[gtoric]

The September, 2010 issue of Musclecar Enthusiast magazine reports that a 1974 Ventura GTO sold at the San Diego, CA, RM's Classic Muscle & Modern Performance auction this June for $26,950. It is also reported that this car had a NOM. I'm guessing that this GTO was modified? Extensively?

Can anyone tell us more about this '74 GTO? Why did it sell for over $25,000?

[gtoric]

No one knows about this big buck '74 Goat?

I just checked the RM Auctions site and took a look at this car. Not a particularly spectacular restoration. It was Admiralty Blue w/white interior, wrong year engine, wrong color engine, auto trans, trim tings on the Rally II wheels, shows 33,000 miles on the odo. Lots of small details not right, but it drew a $26,000 bid?

[Old Blue 66]

Can you post a link Eric??

[MikeNoun]

I'm not sure why this car bid up so high, unless the buyer was a newbie, caught up in auction bidding, fascinated by the fact it was "the last GTO", and never checked current values, which are around $8K to 10K.

http://www.rmauctions.com/CarDetails...D10&CarID=r179

Probably the "fishing" tactic of shill bidding here. Seller has friends in the audience that bid the car up way beyond reasonable values, then seller places high bid, and keeps the car. This tactic generates web talk (like this topic) and all sorts of speculation that these cars are "going up in value".

Seller will try again next year to see if they can get $18K-$20K, which is still way too high, but better than the $10K this car would have normally brought.

[gtoric]

Yep, you're probably right Mike. Shill bids. That's a reasonable explanation.

Any '74 GTO would have to be an ultra-low miles original in extraordinarily excellent condition to earn anything near $20,000. I don't think that a world-class restoration would bring much more than $15-17,000.

This car was not even a $10-12,000 example.

[MikeNoun]

And just for the record, I really like 74 GTO's, and over the years I've repeatedly defended them on this site and others.

Some of the things I noticed that were incorrect on this 74 GTO (by 'incorrect' I mean things that were overlooked or mistakenly added, and for the price the car supposedly sold for, these details should have been corrected):

1. Car sits way too high in back, probably wrong springs
2. Modern radial tires
3. GTO sticker on back of shaker
4. Wrong shaker
5. Wrong engine

But a pretty car nonetheless, and a great color!

[gtoric]

I own a '74 Ventura and also defend the veracity of the last classic GTO. I wonder about the auction shenanigans that took place here. Was the seller trying to bump the perceived value of all '74 GTOs by running this #2-at-best car through an auction and shilling the bids up to ridiculous highs. If he was going to attempt this strategy, why not use a true #1 car to make the attempt at least feasible? I think that this was a no-reserve auction.

[MikeNoun]

There was also a report in Pontiac Enthusiast of a super low mile 79 Special Edition Trans Am (I believe it was under 100 miles on the odometer) bidding to $72,000. Of course, it didn't sell.

But now that it got some press, the guy can sell it (for real) for $50,000, stating they "turned down an offer for $72K". Someone will think they're getting a bargain, while the real price should have been around $40K, based on market value today.

It's a classic of case of tripling the price, then marking it half off, and people come running.

Unless a car actually sells, I believe 99% of these super high prices are nothing more than owners trying to artificially boost the price up for a possible sale in the future. It's like a Ponzi Scheme.

Also of note, at the last Mecum Auction, a 69 Trans Am convertible bid to $1.1 million, yet it was reported by many people (and verified by registered bidders attending the auction) that were NO real bids on the car, it was all just a show to artificially boost the price of the car for a possible future sale.

[chicagoland]

I love '74 Goats too, they were meant to compete against Duster 340's.

And I agree that the 'get rich quick' crooks have ruined collector car market.

[NYH1]

A friend of mine had a '74 GTO. It was an AWESOME car. When he bought it it had a 455, TH400 and a 12 bolt with 4.10 gears. It looked pretty much stock though. Then he dumped tons of money into it. Had the 455 rebuilt and it was never right. It ran strong but ran out of oil pressure halfway though 2nd gear. He had it tubbed, had the same rear end shortened.

I think it had a high volume, high pressure oil pump with the stock oil pan and it was sucking the pan dry. I told him to either change the oil pump back to regular pressure/volume pump and/or install a Moroso 8 qrt. oil pan on it. He just kept getting frustrated and let it sit. Sold it about 10 years later for penny's on the dollar.

[a95toy]

Well me i'm not sure but something must have happened. I just checked the classic car buyers guide in NADA and the numbers there are real close to the auction price. I'm not one who knows the prices of muscle cars and i no the books and internet can be deceiving. It was a nice car in the pictures but i would like to see it in person. Now i own a 74 GTO and it is real nice but it is probably a 20 yard car compared to to some i've seen on here but i do enjoy the 455 muncie 4 speed and I hope the last yr of the Goat does get popular again. Just my thoughts
a95toy
God Bless
Terry

[gto_70]

Hope your right Terry. I am restoring a special order black '74 GTO matching # 350 with 4 speed...doing a rotiserrie restoration with many NOS parts should be done by end of spring '11. I think the car value should easily be in the 30's range, at that price it's basically a free restoration.