Old Car Trader Magazine from 1999

[lukedukem]

i was cleaning out my 69 roadrunner and i stumbled across an "Old Car Trader" magazine from 1999. thought i would post the adds to share the prices and how they where back then. Quite a few wing cars, and one '68 Dukes car.
i blacked out the numbers, but some of the websites still are there.

Luke

[lukedukem]

More

[lukedukem]

more

[lukedukem]

......

[lukedukem]

last one. compare this one to the 68 dukes car. they are almost the same price

[Baldwinvette77]

Man, i was born a decade too late 

[Cncguy]

If only we could time travel.

[MoparMotel]

I just ran across a 2000 issue of Hemings Motor News last weekend, I'll have to take some pics as well, it has a 69 R/T 426 Hemi 4 speed Charger, 440 Daytona or 440 super bird for $35,000.

[tcs69rt]

Very cool! I have one from 1985 that I need to scan. 

[Charger_Fan]

Those are pretty neat! I probably have some from the 80's too, stashed somewhere in my basement. I'll see if I can find them & scan a few.

[lukedukem]

Very cool! I have one from 1985 that I need to scan. 

That would be cool to see the prices from that era. we would have prices about same years apart. from 85 to 99 (14yrs) and 99 to 2017 (16yrs)
we can see what they where in 85 then 99 then now. Plus I'm curious to see the prices nearing the end of the Dukes run, and before internet.


Luke

[MoparMotel]

Very cool! I have one from 1985 that I need to scan. 

That would be cool to see the prices from that era. we would have prices about same years apart. from 85 to 99 (14yrs) and 99 to 2017 (16yrs)
we can see what they where in 85 then 99 then now. Plus I'm curious to see the prices nearing the end of the Dukes run, and before internet.


Luke

Please scan if you have time, I would love to see 1985 pricing. I've been curious what Warner brothers paid for '69 Chargers in the early 80s, $2500?

[Chad L. Magee]

Very cool! I have one from 1985 that I need to scan. 

That would be cool to see the prices from that era. we would have prices about same years apart. from 85 to 99 (14yrs) and 99 to 2017 (16yrs)
we can see what they where in 85 then 99 then now. Plus I'm curious to see the prices nearing the end of the Dukes run, and before internet.


Luke

Please scan if you have time, I would love to see 1985 pricing. I've been curious what Warner brothers paid for '69 Chargers in the early 80s, $2500?

It was usually cheaper than that from what I have heard.  Some of the Chargers that were to become GLs were bought by WB from their owners for only hundreds of dollars.  Remember back then (early 80s), to many people, they were just ten + year old "grocery getters"...

[6spd68]

I remember an issue from 88 with a 68 RT priced at 3500$

[Chad L. Magee]

I have a small collection of old National Auto Trader type magazines that I need to scan someday.  I know I have some that go back into the late 1970s in there.  The magazines were give to me by a neighbor "cleaning out" his garage after his wife got mad at him.  He intended to get them back from me, but then they moved away and I never heard back from him.  They are a time warp to read...

I also have some classified ad papers (ie. the free ones that you could pick up at gas stations) from the Kansas-Nebraska region from the late 1980s to late 1990s.  It was quite common to find 1968-1970 Dodge Chargers, Superbees, Coronet RTs in there running/driving for around the $2000 to 5000 price range.  They were not show ready but would have been excellent restoration candidates.  Maybe someday I will get some time to scan those too...

My family thinks I am nuts to want to keep them, but they do speak of a lost era....

[Mike DC]

  
The cars were cheaper in the 1980s & 1990s but they were already getting harder to find.  

I was daily driving a '69 Charger in the mid-1990s and it was a rare/classic thing to see by then.  You couldn't go to the local junkyard and get a fender or grille at that point.  These things were NOT "just cheap used cars" at any time after about the mid-late 1980s.    

   
Just for reference, here's the average new car price ($26,000 today):

1980 - $7000

1985 - $11,000

1990 - $15,000

1995 - $18,000

2000 - $21,000

[moparchris]

I still have the auto-trader ad that i sent in when I was selling my 68 Hemi Charger 4 speed car. in 1982.  I was asking $5,000.  Thought it was all the money in the world 
I'd kill to have that car back now.  Who's in the same club??Actually I'd really consider trading my Hemi 500 for that car.....

[Chad L. Magee]

 
The cars were cheaper in the 1980s & 1990s but they were already getting harder to find.  

I was daily driving a '69 Charger in the mid-1990s and it was a rare/classic thing to see by then.  You couldn't go to the local junkyard and get a fender or grille at that point.  These things were NOT "just cheap used cars" at any time after about the mid-late 1980s.    

   
Just for reference, here's the average new car price ($26,000 today):

1980 - $7000

1985 - $11,000

1990 - $15,000

1995 - $18,000

2000 - $21,000

Rural Kansas was a great place to be back then because it was behind the times.  (Still is in certain ways, but no longer on musclecar values.)  One of my friends bought a nearly complete 1969 Charger (original 383-4bbl MIA, but a 400 was in its place, 1970 bucket seats) for $400 out of a Kansas junkyard in 1994.  I was there when it bought it and picked it up.  The seller thought we were crazy for wanting that "old thing".  We had it able to drive short distances (around the block) within one week of getting it home.  The bad tires on it were one reason why it did not get driven much on the road.  (He was too cheap to buy them at the time, so he parked it.)  A few years later, I bought it from him.  It was one of many that we found hidden in the junkyards in my area back then, most were not too bad to restore back.  Unfortunately, they are all gone from there now.  Many were crushed when the price of scrap went up high enough to turn a profit....

[70B5Cuda]

Rural Kansas was a great place to be back then because it was behind the times.  (Still is in certain ways, but no longer on musclecar values.)  One of my friends bought a nearly complete 1969 Charger (original 383-4bbl MIA, but a 400 was in its place, 1970 bucket seats) for $400 out of a Kansas junkyard in 1994.  I was there when it bought it and picked it up.  The seller thought we were crazy for wanting that "old thing".  We had it able to drive short distances (around the block) within one week of getting it home.  The bad tires on it were one reason why it did not get driven much on the road.  (He was too cheap to buy them at the time, so he parked it.)  A few years later, I bought it from him.  It was one of many that we found hidden in the junkyards in my area back then, most were not too bad to restore back.  Unfortunately, they are all gone from there now.  Many were crushed when the price of scrap went up high enough to turn a profit....
[/quote]

What part of Kansas? Im near Wichita and I've heard of some junkyards in southeast kansas that used to be really good before cash for clunkers drove scrap prices high. They're still out there. I bought a 68 Roadrunner out of a junk yard in Great Bend about 3 years ago for $2500. I bought a Tboned 69 Roadrunner and wrecked 72 Barracuda for $200 each out of a Salina junkyard that was closing up about 4 years ago. I was so stupid...there were 7 or 8 68-70 Charger shells that sold for $200-500 each. Why didn't buy the Chargers and leave the Runner and Cuda alone?!?!?!!?

[paironines]

I bought a 69 Charger 383 car in 1994 for $845 out of the local trader paper. Drove it home too.  It seemed like Chargers were plentiful in ads but you still had to be very quick to buy one.

[1970Moparmann]

Very cool!

[crj1968]

White Superbird in Denver Auto Trader around 1988... $7500.
Looked at it and then passed on it...because well, that was a lot of money for a 17 yr old.

[MoparMotel]

My '68 was purchased in 1998 for $4,500. Really good shape just a slipping 727.

[Chad L. Magee]

Rural Kansas was a great place to be back then because it was behind the times.  (Still is in certain ways, but no longer on musclecar values.)  One of my friends bought a nearly complete 1969 Charger (original 383-4bbl MIA, but a 400 was in its place, 1970 bucket seats) for $400 out of a Kansas junkyard in 1994.  I was there when it bought it and picked it up.  The seller thought we were crazy for wanting that "old thing".  We had it able to drive short distances (around the block) within one week of getting it home.  The bad tires on it were one reason why it did not get driven much on the road.  (He was too cheap to buy them at the time, so he parked it.)  A few years later, I bought it from him.  It was one of many that we found hidden in the junkyards in my area back then, most were not too bad to restore back.  Unfortunately, they are all gone from there now.  Many were crushed when the price of scrap went up high enough to turn a profit....

What part of Kansas? Im near Wichita and I've heard of some junkyards in southeast kansas that used to be really good before cash for clunkers drove scrap prices high. They're still out there. I bought a 68 Roadrunner out of a junk yard in Great Bend about 3 years ago for $2500. I bought a Tboned 69 Roadrunner and wrecked 72 Barracuda for $200 each out of a Salina junkyard that was closing up about 4 years ago. I was so stupid...there were 7 or 8 68-70 Charger shells that sold for $200-500 each. Why didn't buy the Chargers and leave the Runner and Cuda alone?!?!?!!?
[/quote]

Northwest Kansas (ie. Goodland, Colby, Hays area).  But, the northeastern side of the state had them too.  Back in the mid-90s, I was going to K-State for my undergrad studies and found many a hidden Charger in the surrounding small towns....

[CRW-FK5]

Thanks for sharing those.  Really enjoyed checking them out.  Prices probably seemed high back then but who knew they would continue to rise like they did.  Wonder what we'll say in 15 years when we look back on ads from today.  Anybody's guess.

[Arkgl01]

Because of this post I went and bought some off ebay for conversation pieces!  be cool to show off at cars shows and guys coming over hanging out! AWESOME!

[Chad L. Magee]

Thanks for sharing those.  Really enjoyed checking them out.  Prices probably seemed high back then but who knew they would continue to rise like they did.  Wonder what we'll say in 15 years when we look back on ads from today.  Anybody's guess.

Twenty years ago, I knew that prices for second gen Chargers was going to rise in the future.  I calculated that they would be in the $25,000 range for a second gen project by about now, so I was relatively close on that figure.  That is one reason (but not the only reason) why I started collecting them when I did.  If I would have waited around, the prices would have went up and up, going out of my price range.  Makes no sense to financially shoot yourself in the foot if you do not have to....

[HANDM]

I bought mine around 96-7 for $1,170 and I thought I overpaid 

Then I bought my former 73 Cuda in 2000 for $2250 and knew I overpaid. Sold it a few years ago for 12,000 so not a bad investment....lol

[ws23rt]

I didn't buy my cars when I did because they may increase in value later.  I bought them when I could first afford to- in every case.  Expecting them to be harder and more expensive to find as time passes.
The selling side of the hobby was not much of a vision for me but I needed to sell a few cars along the way. This (for me) was not a fun part.
Examples--I bought a 57-300C for $300  and sold it for $1700. in late seventies.  Also bought a 68 Hemi RR for $2000 in the mid eighties and sold it for $18,000 in the mid ninties.

These may seem like gains for me but the loss of the value of money --over those times-- takes that away.  But more to my point is that I am not living well because I bought a few cars at a good price (at the time). I am without some cool cars today and even If I still had them--and sold them today-- I would hardly be better off money wise.

This is a hobby that I like to play in.   Those that make it their only living are very few and have a tough road to make it so. And some may even fool themselves about how well they have done over the long haul. 

If one keeps good records that --do not-- exclude hours spent ---a proper bottom line cost will tell something important to us all when we use the word "INVESTMENT".