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

Anything more than four or five years old was an old car to most people when I was growing up in the fifties and sixties. I don’t think I saw my first 32 until I went to my first car show at the local National Guard Armory in 1966 when I was 15, and recall exactly two 40 Fords squirreled away, plus two 37s occasionally seen on the streets.

 

Nothing to do w the price of tea in China but... Our 57 Chevy wagon was put out to pasture in 1963. Where it sat until the 2000's & we bought it. Hard to imagine using a car only 6 or 7 years now & calling it done. Our daily drivers today are 19 & 23 years old.

 

and I just started a ground up build of a Model A Tudor last year. I know it is a money losing proposition but it is my hobby and it brings me joy!

 

If you had to come up with $7000 a year just for insurance you wouldn't be in a hurry either. I know its not the only factor but its a huge expense if you tack that onto the cost of a car (which even used are also ridiculously priced unless you get a total.piece of ****) gas and maintenance.

 

no tears here. we used to sit in the tavern and watch those "don't know what to do with all my money" auctions, and moan about them being the ruination of the old-car hobby!

 

Strange, I was also born in '44, and aside from some definitely OT road course burners from across the pond, I have no desire to own any of the new crop of offerings from the multi-national manufacturers. As Lewis Grizzard said in his book, "I Haven't Understood Anything Since 1962".

 

Parts sales are a bit down. I have a ad in the cl***ifieds with doors fenders and hoods for sale with a link to the pictures. $50 each buys most of the stuff. Not one response.

 

When purchasing a hot rod I look for added value. Something old and built correctly with history. This move has always helped me when it comes to selling.

 

I'm 45 and I can't say I know anyone who has one of the 90's tuner cars, although that might be just the area I live in. I don't think they were ever that popular here. I'd actually welcome that, instead of the jacked up diesel compensater trucks that seem to be everywhere here.

I've said it before but I think we've all (including myself) forgotten what it was like to not have a shop full of tools or a garage to work in, a lot of young guys don't even have their own place. Sure, we can all whip up a driver of some kind on a shoestring budget but most of us here have a shop to work in, all of the tools, lots of leftover hardware and s****s, etc.

I'm sure there's quite a few people younger than me that would love to have a garage full of cl***ics, but it's not the price of the cl***ics that holds them back, it's the price of the garage.

 

I totally agree. When I was in my teens, I complained when parking a car outside in the weather over a red dirt bar ditch was the only way I had to pull a transmission; now I have a pretty nice garage, and I complain because I'm several decades older and don't have a lift.

 

None, zero , zilch , nada of the cars I like have gone down in price .. up, up and away !

 

My daily driver is 16 years old.Back in the day an 8 or 9 year old car was usually rusted out and beat!Majority of cars never reached 100k miles.My first car was a 1960 Rambler.Bought it in 1968 and it was considered "an old car".Cars are much better built these days.Some have clocked 100's of thousands of miles!

 

Man, I've never really thought of it in those terms but you're right. Less than 37% of people under 35 own a home, let alone a home with a garage big enough to mess around with frivolous cars in. The average price of a home in NJ is almost $560K now. Buying a $15K Model A or Crown Victoria isn't the problem.

 

There are a lot of factors involved... From what I've seen, restored stockers have fell quite a bit in value unless it's a very rare model and/or particularly desirable; prewar cars have taken a pretty big hit (the older they are, the bigger the hit), but it's also somewhat true of the postwar cars up to about the late '50s. IMO it's the fact that most of these cars can't compete in terms of handling and braking performance with the late models, as well as lacking the amenities like AC that are now standard on everything you buy. Well-done upgraded restomods now bring more money than a restored stocker, although their prices have fell in tandem with the stockers, just not as far. The prewar stock restored cars up to the late '30s have been reduced to parade duty in many locales simply because of this increased traffic on the roads.

Demographics plays a large part. Most buyers want a car they coveted as a youth, as older buyers die off interest in 'their' cars dies with them. Add in the economic pressures on the working middle cl***, reducing the size of the pool of potential buyers, applies more downward pressure on hobby car values.

And while we don't do politics here, ignoring it doesn't mean it's going to go away. The day is coming when gasoline will become a controlled substance and not in a good way...

 

I guess the Dan Tanna fan club has disbanded…

 

@SR100 ...Hopefully not all of them! LOL

That is exactly what I bought Laura, right down to the hubcaps & wide whites

@Crazy Steve,

Lots of valid points, but I quoted the last paragraph only to say that oil is NOT "fossil fuel" & the earth remakes it daily, in other words....It will NEVER be gone & with good folks like us fighting for all that is Right, it will be available for use until well after we are gone!

Plenty of opinions/healthy debate in this thread & as far as I am concerned that is good. Facts are facts though...Folks that created & continued this hobby are dying off, the dot com boom is over & prices are falling on average across the board. Cherry picking a few cars owned by a celebrity (which in some cases adds value to a particular vehicle) is meaningless to people who live this hobby. Several vehicles on my bucket list that I watch constantly have dropped to the point that I may actually buy them in the next few years. Fortunately Laura only has one other on her bucket list (after she gets this Christmas present) & that is a mid/late 50's Chrysler/Desoto in red...Think Christine or similar. Who knows....maybe a good one of those might drop to the point I can buy her one

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

Oh, I don't expect that to happen in my lifetime, but I'm pretty sure my grandkids will. As to the earth 'remaking' it, unfortunately we're using it faster than it's being remade. I have royalty interest in a couple of Oklahoma oil wells inherited from my mother. When oil prices quadrupled in the '70s she made good money ($10K a year) for about five years. Now? I'm lucky to see $200 for the year, usually less.

 

Very well said!! At 48, all of my friends and others are still into late 50's, early 60's cars and trucks, plus a few late 60's musclecars. No tuners at all, but even one of my friends has an unrestored 36 5-window coupe he'd inherited from his dad when he p***ed. It was an old hot rod in the 60's, but for him to replicate the style and build it was, he said he is struggling to buy the parts. His flathead intake, for example, he'd like a dual or tri carb intake. Some of the 65-plus guys around here hang onto those things like gold, even if they will never use it, and/or if they sell it's an astronomical price 'cause you know what they're worth.....

And to echo your sentiment about a garage full of tools and whatever we have...YES! My 56 and anything my buddies have around here are not bad looking and fun drivers that we cruise the wheels off of. I don't think any of them would p*** qualifications for an indoor car show, but whatever. We are in it for the build, the parts hunt, the fun of driving, and the pure enjoyment of the hobby, not value.

 

In my area you don’t want to be working without shelter in winter. Winters are long and cold and a good place to hibernate. Shop is a big ticket item to tinker on your hobby
My insurance company informed me replacement cost for my garage $96K. I built for $20k

 

I'm not sure the sky is falling just yet We recently finished a complete bare metal deuce highboy ready for paint & interior and it sold quickly. My finished highboy roadster & highboy sedan are another story. I refuse to budge on price so it's a standoff with potential buyers. Potential buyers in today's world seem to think the seller is obligated to cut the asking price. I may have so sell my daily driver deuce pickup next spring because a recent right knee replacement has left me unable to drive it, we'll see how that goes? I been building and selling hot rode since the early 70's and have seen a roller coaster of prices. It think the current market will stabilize when the panic prices stabilize?

 

Time for a new American Graffiti movie to spark some new appreciation/interest.

 

Non detergent oil, sludged up engine 15 k miles…bias ply tires 10-12k miles, leaded gas and carbs, 20k valve jobs, non self adjusting brakes 15k miles …etc.

multi viscosity high detergent oil, 5-7000 miles, radial tires, 40,000 miles, unleaded gas and fuel injection 100,000- miles, disc brakes 50-75k miles….
Lighter cars, no leaks, ……

easy to see some progress is good…..Styling not so much.

 

Styling not so much.[/QUOTE]
For sure! Cars today are all " cookie cutters!"All you see in a parking lot are black,white and grey!

 

Yeah, a lot of the younger guys don't realize just how much maintenance was required on those old cars. In '56 Ford recommended oil changes and full lube (a dozen or so zerks) every 1000 miles, oil filters every other oil change. Valve/brake/clutch adjustments, drain and refill manual trans and rear axle, clean and refill oil bath A/C, tune ups, every 10K. Of course, not everybody did this, so they died early deaths because of it.

 

Don't think there's going to be a shortage any time soon.There will be drilling for oil in the Arctic in a decade or so.Also will be building a major pipeline here in Canada.We have great reserves.

 

For sure! Cars today are all " cookie cutters!"All you see in a parking lot are black,white and grey![/QUOTE]
I hear ya. A parking lot is like looking at a bowl of oatmeal. Nothing to see here. No wonder young people can't get excited.

 

Let me begin by saying that I am not a Chevro-lover, but I do believe that Chevy missed or ignored a real opportunity when they didn't build a '57 Bel Air styled vehicle on a later model ch***is. In my opinion, that would have had an appeal not only to those of us in my age bracket (I'm 81), but those who are much younger and admire styling. Ford attempted something similar with the retro T-Birds from 2005 - 2005, but again in my opinion, the styling of those cars was nowhere close to being as cool as the Tri-5 'birds.

 

For sure! Cars today are all " cookie cutters!"All you see in a parking lot are black,white and grey![/QUOTE]

And SUV's. Everything is either an SUV or m***ive pickup truck that looks like a pavement princess. My car that's red I can always find because it stands out like a sore thumb.

I guess I'm in the wrong area or looking in the wrong spot or something, because prices seem to have been going nowhere but up. I've been keeping an eye out, and to give one example, Monaco's that were like 10k five years ago are going for 30k now. I should have bought a Galaxies 500xl I saw that had a 390 for 20k two years ago, because you won't find one for less then 40k now. And you see the same ads sitting for years. two examples; a '66 tbird with a 428, has been the same price since spring. late 30's Dodge, good looking car, they've wanted 60k for three years now. there's a lot of examples like that. And if they dont' get the money, it'll either sit or they'll give it to their kids....where they'll try to sell it for the same price because most folks in the millennial/gen-z area either don't want them or can't afford to keep them.

Speaking of, something I've noticed, at least in my area, is that cl***ic cars are mainly a boomer thing. Guys and gals in the late Gen-X and lower aren't really into them. Beat up off road vehicles, rice rockets (thankfully that's dying off) and side-by-sides seem to be the older ones preference, the younger just don't really get the appeal of vehicles in general; an annoying expense. When I talk about old cars they just don't get the appeal. And the local AAC chapter? I think I'm the youngest by 20 years. That alone should be setting off alarm bells. Basically younger gens can't afford it, so they're not into it, and that's how it'll die off.

 

As selfish as it sounds, I don’t care. I’ve been reading about these changes since way back - when they were all just a conspiracy theory. It was disturbing to watch it all come to fruition but I’ve come to terms with it.

My kids have no interest in my cars, my tools/ equipment/ machines nothing. I’m just gonna enjoy my life as best I can until the day comes when I have to pick the lock on the gates of heaven.

 

The T-bird was a failed experiment like the SSR. the 2005 Mustang pulled it off and the other two manufacturers followed suit.