Featured Features The Collector Car Market continuing its steady fall...

well... if the court with the extra large turn around area at the end (100 feet across) where my shop is located is any indication young people like cars that can spin donuts and "drift". so that leaves just about every vintage car out of the question. if my cameras were closer to the street I could start a Youtube channel and I would have hundreds of videos, but I only see a little part of the action. they even do it in the daytime when cars are parked n the circle.

 

I've always figured at some point the value would drop on all the non "blue chip" cars and parts. 32-34 Ford will hold their value, but now model A's could almost be tossed in there as the gap in value is quite a bit smaller than it used to be. Tri five Chevy's will always hold. With the younger group the muscle car era stuff will say more popular as they have been so heavily included in video games and other media that they get some exposure. I can think of only a handful of games that had HAMB era stuff to expose a younger crowd to them.

 

I agree. I sell parts and the demand for "stuff" for old cars hasn't really dropped off for me either. The specific bits that are in highest demand has shifted around a bit, but there's clearly still plenty of people working on old cars.

My thoughts as well. A huge spike over the last few years when there was tons of new money floating around, now there's way less and the prices are coming down. Sure, some cars are more or less popular than they were in the past and some of that could be affected by age groups. But that's always been the case, it's nothing new.

 

Good. I really didn't want to sell anything anyway.

 

The market is definitely changing here in Alberta for some kinds of vehicles. A friend of mine sold his 56 Meteor ragtop in 2008, during the oilfield heyday, for the whopping sum of $120k. Gorgeous car, well maintained, but the buyer recently p***ed, and the family hasn't sold it yet at $55k.

Otherwise, my buddy just sold his 64 New Yorker, slammed with wires but otherwise unrestored, for $7k to a guy happier than a pig in you-know-what to drive it away. That being said, it was for sale for almost two years.

I'm not convinced the market will rebound to before, just my opinion. Lots of the newer hobbyists are looking for something different to spend their money on, something OT, instead of something like a 56 Mercury Montclair hardtop.

 

I guess when I'm dead and gone, all my cars and stuff will be worth zero dollars to me...so I guess it really doesn't matter.

 

Recession coming so toys are the first things folks have to pedal. Real estate sales plummeting as well. I agree the younger folks dont have appe***e for overpriced early fuel ****ing pigs that ride like a shopping cart.

 

I've am***ed a lot of parts and wouldn't want to know, even if I could, how much money & time I've spent in the last 65+ years on my 'hobby', which has really come to define me.
I'm presently 80 years old and just completing my '36 Ford 3W, which I wanted since I was 12. I have never viewed my hobby as an "investment", so personally, I don't give a rat's rear end, what old car "market" is doing - I plan on having it 'till I die!

 

The driver beater market seems to be doing ok

 

Let’s face it this is a buyer’s market which is perfect for me. When it comes to selling, as my granddaughter would say after I’m gone “that’s a you problem” when it comes to all the cars, part, tools , and whatever else is in the garage

 

There have been a high number of collections at auctions this year with no reserves and that has certainly been a factor in price drops. However, many of these collections were started 50 or 60 years ago and the average appreciation over the years haven't hurt the final sales price vs. the original value.

 

It all goes in cycles, I think what we are seeing now is two fold.

I think the 2020 bubble of asking and selling for bat **** crazy high prices has finally popped. If prices are 200% over inflated then going back to normal will seem like a crash.

Factor in if you can afford to feed your family and still have some extra scratch for car stuff you’re probably not as willing to dump so much into it at this point in time.

Theres lots of standing around the bench bull ****ting conversations to be had about it all, and don’t let me stop ya. But I think that’s what a lot of this boils down to.

Parting thought.
You can’t be trying to sell your stock model A for $45,000 and complain that 18 year olds making $8 an hour aren’t building model A’s at the same time.

 

Vintage British motorcycle (Pre-1975) prices have fallen off a cliff here in the UK in the past 18-24 months.....probably seen a 35-40%+ drop in values in that time. Anyone who paid top money back in 2018-2022 will be seriously taking a bath if selling now or in the near future.
Values/prices of US cars from the HAMB era have dropped here in UK (as have late 60's muscle era stuff) but the HAMB friendly stuff has not dropped so much as the later stuff. The later muscle era stuff has dropped here by probably 30% in the past 18 months, but HAMB era stuff maybe only 15-20%.

 

It really isn't just collector cars, it's anything collectible now. All collectors are saying the same thing, that values have dropped off and things they bought 5 years ago aren't worth what they paid for them anymore. It's the economy, stock market, etc. that affects people's fun money and whether they want to keep it working, or invest in collectibles.

 

We recently finished a for resale bare metal Brookville bodied deuce highboy roadster ready for paint, interior & wiring. it was an exceptionally nice car. Listed it for $75K on Opposing Cylinders and had a pending sale within 24 hours. Yet I get zero action on my original 32 Ford bodied finished deuce highboy which is everything the bare metal car is and more priced at $100K. Also have a new Brookville 32 roadster pickup body with new firewall priced $1000 below cost with minimal interest. I get occasional very good offers for my daily driver deuce pickup that are above the going market Confusing.

 

For me a drop in prices is good, old cars are a hobby for me. I’ve made money on some and broke even or lost a little on some, however when I buy a hobby car it’s for fun I don’t expect to make money and I’d never make out on my labor.
Many buy, sell and build cars for a profit which is cool. A drop in prices is not good for these individuals. I hope they continue to make a profit through this shift in prices.
I think Barret Jackson etc along with all the car flipping TV shows drove prices up. Seemed like everybody thought their car was worth 100k. I just refuse to spend that kind of money on my hobby. I can remember people damn near giving away muscle cars during the 70s energy crisis. I remember an OT low mileage Superbird for sale for 5k in the late 70s, I asked my dad to loan me the money he just laughed, who knew.
Dan

 

Nothing has changed in all the years I've been in the hobby starting in 1961, Some guys could afford to BUY a registered driving car and OTHERS that bought parts to BUILD one. The MARKET never effected me having a good time with my projects, and I've never seen the reason to finish them.

 

I agree wholeheartedly, the market is in the toilet, but you look at cars for say $40,000 more than likely you couldn't build that quality of car for that kind of money. The price of building cars is thru the roof also, even if you do most of the work yourself, parts are not cheap. I'm going to take a bath on the project I started, and realize I'm too old to finish it. If I get back what I have in the frame and drive train I would soooo lucky. But **** happens. I have to bite the bullet and move on.

 

Everything is just fine with me. I never even have known anybody who'd spend that kind of money on these cars.

 

That's always been my mantra...

 

...It's not a mantra that I've tried to follow....just one that seems to follow me.

 

Your dream car may not be my dream car. Just to change the colour and wheels on a car could easily be 20 grand. You may have spent 10 grand on flames or lace or billet or a continental kit, and I can’t stand it, if I have to change it, well you get the idea.

 

I reckon 32 prices are dropping. 33 and 34 less so but also decreasing. Its simple more people are leaving the hobby than joining. A key reason tri 5s are holding slightly better at the moment is that they are 20 plus years younger and have a much greater following on youtube. Finnegan, Nueberg and Dan etc are partially responsible for that.

 

Man, I was hoping you were going to make me a smoking deal on that vette…lol

 

A whole lot of valid points have ben posted.
If you buy what you like your fine.
If you speculate you ***ume the risk.
Right now is a excellent time to buy that 'keeper' car but a poor time to sell that non off brand project.

 

My only big fear when prices start dropping, is that good stuff ends up at the s****yard and is lost forever. Happened in '08, I saw a lot of projects turn up at the recycler that they weren't allowed to sell parts off of. Stuff sits unsold for a while and people get desperate.

I don't really give a **** if someone can't get their "investment" back but I do care when grandpa's crack-head grandkids start cashing in his collection for 10 cents a pound.

 

Agreed.
Problem is, so far I've only been successful at the first part of that universal old-car-investment theory.
Still working on that second half.

 

So We Get to Keep Our Cars....Finally The Best Reason...IMHO...

 

It's an interesting time we are living in, IMO. The hobby car market is all over the place, buying or selling, depends on what you have or want and building for the DIY man is still doable again IMO. It was mentioned, engine machine shops, very few left in Wisconsin, what's there all are very busy, going to be even less as some owners are aging out. Every car show I went to this year had record car counts so the hobby is strong here. Because of my DIY, the car hobby has been reasonable $$$ fun, any Hobby definition = $$$ involved. I had the racing hobby for many years, Memories Priceless, $$$ involved crazy stupid. I'm aging out, changed my cars type now OT and participation some but still enjoying the hobby. Have a Great Day !

 

I don't see it. Cars I look at are still going up in price. Stupid money cars may be coming down but for most that isn't real life.

The timeline is also simply moving forward. I saw a Chevy Citation (stock) listed for 8k. I can't imagine they will ever get that but sheesh.