Muscle Car Prices Coming Down.

[ZiggyL78]

Has anyone noticed the price of muscle cars coming down?The first thing I noticed a couple years ago was the price of race cars.I saw 2 nine second fox bodies go by for under 10K Canadian.Not mint cars but ready to go with proven performance.Today finding nice 10 second race cars for under 20K Cana. (13K US) is no big deal.I don't see high end LS6,COPO,Hemi cars dropping,but middle of the road BBC Camaros and Novas are not hard to find at a great price up here in Canada.Pro Street and anything with a roll bar in it are dropping big time and tough to sell.One thing I have noticed going up is motors and motor parts for these cars.L78,L72,LS6 and L79 stuff are going up.

[70 copo]

Yes. The supply and demand slide has started. The kids that used to buy our generation of cars have no practical recollection of driving gen one muscle cars on the street and the comparative high resale prices (since about the mid 1980's) for most of our cars - have kept the kids from developing the kind of emotional bond we have.

[Crush]

My 23 year old son is a total car guy and loves all types. We were talking about all the modern day cars and how there are so many choices for 400+ HP cars. His comment was the number of kids his age that are just leasing, Hellcats, ZL1’s etc vs buying so the entry level to performance is cheaper than forking out cash that can be used for other things. Not many kids his age have 25k plus cash to buy a older hot rod. In addition, they prefer the modern amenities the new cars offer.

[JRSully]

I've said it before, time marches on. Most of us here lived the heyday of these cars, it's what 'we know". The average younger person these days has no association, hence, no interest. Same philosophy in that I have no interest in the '40 Ford Coupe hot rod type era, didn't grow up in it. That group is unfortunately fading away and the prices for those cars are rock bottom now due to the very limited market left pursuing them. If you want one of these, you can get beautiful hot rods now for a fraction of what it cost to build them originally. Just my $.02

[marxjunk]

everything goes in cycles..ive seen them up and down 4 or 5 times in my life..

[XXXGoldL34M20]

Originally Posted by ZiggyL78

Has anyone noticed the price of muscle cars coming down?The first thing I noticed a couple years ago was the price of race cars. I saw 2 nine second fox bodies go by for under 10K Canadian. Not mint cars but ready to go with proven performance. Today finding nice 10 second race cars for under 20K Cana. (13K US) is no big deal. Pro Street and anything with a roll bar in it are dropping big time and tough to sell.

What's Ironic is I hang out with plenty of guys up here in Canada with these type of cars and they think there cars are worth $50K, when it comes time to sell they are in for a shock how they can't get one phone call or even one guy to come to there front door unless they give it away. Just too many Modified Day 2 cars up here in Canada and too many buyers looking to get cars for under $20K.
I have seen many buyers just take there money and buy a modern Muscle car.

On the other hand I don't think High Quality Restored or even Survivors from the first Generation of muscle cars with "Born With" Drive trains will ever go down as those cars get scooped up right away when they come up for sale and honestly keep trickling up in value. My 2 Cents.

[70 copo]

The relative upside is the availability of heads and intakes that are on the market today as modern rodders switch away from analog technology to modern engines for a build. I think soon a stock appearing muscle car with say an LS instead of an old hi compression flat tappet motor will make complete sense if you plan to do any real touring beyond the week end cruise scene.

Running any of the old engines with modern fuel is flat brutal.

[bergy]

The only data point that I have recently is that I took my 67 427/400 Corvette coupe to a car show in Florida a couple of months ago and had 4 different boomers fighting to purchase it. I finally did sell it for all of the money. Colors and options make all of the difference IMO. My car was bone stock and drove like a new car.There are a lot of retired boomers who still want that one muscle car that reminds them of their youth. Boomers have the $$ to make a good investment in a car that they can drive out to dinner or to the ice cream stand occasionally. The market for "over the top" trailer queens may be different.

[NorCam]

I think any quality built, correctly restored or nice original type car is still going to attract it's own captive audience. The common cars that are heavily modified are usually the ones I see people passing by without people giving them a second look. Take the whole Pro Tour thing that was so hot 5-7 years ago? Now guys are listing those cars on the cheap and many people will pass them over. Pimped out dash boards full of after market gauges, seats that look like they belong in a speed boat. big brakes, and rubber band tires on over sized wheels is turning a lot of people off where I see a large push looking back to originals. Myself included.

I've seen the race cars going dirt cheap as well, but look at the reasons why? Engines are becoming very costly to build. Competition is stiff, and everyone and their dog is running turbo's and LS configurations so many are giving up on building another drive train to try and compete. On top of that are all the tracks that are closing up. My local track closed 7 years ago and it's 2.5 hours to the nearest track now.

While I knew muscle cars back in the 80's growing up, I wasn't really around in the late 60's to early 70's (I was only 5-10 back then) but sure grew to appreciate them as I got older. The same holds true today as peoples tastes do change. Years ago, I liked Day 2 muscle cars and while I still do, I'm digging the original cars and survivors much much more. I also never liked the 30's and 40's hot rods 10-20 years ago but at my current age (52), I'm starting to look at the idea of a nice 32 Ford as a cruiser to be added to my muscle car collection. I think that I'll soon be adding an old hot rod to the mix, and I never grew up with these kind of cars either?

Like it was said above...it's cyclical and tastes change. My thoughts are that they will always run full circle with true car guys, and many of today's kids will grow and mature into car guys. Also seeing the younger guns starting to develop an interest again. My 13 year old wants to build a muscle car with me and his buddy at 13 is also about to build a muscle car with his grandfather. These two will help spur others in their circles and that's how it all takes shape. Two become 4 and before you know it there's another cyclical surge once again.

Here's what I'm looking at buying into these days. (A couple from a show I was at yesterday)

[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.