Visible progress!

whitetop · #1 10-15-2003, 05:52 PM

I think the special dealer/tuner cars made today are going to be even harder to keep track of in the future because of the sheer number of them being built. Also they are not being as advertised as much. Most just have a little 1/4 section in one of the mags. I've been trying to save up all the magazines with Mustangs being specially built today and I have literally lost track. Saleen, Roush, Sean Hyland among a zillion others. Every month in the Mustang mags there are 4-5 "special" limited production cars being offered. Heck, Roush is coming out with a new car every month comemerating some obscure event or person.

However, I don't think these cars will be as high priced as a a ZL-1 is today because people are buying these cars and keeping every scrap of paper and taking photos and notes. One of the rules the Antiques & Collectibles crowd goes by is never buy somthing for an investment if it has the world collectibleon the box because 10,000 other people are doing the same thing. 25 years from now these cars will be plentiful because people are buying them for future collectibility and are not driving them in the winter, low miles and if they are modifying them further are keeping all the parts they take off. Just read a story where a guy bought a Roush and bought 3 sets of extra tires, seats and other wear items so he can replace them in the future with the correct parts when needed.

I doubt too many guys did this when buying the Yenko's, Motion cars, Hemi Darts or ZL-1's.

**hvychev** · #2 10-15-2003, 06:31 PM

I know that I am going to get bashed for this but I think that most of you rely to heavily on "what was in the magazines" back then. People did not live in their magazines, they lived on the streets with their cars. What would be a good guess as to how many of the muscle/supercars produced actually made it into magazines? What about 1% if that? IMO people went with what was popular in their area or what their friends had. For example didn't Kieth Tetford say that when he bought his COPO Chevelle new in Canada 3 of his friends bought one? What about all the COPO Camaro's that were sold originally in Ohio? One person bought a COPO then their friends wanted one etc., etc. I am not trying to start a beef but just giving my humble opinion.

camarojoe · #3 10-15-2003, 07:07 PM

I agree Frank, magazines were not the "end all" for how people became aware of, or interested in these cars...there was obviously "word of mouth" and the "copy cat" thing you mentioned, where one person saw what someone else bought, and wanted one of their own... that still happens today for that matter... but i DO think magazines did play a HUGE role in how car guys got their info about who was building what, how much, and where to get one... i think the magazines of yesterday held nearly as much reponsibility for "spreading the word" as the internet (and this website!) does today. I also agree with Whitetop that today's "instant collectible" cars will not see such a tremendous increase in value in the years to come as the 60s era supercar have...for many of the reasons he mentioned, but thats a different topic all together! Say...weren't we talking about whitewalls? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img][img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

whitetop · #4 10-15-2003, 07:29 PM

Another thing to take into consideration is many of the mags that promoted Motion were regionally based-North east or eastern or upper midwest like Chicago etc. In Eastern Ohio where I live, Hot Cars, Speed & Supercar, Rodder & Super Stock etc where not available here back then.
I've picked up all my mags of this type usually at Carlisle or other eastern shows.

I've sold hundreds on Ebay and many times more than not my average bidder is usually from out West because those areas did not stock or ship those mags out there. I can't tell you how many people from other parts of the country said they were active car guys back then and never knew these mags existed.
Also look at the cars featured in these mags. The majority were from some borough in Queens, Flushing or Brooklyn and I swear the owners name always started with Vinnie or had an Italian last name.

**sixtiesmuscle** · #5 10-15-2003, 07:50 PM

You're right Dave. Italians have the coolest & fastest cars.

Supercar_Kid · #6 10-15-2003, 08:02 PM

I agree, everyone who bought a supercar back in the day didn't necessarily see it in a magazine first, but at least one example of a magazine selling a car can be told by Mr. Ray Morrison. Just ask him where he got the idea to buy his Gibb/Harrell COPO '68 Nova and he'll show you. Not only does he still own the car, he still has the original magazine that lit his lightbulb back in '68. He even has the Gibb calendar he used to count down the days to delivery. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I never asked him if he ever heard of, or considered buying any other supercars at that time, perhaps I'll pop that one at the next SCR. Here's to you Ray! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

**YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY** · #7 10-15-2003, 08:50 PM

My original owner found an ad for the Yenko Deuces in The National Dragster!

JoeG · #8 10-15-2003, 07:24 PM

The one major thing that attracted me to Motion were the hands on articles in the magazines--A person could read these articles on all kinds of hop-up engine/car info and visit the Motion shop and talk about something you actually read about, it was like you were looking over their
shoulder at the time.---- This and the fact that Joel,Mr. Motion was giving such detailed tune-up info and proven packages, made it a pleasure to go there and talk about a car test.----Some Brooklyn car guys knew about Motion, a lot didn't,it depended if they followed the magazines.---There were a ( LOT )of high performance/speed shops in brooklyn and Queens --S&K(still around), Vitar,Nunzi Automotive( which is still around), Jack Merkel etc the list goes on,so you really didn't have to travel all the way to Motion to get special Hi-po work done on your car.-----What was appealing , was being able to purchase a new car thru a Authorized Chevrolet Dealer,Baldwin/Motion, and get almost any speed option available and still get a limited or full warranty.Now back in the'60's (my experiences),at least in Brooklyn, car dealerships gave you a hard time if you brought a car to them for warranty work and it wasn't purchased from them,so the thought of having to travel a good distance to Baldwin,L.I. and possibly leave the car there for any warranty problems or just some Hi-po work wasn't too appealing.---Anyway they were good times and the hobby got a second and third wind,so like ORIGLS6 ,I also get to relive it again.--JoeG [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

P.S. Sorry --Whitewalls----LIKE THEM
Redlines-----LIKE THEM

Dedicated to the Promotion and Preservation of American Muscle Cars, Dealer built Supercars and COPO cars.