Have you noticed how many sales not concluded.....

[ramairthree]

  I have a wide interest in vintage muscle cars,
and have really noticed a lot for sale now, and at better prices than a few years ago.

Have you guys been noticing how many stay in dealer stock forever,
and how most do not even hit reserve on places like ebay.

I am not talking the super valuable stuff.
there prices may be off from the peak, but the rare stuff is still selling.
The actual rare stuff, not what everyone calls rare.

I am mainly talking about your more common models,
especially the projects.

What do you guys think,
is it all the economy-
the price of gas,
or just less of us interested in those years of cars?

[charger_fan_4ever]

My take on projects

By the time you add up

-the price of sheet metal and parts if your missing any
-the price in fuel,time, shipping to get all the missing parts
-price of material and body work
-time involved

your project will cost you probably close to double what you could get out of it once completed.

Myself i plan on doing most of the work myself(helps buddy runs a body shop)
i figure when done my car will cost me around $20k with parts and material including purchase price.

Seeing as non #'s match second generation r/t's done bring north of 25K after a ground up I figure i'll beslightly less than that.

Most guys i know my age  are not into the muscle cars. More into crotch rockets and rice. I'd say yes less interest in projects. The older guys are probably not into taking years on a restoration. The have been there done that and know your better off buying a turn key.

If i had 35-50k I'd have bought a turn key, but i gotta put that twoards a house, wedding.

After all the sweat and blood to get my car done I don't plan on selling it.

The prices right now are down. but still way to high IMO. I looked threw a MCG from 1994 today. second generation r/t's on the road were between $5-12k. There was a restored 70 hemi cuda convertible for $35k. Non badge chargers were 3-5k on the road. Project r/t's were all 3500 or less. Prices are easily 5 times higher now and the prices are down from what they were. I think its safe to say the yearly salaries for middle class has not been multipled by 5 compared to 15 years ago!!! My buddy sold his daytona project which was real close to being done for 12K in 1994. That car now would probably bring 75k(six times what he sold it for) Safe to say that his hourly shop rate has not been multiplied by 6  in 15 years. Heck rate has not even tripled.

[ugly2u]

I wonder the same thing.

I'm 43 and love these 69 cars because my dad had one. Young punks growing up now have the same relation with the hondas and nissans. Will they buy my car when Im ready to sell?

Im not doing it for resale, I just wanna do burnouts in a sweet car!

[1969chargerrtse]

The lack of interest for Muscel cars outside of our age group which is dying off has made me feel like I'm in this by myself at times.  My Dad did comic books as a kid.  I did Muscle cars back in the 70's and today the kids I see love video games.  I drive it for my pleasure but more and more feel Im in a dying hobby.

[Mike DC]

  
Let's try knocking these cars down not only to 1994 prices, but also back to 1981 CONDITIONS . . . and let's see how little interest remains in them.  


I know plenty of 29yo guys who would give their left nut for a 69 Charger.  But they cost too much as project cars and that isn't even the half of it.  Not every guy out there has a 3-stall garage with $5000 worth of tools in there to maintain it.  Most young guys are just aware that a classic old car would not only broke them on the purchase price, it also takes a capable mechanical person just to maintain & operate one affordably once you've got it.  

[aussiemuscle]

 Not every guy out there has a 3-stall garage with $5000 worth of tools in there to maintain it.

Thing is, you don't need much to keep them going. computers weren't built into them at the factory  wats a 2006 charger going to be like to work on in 30 years? 

[G-man]

im 26. I have a 68 Charger. I sure hell wont be driving any nissan or honda. I wanted a real car and I got a real car. I will let the clueless generation go rice while I go cook...

[Mike DC]

Thing is, you don't need much to keep them going. computers weren't built into them at the factory   wats a 2006 charger going to be like to work on in 30 years?

Yeah, but define "not much."  The fact is that I can probably think of a dozen 20-30ish guys I know who don't even consider a classic car because of limitations of space and tools and know-how. 

It's not just the lack of a 3-car garage that causes a problem, many of them lack a single extra space for a second vehicle of any type whatsoever, indoors or outdoors. 

The car has to be their only car then it needs to be something they can put 15,000 miles a year on, RAIN OR SNOW OR SHINE, with good A/C and a decent radio, and it can't break down more than a couple times a year.  If it needs more than 3-5 hours worth of work (including diagnosing the problem when they don't know anything about cars yet, learning how to fix it, etc) then they have to pay a mechanic at a shop to do it for them because of the limitations of their location and free time.  They work 5-6 days a week in one way or another and they live in apartment buildings where they'll get sh*t from their landlord if they are seen wrenching on the car on the premises, ever.

So, what are we up to here . . .  an affordable muscle car, that can be driven 365/year full time, without ever needing more than one afternoon of work at a time . . .  with heavy options like A/C . . .  how much money are we up to here?  (BTW, we weren't talking about a '66 4dr Monaco here, we were still talking about a 68-70 Charger) . . .