Melissa,

A quick check of the Standard Catalog of American Trucks shows that Samson,
based in Janesville, Wisconsin was only in business from 1920 to 1923.  It
was part of the early General Motors, and when it was liquidated, the plant
became a Chevrolet assembly plant.

Finding a value on a rare vehicle like that will be tough, especially with
no money for appraisals.  And even then, most appraisers use price guides,
and search through auction results to come up with a reasonable price.  Your
best bet would be to find out how much a vintage 1920-1923 truck is (such as
a White or a Reo), and then guestimate higher because of the rareness of the
Samson.

You may want to contact the American Truck Historical Society (www.aths.org)
for more guidance.  There are a number of old truck collectors out there,
but not too many, and values aren't that high.  I doubt this vehicle would
fetch higher than $10,000-15,000 unless it was in stunning condition, and
even then, unless the collector was a fan of Samsons, there still might not
be a lot of interest in the vehicle.

Wish I could be of more help, but antique trucks are very tough, and we've
had a hard enough time getting qualified appraisals on the ones in our
collection!


--
Christopher J. Dawson
Curator of Urban and Industrial History
Western Reserve Historical Society
Crawford Auto Aviation Museum
10825 East Boulevard
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
216-721-5722 x247
[log in to unmask]

"History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are
and why we are the way we are." -- David McCullough

> From: Melissa de Bie <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 15:34:09 -0600
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Samson truck & tractor values
>
> Anyone have good sources for estimating values on Samson trucks and
> tractors??  (no money for appraisals!)  I'm coming up empty when I hit the
> usual auction and websites.
>
>
> Melissa de Bie
> Collections Manager
> Rock County Historical Society
> P.O. Box 8096
> Janesville, WI 53547-8096
> (608) 756-4509
> [log in to unmask]
>
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