The direction of the collector car market?

[Doc]

I know a few people here are much more knowledgeable than I on this subject.

What will the current economic situation (credit crises, weak markets, a possible recession) have on the collector car market? I've read the new issue of Sports Car Market magazine, but it really just covered Monterey (August) which seems so long ago.

I am more interested in European sports cars but would like an opinion on the American muscle car market. I am not looking for a $5M Ferrari :wink but maybe a #2 car that can be driven.

Any opinions?

 

[B O N Y]

American muscle that can be documented as authentic and original will always appreciate. Auction tarts, fakes, clones, aka cloaks, restorods should be avoided at all costs.

No doubt now is the time to seek out buys as some folks always buy at the top and sell at the bottom.

Collectables are truly rare cars where only a few remain. Not cars where thousands are kicking arround.

Items to look at are NCRS recently awarded Vettes.
Mopars that have been recently visually inspected by Galen Govier.
Recent winners of SAAC concours. Do your homework carefully!!

Hire a marque expert when in doubt. Auction catalogs make good bird cage liners.

Bear in mind most times an SP500 index fund will out perform most collectables.

 

[Doc]

Bear in mind most times an SP500 index fund will out perform most collectables.

Thanks Bony.

I am just looking for a toy or two. I have no intention of making any money on the deal. I am aware that I'll also incur storage and insurance costs (frictional costs).

I am old enough to remember the Ferrari bubble of ~1990. I have watched "collector cars" increase in value by a tremendous amount since the internet bubble of 2000. I just do not want to be the "dumb money" that buys just before the prices fall.

 

[BlackICE]

Bear in mind most times an SP500 index fund will out perform most collectables.

+1

 

[djs]

"I am old enough to remember the Ferrari bubble of ~1990."
I remember that craziness too. Bot a '73 Pantera from Stuaffer's Classics for $25K while looking at all these crazy F cars eclispse $150Gs. Spyder Daytonas touched $500large and then BAM!, you couldn't give 'em away for a third of that. My Pantera wasn't impervious to that either, but I could still drive without sobbing over the hit!

 

[RALPHIE]

Wasn't that the Asian boom - when they bought up a lot of Hawaii, and then their market collapsed? Or was that earlier? "Oldtimers" disease here runs a lot of the years together.

 

[Fast Freddy]

the collector car market has already taken a BIG hit from the economy. if Obama wins its gonna fall even further and stay down even longer

 

[Doc]

...if Obama wins its gonna fall even further and stay down even longer...

Pelosi could care less who is President. She'll control whoever wins. :biggrin

 

[Kayvan]

$1+ Million Hemi Cuda Vert will be the poster boy of this bubble....

Just like the F Daytona Spyder; has yet to top its 1989 price!

 

[B O N Y]

deleted by moderator

 

[Doc]

$1+ Million Hemi Cuda Vert will be the poster boy of this bubble....

Just like the F Daytona Spyder; has yet to top its 1989 price!

I agree. I never really understood the $1M Cuda (or any other top dollar big block American iron). But a 1963 Corvette split window coupe with the L84 or Z06 option (both are 327/360hp engines) really gets me excited.

I've also never understood why a Daytona Spyder brings such a premium over the coupe (GTB/4).

A friend just bought this 1969 Lola T-70:

A Lola really gets my blood boiling.

BTW, I did notice this Spyder FS:
http://www.symbolicmotors.com/car-677/1972-ferrari-365-gts4-daytona-spyder.html

 

[B O N Y]

Doc,
Nice coupe, my friend Jules Moritz sold his when he bought his vintage F1 car, still has and campaigns his Led Zeplin Mclaren. 365GTS bring more money than the B's because of rarity. Same holds true for Hemi Verts. Mopar guys have little interest in Split Window vettes and vice versa, whatever rocks your world.

 

[djs]

Doc:
Fantastic cartoon (why not mail her a copy?!).
Love the Lola. Next to the GT40, thee all time cool streetable (barely) race car. Is his a small block or big block Chevy? Saw one @ Elkhart Lake a few summers back with a Traco 302 w injectors that was the bomb. The thing sounded like a symphony of 155mm howitzers at idle.
I don't get the $1MM Hemi Cuda conv't either, but you know the greater fool theory, and until of late, there have been plenty of fools in the muscle car movement.

 

[Doc]

365GTS bring more money than the B's because of rarity. Same holds true for Hemi Verts.

I knew that the Hemi 'vert was rare, but I forgot that the coupe is not anything as rare as a real Spyder (that's why I am the dumb money).

Mopar guys have little interest in Split Window vettes and vice versa, whatever rocks your world.

I understand this. I was just expressing my preference. I've been vintage racing for 18 years, so naturally, I would prefer a car that was made more for a road race course than a drag strip. I agree it's just a personal thing.

Fantastic cartoon (why not mail her a copy?!).

This is just my personal opinion. But I think Nancy is just in a bad mood because she doesn't have a real man in her house. You know what I mean... It's just that, well, sometimes a guy has to show his woman some real love. Otherwise, well, bad stuff happens. :biggrin

Next to the GT40, thee all time cool streetable (barely) race car. Is his a small block or big block Chevy?

I agree. If it wasn't for Lola, there may have never been a GT40 and then the Ford GT.

Ford went to Lola to help them build the GT40. Of course, the GT40 was so successful that the French finally outlawed it (FIA, Le Mans). I am looking through my notes to find the next American OA winner at Le Mans and it is.....Nobody. :frown

Now Mr. Ford only built the GT40 because that Ferrari guy would not sale his company. Sorry, but I just like old racing history as much as new racing stuff.

Engine: Alloy Chevrolet V8. 409ci, Lucas McKay fuel injection, 700 plus bhp.
Gearbox: Hewland LG500 5-speed and reverse.
Front suspension: Unequal length A-arms, coil spring/shock absorbers.
Rear suspension: Lower A-arm, top link, radius rods, coil spring/shock absorbers.
Brakes: Ventilated discs, four-pot calipers.
Having designed and built the Lola GT Mark V1 in 1964, a very pretty ground-breaking mid-engined sports-prototype, Eric Broadley then retreated to his own company in Slough and designed the Lola T70 Spyder in the fall of 1964.
A herculean effort by all at the tiny Lola factory resulted in the T70 roadster being put on display at the Racing Car Show at Earls Court, London, in January 1965 where it was the star exhibit.

Lola: