that he doesn’t get to all that often so he wasn’t able to look at it to describe its condition or take pictures for me right away. He says that he doesn’t think the tanks are dented or if there are dents, they are minor but we’ll have to wait for the pictures to arrive in order to know what kind of shape they’re in. I’ll post the pics when I get them. Hopefully, the tanks will be dent free or close to it making his asking price reasonable.

Incidently, what’s the approximate value of one of those things fully restored, polished and in showroom condition? I don’t imagine that ones in that sort of condition come up for sale all that often.

[westwind]

That is a tricky one, because it’s such a pretty motor, people will ask crazy prices, it’s hard to say what a fair price is these days. Pay what you think it’s worth to keep it, then you won’t be disappointed if it doesn’t end up being worth that much.

[Anonymous]

Ebay has a few listed with prices all over the page.
Kirk

[roj115]

It looks not too bad. Definitely not museum quality but not too badly beat up. A couple small dents on the port tank and the transom clamps are a bit rusty. On the other hand, it looks complete and all original (please correct me if I’m wrong.) It would take quite a lot of work to bring it back to new or close to new looking. Worth $200 CAD/$155 USD assuming it turns over and could be made to run?

Here are the pictures:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0c9Ojgr3CyKcGJYWHBCdFBWZVFhMnBwQmFzYTJOcWFzMjlJ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0c9Ojgr3CyKV1ZkcGRuVGN1ZDJZVmM3QU1PNFI4VUdkRE5r

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0c9Ojgr3CyKclZQMHN3TGdia3FpSnc2eXNqemJJMklMZ1lj

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0c9Ojgr3CyKd1l3cThucGtwbEt4LTM2YlVGN1hrM1JKVkNJ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0c9Ojgr3CyKS0VWblVnYjNNZzdxNEhHTE5RR29LbENtVk8w

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0c9Ojgr3CyKemZXZUtxM2F5LTRGV1FiLXZNQjJ6aThZVUNr

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0c9Ojgr3CyKU0cwZ0NRRTdNXzUzSm5fOF9VTkw0VGJuQ1pn

[chris-p]

Off topic, but love that stand!

regarding the Water witch, if you are happy with the price, I don’t think its out of line. Seems like decent shape. Make an offer of what you can live with. All he can say is no.

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