Found old comic rack. Need Help! 0

[Artboy99]

1 hour ago, Comicdey said:

Yep it's a buy

It is until I look into shipping costs from MI to Edmonton, AB. Canada.

[Comicdey]

1 hour ago, Artboy99 said:

It is until I look into shipping costs from MI to Edmonton, AB. Canada.

Cut it up box it and reassemble 

[Artboy99]

Just now, Comicdey said:

Cut it up box it and reassemble 

[Fan Boy]

7 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

Or... get someone closer to the border to pick up and bring it into Canada. Then figure out a day and time to meet you, maybe in a comic con somewhere in Edmonton or Calgary or..? 

Just some ideas thrown in. Great to see you are the new owner of the cool rack! 

[the blob]

grab it for $600..that's from the 40s...common spinners from the 90s sell for like $100-$250..if you can get a few more of the name plates you'll really have something nice

[Artboy99]

17 hours ago, Fan Boy said:

Or... get someone closer to the border to pick up and bring it into Canada. Then figure out a day and time to meet you, maybe in a comic con somewhere in Edmonton or Calgary or..? 

Just some ideas thrown in. Great to see you are the new owner of the cool rack! 

I did not buy it.

[comicwiz]

I've tried to work with him, but a few of you have given this guy fuel to think he's sitting on gold. Fair is fair - it's a resto project, and that's going to require sinking in time and money to do it right. I was willing to drive over 6 hours to meet him to find a home for it in my collection, but hearing he's going to stick it up on eBay for a quick flip, this thread's become nothing more than a way to get what he wants from the community, and to help him promote it. I'm out.

Edited March 24, 2017 by comicwiz

[Doktor]

Nah. It's not gold. It's nice but will require at least a reasonable amount of restoration & could be very nice, but it is still missing some important bits & is only partially usable even after its been restored until the missing brackets & plates are replaced. But it's still nice. It could be very nice once it's pieced back together & restored. But in the shape its in, it's not really worth much more than the OP paid for it. This isn't a flip for profit piece. This is a buy, put in the elbow grease to restore it & then flip for profit piece. But if the OP doesn't have the skill or the time or the desire to do the work required to make this piece into something more valuable, then really it's really not worth much more than he paid for it. It was a good price because it had potential to be very nice. With work. Without work, it's still a nice price but not for flipping.

Edited March 24, 2017 by Doktor

[Fan Boy]

37 minutes ago, Doktor said:

Nah. It's not gold. It's nice but will require at least a reasonable amount of restoration & could be very nice, but it is still missing some important bits & is only partially usable even after its been restored until the missing brackets & plates are replaced. But it's still nice. It could be very nice once it's pieced back together & restored. But in the shape its in, it's not really worth much more than the OP paid for it. This isn't a flip for profit piece. This is a buy, put in the elbow grease to restore it & then flip for profit piece. But if the OP doesn't have the skill or the time or the desire to do the work required to make this piece into something more valuable, then really it's really not worth much more than he paid for it. It was a good price because it had potential to be very nice. With work. Without work, it's still a nice price but not for flipping.

Yes, that is about what I am thinking from the start here. The rack isn't gold, but yes it is nice. Despite the fact it is from the 1940s which is true ... but it still isn't gold. As you said, it is without question, is a restoration project with elbow grease to work on.

Biggest issue I see here is the missing title plates. I believe this rack has 8 or 10 slots, or am I wrong? That would mean someone need to find 4 or 6 plates with the correct 1940s design logos. This is going take lot of time and patience to get everything gathered together to get the rack completed properly in the end. 

I would love to have this rack but I do not see myself paying more than what OP had paid for it in the same unchanged state. After if I had spent $$ in the restoration, I would not making much profit. I would rather keep it in my man cave room but that's just me. 

[Drewsky]

I bought it with the hopes to trade for art or sell, both of which are major parts of the hobby and something most people do.  I don't want to ship internationally and I would drive  the 5 hours to meet someone if a deal was made. But going into Canada to meet anyone and having to worry about declaring it at the boarder is not something I really want to do. I 'll soon be listing it on eBay with USA shipping included for a starting price of zero profit for me. If it sells, great, if not, still would trade for art. Thanks again for the info and help on this one. 

This thread can be closed now.

[Artboy99]

My plan if I acquired the rack was to restore it. De-rust it with a plastic bead blasting ( locally done $100 quoted ), then have detached parts re-welded then the entire rack painted ( $50 spot welding, $250 painting could be done cheaper if done by self ). I would make reproduction name plates removing the existing ones and keeping them. I had already found a metal fabricator locally that was able to make metal plates to correct size and shape out of either tin or aluminum ($20 each, depends on quantity of plates ordered ). I then would create vector art of all the titles to create a masking which is cut out of a type of vinyl and then paint on the logos onto the metal plates ( $50 printing costs if I supply the artwork and do all the vinyl decal masking work myself). I had plans to make many different titles, not just DC titles so my plates would all be removable to increase the rack's functionality and then I would use this rack at comic conventions and if not at shows, leave it at home.

My total restoration costs would be $800-$1000. Add in the cost of purchasing the rack, then the shipping of the rack it becomes an expensive item. The other ( more likely ) way to go was to remove the name plates and work on those over time to spread the cost out ( finding original ones on Ebay, etc. )That would be for future resale purposes.

Good luck with the sale Drewsky.