Monarch 16CW Value

Okay, so I know that this is a silly thread but I want an honest value of a 16CW is worth. I've been searching for another engine lathe to add to my shop and it has been a nightmare to find something that someone doesn't want an arm and a leg for, or isn't completely trashed. I came across a 16cw on CL that a guy had. He purchased it a few years back but never took the time to learn much about it. When I looked at it, surface rust had consumed the machine badly from the un-insulated building that it was setting in. Luckily it did not have pitting rust. It had a few chucks which were rusted, and a few other accessories (no taper attachment thought). The machine was not under power, so I could not tell how it ran. Overall, it could have been a decent machine with some desperate cleanup. The ways looked very well from some initial clean up I did while I was looking at it. I made a generous offer of $1500 and the dude looked at me like I was crazy. He told me that he wanted $6000 and wouldn't take a penny less. I thought I was doing this guy a favor by offering $1500 considering the condition. I looked at this machine over a year ago and today the stupid thing is still on CL rusting away lol.

I think you were being generous. I paid $150 for a rusty outdoor CW 16x54 with a complete TA, but that's probably the bottom of the range. Thread here: 16"? Monarch lathe near Richmond, VA - $150 It's cleaning up beautifully but it's a lot of work.

I've seen complete working Monarch lathes on ebay for $1500 - $4000 depending on length. A machine supply shop in Baltimore has a WWA 14 x 96ish for $8000, but it's taper attachment was missing.

Agreed. Rusty and non-powered to me is about worth little more than scrap value. He's just dreaming waiting for a buyer without a clue.

My CW 16 X 102 set me back $2500 about 20 years ago. I had to fix a broken center leg and hook it up to power. It was one owner from Houston Light and Power - they dropped $5775 on it new in August 1946

The 16CY x 54 i bought a couple months ago set me back $2000. I came with a taper attachment, steady rest, follow rest and was under power. A Local 16 CW x 78 sold about a month ago for about $1600. It had no taper attachment, steady rest, follow rest and was not under power.

Before I went to look at this guy’s machine, a shop near my house went for auction. It had around 15 monarchs in it and none of them went for over $1500. I didn’t buy one because the auctioneer had a ridiculous buyers premium of 17% and the rigging companies that were present wanted $500 just to set it on my trailer. I based my offer of the cl monarch from that auction. I’m from OKC and good quality machine tools are hard to come by.

10 yrs or so ago I got a 16x54 under power in good shape. Taper, many extra chucks, collet closer, a bare versmal for it, steady and lots of drill bits & misc tooling, even a milling attachment. Also a bridgeport clone in good shape and also well tooled. All for about 5k IIRC.

Maybe you go offer the $1000 and see what he says.

I bought a 16CY 1943 32" for $1500. It had issues but nothing that couldn't be repaired. Really need to keep looking.