Projects are Car prices going down?

Hi all, I watch the online ads a bit, does it seem like the prices are moving downward?
Or is it still high for the popular and just going down for the rest?

 

I would say that most are down from what I see. Good time to buy.

 

I've noticed it too here in SoCal...im trying to restrain myself as I see quite a few good deals on stuff. Problem is I don't work on what I already have..

 

Seems like it.
Or leveled out

I’ve bought some vintage parts recently much less than what they were asking years ago.

nice trend

 

I suspect just like the housing market... prices going down is great for buyers and not for sellers.

Just following car show threads here on the HAMB, I am always suprised at the number of amazing hot rods and customs that show up all over the country. And that's not counting the street rods. Street rod prices have dropped significantly, as the number of people who actually like street rods is also dropping just as fast. I suspect the market for traditional hot rods and customs is stronger, but at some point there will no longer be enough people alive who know the history of these cars and appreciate them for what they are. And those that do think they're cool may not have the courage to spend money on a car they don't know how to maintain or know anyone who can maintain it.

 

I've noticed that it seems they are falling. I've watched some places online, both local and regional and both seem to show a lowering trend.

...

 

This was a rough year to sell a car for sure. Not ready to call it a trend yet seeing as prices skyrocketed over the previous 4 years but clearly the time to sell was a couple years ago and not this year. We'll see how next year looks.

I've got a couple I'd like to part with but I'm not going to give them away, I'll wait for now.

 

Lots of good deals here on the the Classifieds
Ryan’s pick three is evidence
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/three-pages-three-picks.1336724/
Dan

 

Sold 2 the very first of last year and am glad I did. At today's prices, i'd probably still have 2.

 

I know of a few old car guys who just sold cars for way less than they could have a few years ago. They both were in their 80's and were getting rid of stuff so their families didn't have to deal with it.

 

Sounds like the right decision, who knows if the prices will rise or fall in real dollars in the near future.
It's better not leaving the selling to one's heirs.

 

In my area it seems that the asking prices are going up, but looking at the classifieds here on the Hamb they do seem to be leveling out. HRP

 

There seems to be some good deals here in New England on the Facebook marketplace.

 

For vintage stuff, yes. Musclecars are still a strong market.

 

I think money is getting tight for a lot of possible shoppers. When the money gets tight, the expensive stuff becomes farther out of reach and those expensive things start to see lowered prices.
That leads me to think that the high dollar show cars, and the high maintenance fancy cars are loosing some ground. People are more interested in cars they can actually drive. Cars they can afford to buy are becoming more important.
Project cars seem to be really taking a hit, unless they are really close to being done. The prices seem high, but many don't seem to be selling.
It seems, the turn key, ready to drive stuff, are creeping upward in prices.

 

Zeroing in on this part of this post... This. 100% this. I have a 90% done project car (non-HAMB '93 Mustang GT) and my nearly stock '32 Sedan and I don't have time to do much work on either of them. And I can't really drive either much or very far as they sit. If I could buy something totally done, ready to use that it my tastes, that would be money worth spending. Otherwise, I'd be picky about parting with any money right now.

 

From what I can see prices for hotrods are decreasing and have done so for a few years. IMHO the main driver is more people leaving the hobby than joining. Its just Economics 101.

 

My old Hot Rod buddy passed a few years ago he had 34 5 window chopped all rust free car . Sold in 7 mins . He had a 57 TBird always California car . No rust perfectly restored , I could not pay someone to take it .

 

The t birds seem to have lost value not sure why? I love the baby birds and bullet birds, square birds not as much but I’d drive one.
Dan

 

55-57 t-birds kinda suck stock. I thought they were way overpriced 35 years ago.
They make cool customs.

the 58 to mid 60s ones are a lot cooler

 

Sold my 41 Chevy 6 weeks ago after owning it 37 years and got exactly my asking price. Then again I was realistic.

 

I'm looking foward for the downfall...as stuff is ridiciously overpriced at the moment ...
If you love old cars for the sake of themself...you don't care about what it's worth....

 

I think the six figure trend chasers who have to pay to have a car built have or are in the process of moving on to the next big/cool thing.
Hopefully the prices will return to a place where working class people with blue collar jobs can afford to build cars again!

 

My theory, and it's only theory, is that traditional hot rod people are aging out of the sport, the demand is lower so it goes back to the concept of supply and demand.

Many of the younger generations have moved on to other things that attract them. I particularly can't understand people who buy muscle cars for huge dollars. Perhaps it's thought of as an investment? I don't wish anything bad on them but I have a feeling in 15 years their cars will be worth pennies on the dollar as the following generations move on to things beyond muscle cars. As a 30-something son of a friend of mine said, "We have our own thing".

Another example from a different generation, I think you can buy a nice restored Model A today a lot cheaper than you could have 20 or so years ago. The people that identify with a stock Model A are getting a lot older and unfortunately dying and the heirs aren't interested.

Supply and demand....

Lynn

 

I agree with the above post that done cars sell quickly. Seems like the segment of car guys that actually want to build something is getting really small. I've seen great prices on basket case cars lately. Seems like nobody wants those...you have to start at zero. Some times those are the best deals...the guy has extra parts..new stuff..etc.

 

All the shops I visit are full and have waiting lists.

I can’t post any pics here as they’re OT.

The guys building em dig trad it just ain’t paying the bills.

 

Your $,right now has more valve an gaining. If don't know why,find some real news, turn off the media you been using. Good buys can be had,have fun.

 

I've noticed a big difference in asking prices across the board but the high priced ones are still for sale while the moderate price stuff is actually selling.

It's like ebay, find something your interested in and there are auctions that are ridiculously priced and been on there for 6 months to a year and then check out completed sold auctions and see what that item is actually moving and selling at.

Last Friday on a regional car site a buddy and myself was looking at "vintage" vehicles and the price was all over. We found 2 cars, both 37 Chevies, one was a project and one was a nice driver. The project was about 8000 more than the nice driver. No problem figuring out which one would sell first if a person was looking to purchase.

There were many examples of the above including 3 or 4 t-buckets. Same way the most expensive one was a trailer car, as in you'd need a trailer to pick it up, 2 more were a couple thousand less and drivable.

Asking price vs selling price are 2 very different things.....


...

 

I will agree with this. We've all been saying for years that it's cheaper to buy one done than to build one, and I think people are actually starting to take that advice.

There's a lot of cars for sale that were "done" but sat undriven for many years and even those take a fair amount of work to make roadworthy again. Or just-finished restorations that have only had 5 miles put on since finished, which is not a selling point, it means they don't have the bugs worked out yet. Very few cars for sale were driven reliably for thousands of miles in the last year or so, those cars don't seem to be for sale often.

I used to work at a shop that specialized in Thunderbirds, mostly 55-57. I love them and would like to have one, but they're very cramped inside. To drive a stick-shift one, I had to lift my right leg up and put the shifter under my knee to get it into reverse. And the lift-off hardtops are heavy and cumbersome. They're neat looking, but impractical, and not very comfortable unless you're 5'6" and 140 lbs.

I've also found this to be true. I have a hard time believing it's just a mass exodus from the hobby, when every shop that can do good work on any aspect of old car building (machine shop, body shop, upholstery, chrome, etc) is booked out for years. Clearly there's still a very strong demand to have work done.

Lots of conflicting anecdotes and actual data. I don't really know what's going on. The event we were at this weekend had quite a few cars for sale, a few very reasonable, but also record turnout.

 

The market is larger than this place.
The big shops I visit or keep up with are building everything from pre war stuff to 90s stuff.
Visited a shop that builds mostly 4x4 trucks. The bulk of those are late 60s to mid 80s. Start off in the 250k range. A friend of mine had a 800k bronco he was transporting. The builder had a waiting list and was looking for an additional shop to assemble bodies.
Visited a shop and seen a complete Ardun flatty on a crate. Was for a customers car. The rest of the builds were modern EFI builds.
The trad stuff is small nitche, that’s why it’s cool.
The $$$$$ is being spent, just in other stuff now. For the most part anyway.