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P-51 Instrument panel


bsheck
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My father is looking to sell his P-51D mustang instrument panel he brought home after the war. Can anyone give me a ball park idea on how much I should get for it. It has not been tampered with and has been in a box all these years, It is missing the clock, and has some corrosion here and there but overall it is in fine shape. He flew in the 353 rd fighter group out of Radon, Englan.

Thanks,

Bob S.

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I suggest you check out a specialist aviation magazine such as "Flypast" and consider putting a small-ad in there. The guys who restore vintage warbirds are your obvious potential customers as they are always seeking out original spares.

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I don't think there is a ballpark figure for something like this as it's just not the kind of thing that comes along very often. You do see replica panels and in fact there's one on ebay for $2,500, but it remains to be seen what he gets for it.

 

You could take a look around for the value of the individual instruments, but this no like parting out an old Volkswagen where the parts are worth more than the assembled car: in this case I would suspect that if you have them in a panel with original labels and placards it could be worth a lot more than its parts value, but again it's not like there are any comps out there. If this replica sells for $2,500 then yours has to be worth at least two or three times that if it's in good condition:

 

p51panel.jpg

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You have to start some where, and both sabrejet and FS have offered good ideas. Follow their advice, then put it on EBay with a $7500 reserve and a 20 day auction and see what happens.

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My father is looking to sell his P-51D mustang instrument panel he brought home after the war. Can anyone give me a ball park idea on how much I should get for it. It has not been tampered with and has been in a box all these years, It is missing the clock, and has some corrosion here and there but overall it is in fine shape. He flew in the 353 rd fighter group out of Radon, England.

Thanks,

Bob S.

 

If your dad flew as a P51 Fighter pilot and this is from his plane or not it will be worth more due to provenance. Service history, squadron photos, etc. Need to make sure the story is backed up..

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  • 1 month later...

Good day,

 

This P-51D panel (that was was finally sold via Ebay) was from a very very very famous Mustang with multiple A2A victories and flown by at least 2 aces. I only discovered it post sale but this was surely one of the finest item i've for sale on Ebay for many years (at least in my field of interest).

 

Laurent

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Good day,

 

This P-51D panel (that was was finally sold via Ebay) was from a very very very famous Mustang with multiple A2A victories and flown by at least 2 aces. I only discovered it post sale but this was surely one of the finest item i've for sale on Ebay for many years (at least in my field of interest).

 

Laurent

 

Thanks for the heads up on that. How did you know which aircraft it came from, by the call sign?

 

The replica shown above ended up selling for $1,075.00 but this real one did much better:

 

p511.jpg

 

p512.jpg

 

p513.jpg

 

p514.jpg

 

p515.jpg

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Yes, by the call sign which tells us its the instrument panel from 44-14570 Ridge Runner the 1st flown by 335FS, 4 FG ace Major Pierce Mc Kennon and then Thunderbird flwon by 335FS, 4 FG ace Capt Ted E Lines.

 

Laurent

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For Ridge Runner's control panel, I'm astonished it went for so little. That is an incredible piece of history!

 

Well, i woudn't say soo little! Still 5K! Anyway, it was a buy it now auction.

 

Curious how much my own famous instrument panel would go for. Much less complete but very historical.

 

Laurent

 

P1020211-1.jpg

 

P1020210.jpg

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Cobrahistorian
Well, i woudn't say soo little! Still 5K! Anyway, it was a buy it now auction.

 

Curious how much my own famous instrument panel would go for. Much less complete but very historical.

 

Laurent

 

P1020211-1.jpg

 

P1020210.jpg

 

Probably quite a bit! And the German painted on the panel substantiates the writeup on Joe Baugher's website:

 

41-24585 (360th BS, 303rd BG, *Wulf Hound*) force-landed in France on Dec 12, 1942, after

attacking Rouen Sotteville marshalling yards, while in service with 303rd Bomb Group,

Molesworth. Recovered by Luftwaffe. After flight testing at Rechlin,

it was used for demonstration visits to Luftwaffe Jagdgruppen as DL+XC, before being assigned to

I./KG200 in Sep 1943 as A3+AE.

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The EPA has gone nuts over radium instrument dials so be careful how you advertise and ship it. I think their last ruling was that you could possess four radium dials without having a nuclear license. I've heard of a couple people who were contacted by EPA & NRC after advertising on eBay. They didn't get hassled too bad because the Feds seemed to be looking for people with larger stockpiles. My opinion is that radium in a sealed instrument is probably safer than a cellphone but I don't run the EPA.

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JollyGreenSlugg

Good grief!

 

I was aware that some chunks of componentry had been recovered in recent years, but that is quite the find. One that any Fort fan would lose sleep over!

 

I'd have loved to have been able to acquire a small part of that aeroplane.

 

Well done. Any chance of more pics please Laurent?

 

Cheers,

Matt

 

Curious how much my own famous instrument panel would go for. Much less complete but very historical.

 

Laurent

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Corpsmancollector
The EPA has gone nuts over radium instrument dials so be careful how you advertise and ship it. I think their last ruling was that you could possess four radium dials without having a nuclear license. I've heard of a couple people who were contacted by EPA & NRC after advertising on eBay. They didn't get hassled too bad because the Feds seemed to be looking for people with larger stockpiles. My opinion is that radium in a sealed instrument is probably safer than a cellphone but I don't run the EPA.

 

 

This is a really interesting discussion and thanks for flagging up the above. I would assume laws are different in Britain but this is good to know as I inherited a Spitfire instrument panel and the last time I looked, I think some of the dials contain radium :pinch: :unsure:

 

I'd love to see some more pictures of the original panel which started the topic!

 

Will

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