Value of restored Diablo

[seabeeman]

I've had a couple of guys interested in buying my restored Diablo off me the last few times I've had it out, which has me wondering what it's worth. One guy even pulled $2000 out of his truck to take it on the spot, complete with a ride home!
Looking at recent sales in the area, I know of 3 cleaned up, but not redone, sleds that have sold for $2200, 2400, and 2750 in the last few weeks within 2 hours of me.

Mine is a complete tear down, sandblasted, and repainted with automotive primer and catalyzed paint. Replaced bogies, bumpers, cleats, all 4 cogs, brake rotor, cables, etc. Motor was completely gone through with new wrist pin bearing, gaskets, and proper carb kit. New ski's from Barry with Bruce's wear skins applied and new toe clips. I built a seat, used the proper foam and put a new OE cover on it. Brand new belt with a spare, everything right down to the decals and serial sticker. This thing is show ready.

I know something like this is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it, but is $3500-4000 way off base?

[bottomsupduckclub]

The model will also dictate value. If its a 503 which is the electric start model it will be of the most value, 502 being second and model 500 usually fetch the least. Bruce should weigh in on this as he is the most well versed in our diablo culture.


Bottoms up from Horicon, WI

[seabeeman]

I guess that was critical info I forgot, huh! It's a 502.

[Go Go Diablo]

Well, you all know me. I can't help but chime in when such a topic comes up. And I'll start by saying that I hope no one takes offence to anything I say here. I get a bit passionate about this topic.

I'm going on about 12 years now of restoring Diablos. I lost count of how many and without digging through my records, I'm guessing that total is up over 2 dozen. I've kept pretty good records of the costs when I do restorations because most know that I'm restoring Diablos for people, not just for myself. One thing that is painfully obvious is the cost to complete a good restoration of a Diablo has risen significantly. Part of that is just that more restoration parts are available and the other part of that is costs have risen. So even for me when I put Diablos together, I have several thousands of dollars of parts alone into each. That's because for a restoration, I choose to replace sprockets with new, rebuild motors and gearboxes, install new seats and Barrie's new skis with wear skins. I sandblast and paint. I powder coat where I can. Replace nose cones, hood scoops and on the 500, replace the dash with new. I get parts re-chromed, install refurbished fuel tanks and so on. In the end, they are all original and updated to the best of my ability.

And I apologize for being brutally honest here - Go Go Diablo is the only place in the world where such parts can be purchased. So I tend to know at least from a "Parts Perspective", how much someone has invested in their restorations.

So if I have a restored 502 Diablo and I have more than $2,000 in parts into it but then another enthusiast has what they call a restored Diablo but they have little invested in it, it makes me wonder what they consider a restoration. Now I will step back and say that I'm sure there are some people out there who may question my restorations and I'm ok with that. I've never claimed to build Diablos for showing. I build drivers.

So back to the topic at hand - what is a restored Diablo worth? Well, if you have chosen the path that I have and bought the necessary parts to do a good restoration, that raises the value. If you have taken the time to read the forum and learn from all the enthusiast that bless us with their comments or reached out to anyone of us directly to ask many questions, you have an even better Diablo. Then if you took your time and put the 150 to 200 hours or more into your restoration, you probably have an excellent restoration. Add to this all the paint supplies and shop materials used. And very important, don't forget that you have an investment to buy the Diablo in the first place. If you have done all this, a Diablo 500 or 502 restoration is worth about $4,000 USD. A Diablo 503 restoration is worth $4,500 or more.

And when done, this is what one of my 502 restorations look like.

100_4232.JPG (357.36KiB)Viewed 11408 times

[seabeeman]

Thanks, Bruce, your vote of confidence means a lot. I completely understand your take on a "restore" vs a full blown one as I'm into old Simplicity garden tractors and the same concept applies.

I'm beginning to realize that with most things, from snowmobiles to rifles to my gardening, I like the process and work more than I enjoy the result. Heck, I admired the new skis you did for me for nearly a week before I could bring myself to cover up the works of art that they are with paint and primer!

Working on the Diablo has been a blast and I was happy as a clam to haul my kids around on it and take it out for a fish fry and beer. However, now that the work is done and it doesn't need even so much as a carb tweak, I find myself hopping on my Apex over the Diablo. I posted it for sale on the Duluth Craigslist last night for $4250 and I'll link the add in here. If it doesn't sell, I'll happily continue to enjoy it, but it's time for me to transition into another project.

[seabeeman]

Here are some pics of my finished product. It's last night in the pole barn, could definitely use some sitting on snow in the sunlight pictures.