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

This is just my .02 on cl***ified ads anywhere (including here) . To me it's like a swapmeet, I like to know how much the person is asking before I really look at it. I'm usually a quiet guy, I don't like to bother anyone with questions if the part is out of my price range. Same with online ads (for vehicles or parts), if it's for sale you need to have pictures. You need good detailed pictures of parts from different angles. A bunch of pictures of the vehicle....outside, inside, trunk/bed, under the hood, under the vehicle....the more details the better and a detailed write up with pertinent information of the vehicle. This way you can weed out the time wasters, picture collectors (or other things sellers complain about) and keep the people who would normally p*** the ad by interested. I'm not really a big seller, but I have sold a few vehicles and more parts in the past. It's what I try to do to keep the issues at a minimum.

 

Sure doesn't look like the prices have taken a dive.

 

Looking at auction sites like Hemmings and Bring a Trailer a lot of collectible cars get sold. Now whether they are the style of HAMB is another issue.

Some of the same high dollar hot rods stay for sale for years. Modified vehicles are harder to sell because the buyer wants his own version and the question becomes how much has to be spent to change it to their liking.

Times change and tastes change. Not every 20 year old is lusting after a ‘32 Ford now like many of us did years ago.

 

Or being around young people makes you realize how far distanced old guys are from young people. They have more pressing issues than an old car.

 

Old car?
I bet a 32 wasn’t an old car to the average middle aged person in the 50s

 

A lot of young people these days aren't in a hurry to even get their driver's license! Geez when we were 16 it was the most important thing in our lives....next to girls!

 

And now keeping it is one of the most important. We come into the world wearing diapers and leave it the same way.

 

I can attest that the Ford shoebox sedan market has tanked in the last few years. When doing some research on what the 51 I just bought was worth, I was shocked. But, I was also able to buy it for way less than they were worth what seems like a few years ago. The good news is that I am driving a neat car for not much money.

 

The buyers are dying off, simple math fewer buyers , fewer sales

 

That is why HAMB parts sales are off I guess.

 

eurgh the term 'Collector Car' gets my back up, the culture of car collecting needs to die.

If old hobby vehicles become more accessible then its all good in my eyes. More folks putting their hard earned into something they love as opposed to guys hoarding stuff until inevitably gets left to their family who s**** it all off.

 

How about detailed pictures?

 

If the ad you posted here is any indication of the effort you have put into selling it it's no surprise at all it hasn't sold.

 

I can remember several different dirt tracks in Oklahoma in the '50s where early/mid-thirties cars were getting demolished on a regular basis. Not many cared about the body style as long as it conformed to the rules.

 

It's nice to see "collector" car dropping to driver prices. It could be due to the simple fact that the guy who bought a car and had it restored realizes he'll never make a profit on his "investment".

 

I have no idea what the cars finally sell for but if you look on the cl***ified of the HAMB, Hemings, eBay, Bring A Trailer sure doesn’t look like Cl***ic Car prices are in a steady fall. I certainly realize you can ask any price you want. I an also aware some of these cars have been on the market a long time. Also if you look closely at pics a lot of the cars are not in as good of shape as claimed. However, I will agree if prices are falling it’s probably in the prewar, HAMB type cars. A lot of us are getting close to our expiration dates and unfortunately folks under 60 are more interested in muscle cars and cars of the 1960’s or 1970’s.

 

I think most of your points are valid, except the "under 60". I know three guys one province over, in Saskatchewan, who are around my age (48) and who grew up around the HAMB friendly era of cars, and they continue to build bad*** old iron, especially the two brothers. These guys get it. While I understand it isn't the same everywhere, I see many 40-plus builders. In my region, the 30-40 year olds are into muscle cars, and under 30 seem to be gravitating to pickups, mostly 70's-80's trucks. I think a lot of the build vs buy landscape is changing as well. I built our 56. The skills and determination and enthusiasm to build a car ground up and with their own hands is becoming lost on the upcoming generations. Some guys will buy a done vehicle vs build one, based on this. One of my friends (28yrs old) bought a brand new Corvette this year. When he told me how much he paid (excess of 100k), I said "Wow, I could have bought a chopped Merc AND a Deuce for that amount, or built four or five drivers!" That also affects the market. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, but even typing this makes me feel old, that I know for sure!

 

Well glad to hear you have youngsters interested in HAMB era (prewar) cars. I go to a fair amount of Cars & Coffee, Cruise Ins, Car Shows and it’s getting increasingly hard to see any prewar cars and when you do it’s usually the white hair/white beard crowd.

 

It sure was! My dad who was a teen to young man in the 50s had a chopped 34 cabrio. His dad borrowed it once while his car was in the shop. Got pulled over and the cop (also a middle aged man) asked him "aren't you a little old for this?" Anything predating the gulf of the war era was an old car.
Look at the old films from the 50s. Now maybe it was different in the midwest, but the average scenes show a few 30s cars but mostly post war iron.

 

Glad I sold mine in 2018!!

 

Right! This was a time of great economic prosperity in the US, and the cars were always improving. The middle cl*** wanted the latest thing if they could afford it, and many could, so old cars were not wanted. My Dad, born in '44, has zero desire to own any old car, never has.

 

Spoke with a few vendors at Turkey Rod Run yesterday and they all said it's been a slow year. I had a few things on my shopping list but didn't find any of them. After the swap we went through the car corral and the prices certainly weren't indicative of a slow market, quite the opposite! I think people may be trying to cash out their 2020 impulse buys not knowing the collector car market is down probably 25% or more right now.

 

I was entertaining myself on FB Marketplace the other day & I ran across a mid-1960's International truck for sale for $2,500, not too far from me. It's was one of those small trucks, with a short bed....red body, white top...very cool. There was a video of it running & it looked pretty damn decent. I forwarded the ad to my brother & we were both amazed at the no brainer deal (not that either of us is in the position to do anything about it). Then the very next day, don't I see an exact carbon copy of the truck for sale in another state...same color, even....for $25,000! It's funny because the $2,500 one is still apparently for sale. I'm wondering if the big buck guy noticed the cheap one? Weird market, for sure.

Maybe this down market will have a rebound effect? Guys that couldn't afford certain stuff before will be able to now & generate renewed activity in the hobby.

 

LOL have you priced playing 18 holes of golf lately? My golfing buddies in Naples tell me its about $100. I tell them I can load up my hot rod, go to the drag strip, pay $60 to enter a race and I might come home with $1500 prize money.

 

Far more likely the $2500 one is a scam. Looking for people to put a deposit on a screaming deal.

 

I think there is a major factor people are overlooking and that is the price of living or in many cases just survival!

I bought a used Chevrolet truck last year to the tune of $29,000 because I needed a truck and didn't want and couldn't afford the $1,200 a month payment for a new truck.

Fast forward to two weeks ago and I had the 6L80 transmission failure. It's a $7,500 repair, yes, I could do the mechanical work, but I can't program the computer. I have no choice I need the truck and $7,500 is a hell of a lot cheaper than a $70,000 truck.

I live in what was once a dairy farming community about 3 and half hours north of NYC.

My in my hometown the hamlet of Grand Gorge with a total population of 800 at one time there were 3 new car dealers-

Pindar's Chevrolet

W.S. Hinkley Ford

Rehbein Dodge/Plymouth

A farm equipment dealer, two feed stores, a hardware store, a dry goods store, two grocery stores, 7 independent service stations, etc...

Over the last several the farmland has become more valuable for development by NYC retirees/vacation homeowners.

As we have lost the dairy farms, we also lost the business they supported.

There is very little emolument locally, I am driving 30 miles one way for work.

The average income in here in Delaware county (NY) $60,226, however many cite people are giving well over market value for houses and many are selling for $250,000 plus!

Well out of the reach of the local blue collar working cl*** people.

What is going on in the collector car world is the same thing that is going on in the weekly short track (oval track) world the prices are such the working-cl*** people can't afford it!

When I was growing up there were anywhere from 5 to as many as 15 racecars in town!

A combination no work/the cost of living being so high and the cost or racing there are no weekly racecars left in town

 

This video just posted to Jay Leno’s Garage




From this video …




Jim

 

I think the market is starting to correct itself too, and many people are getting very rude awakenings that they have put far too much money in these cars.

Many had the at***ude they were "upgrading" cars and making them move valuable, when if fact all they did was put more money in a car, then it was worth or made "Upgrades" people don't want!

When I see a car a with a dual reservoir master cylinder, disc brakes, aftermarket A/C etc.. maybe the casual "car guy" or guy with cars these are improvement to me they are down grades and things I need to remove to make the car as it should be.

The same goes for body and paint, now I understand replacing rotten body panels, by I don't understand spending hours and hours on body panels, body gaps etc..I think many people think doing this was making their car more valuable when in fact all it did was add expense not value.

Putting a $20,000 paint job on a $15,000 car doesn't mean your car is now worth $35,000 it means you put $5,000 more than your car was worth in it!

 

You got to remember the people that really like these cars unfortunately are p***ing on (My father was one of them rest in peace) and the ones that are still living that really wanted one when they were newish are probably getting close to 90 ish years old if not older now.
I love a 55 to 7 Thunderbird but they've been over priced longer than I've been alive they are just now becoming more attainable But they are no means cheap It's not like they are a Kaiser Manhattan in price lol. If you want to be blown away by something look at the price of some of the '90s Japanese so-called supercars My generation (I am 47) Is all about those damn things and arguably a 93 Toyota Supra or 95 3000GT VR4 is essentially the 2 seat Thunderbird for my generation and some of those cars are now starting to get close to that six-digit mark I think the supra has surp***ed it if it's a clean low mileage one. My point is the Thunderbird will always have a loyal following but it's like an MGA or a Jaguar XK150 They were never m*** market cars to begin with where a Ford Mustang or a '57 Chevrolet or a Ford Model A will probably always have a pretty large following in comparison these cars are becoming a little more realistically priced just like the duesenbergs the cords and the auburns did back in the 1980s when I was a kid and the world war II generation was unfortunately moving on to the next life so to speak.
Now if we can only get the 32 3 window coupe to drop in price so all of us that want one could afford one.

 

For the hamb I am fairly young at 47 and I've been on this site since I was probably 25ish I think maybe even longer before I actually got an account but if we were being real I think most of us got a license so we could chase girls and all of us wanted a cool car to pull a cool chick. I'm pretty sure this language is still universal a**** young men at least real men It's just the cars have changed when I was a kid an old car was a muscle car today an old car is a 1990s vehicle and a muscle car or a '50s car or one of our hot rods are probably cool to a gearhead of any age group but they are ancient to a casual car lover.