Family Asked 24,000 Dollars For The Pickup Their Grandfather Built By Hand But A Cash Offer And A Test Drive Closed The Deal At 22,000 Dollars

The family wanted 24,000 dollars. The buyer wanted to pay 20,000. When it was all over, a pickup that a grandfather built himself changed owners at 22,000 dollars, in cash, after a test drive and a little back and forth.

An old pickup truck sits parked in front of a house.

The sale was filmed by @289filmco (289 Film Co.), and it offers a clear look at how a good negotiation works. Two sides who both cared about the truck found a number that worked for everybody.

A Truck Built With Too Much Care

Before any money talk, there was a walk around the cab. A member of the family showed off how the truck works. A knob stays pulled out if you do not want to run overdrive. If you do want it, you push the knob in, and once you get into third gear you hit a button, let up off the gas and go again, and it smooths right on out. It operates some type of solenoid on the transmission.

The rest of the dash is full of the grandfather’s thinking. One switch runs an extra electric fan out front for the radiator. The family member explained that their grandfather was the kind of guy who believed more is better. He overkilled stuff. He made stuff strong. There is a defroster and even a cigarette lighter, all old school stuff. The glove box is a new one he put in, just a piece of cardboard, but that is the way they did them. With the V8, the truck has a towing capacity of 4,600 pounds.

The buyer liked what they saw. Tell you what, I’m liking what I’m seeing so far, came the comment.

The Test Drive

Out on the road, the truck held up. It was pretty smooth and sounded really good, and the tail pipes looked good on it too. At 60 miles an hour, it was not loud. The driver noticed the strips around the doors were real nice and that the red and black looked good, saying they could not have picked better colors. It was amazing, they said, how good a job the grandfather did, and they loved all the details across the dash, all the old gauges.

The Negotiation

After the drive, the family was asking 24,000. One buyer asked a partner what they thought. The advice was to hold at 20, with room to go up a little because they really liked it. 21 was floated, and 22 was the limit. This is the fun part, one of them said, this is where it gets nervous.

The buyer was polite about it. They said they understood what the family wanted and would not even try to critique what the granddaddy did. They said they would probably need to put a tailgate on just to blend it in with what they do, which is what their shop does. The family was at 24. The buyer said they would feel real comfortable at 20.

The family had options. Someone said they could probably get that much at the auction one of them worked at, and that they already had a 22 offer. A lady had offered 22 and then took two weeks to get back to them. They countered at 23, and when two weeks went by with no word, they texted her that they were willing to take 22.5.

Then came the move that closed it. Tell you what, let’s close the deal today at 22, and I’ll pay you cash money. The answer was awesome. Yes. Someone said they were so happy, they were tickled, and they felt like a load was off their shoulders because it had been going on for a long time. We got a good deal on it, someone added. It was a family thing.

Cash, A Title And A Photograph

The money was handed over, with a joke: bank count it. We trust you, brother. The title was there, and so was the paper that has to be signed. The grandfather signed it himself.

Then the family showed a photograph of the man who built the truck, taken at his home after he finished it. You can see the white wheels in it. The family guessed he was about 87 in that picture, right after he finished. Someone said the old white wheels were on the truck when the family got it from him, and they were not having that.

The buyer had plans of their own. A few things would make it theirs, starting with chrome bumpers, and probably a tailgate. They had been unsure about the wheels and tires, but the more they looked, the more they liked the look. The buyer was excited to take the truck to a car show the next day at the Civic Center in Paris, and invited everybody to come.

Someone also had a kind word for the family member who did the updates on the truck: the combination of the two of you doing what you have done to it has made it what it is, and your wife not minding you spending time and a little money on it too.

What You Can Learn From A 22,000 Dollar Deal

Go in with a walk away number. The buyer’s partner said 22 was the limit, and that is exactly where the deal closed.
Start respectfully. The buyer said they would not critique what the granddaddy did. Picking apart the build is a quick way to lose a deal.
Know what the other side’s alternatives are. The family had a 22 offer already, which gave them room to push back on 20.
Cash and a clear answer can beat an offer that drags on. The earlier offer took two weeks without an answer.
Get the paperwork right. Make sure the title is in hand and signed properly, and ask whether any other paper is needed where you live. In this sale, the grandfather’s signature mattered.
Test drive it at speed. Listen for noise, feel for smoothness, and check that the gauges and switches work.

The truck is not headed for a museum. It is going to a car show, and from the sound of the test drive, it is built to keep being driven.

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