[Mr70]

That really surprises me about Mr.Martin.
I haven't read the recent article in question,but always thought he had a good positve perspective of the market in general,especially what he had to say here in February 2006 right after B/J....


February 27, 2006
By TERRY BOX / The Dallas Morning News


"If you're considering cashing in your life savings to buy a '65 Shelby GT 350 Mustang or '70 big-block Chevelle, I say do it.
Keith Martin has spent the last 20 years devising a system for rating collectible cars. The ratings are detailed in his new book, which is due out this spring. But no one mistakes me for a financial adviser, so maybe you should wait for Keith Martin's new book, the Martin Guide to Collectible Cars, due out this spring.



Mr. Martin, editor and publisher of Sports Car Market magazine, says he has spent the last 20 years devising a system for rating collectible cars – including an A to F grade on their investment value.

Thanks partly to high-profile, televised events such as the Barrett-Jackson Auction last month – which generated $100 million in sales – collector and classic cars are sizzling hot.

But first-timers always "buy with their hearts," Mr. Martin says, which may explain how some boomers – the primary drivers in this growth – depart for Barrett-Jackson with a pocket full of cash and return with a 1980 MGB.

Mr. Martin said his book "can keep you from buying dumb. We're trying to wrap our arms around what makes a car collectible. What is it about a particular car that makes it special?"

He rates cars in five categories: rarity, beauty, performance, historical significance and fun. A car can accrue a maximum of 20 points in each category. Like those tests you used to take in high school – while daydreaming about the cars you're now trying to buy – 100 is the elusive perfect score.

"We want to provide a marketplace snapshot to our readers so they can quickly and easily understand why a '69 Camaro is more collectible than a '71 or why a '73 Porsche 911 is more desirable than a '76," Mr. Martin said.

In a sample of 100 cars from the book, the highest-rated car was a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO (score: 98, investment grade A, price range $10 million to $14 million). The lowest was the aforementioned 1975-80 MGB (score: 50, investment grade F, price range $5,000 to $8,500).

When the book comes out, you'll be able to find ordering information at www.sportscarmarket.com.

And for those who actually do head off to an auction, Mr. Martin has another tool: SCMSearch, which is free – at least for now – and available at [email protected].

Send that address a query on a particular car and it will reply with an e-mail to your home computer, work computer or Treo and BlackBerry thingamadoobers. The reply will give you up to 10 results from the sales of similar vehicles, Mr. Martin said.

Despite this era of million-dollar Hemi 'Cudas and six-figure Camaros, Mr. Martin doesn't think that the market is overheated. In the last three years, he noted, 10,000 first-time bidders have registered at Barrett-Jackson.

"It's driving the old guard crazy, but these new people don't care what something sold for five years ago," he said. "They only want to know what it's worth now."

Moreover, Mr. Martin thinks that many of the collectible cars from 40 or so years ago will hold their value for at least another decade.

"Modern cars are moving farther and farther away from the cars of the '60s," he said. "I've written that the golden era of collectible cars stretches from '54 to '74. Toward the end of that period, safety and emissions standards began to have an impact. From '68 on, really, you no longer got a car that was purely what the designer wanted it to be. You got compromises."

Terry Box is the automotive writer for The Dallas Morning News.