This thread leads nowhere but to despair, wailing and gnashing of teeth, sadly enough. From my own personal experience (I did a frame off resto of a '49 1.5-ton which, a few years later, I had to sell. At a *considerable* loss), I learned this -- What you invest in your Big Bolt (maint, restoration, purchase, etc) is one figure. What it is "worth" (what you might expect to get back out of it from a sale) is an entirely different, and vastly lower, figure.
Any "Value Math" that works for pickups (especially 1/2-tons) goes right out the window when it comes to Big Bolts. So anything you hear about guys who snag a nice 1/2-ton for a couple of hundred bucks and flip it after a resto for 10 or 15 times what they paid for it -- does not have any meaning for you. You can pay 2 to 3 thousand all day long for a decent, solid running 2-ton Big Bolt. Pour tens of thousands into a resto and still be lucky to get even 10 for it from a resale.
If you're looking at a big bolt as an investment opportunity, stop now and go find a pick up. If you are looking to restore a piece of family history, then proceed with all the blessings we can heap on you and help we can offer. Just don't ask any more questions about its market value ...
