This Amish Buggy Is “Only” $15,000
After our look at an Amish buggy which sold for $18,400 at an auction in Gratz, PA, Jerry is back with a second buggy from the same event – this one for “only” $15,000.
What makes this one different, and almost 20% cheaper?
Jerry explains: “The second buggy sold was a step down in components. It featured a drum braking system and “rubber O” suspension.”
More on this “O” suspension:
This is the first time I’ve seen this suspension system and a few Amish men were not familiar with it as well. In place of metal leaf springs or air bags, the rubber O is mounted to the frame and the buggy cab and absorbs road shock. Conversations with a couple Amish men we decided it should work well and if it ever needed replacing, the task would be the least expensive and fairly easy to execute. The second buggy also had a torsion bar axle.
This buggy’s interior has a similar look to the more expensive model:
It looks like the core “dash” unit is almost, but not quite identical, to that of the previous buggy:
So it looks like this buggy overall is similar to the first one, but with some money being saved on the features. Jerry explains that the bidding came in a little low on this one – topping out at $13,500 – but the reserve price (the minimum the seller is willing to accept) was $15,000, which the high bidder accepted.
As a bonus, here’s another vehicle which sold at the event – a spring wagon which went for $8,000. Jerry says of this event: “The supply of transportation vehicles was the largest I’ve seen at this annual auction and included new, used and modified units…Buggy manufacturing shops displayed for sale examples of their multi-tiered line to the auction.”
That doesn’t include the horse
I remember the days when $15,000 was the price of a decent mid-range new car. Now, as we’ve seen in two examples, in some Amish communities that gets you a nice buggy.
And as some have pointed out, this price doesn’t include the horse. Depending on what you get (and where you get it), that can add several thousand dollars, can be more expensive the buggy itself, or can end up somewhere in-between.
For more on this part of the deal, Ben Riehl explains what he looks for in a buggy horse in this video:
amish buggy
This must be the Chevy of the buggy world and the other is the Cadillac of the buggy world. Some of the same features on each one but the 2nd one is not as fancy. Still seems expensive for a horse drawn buggy wonder how others in the Amish community feel when the owner pulls up with his buggy and others are more plain wonder if they have buggy envy.