At the risk of another "wow these prices are nuts," threads, are people really paying more than top dollar for used cars?
Case in point, I saw a nice looking "1986 Monte Carlo SS" locally. No price, no information other than that an phone. Not mint, missing headliner. And it's a 35 year old car. So, hoping maybe $3000 to $5000, I called. The owner seemed annoyed to get my call. Couldn't get a straight answer out of the guy, said it was owned by an old lady who recently passed and he acquired it. I asked what motor it had, he said it came with a 305, but she put a 350 in it. I'm not a expert on that era but I think the SS all would have come with the 350s, but I'm not sure. Regardless, it immediately sounds like a fictional story. It's "low miles" but I couldn't get a straight answer from him and I felt we ran out of Q/A runway. I felt like I was running out of his patience of answering even fundamental questions, so I asked his price. $11,000.
Um. Okay sir, good luck to you.
Now, keep in mind there's nothing particularly special about this car design to my knowledge. That 350ci puts out pretty weak performance numbers by todays standards (180hp). That body style is interesting but dated. There's basically no modern safety features whatsoever. It needs a headliner, and who knows what else but even if impeccable and low miles
So, I think this guy is dreaming. I looked at some nationwide pricing for extremely perfect examples which are in the $20s to 40s. I'm thinking $5k for an honest nice example is reasonable. So IMO $11,000 even for a very nice example, is unrealistic in my view. That's 1/2 of what a entry level modern muscle car costs, which is gonna be a lot nicer by every metric. So, are people really paying this? And who are these people? What is going on in the 70s, 80s, and 90s use car markets to justify these nutty prices? Is it just a trickle down issue, that new cars are unobtainium, making newer older cars too unaffordable, so now 30-40 year old cars are still absurd?
And, who is paying $40k for even a mint example? Makes no sense. A new mid-range Mustang is $40k, offers twice the performance, and a pile of safety features, and warranty, etc.
Case in point, I saw a nice looking "1986 Monte Carlo SS" locally. No price, no information other than that an phone. Not mint, missing headliner. And it's a 35 year old car. So, hoping maybe $3000 to $5000, I called. The owner seemed annoyed to get my call. Couldn't get a straight answer out of the guy, said it was owned by an old lady who recently passed and he acquired it. I asked what motor it had, he said it came with a 305, but she put a 350 in it. I'm not a expert on that era but I think the SS all would have come with the 350s, but I'm not sure. Regardless, it immediately sounds like a fictional story. It's "low miles" but I couldn't get a straight answer from him and I felt we ran out of Q/A runway. I felt like I was running out of his patience of answering even fundamental questions, so I asked his price. $11,000.
Um. Okay sir, good luck to you.
Now, keep in mind there's nothing particularly special about this car design to my knowledge. That 350ci puts out pretty weak performance numbers by todays standards (180hp). That body style is interesting but dated. There's basically no modern safety features whatsoever. It needs a headliner, and who knows what else but even if impeccable and low miles
So, I think this guy is dreaming. I looked at some nationwide pricing for extremely perfect examples which are in the $20s to 40s. I'm thinking $5k for an honest nice example is reasonable. So IMO $11,000 even for a very nice example, is unrealistic in my view. That's 1/2 of what a entry level modern muscle car costs, which is gonna be a lot nicer by every metric. So, are people really paying this? And who are these people? What is going on in the 70s, 80s, and 90s use car markets to justify these nutty prices? Is it just a trickle down issue, that new cars are unobtainium, making newer older cars too unaffordable, so now 30-40 year old cars are still absurd?
And, who is paying $40k for even a mint example? Makes no sense. A new mid-range Mustang is $40k, offers twice the performance, and a pile of safety features, and warranty, etc.
