one of my friends recently restored (rebuild engine and suspension, fresh paint) a 1984 f250 farm truck. another friend has a fleet of 1960's Buick specials. cars are appliances to many young people, but there's still some who care. and young people are generally too poor to get a collectible car, so we just buy an old truck or 90s thrashed sports car and drive them instead.
The modern collector car market, and cars that are victim of said market
- Thread starter Slow Car Sport Mode
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I consider my Reatta to be a relatively "modern" collector car. 20k made, and my '91 may be the most desirable as it included the SI 3800, the 4T60e transmission, 16" wheels, one year only color combo, and the Bosch ABS system with vacuum assist instead of the prior TEVES unit.
Sure, my 95k mile example is FAR from pristine however it is rust free and in quite good shape. I paid $800 for it, and so far have maybe $300 invested. While mine will never go for the likes of the museum quality examples, I do think it will easily be worth 4x what I paid or more after I give it a little elbow grease.
Sure, my 95k mile example is FAR from pristine however it is rust free and in quite good shape. I paid $800 for it, and so far have maybe $300 invested. While mine will never go for the likes of the museum quality examples, I do think it will easily be worth 4x what I paid or more after I give it a little elbow grease.
I made the history with collector cars. I started in high school with a 67 Barracuda and put a 340 engine in it. I have owned dozens of them however I am 67 years old and bought those cars when they were almost brand new. I purchased the 2005 Corvette new that I own and have almost 82,000 miles on it. I made the history with collector Mopars, Pontiacs, and Cheverolet's. I actually drove my cars and took them to car shows and have never been a big believer of a garage queen because I just don't have the space to keep one vehicle parked without it being used. I don't really believe the market will go down much because people just flat love old cars.
Bummer for sure. Dad’s was a bare bones 318 as well, but had Magnum wheels. The flat hood was replaced with the dual bulge hood due to hitting a deer with the car. The picture was how it was right before he sold it. Originally maroon, we painted it blue for drag racing. After he quit racing, he put the black stripe and cop wheels on it. It’s powered by a 360.
I was only allowed to drive it a handful of times due to my lack of maturity behind the wheel, which exists to this day when I am in a sporty car. That’s why I drive a 4cyl, manual transmission Jeep as a toy and a Rogue as a daily driver.
Sad I couldn’t afford this family car, but, I would have hated not being able to fix it up correctly, or I’d lost my license in it. It was due to be restored again after our mid-90’s restoration.
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Since many boomers want $60,000.00 for their Chevys they have restored, I suspect many don't have that kind of coin laying around to invest in a vehicle. I also suspect when they classic car owner boomers past-those cars will end up with those that are very rich never to be driven down to the donut shop cruise in on Saturday mornings.
There are some unloved cars of the 1973-74 vintage that had low horsepower engines and were given a pass for a while and also some redhead family bastards such as the Ford Maverick. Check out the Maverick Comet forum and see what these guys have done with them. The 73 got exactly the same V8 engine as a 73 Mustang. Both were anemic but can be hopped up as required. The price is very much lower than any Mustang.
The collector car market & 50's/60's Americana in general is fueled/tied to Boomer earning power, The more Boomers earned.....The higher the prices went. Latter generations care less & less about childhood nostalgia, I'm a 70's born Gen X.....I don't lust after 70's & 80's vehicles.
It's far more than the price of the vehicle. Where ya gonna keep it? Tools? Parts? One reason I gave my ghetto ride Corvette was it was taking up half the garage, and I did not have the time to wrench and drive it. These cars are a labor of love. Love ain't cheap.
A few random thoughts:
Cars are a durable good, not an investment. Past price appreciation is not an indicator of future value and auction prices do not always represent real transactions.
Many "collector" cars are caught in what I call the mileage trap. Much of their value is tied to their being low mileage originals and if you actually drive the vehicle you're eroding its value. What is the point in having something neat that you can't enjoy? Also, disuse is not good for a car or any other complex mechanical assembly. Anyone who has returned a car to service after a few years of sitting knows this.
Most of the American and volume produced European and Japanese cars went through a period where they were just cheap used beaters and it takes a whole lot of expensive work to bring these cars back to some semblance of nice. You see lots of bad rust repair at every car show and most of these cars were also terrifically rust prone at least into the 'seventies. Also, most of the deceased old man owned pristine originals are now in the hands of others, so the limited availability of these cars has pretty well dried up.
Finally, cars are fun whatever generation you belong to. Having a nice old ride to enjoy during the summer is a pleasant hobby as long as you have a place to store and maintain the car. The cars as investments market will crash at some point and we may already be seeing this. That will return a bunch of interesting cars old and newer to the hobby market where people will then be able to own these cars at more reasonable prices. At least I hope to see that.
Cars are a durable good, not an investment. Past price appreciation is not an indicator of future value and auction prices do not always represent real transactions.
Many "collector" cars are caught in what I call the mileage trap. Much of their value is tied to their being low mileage originals and if you actually drive the vehicle you're eroding its value. What is the point in having something neat that you can't enjoy? Also, disuse is not good for a car or any other complex mechanical assembly. Anyone who has returned a car to service after a few years of sitting knows this.
Most of the American and volume produced European and Japanese cars went through a period where they were just cheap used beaters and it takes a whole lot of expensive work to bring these cars back to some semblance of nice. You see lots of bad rust repair at every car show and most of these cars were also terrifically rust prone at least into the 'seventies. Also, most of the deceased old man owned pristine originals are now in the hands of others, so the limited availability of these cars has pretty well dried up.
Finally, cars are fun whatever generation you belong to. Having a nice old ride to enjoy during the summer is a pleasant hobby as long as you have a place to store and maintain the car. The cars as investments market will crash at some point and we may already be seeing this. That will return a bunch of interesting cars old and newer to the hobby market where people will then be able to own these cars at more reasonable prices. At least I hope to see that.
This.
There are many reasons for the collector market changing in my opinion. The first is that car enthusiasts collect vehicles for different reasons, and besides performance the other biggest reason is nostalgia. Not many people will go out of their way to purchase and invest in cars they have no connection to. For my generation, a lot of the vehicles we lusted after as teens are going sky high in price, as they weren't very common to begin with. The normal every day cars we had in the late 90's and 2000s are becoming hard to find, so clean examples are also becoming expensive. Millennials would rather spend that money on cars they can enjoy and have a connection to over expensive classic cars they can't relate to. Sure there will always be collectors, but that isn't the majority of enthusiasts who might only have the money or space to buy one "fun" car to enjoy on weekends.
Typically young guys purchase the hot cars as they become cheap enough. They include Mustangs, Cameros, Challengers, and Chargers. Then there are the Ricers and specialty cars like the S2000, Fiat sports cars and the like. If the Wokes are correct, the ICE cars will disappear making the last of the hot ones even more valuable. There will always be collector cars around.
I've had a couple of collector vehicles - an air cooled VW convertible and a restored Mack truck - and enjoyed them. But I always felt like too many of the popular cars were priced on the "Greater Fool" theory. "Yes, I paid way too much but someone else will pay even more".
Like musical chairs sooner or later the music stops.
Like musical chairs sooner or later the music stops.
When I was a kid I could go to a car show and see a bunch of cars that were restored by fiddlers, guys who did everything themselves in their barn, including painting. The cars were approachable, they wouldn't get butt hurt if you accidentally fingerprinted the paint. And after the car show the dad would take the wife and kids out for ice cream without concerns about staining the upholstery.
I took my 66 Biscayne to a show a couple years ago... it was cool because the parking was great for the rest of the show, LOL. Old guys would point at it and try to guess the year amongst themselves. And I liked "crashing" the show with one of the homelier cars there.
But there were too many "Alphas" there with identical 67 mustangs and new Dodge Chargers. They were pretty much boasting about their checkbooks. The show was less than 1/4 "interesting" cars-- by "interesting" I mean one-offs, cars that weren't competing with the same car and same generic "vision" that a 69 Firebird is "the best" car one can collect.
Kids aren't going to want to compete, and these guys are in for a shock when they're in a nursing home and the only prospective buyers are other geezers.
I took my 66 Biscayne to a show a couple years ago... it was cool because the parking was great for the rest of the show, LOL. Old guys would point at it and try to guess the year amongst themselves. And I liked "crashing" the show with one of the homelier cars there.
But there were too many "Alphas" there with identical 67 mustangs and new Dodge Chargers. They were pretty much boasting about their checkbooks. The show was less than 1/4 "interesting" cars-- by "interesting" I mean one-offs, cars that weren't competing with the same car and same generic "vision" that a 69 Firebird is "the best" car one can collect.
Kids aren't going to want to compete, and these guys are in for a shock when they're in a nursing home and the only prospective buyers are other geezers.
Had a 58 Vette in 10th grade, paid $1200. for it. Wasn't my choice to get rid of it. Thanks Mom.
