Entry level "Supercar"

[Dave Rifkin]

Guys what would be your choice, and average cost, for an entry level "Supercar"? My neighbor wants to buy a collector car as an investment and I suggested a second generation Trans Am or Z28. I also suggested a Cobra Jet Mach 1 but, he seems to have his sights on an AAR Cuda' which, I think, might be out of his price range. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Also, any reputable dealers that you could recommend would be helpful too; I hear too many horror stories about Ebay purchases.
Thanks

[Salvatore]

Sound like good suggestions to me. Parts are available and you can buy one that is not perfect for $12,000 or so. How about a 71-72 SS nova? Have fun looking! Sam

[mhassett]

All 4 cars are good suggestions. There are still some good deals on second gen Trans Am and Z28. But none of the four cars mentioned are supercars. Iwould never buy a car off E BAY unless I knew the car. I would go on cars wanted o this site for leads, they woold be represented honestly.Mark

[John]

...I think the Monte Carlos and Olds Cutlass cars are a good value and should be going up...camaros and chevelle's
are already hot....and parts for Mopars are harder to find if the car is missing something.
...Try to buy the car you enjoy ...it makes that "investment" more fun...

[RichSchmidt]

Of course the 2nd gen camaro with a bigblock can be a collector worthy piece. too,so dont overlook them.
If you want to know how to get into this market on low funds and make money on it{and plan on living at least 20 years to make good on it},try a later model car.
A good cheap future collectable would be a low to mid miles 87 thru 90 mustang GT,or GT convertable.You can still find decent examples for a sane price,and restore then for cheap,and they will be desirable as the Gen X'ers start getting warm and fuzzy over their young years.
You do have to be aware of the"instant collectables" out there,and you might want to aviod falling into paying too much for them.There are oceans of 89 Trans Am pace cars,GNX's and special package Mustangs out there right now with no miles and such a car wouldnt attract such a rise in value like having a vintage muscle car of similar condition does today,since the cars of the 60's werent viewed as desireable until they were almost all destroyed.In 30 years every other GNX at a car show is going to have under 100 miles on the clock and still have the original air in the tires.Not the same could be said for a ZL1 camaro or Hemicuda,all of which were thrashed and beaten like rental cars for the first 10 years of their lives.

Low level vintage cars are a safer investment since the chance for loss is lower.If you bought a spotless 68 camaro with a nut and bolt resto 396/325 combo,for $30,000 and it turned out to be bogus,it wouldnt be a big deal since any nice Camaro with a bigblock,even a clone is pretty much worth more then $20,000 these days.Now if you bought a bogus COPO car for $150,000 you could loose half that in amount as soon as the truth was uncovered.You could also loose half that if the market falls out of favor.

Another thing to consider is building a clone of his own.You can buy a clean 70 cuda with a 318 for under 10 grand,and a Hemi crate motor,4 speed and dana 60 for under $20 grand,and even with a fair resto on it,the clone product would be worth more then you had in it.Of course it wont be a $250,000 real deal,but other broke azzed mofos like most of us ould be happy to own such a piece.If you knew how to get the job done you could be a really sharp clone of a supercar for under 50 grand and get every penny back the day it is completed..The guys around here dont like clones,but as long as you dont get into the murky end of the deal and start having things stamped to say what they disnt used to say,you are fully within your rights to build the supercar of your dreams.Good luck either way.

[Salvatore]

You made some good points Rich.

[TimG]

The 1970 to 1972 442's are entry level priced cars. I bought one on e-bay in May for under $10,000 and the wife, kids and I drove it all summer with A/C on. The kids loved it, they could use it. Not like the low mile or rare cars that grace the garage and they can't touch em.

[mmcporter]

I think there are so many cars out there it's hard to say where to begin. Here are a few entry level choices:

<ul type="square">[*]1984-1987 Monte Carlo SS Coupe[*]1983-1987 Hurst Olds/442[*]1967-1970 Mercury Cougar--priced less than a comparable Mustang[*]1973-1975 Buick Skylarks and Olds Cutlass[*]1969-1975 GM Big cars: Catalina, Bonneville, Impala, Caprice, LeSabre, Electra, etc[/list]