Re: Yenko Nova
As a Classic Car appraiser, my advice to you would be to thoroughly clean the vehicle and consign it to a high line auction within the next 6-9 months. The rare investment, numbers matching classic market operates on somewhat of a pyramid method. It begins at a broad base, with vehicles priced low and everyone buying, and (like a pyramid) as the prices rise, the buying pool shrinks. There have been two other “equalizations” in classic car history, and I believe the third one is inevitable. The first were the pre and post war cars, that were skyrocketing in the late seventies and early eighties. With the introduction of the muscle cars, that market dropped and never did recover.
The second was in the late eighties, when muscle car prices went through the roof. The equalization that occurred decimated the market, and it took several years to recover. I still remember the gentleman that bought the Fathom Blue LS6 convertible from a classic dealer for $150,000 in the late eighties. A few years later, he had no takers at $90,000. It took several years for him to finally recoup his money. A rule of thumb- when the investment vehicle market prices the product out of the hands of Joe Public and into the hands of only a small group of collectors, the equalization occurs. This is due to the fact that after the small group is done swapping and acquiring vehicles, there is no one left with the financial means to buy them. I believe we are approaching another equalization. The problem is, you have no advance warning- it just happens. The collectors that purchased at the lower end of the pyramid and sold at the high end are winners. Those who purchased at the top of the pyramid are going to suffer some, the degree of suffering being unknown. Those financially secure enough to sit on their cars can always weather the market fluctuation.
When you hear comments that some cars sold for “stupid money”, that is a clue. The two partners that formed B/J were honorable and reputable men- you could always view these auction results as an indicator of the market-no more. The circus atmosphere and grandstanding has nullified B/J as an indicator of anything. If you want top dollar for your vehicle, I’d sell it in the near future.
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