Featured Hot Rods Rod & Custom Firesale

As I cruise the HAMB, Ford Barn, Hemming's and other sites selling older cars there is a definite trend toward much lower prices. I've been doing the old car deal since 1962 and have endured the price ups and downs of especially the hot rod world. Usually it lasts a little while and prices gradually recover to a reasonable level. I'm not so sure if there will be a recovery this time. Late models seem to stay strong and seem to stay fairly level in price. I've quit watching Barrett Jackson as I feel that market is not representative of the overall old car market. Different world than most of us live in. I can still go down to the ba*****t museum and sit in my easy chair and enjoy what I have while it's raining even tho they're getting worth less almost daily.

 

True words.

 

Needed a correction

 

Absolutely @anthony myrick

If you’re holding onto cars and stuff to make money on, you’re doing it wrong imho.

 

I agree! Tri Fives, 60's cars and even early 70's are through the roof! I have watched 32 3 windows for probably 40 years, always wanted one, but never pulled the trigger. In the past month or so there were no less than 8 Henry's for sale across the country and 3 Brookville's and didn't appear much was selling. 60 Special

 

You have to look at the average age of who has the disposable income. The guys that loved the 20's-50's cars are all aging out or dying off. I am 58 and the cars I liked in high school are starting to decrease in price. The strongest market will be the Gen Z crowd. They are buying the cars that they relate to.

Not sure what the current generation will collect. LS powered stuff I expect.

 

Barrett Jackson is an auction where many of the sales are tax deductible as investments one way or another. It's a complicated strategy. Buying a car can also be considered as an ordinary and necessary business expense if presented as such. Private buyers will be subject to capital gains taxes on any increase in value when sold. Please consult your tax attorney for specifics.

Don't beat up the messenger. I'm just a lowly engineer. One of my brothers is a tax attorney so I got this general info from him. My 2 cents is that cars in the $250,000 range could be bought by wealthy buyers but those million dollar cars are bought as investments and not for bragging rights. Maybe Jay Leno or other millionaires have the dough to buy what they see. Sometimes wish I was one of them.

 

I'm a died in the wool 32 Ford guy since I was 12. I lost count how many 32 ch***is I built over my 40+ years in the hot rod business and the same with 32 ford cars I built both finished and package cars for others to finish. In today's world my current favorite car is the 62 Chevy 409/4 speed Bel Air 2 door hardtop. $89K. Listed on Opposing Cylinders. If I sell my 40 standard coupe I'd maybe be half way there. Then there's my daily driver deuce pickup, I have a couple guys lusting after.it I can dream.

 

The beater market is where I live.

im in the plus on all mine at the moment

 

Good conversation, albeit a little depressing...

Locally, there's a very nice 49 Meteor coupe, dressed up flathead and all, mild custom, for sale for $20k. Has been for sale for most of the summer, and it's a very nice example. On the flip side, another somewhat vanilla OT Chevy **uarebody pickup, with catalogue wheels, mediocre paint, and that most recent fad of an engine swap, is advertised for double what the shoebox is. And I just looked and the ad for the truck says SOLD.

So, I want to relive my old days, and I, too, venture into my ba*****t, and read my Rod & Custom mags from the 90's, remembering the good ol days. I recently was forced to essentially give away a collection of multiple decades of Street Rodder magazines. Nobody wanted them for free.

I hate getting older.....

 

The trucks we hauled the “cool” cars with are becoming worth more than the “cool” cars

I recommend driving em. If its gonna lose value then enjoy it dropping while cruising it

 

When my wife and I were first married (circa 1990) we bought a nice one owner 1969 F100 XLT Ranger. 360/C6 original paint. Bought it from a guy my FIL worked with. The price? $900. I am still kicking myself for selling it.

That truck in todays market would bring 30K. Would I pay that? Never....but...it still amazes me.

 

That’s the reason why I’m getting my woody ready to start putting some miles on it. She has always been a trailer queen but woodies are not getting the money like they used to so might as well put it back on the road and enjoy her!

 

We Boomers are aging out and that's the reason the Market is soft.Not sure it's gonna correct itself much.

 

That’s the crazy part.
The old truck market has been crazy for a while.
Seems to be holding better than a lot of vintage cars.
Especially 4x4s
I prefer trucks. I would find an old beater, clean it up some, make it go and stop and drive it daily.
If I broke even I considered that a win.
Those cheap beater trucks are very few and far between.

 

I’m watching the Barrett Jackson auction right now and the cars are not bringing the money that they used to. Thursday and Friday cars were very reasonable and today’s cars are somewhat obtainable including the high dollar restomods and muscle cars. It might be because of it being in Vegas or the time of the year I have no idea, but I could almost afford to buy something from them.

 

The prices and cars are coming back to the blue-collar worker levels!

I have always said there are rich car guys and there are rich guys with cars! That latter has lost interest and have moved on to something else.

Pickel Ball, Golf, Underwater basket weaving or some or ridicules asinine activity!

I say good riddance!

 

I for one will be glad if the prices go back to where they were when I first started liking old cars. I could afford them then, but then everybody else started liking them and escalated the prices. There are some now that I would like to have and could actually afford but I am not going to pay the prices they want because I don't think they are worth it. To me they are still just old used cars that I like, not an investment or some status symbol. I have too many anyway.

 

Double edged sword. Trends towards lower selling prices also suggests reduced demand for parts, and fewer shops making those parts.
That eventually catches up with the guts that need those parts.

Nothing much more disheartening than to find the vendors that used to carry what you need don’t have it anymore because the supplier doesn’t make it anymore, or has disappeared.

Case in point. Tailgate hinges for a 35-36 Ford pickup used to be commonly available and cheap as dirt. Now, if I see them at all, they’re $250 and up.

 

With a very few exceptions 50s back cars are only going to continue to depreciate. Im glad I have zero dollars in my 34 3W. Very few guys in their mid 40s to mid 50s and slightly beyond had hotrods on their walls. What ever it was is where the money is and will be until the next gen comes through.

 

Car prices decreasing but parts prices are increasing. Hopefully someday they'll reach a balance but I fear that will never happen?

 

It was a buyer's market at Barrett-Jackson on Thursday but a number of the rods and customs that day were showing their "build age" more than a little bit even though they were actually pretty well pristine cars. Not many if any serious traditional cars but a lot of street rods that screamed 1995 or 2002 and still had the paint, upholstery and wheel and tires from that specific era. Plus the standard 3fiddy 3fiddy setup. Some of those cars were real bargains that you could put fresh paint, upgrade the interior and swap wheels and tires and show up next spring with a fresh street rod that was up to date for a lot less than a total build .
Then you get into the fact that frame swaps and not a desirable engine while making for a nice driver quality run around town and take to cruise night rig does not add value to what could have been a nice rig with stock frame and suspension upgrade under it with the right engine under the hood. Thursdays docket number 90 shows that. S-10 swaps with V6 engines mean that it was a cheap build no matter how nice the paint and interior is.

 

That's the problem, the next generation will NOT be coming through...they don't care about cars.
My 25 year old nephew is a BMW guy. His current one is a 4 door because he says half of his friends don't drive or have even have a drivers license. Their transportation is just a text away,Uber/Ride-Share.
Looking for the current or next generation to be buying up our cars when we are gone is a Pipe Dream.

 

Sometime is sit and wonder why teenagers aren’t paying 15+k for 32 bodies.
Crazy

 

When I built my yellow Avatar I figured I'd lose my **** selling it or die with it? I'm hoping my current winter deuce roadster project will find a new home when I'm ready and that the new 3 window will also be a lose my **** trying to sell or die with it? What the hell it beats going to a nursing home.

 

from what ive seen in ct, the market is really soft. this past year i was able to buy a very affordable 32 5 window. ive wanted one for years and could not afford one. a few years ago they were untouchable and now they are coming way down......john

 

The 40-ish year old son of a long time friend summed it up pretty well......"We have our own thing". Like it or not "our" dream cars are falling out of favor. Oh yeah, there are some 20's 30's & 40 year old people building and driving hot rods (as we think of them), but the crowd is populated with a high percentage of gray beards.

I think the same sadness came over a lot of horse owners many years ago when cars started taking over as the preferred method of getting around.

Lynn

 

Are the rich guys (who were only collecting because it was fashionable) bailing out to be more socially acceptable with the ones in their group that tout the evils of the car?

 

They must think we're crazy. Lots of times I do.....

 

Agreed with pretty much all here, and as one of the Hamb's resident Millennials, I can say I'm definitely in the minority of my age bracket. I will say, with prices where they're at, and after being accosted with complicated tech everyday, I'm definitely going to end up with another mostly stock Model A Coupe in my life to keep things simple. Wonder how good my MPG can get with a T5 swap...