Muscle Car Prices Coming Down.

[Locker537]

This topic, like most, is all about perspective.

I'm "young" by nearly all definitions, and when asked why I love hot rods and muscle cars of generations before my time, my usual answer is "well, I was born in the wrong generation". I prefer music from the 60s and 70s as well; always have.

My perspective is quality always costs. Your perspective of the cost changes with the economic times and market in general; we remember when these cars could be had to "very cheap" and when prices have soared while auctioned on TV. While I don't have stories of owning these cars new, or missing that opportunity to buy a true Shelby GT350H for $8,000, some of my friends - who are double my age by the way - do!

When forced to think about it, precisely one of my friends that are my age are interested in muscle cars. That's it. All the others rather have something they are personally nostalgic about: Subaru STI, Honda S2000, Acura NSX, ...the list goes on! Great cars and in many cases subjectively better, but very different than what we here are passionate about.

From a buyer's perspective, with the cash ready to go, I don't believe the prices are currently coming down. Sure, I've passed on many $15-20K cars - mostly non-matching, needing reasonable amounts of mechanical and cosmetic work. But the nice cars, where owners know what they have and love them, aren't selling for cheap.

[70 copo]

I see two value peaks:

1985-1988...Killed by 1987 stock market crash and follow on gulf war economy.

2005-2008...killed by 2008 market collapse but this time not a drastic drop it has been more of a slow slide as guys kept their cars. I guess the other factor is the availability of performance to the masses during the gap period following 2008.

The difference being is that a regular car today driven by a soccer mom has the acceleration to stay with many of the average old gen 1 muscle cars on the street.

[GotGrunt]

Originally Posted by 70 copo

The difference being is that a regular car today driven by a soccer mom has the acceleration to stay with many of the average old gen 1 muscle cars on the street.

My daily driver is a big 4-door sedan that weighs 4,400 lbs. without me in it. It will consistently run bottom 12’s bone stock. It should crack into the 11’s in cooler weather but unfortunately I don’t live close enough to a track to go very often. It’s very reliable too, you don’t have to pop the hood for months at a time unless you’re checking the oil or cleaning under there. It also gets over 25 mpg on the highway. The good old days of muscle cars are right now. This has everything to do with the younger crowd not being interested in old cars. A lot of them don’t know how to work on them, most don’t know what a timing light or carburetor is. Why should you when you can buy a turn key 9/10/11/12 second car straight off the showroom floor.

This was last year when englishtown was still open:

https://youtu.be/0ZAYjxCinNk

[Mr70]

If it wasn't around when the 8tk tape player was,I don't want it.

[NorCam]

Originally Posted by Mr70

If it wasn't around when the 8tk tape player was,I don't want it.

Yup...I may drive a new truck most business days...but when I park it, it's time for something old and nostalgic.

[ZiggyL78]

Something else.There seems to be a shortage of Nova SS cars.Maybe just my area but I have seached across the country.There seems to be more Camaro SS cars around then Novas.I'm selling my heap soon and I'm seaching for something else.I missed a L34 Nova SS that was triple black.It had a fresh 454 in it.It went for $19K.

[markjohnson]

I've always subscribed to the theory that Musclecar prices began to escalate in the '80's when the current offerings of that dark era were just kinda lame when compared to the cars of 10-15 years ago. People were of the mindset that the glorious Musclecars of the '60's & '70's were long gone and weren't coming back. Well, guess what? They did come back and folks were & are able to buy hyper-fast Corvettes, Z/28 & ZL1 Camaros, Hemi Challengers, Hellcats, Boss Mustangs, etc. without worrying about spending crazy money on a 50-year old car that may-or-may-not have had substantial rust repair, it's original block popping on E-Bay when you thought you bought a #'s matching car, no A/C on big horse stuff which makes the car less than enjoyable by many people's spouses, etc. The new cars have A/C, nice stereos, retro styling, they're faster, more economical, safer, warrantied, and basically do everything better than their old counterparts. Sure, there'll always be hardcore guys like me in dwindling numbers that like the rawness of the old stuff but I can certainly understand the appeal of the great new stuff!

[carnut4life]

I believe the present and future value of muscle cars boils down to memories and most kids today don't have many fond memories about the cars we love because they can't afford them now and haven't been able to for quite a while. I grew up in the 80's and barely caught the end of the days of a kid being able to afford a muscle car on a budget. My first car was a beat up 1970 Chevelle SS 396 without a motor or transmission that I bought for $250. Bought a beat up 69 Caprice with a 396/TH400 for another $275 and had a cheap car paid for by a summer of de-tasseling corn.

While there are younger people that enjoys classic muscle cars there just aren't enough of them to keep prices going up forever as the supply appears to have met the demand. That being said I still think the best cars will continue to bring the best money since the demand for any Yenko, Shelby or Hemi car isn't going away anytime soon.

My three kids like old cars, I believe, because I take them and their friends out for rides whenever they want and even let the girls drive them now and then. I even encourage them to "get on it" from time to time when if there's no one else around on the road and its safe. My youngest daughter loves driving my 69 Grand Prix and says it rides and drives better than her 2006 HHR. My son, who's only 12, can't wait to get his drivers license because he already knows he's going to get to drive them too. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that others do the same and the fire will continue to burn.

[SBR]

Time may march on but I look at it this way. There is a fixed supply of truly great cars with a growing money supply. If you have a great car, I believe that its value will increase over time.

[KENNY PASCOE]

A lot of great input on this subject . Being in the business i think car prices are relatively strong for the most part . This will always hold ground , good cars always trade for good money . KP