I was glancing through the classifieds and noticed that something has drastically changed in the musclecar-ish market. It used to be that when I was a kid (Which was not too long ago either, we're talking 1987-1990) you would mostly see original-ish 1964 to 1971 era musclecars with a few pristine grocery getters, like a 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger two door in awesome shape, for sale. Most cars followed the market price with little variation and not that much greed. However, mixed in with these would invariably be the jerk cars. These were easy to spot. They'd be the built, non-number matching cars like a 1969 Dodge Charger with a 440 six pack. Wouldn't even be an R/T, just a base Charger that some clueless berk had built for him at a speedshop. It would be a decently nice car, but it'd be going for like 20 grand (back then) next to the 20 grand numbers matching Charger R/Ts. Making it rather obvious that the guy was trying to recoup ALL the money he'd sank in the car instead of being realistic and realizing that you can't scam people and expect for them to pay for your hobby.

Now though? The jerks have taken over the car guys. A real car guy will sell a car he poured 30 grand into for 10k tops. If he'd put 60 in it, he'd sell it for 20, and so on. Because he knows that the money he lost is his own damn fault and that he was paying for a hobby not a car. Rich people (Well... richer people than most of us) don't understand that. They want their damn money back and it shows that the hobby has shifted from the enthusiast and collector, to the investor and poseur. Now I see cars that no way in hell should command more than 10 grand in museum shape going for 20-30 grand. There is NO reason why a 1963 Lincoln Continental convertible, even a very nice one, be worth 50 grand. They made about 30 million of them and most of them we're kept as fair weather cars and parade cars. It's like old Cadillacs or Chryslers. They're not really worth anything. To give you a modern example, what would you pay more for? A 1987 Ford Mustang GT or a 1987 Lincoln Mark VI LSC. Both have the same engine, but one is obviously more desirable if you get my drift.

Anyway, I'm digressing. My point was that I'm seeing a lot of clone cars going for these insane amounts of money. Like that stupid 1967 Ford Mustang "eleanor" or cars that look like Steve McQueen's GT from Bullit. However, NO non Shelby Mustang is worth the price these cars are pulling. ESPECIALLY CLONES. A 1967 Mustang GT fastback with a 390 V8 is common enough that you don't even really need to toss a V8 in a six banger and paint it green. And you certainly can't expect to ask in the six figures for a car like that. It'd be like tossing a 4.6 SOHC V8 into a 1990 Mustang hatch and demanding 40 grand. People would laugh at you. At least, I laugh at the people who are doing that.

So what's your thoughts? Y'all are car guys. What do you think about the old car prices. Fair or foul?

cars just like anything else are worth whatever someone will pay for them.

you think thats bad you should watch the Collector car auction show on tv (not sure if that right) but i watched a 1962 corvette sell for $228,000 and a 1969 Camaro SS sell for $40,000 and 1992 Lingenfelter corvette sell for $10,000 now they use the same size engine and all that mattered was how old and how bad pple wanted a car. there were other cars too that were in the 60's era and they sold for many different prices. But if im going to invest money into a car like that why even sell it i would love to have a car that is never going to be made again. Its like owing a piece of history what could be better than that.

Original cars...those that are restored to factory specs and are in the muscle car era are selling for unheard of prices and have been for about 3 or 4 years! Every time I watch an auction I'm amazed at the prices these things are going for...lately though, like you said, even seems the clones are starting to bring big bucks!

I think it's crazy to pay the prices right now though more so for the clones...as you already said why...but if hte demand is there, then that's the price!


Eh...old man with a Corvette now...it was bound to happen sooner rather than later right?

What is really stupid is that new cars are better. There was a time when a muscle cars were worth something because you couldn't buy a new car that was as powerful. Why buy a rusty 69 Mach 1 when a new Mustang is faster?

ToBoGgAn wrote:cars just like anything else are worth whatever someone will pay for them.

Exactly, I have seen numbers matching pieces of @!#$ 66 & 67 GTO's goin for 6K-8K. Just depends on who is selling it. This weekend at the swap meet I saw a 64 Impala 4-door car, all original, very very solid complete car and the asking price was $5,500.00. It's a 4-door, in my book not worth more than $2,000 because that is what the parts that are interchangeable with a 2-door are worth. I have seen some good deals too, but for the most part muscle cars are way overpriced. The problem is the baby boomers have money and are willing to pay big bucks for the car they had in high school and that drives the prices up.

KevinP (Stabby McShankyou) wrote:
and I'm NOT a pedo. everyone knows i've got a wheelchair fetish.

supply and demand... need I say more?

Stop watching Barrett-Jackson and going to museums that sell collector cars and browse Craigslist or Hemmings. You'll still be able to dig up some affordable old tin that may not be as desirable, but is still a blast to drive.

My dad just sold his 56 Chevy Hardtop we restored and made enough cash off of that to get a cherry 62 Olds Hardtop with 47K original miles, a big 394 V8, and plenty of options. The models to look at are the Buicks, Pontiacs, and Oldsmobiles, Mercurys.

Nobody will ever be able to afford a '57 Chevy, 65 Mustang, or 71 Cuda anymore thanks to these rich baby-boomers and stupid televised auctions.

*I forgot to mention that my dad stuffed a lot of leftover cash into the bank after he bought the Olds. Its amazing how cheap some of those big 60's cars are right now. Unless it says "Chevelle" or "Charger" on it!

No definitely, there are still some bargains. I've noticed that the cars that were super hot and expensive in the 1987-1990 era, the late fifties/early sixties cars, have gone down in price across the board. For example, I saw a very straight 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix with the 8 lug drum brakes going for 6 grand when it would have sold for that exact same amount 20 years ago. You can also buy a mid sixties Chrysler 300 letter car for somewhere between 10 and 20 grand depending on condition, and letter cars used to be the "Must buy" cars.

Probably the best bargains though are the 1967-69 Firebirds, you can buy a real number's matching 400 car for less than a SS350 Camaro clone. Crazy. Then there are AMC cars which have always been affordable. You can get an AMX for 15 thousand dollars.

I'm not denying that a smart collector can still get a numbers matching car for a bargain price. What I was marvelling at was the insane number of clone cars and how expensive they were getting. 1969 Chargers with a 318 would go for 2000$ in 1989. Now, you're lucky if you could get one for 20,000$. I saw a 1973 Duster 340 clone going for 18 grand, a clone! In my mind, no Duster could be worth more than 25 thou, clone or not.

And I don't buy into this whole "Boomers buying their childhood rides" thing. I'd say, roughly, that are at least two or three million 1955-1979 era cars left, 200,000 of those being the premium collectible cars of whatever year. Now that's a LOT of cars. If you factor in clones and sedans and wagons there could be up to ten million cars out there. That's one car per three people, and we haven't even counted the 1980-1993 cars yet.

I think a lot of these musclecars are being bought up by the uber rich (Guys who have over 100 cars) and investors and being put in garages, never to see light again. They jack up the price by trickling them out to auction houses and make huge profits.

in 89 i think i was buying a big mac for a dollar. their 3x that amount now, and that is something that is being produced the second you order it. every year the amount of classic cars in that era goes up do to less cars. now in the last five years i beleive it has been boosted from shows like barret jackson where super rich guys get into bidding wars on cars to prove their wallet is bigger then the other guy. that has artificially inflated the market a bit i'd suspect.


now, most guys that are purchasing these cars arn't purchasing them because their fast, most are purchasing them because there in a time in their life that they can afford them and it takes them back to when they were a kid. its a little like reliving your past. also i think allot of times people put price tags on things they dont nessicarily intend on selling, but hey if the guy is there with money in hand your more willing. me and the wife have talked about putting a for sale sign on the car at shows just to see what kind of offers we'd get. were not looking to sell it, but hey if some rich guy with more money then brains thru a large chunk of cash at us we'd be willing to part with it to start another project.



knox. you talk about guys with 100 cars or more buying them up. yeah that is also a factor. their collectors or guys that are just plain making their living on it, if you have the money to buy a few cars. store then for 5 years and then sell them for double. thats a good market to be in. there was a show on tv a few months back i was watching where guys were just building up cars for shows like barret jackson and selling them hoping to make a profit, that was their job. its becoming more of way of making a career now if you know what your doing. how does it make a guy a posuer if he can make money off of his hobby? hell if i could make a profit on my fire, it be out the door in a hearbeat and i'd have enough cash to build something new. does that make me a posuer or does that make me smart? yes real car guys do sell cars at a loss most of the time. its not because their car guys, its because most of the time that is what the market dictates. if i sold my car worth 30k for 10k when i know i could get 25k im not a car guy, im just plain stupid.


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Knox- yes I agree that many are using collector cars as an investment. That pains me almost as much as seeing the prices they pay. These beauties are meant to be driven!

Another interesting factor is several companies are reproducing entire bodys of muscle cars...essentially reproductions of '67 Mustang fastbacks, '69 Camaro convertibles, and even 55 and 57 Chevy convertibles...and more are on the way. I'll bet several are being built right now as "Shelby" and "Yenko" cars that people expect to get $100K for once completed.