Did I sleep to long...car pricing way up

I am glad it wasn't just me. Last summer there were alot of great deals to be had..now not so much. I agree though...cash is king...

 

Just shop around and have "cash in hand". That usually gets the seller to do a reality check. If not move to the next one. Buddy of mine needed some fenders for a dodge dart. There was one sitting in this yard for years, a 4 door. A woman came to the door and said she'd sell it and said "those cars have collector value you know". We moved on. Ken

 

Hot rods and collector cars are a roller coaster on values. They`re only worth what someone is willing to pay. That`s how value is determined.

Our collection is an eventual retirement fund so I try to diversify like stock buying and have a representation of popular and most sought after.
Makes `em a lot easier to sell when the time comes and I won`t even entertain building or buying something that is out of the mainstream and has no following. Plus I get to enjoy the car 401K while I can.
When I`ve sold cars I usually have been approached by someone wanting the car and convincing me eventually with enough money to sell it. We all get attached to a build and that makes it tough to let go.

As for the overseas sales, I agree there seems to be a big surge in the last few years due to the weaker dollar and the easing of transportation costs. Customs is still a bitch in some ports and the wait is long for the buyer.
The car guys across the ponds love our cars and I hate to see them leave the USA but they have no other sources I guess.

 

We ain't seen nothin' yet. Before long our dollars will be worth a peso!

 

The thing I have noticed is unless you really like the idea of building your car in your garage just to say I built my own car it is cheaper by far to purchase one.

I know guy's who have spent in excess of $60,000 dollars building street rods only to go over to fall Turkey Run Car Show at Daytona and see one just like theirs selling for between $25 and $35 thousand dollars and almost have a heart attack!!!!!!!

One guy spent $81,000 thousand building a really nice 34 coupe that was worthy of the front page of any magazine and when he wanted to sell it he had one offer of $40,000 dollars which he refused to accept. After thinking it over for about one month he called the guy back and asked him if he was still interested in purchasing the car and the guy said no.

I know how important it is to many of us to build our own car but the reality is it's cheaper to buy one then to build one.

Crazy world we live in. Jimbo

 

I had my '51 3100 appraised for insurance value and I almost lit it on fire right there so I could buy a fully restored example with the payout.

I've been helping a few friends look for old trucks and it seems like one in similar haggard condition as mine showed up in goes for about $2-3k more than it did not even a couple years ago.

 

I would agree i went to buy a 41 coupe that was listed at 1000 last year, it sold before I could the cash at 2000

 

Exactly--the dollar is being devalued as we speak.

 

The stock market Dow Jones and S&P 500 is at an all time high as well as my stock portfolio. The economy is only bad if you have lost your job. Unfortunately most houses are worth about a third of their value as the housing market has yet to recover.

 

I have a check book and I can get a gold chain, where do I sign up?
I miss the $100 dollar car. Thats all I had in the 70's.
If I had them now, I could retire well off.
B/J is only partially to blame. The quick turnaround shows are also a detriment. Gold Chainers think you can just magicallly make a quality restomod/real rod/restoration in a week, commercials notwithstanding.
I'm ready to go back to sleep and see what happens.

 

Dreamers will always be out there. TV schme-V, there's always some knuckle dragger that thinks his mostly pop rivet/bondo dog is worth as much as a pro-built car. However, like anything on the open market, QUALITY is the driving factor in values. You can always make a living flipping dogs for a few hundred in profits here n there, but true "home runs" are those that went the extra mile. The other thing to consider is trends. When the Deuce anniversary was coming up you couldn't pay enough for one. Still expensive, but between the crash in 08 and the other woes we face they've at least returned to reality. The reality is that they're always desirable and that means costly, and there's plenty of others that are that same way. I wouldn't walk across the street to look at a 69 Camaro, no matter what it's pedigree. However, there's probably nearly a million folks who'd not only cross the street but dig into their pockets to get one.

Certain things have taken a jump lately. I see 60s-70s bikes of all kinds rising, trucks continue to rise at the rate of inflation, Model As seem to never lose their reverent status and also follow those rates. In the end, anything of genuine merit has a real value. A good Packard V-12 will bring long money these days, longer than in a decade past except for the madness of the early 2000s. The good side of that is that now the eights are worth more too. A lowly 6cyl 110 still costs far too much to restore than one will ever see out of it so labor of love exists. 120s are going higher than I'd ever believe, but only in the desirable models and styles. Then there's the musclecar. New madness ensues in some of those. Like the Camaro I mentioned, many I wouldn't cross the street to look at, but the fact that they remain a tangible asset bears attention if you're in the business. Clearly, in my mind, I couldn't justify spending near $200K for a fuckin Oldsmobile. An Oldsmobile! Yet some models are doing battle value-wise with our beloved Deuce, and in many instances kicking it's ass.

So you gotta ask yourself, what do I want. Why, what's my budget, what's it cost to own it, can I even afford to insure it, will I get my money's worth of ownership. Looking at values as a game or a business model is dangerous and should be played only by those who can afford the loss when the shit hits the fan, or can simply hold it until the shit mess is cleaned up. When it does hit the fan it's never evenly distributed but you can do some market research and see which tangible assets return 1st. Collector cars of merit come back before almost anything, 1st returning to their previous premiums, then in a short period of time exceeding their own price records.

Lastly, I can't help but mention my personal peeve, the HEMI CUDA. Having owned a 70 Cuda back in the day (383 4spd), I couldn't be forced at gunpoint to pay nearly 2 million dollars for a fuckin Hamtamck dumpster on wheels because it has some paper and a Hemi. I could buy 2 Duesenbergs and have enough left over to build an awesome shop to hold and maintain em. But, a fool and his money...

 

Prices are up, and a few are itching to buy. It is as limited as this "recovery we are in. The popular cars are going to come back strong, 55-7 Chevys, Impalas, 67 Camaros(for example.) As these prices rise people see this and so do the prices on lower dollar cars. All the sudden 52 Plymouth 4 doors and 62 Studebaker are 10 grand,(for example) and listed for a loong time. Buyers are very picky, and will get what they want. The ones that want are more relentless to the point of being insulting, to get into a lower dollar car. I,ve been getting offers on stuff that is less than I got in the 90's. way less.
Foreign interest in the cars fluctuates with the dollar. Many cars are sold overseas when the dollar is low, and when the dollar rises, get shipped back over.
My brother and I have been sitting on a couple OT cars, a 70 GTO and a 67 ElCamino, and the time to move and sell has come. Gonna be interesting to see how the game plays out.

 

Back in 2000, it cost $8K to paint my car. That same paint job is now $15K. If you buy a finished car, it will reflect the prices it took to get it that way. Some projects, however, may be immune to price jumps depending on desirability.

 

I always find this to be a curious statement. Why would anyone even care what their home was valued at unless they were only there temporarily and trying to sell it? My home has lost a lot of its so called market value but I have no intention to leave, so I don't care in the least what the market for it is...its paid for. Just my opinion.

 

Honestly around here when I see a car for sale that's way over priced its an older guy that the economy is finally hitting hard enough to sell his toys so he's gonna get every last dime he put into it onto that for sale sign. Generally they seem to be the only car a persons put together or it's something they had built forever ago so they've yet to learn that you can invest a million dollars into a 1989 Honda but when it comes to sell it its still a 1989 Honda that will maybe get $1200 if its perfect.

It's a hard lesson to learn that it's worth more in pieces than as a whole.

It may only be worth what someone will pay for it but it doesn't mean that's gonna be the crazy number your asking for it.

I don't think the prices that things are actualy being SOLD at is going up you just have a new demographic of people selling. Or "trying" to sell anyways, driving up the 'asking price'

 

prices go up. I have a friend who spent more money trying to get 2 doors for a 51 Chevy than I paid for my whole car. I think he has 5 doors now, and not a good one in the bunch. people are getting stupid money for fucked up rusted out doors.

 

Possibly.
Rip Van Winkle was from New York.........as you are.

 

I think part of it is the TV hot rod craze. The other part is weather is getting warmer. I have some friends with bikes that have been saying the same thing.

Ive always been told its cheapest to buy a boat or bike at the finish of summer, but who wants to wait that long?

 

In order to buy a car that I really wanted. 57 Chevy. I sold 2 cars last year. I got more for them than I wanted or expected and they both went overseas. I was able to get the 57 at a fair price. Not a steal or anything but fair I had never sold a car overseas before but when you list one on eBay and that is the guy willing to pay the most money. Well what can I say?


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Yup. Thank the Ass Monkey and the Count....

 

I think it all depends on who you are buying from. I'm lucky here that cars and trucks are still sitting around on a bunch of places. You get some pretty good deals going out and beating the bushes. Plus texas has been in a draught for a few years now. These old guys would rather have a thousand dollars to go buy feed with. Than the rusty old model a sitting in the brush. Around here they are not worth as much to people. And the people that like the pre war cars are pre war old men. And they are all passing away. Here if you get a car it's cheap compared to other places. They either sell or they will let it rot more because it means something to them.

 

it sure seems like things are going great, but what you are seeing is inflated values based on the declining value of the dollar. Today's DJ at 15000 is like 10000 about six years ago.

 

Maybe a rash of baby boomers are cashing out now and buying their dream cars?

It's also spring time, for you northerns.

 

I only invest in cars. While the Markets and Dow plunged in 2008 my cars went up in value1-30%. I just sold a '48 Aero Sedan two door in running condition for $9,600. cash. He drove it home. I had about $4,100 into it. Compared to the interest offered by the banks my profit was 50%.
Normbc9

 

X2 on this. I see the OP is from NY, if you have not noticed the same cars that were cheap in Aug, Sept. last year are up in price in the spring, bet if you wait till late summer the deals will be around again.

 

Cant buy them for $300 anymore, its not 1977. Might as well just accept it and go with it.

 

Yes, I believe so and so have the prices for old parts. I believe it has to do with all the attention the old cars are getting from those reality shows.

 

Cars going overseas is not just collector cars. I have a friend at a Lexus dealership who's shipping used suv's to the Middle East and Russia.

 

And Minimum wage isnt $2.50 either.

 

Yuppie flippers.....BJ jokers what ever the market will bare