How is the economy affecting hotrodding?

Its allright. The way i see it, another guy got a good start on a cool car.

 

Well then, in short, the rich get richer..............................So, if we can hang on to the few dollars we got, it'll be a buyer's market soon. I hope that helps

 

Jim,

I looked at your auction and unfortunately you only had one guy bidding. He did put a ceiling bid after his initial bid.

I have a few car projects that I had thought about doing something similar with, but the car market is probably going to be soft for a while.

I might try doing something more than a roller, possibly a unfinished driver and see how that works.

 

the economic slowdown, will eliminate the guys who got into the hobby for a profit weather it is a fast or slow profit, and the real car guys will be left, we have not seen much of a slow down in parts sales, although how and to whom we sell has changed, more internet and sales to dealers, exports overseas way up, but have seen a drop in car prices, i think a lot of guys who got cars are trying to sell to raise some cash and i see a lot of cars for sale from indiviuals, but dealers are still keeping the prices high.
i want to see how much activity there is at the the charlotte auto fair it will be the first big swap meet of the year.

 

Even tho I am with what Deuce Roadster says 100%,.... for the rest of the Nation,.... MAN !, we are getting hit hard in Michigan, there are a lot of people getting laid off, let go, jobs being eliminated, etc. and recently our state decides they need more tax revenue ! ,..... I have had a car for sale for four weeks now, lots of interest, but nobody has cash, I have been offered trades for everything under the sun, but no cash.

Folks are being told at the big 3 they better take the buy outs there being offered now, cause if they don't they ain't going to like what happens next !
So when you start to feel the pinch where your at, and want to feel a little better,...... come on up to Michigan for a little while. we would love to have you,... and your money !

 

The upside is, I've been offered several rare cars that just never would of been for sale before. It seems that the old piece of junk in the back yard or fencerow carries less sentimental value when one is struggling to make the mortage payment.

 

I've got my 36 tudor Ford for sale and have had no bites. It's a finished car and has always made folks look. Now they look the other way ??

 

I have watched it come and go....same car 31 years,I dont have expensive tastes or habbits,pay as I go.

 

I say lets burn up all the damn oil just so the chinese can't have it!!!!! Besides,when all the oil is gone global warming won't be happening anymore!!!

 

Deuce you are dead on ...........I can't believe this generation wants total satisfaction instantly and the banks are feeding into the frenzy, I can't stand some a$$hole buying a MC D burger with a credit card give me a break , then again, most companies look at their workers with the attitude "you can be replaced" and it goes on down the line Been doing a lot of cruzing here in Havasu last few months I noticed that a lot of goldchainers are not selling their bling cars easily. My philosophy goes back to that hotrodding begins in the back yard and as you progress up the ladder of billet the fun goes out of the hobby . I agree that too many people have bitten off way more than they can chew My take is.... lesson learned.. Written by an old fart and glad to be one..

 

Duece is correct and I agree with him 100% too. A lot of young people are falling for the "0 down" bullshit on large consumables. They just don't read the fine print and/or they are gambling on the economy. When they lose, they look for the bailout. The idea of trying to buy a house or car without a good down payment is crazy to me.

Next time your in Vegas and you drop a few thousand, ask the house if they'll give it back to ya! Same shit here. If you gamble and lose, you lose. End of story.

There are a lot of people who bought high dollar hot rods with the intent to dump them for profit. They're stuck with them now or will have to dump for a loss. The time is going to come, when if you can roll around with CASH in your pocket, you will get the hot rod of your dreams. The rod in the start of this thread was worth every bit of $4,500 plus some. They are going to start showing up by the summer big time!

The wealthy start the cycle with media panic. People sell, the prices drop. They buy and wait for the up swing. It's just plain old economics, not rocket science. I have a hot rod budget and I'm also saving for the next project. When the bottom comes, I plan to be there to catch the goodies.

 

Profit from it.

So gas prices are up and climbing? Buy stock in oil exploration, refining, etc.

China laughing at us by selling cheap crap to the masses? Buy stock in their trade exchanges, realize a profit, buy stuff only from American companies and still have money left over.

California treehuggers trying to kill hot rodding? Buy stock in heavily granted "green" solutions companies, realize a profit, build yourself a 2 mpg monster that spews toxic waste and do donuts on Florez's back yard and still have money left over to bail you out of prison so you can do it all over again.

Everpresent media is controlling people? Buy stock in Viacom, or any other major network, and/or marketing companies that push these dumb adverts in our faces.

Conspicuous spending is up with people chasing brand names with money they don't have? Buy stock in LVMH, or any other luxury brand that is making ridiculous money money.

There, now you can laugh at everyone who fell for everything and you're sitting on your pile of cash. Take that cash and buy all the crap these people are selling at pennies to the dollar. Houses, boats, cars, whatever.

That's the abridged version so it may lack the tact of previous posts. Bottom line is, don't be a sucker. If that mortgage is too good to be true...it is. If you're barely making ends meet with 700 in rent, 1200 will bury you (taking DR's example). If you want a car that is just within reach with payments you can make if things go right on a particular month, don't. Add tax, insurance, gas, parking, tolls, tires, friggin windshield washer fluid, etc and it's too much.

Just be sensible and use your money wisely. It doesn't take a million dollars to have purchased stock in Halliburton. War on Iraq? I know people who bought stock in oil companies and defense companies the day it was announced and made the best out of a shitty situation. Made out very nicely actually.

Don't have the foresight for this stuff? Buy into someone who does. Berkshire Hathaway has realized insane profits. Warren Buffet has now eclipsed Bill Gates as the richest man in the world. Can't buy shares of the A stock? Buy the cheaper B stock. It's still good.

I'm retired now so I deal with this crap daily and I have some friends who started with 10k 5 yrs ago and by following the very basic principles of investing have realized profits profits more than tenfold what they started with. And no, they didn't cash out and buy a friggin' Porsche. They still invest. Snowball effect, it's great. There are plenty of people revelling in the current economic shithole we're in. Sometimes it's the easiest time to notice where to make money. You don't have to hunt around when it's right in front of your face.

 

0 down is a large part of the problem! When people don't have some of their OWN money at stake, they're quick to walk away from their responsibilties.

 

ditto.. i am watching a coworker make a BIG mistake NOW.. and have seen others making similar mistakes..

come november it will all be roses and sunshine.. (at least thats what the media will tell you)

moosman..

I 110% disagree.. rather I hope your wrong.. I've found that it costs JUST as much to build something no one else will want, as it does to build something that others will want..

I.E. (no offense to anyone but, for the sake of argument) price out the build of a 50 dodge, and a 50 ford.. which will cost more to build? and which is worth more in the end?

budget hotrodding isnt "coming back" its here..

 

Dude, you broke it down. People spend so much time bitchin' that they don't have time to see what's REALLY going on. The wealthy didn't invent the game, they just play it well. The thing is, the rule book is public knowledge if you seek it out.

I have enough in savings to finish my T in the next 2 weeks. But I won't because, I have a budget and I'm sticking to it. Only a certain amount out of each check goes to the hot rod. The rest goes to bills and savings. Hot rod stuff is the lesser of the two. It's not hard to play if you think.

 

Sawzall,
You speak truth. After the initial purchase most cars cost about the same to do. It seems the most cost affective cars to build are 32 fords, 49 mercs and Chevy muscle cars. I dont know how many friends have squandered their money on a less desireable car just because the buy in was cheaper. Then later in life they go to sell and realize thier pride and joy aint worth squat.

 

Many wise words spoken here in agreement with Deuce Roadster.

I know for a fact that the car he built was built with blood, sweat & tears. There wasn't a part or piece that went into or onto that car that was financed, or put on a credit card that wasn't paid in full when the bill came. That's why it took him 12-13 years to build it!

I also know how much extra work and side jobs as well as horse-trading went into earning the "extra" money to go into the car.

Remember about 16 years ago, we had the media doing their best to convince us we were in a recession and then about November, all of a sudden things started getting better? Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Like said before, there are places in the country that are suffering because their heavy industries are suffering, but don't you think that Henry Ford put a lot of people out of work that were making buggy whips and harness leather?

I believe that most foreclosures fall into one of 3 categories:

1. People who bought with little or no money down and really couldn't afford to buy a home. This includes people who bought with ARMs that have gone up (duh).

2. People who bought a house and filled it with furniture from Crap-to-go with no payments due for 50 years, and now those payments are due, as well as the payments on the big screen TV and the Hyundai they bought for $99 a month for the first 6 months.

3. Amateur real-estate speculators who bought a $99 TV course and were going to be the next real estate millionaire (wrong).

Just my 2 cents worth here. I hear people gripe that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. If you took all the money in the U.S. and divided it up evenly, in 5 years the distribution would be the same as it is now. Some people know how to manage money and some don't.

 

The economy, like the world climate, goes through cycles.
There is no such thing as "classes" in America. ( for the guy who said something about the rich guys having all the money now, give me a BREAK!)You want to be poor; go for it, that's the easy way. I've worked my butt off to make some good money; which is something you can't do by making bad decisions. I'm not anywhere near wealthy, but I don't worry about what the media says the economy is doing. That's just how they get the poor dopes to vote for anyone who they claim is the new hope, or an agent of change. It's all a big load of crap. If you don't want to take a hosing on your car; don't sell it for less than you think it's worth. But buyers are fickle. No one else besides you might place such a high value on it. That's why stores have half price sales on new merchandise.

 

Just my 2 cents worth here. I hear people gripe that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. If you took all the money in the U.S. and divided it up evenly, in 5 years the distribution would be the same as it is now. Some people know how to manage money and some don't.
Aint that the truth. I have 2 friends that have been multi millionairs 4 or 5 times each. They both have a problem with cheating on thier wives. When they get caught they lose BIG. Both guys have went from workin class joes to Rich and back. me, I kinda just stay afloat. Oh well at least I love my wife.

 

Jim I gotta jump back on here with a big A-MEN to your last post! I too know several examples of people who have had it all, lost it all; over and over again. I know a guy who does a deal with his kids (he's a teacher) and he says the same thing, every year he sees Michael Dell's Warren Buffets, and Bill Gates types develope in his class room; while others don't care if they just sit on the floor. It's not everybody else who is the problem, it's the people who don't want to change what THEY THEMSELVES are doing. That change in thought process is what turned my life around (that and getting saved).
IN short; damn the economy, full speed ahead! (with prudence)

 

This goes to one of the first questions a person has to ask thenselves when they start a build. Are you building it out of love or for profit or both. If your building it out of love, then you get to build whatever you want. You shouldn't be thinking about the sale afterwards. Building for profit changes ALL that. If you're building for profit later, you have to pick something that is popular or will be in style. Like a duece. Always in style, never cheap.

I'm building a T Bucket because it's what I want, not for what the resale will be. The posers are about to dump people. How much do you have in your savings to rescue that rat rodded Model A down the block?

 

heres a good story for you. When i was in highschool, we lived 70 miles from the exxon valdez oil slick. The morning it happened our science teacher makes this huge deal out of it, Right after class one of my friends rushes to the payphone. he calls his dad and cons him into buying 2 vans, with pressure washers, and small utility trailors. The next day my buddy takes them to the spill site where he rented them to exxon for 2 years at a price of $1000 a day. True story.

 

Nuff said. Thinkers will always win.

 

I think you nailed it right on the head!!!

Fuel prices arent helping, neither is the media.


-Jason

 

From what I am seeing, the guys that have money are still buying, and the ones that didn't have alot last summer have even less.

Honestly, I do not have enough cash to pick up all the good deals on cars that are coming my way. Alot are not HAMB material, but still classics. So you guys with extra cash, stock up.

Swap meet sales are almost nothing. Internet/ ebay is hopping right now. I think some guys are trying to grab up what they think are fire-sales, and paying more, but they do not know what they are buying, and they will be getting a reality check later.

As for you investment guys, I am afraid of that. I know nothing about the stock market, but I know if I buy a car for $500, I can double or triple my money in a week or two. More than the stocks can do, with my little investment.
I'll be screwed when I am too old to work on cars, or maybe I'll make my fortune doing it..
I figure I've made my fortune when I have no debt.

 

Here's a good article and worth a read.
http://www.taosplaza.com/content/view/5950/146/

Damn this thread got off topic.

 

Jim the way I see it, if that little pickup is as nice as the rigs you show here it will do enough advertising for you to make up the difference between the selling price and what you would have liked to have several times over.
There will always be people showing up cash in hand looking for quality work and quality cars. And I'd bet the next guy isn't going to get off near as cheap.

 

0 down is gone in home lending.........we are now back to the point where you need 3-5% down, thankfully

 

i couldn't agree more with this, very well said!!!

 

In some European countries, you have to come up with 20%. THAT seems more reasonable and actually realistic. Ask an older person what they had to come up with on thier first home. I'll bet it wasn't 3%.

There are a lot of people, married couples, who took the GAMBLE. Thinking that the market would continue to rise and the home they bought in 2000 for 200K would magically be worth 300K in a few years. So, you had couples gambling that things would stay good and both the man and woman would keep they're jobs. Living one check to to the next on a dream. When the marlet dropped or one of the two loses thier job. Kaos.

I don't care what anybody says, if you don't read the fine print or gamble and lose. You're just that, a loser. Sad and unfortunate, but reality none the less.

When people start selling off things they didn't need in the first place, try and be on the good side of the fence. The buying side. Just smart business, man.