Higher than normal prices?
 

Looking through eBay and noticed some higher than expected asking prices? I was looking at 66-67 GTO’s specifically because I just finished mine and was curious. What I found is that most 66-67 GTO’s were over 50k for something nice, even GTO clones were 30k.

Any desirable Pontiac seemed high- Early GTO’s, 68-72 GTO’s, first and second gen birds, restomod 70-73 birds are 70-100k range.

Later second gen birds seem to have cooled down some, 3rd and 4th gens seem to be going up.

Anyway- not wanting to get political; we are in a weird time with the pandemic, a probable change in political direction for the country, and more people than ever working from home with uncertainty about their employment.

Yet I am seeing some of the highest asking prices I have seen in a long time?

Maybe these people are dreaming? Maybe people are hurting and some high end cars are making their way to the market? Maybe I am wrong on what these cars are worth?

I know that this site tends value cars lower than others and I think that’s because people here really (REALLY) know what they are looking at where others don’t.

Anyone have any thoughts on it?

Fed's easy money policy is causing inflation all around Low interest rates - there's no houses even for sale, everything is sold.

Was musical chairs with physicsl assets (homes, cars, RVs, Beer Cans...). Music stopped, hopefully paused.

I've been looking for over a month and was aghast at what people are asking on ebay and craigslist. Even for a clapped out hunk of junk, never mind a decent driver. Even more shocking was watching these cars sell. I had my eye on 10 different vehicles across North America and they all sold. I was lucky, though. I did find a car.

66sprint6, congratulations on finding a car! I read this thread and then I went to the 'goodbye' thread and saw that you got a new car. Maybe I missed it? Details? Is it a '66? Are you going to clone your sprint? I'm glad you found a car. Inquiring minds want to know!

This is happening with all kinds of things right now. But very noticeable with used cars. Started with the mfg shutdowns causing shortages & then the demand going up & companies as well as independents taking full advantage of the demand. People in general have been enjoying a strong economy & many have a little extra money they can spend. Nice 2-3 year old vehicles are off the charts. many of them priced 10-20% higher than what they would have been worth 12 months ago. I think things will settle down once things correct themselves with supply & demand, but one thing is for sure, the prices of things will doubtfully ever get back to where they were 12 months ago. The big price jumps on things in demand just turns into inflation when it settles down. Prices go 3 steps forward & 2 steps back. To Getmygoats point, Sure Can't throw Trillions into the economy without it showing its effects. We'll all pay for it, but maybe not realize where we are spending more.

Extra ice in your beverage seems fine at first, that is until the ice melts. ;)

Many people have been watching where the prices have been with used cars & how people have been spending money this year. I Also think that draws out people that would not be selling otherwise. Throw their cars, or other toys for sale & see if they can make bank while its crazy out there. So, so inexpensive to put something for sale at any price you want now days. Often thats the "not for sale" price, but will sell if somebody wants to give me "this" much....... Then its monkey see monkey do, & the asking prices start climbing. Thats been going on with classic cars since the internet became the market place. We have access to cars we would never find in the local news paper 25 years ago, but the price that has to be paid has changed along with it.

Yes, I'll update the other thread. I didn't want to jinx it too much with the details and we havent actually received the car yet, but we did send the payment and should be good.

I haven't noticed any prices going up on classic cars.

Actually what would be more accurate to say is that I never saw prices drop or get cheaper, least not out here anyway. Maybe some parts of the country saw a price drop but out here classic cars have been expensive, and continue to be.

You really can't even get into a base model "anything" with a clean body for less than $25-$30k around here. Let alone a "real" muscle car with some bones. Been that way for a long time.

I remember when spending over 10K on a classic car was a lot of cash. Was not all that long ago either. :) late 1990's? By the early 2K's they were starting to climb quickly. Would be interesting to look at the very early classic car auction price lists if there is an archive of those somewhere.
Anybody have a mecum auction on VHS? :D

The last era I remember cars being cheap is the 80's back when I was buying stuff that I still have today. Seems after the 80's prices slowly climbed and never really looked back. I think that was the first real surge after the gas crisis of the 70's where it became apparent muscle cars were going to be collectable.

Could go back further.

I think Mecum started in the late 80's, after the muscle car surge in prices was well under way.

Go back into the early 70's when BJ started and 60's muscle cars weren't even on the map. They were still making good money with pre war vehicles. Later in the 70's and early 80's you saw more 50's and 60's muscle appear. Some of those prices might be eye opening compared to today. What's interesting is that they still do a large number of prewar vehicles today and the good stuff still commands a premium price.

Some of US should post what what we paid for the cars we have in the 80-90's I think it would be interesting. :D I can tell you I see cars with asking prices & some selling at numbers that are easily 3X what I paid for my cars. Ihave zero regrets buying what I have in my tiny collection. I never dreamed back then they would get to the prices they are now. I was at a point in life where I had extra money & no kids yet. Online stuff was coming out & auto trader magazine was on my coffee table every saturday morning. I have my cars because I like them & because each one has a nostalgic memory for me. I am glad I am not loosing money on them, but would rather if it was still a buyers market & more of them were affordable. It was never, ever intended to be an investment for me & now I would not pay the price for the cars on my short list that I would still like to own. Maybe that will change someday, but right now I Just can't mentally bring myself to do that. ;)

Inflation is a really good point- I didn’t expect to see it this soon honestly.

Also- is it possible with uncertainty in the economy people are wanting to put their $$ into something real rather than traditional investments? A counter to this is that the stock market is doing well which I always felt ran inversely to the collector car market.

I can't bring myself to do that either. You should hear my father talk about it, LOL. He bought his 69 GTO new for $3400 and still has it. Now he looks at prices and just shakes his head. Prices have just gradually climbed for decades. They seem to have fluctuated here and there the last few years but the general trend is still going up. Especially for cars that are originally 4 speed and solid lifter. Those will always be the top of the heap.

Agree, they were never investments for me either. We have them because we enjoy them, drive them, work on them, restore them, just have a passion for them. Some of them are now 6 figure cars when fully restored and I just can't wrap my head around that at all. To me they are still fun hotrods.

It may seem like yesterday, but don't forget 1980 was 40 years ago.

I had been shopping for a car since the summer of 2019. Everything I had my eye on sold in the beginning of the pandemic. People were sitting home with nothing to do but shop on the internet. Everything I looked at sold fast and went for top money. Sales definitely have slowed and sellers will come off asking prices now. In September I did pick up a nice 67 Firebird convertible. I think there was a lot of internet purchases where people didn’t receive the cars they thought they bought. I think a lot of these cars will hit the market again and prices will fall.

I struggle with the prices of some of these cars, but it does let me feel better about spending money on them!

I do feel bad for the people that truly love them that were not able to get in at the right time. Deals are still out there but they are few and far between. In 2016? I paid $6500 for my rust free 66 GTO with a 400 In it and in 2014 I paid $5000 for a 68 LeMans convertible with 70k miles that only needed tlc to be enjoyed. I obviously got better deals in the 90’s but these felt more relevant.

I have been looking for a 70 Charger and was offered ‘a deal’ on a project for $25k from a friend- and it was a deal! A nice 68-70 Charger is $50k for a driver

Our favored cars were so much more practical when we could find all the parts in the junkyard. I miss the junkyard supply for our cars.

So, practical has become much more a financial decision, leading to higher prices.

Serious question. What would “average “ pricing be for a 71 firebird restomod? I’m not talking about a concourse deal but one done pretty darn good?
Huge amount of missing specifics I get it, just curious. See pic and signature for the basics. have been out of the loop for several years but 3-4 years ago it seemed number correct was king and any amount of money you put into a base model restomod was lost.
Mostly curious but thinking about pulling my 71 (espirit) Formula restomod out of the storage bag and selling bc I don’t drive it.
Figured since the topic came up I would see what opinions were.
Thanks

Look how long they stay for sale. There is a Mercury on ebay that has been for sale almost two years. I look every day.

I have seen incomplete restomod 70-73 birds for sale for 40k so I would think at least that

I just picked up a nice '68 442. #'s matching 400 4 speed with nice paint and interior and nice colors.. Drove it home.. $15,500.. Seller was asking $23,000.

Seller thought it was a 455... Once I got it home.. I checked the numbers and was happy to find out it was the original engine.

https://www.oldsmobilecentral.com/fo...-San-Mateo.php

I bought my 68 GTO HT in the mid 80's. It was a daily driver for the guy's wife. Had a 72 350 under the hood, but the complete original carb to pan YS was in the barn, and included. He was offering the car, motor, and a 68 LeMans parts car for $3900.00. Looked it over, and offered $3000.00 He declined. I then offered $3300.00, and he keeps the LeMans.

Drove it home the next day.

Thats Very cool!

That is a great looking car. Well bought. There are still deals out there. If you can stay away from the "dealers" who are all trying to double and triple their money on cars they know little about.

I paid $1200 for my '72 Lemans in 1999 and drove it home. Drove it everywhere with a few minor repairs and an engine swap "just because" for 14 years. I bought a replacement '72 Lemans in 2013 for $2500 and I drove that home. Nowadays I don't see complete non-runner cars for less than $4000. A $1500-2500 car likely is missing an engine or front end\interior or needs some major rust repair. Even the '71-76 much maligned engine donor big cars are going for higher prices than they used to. You can't even touch a glide-away wagon that isn't rusty junk for less than $5000-6000 anymore. I paid $3500 for one in 2014 and was afraid I overpaid at the time!

There's definitely a lot of money around, I don't know who has it though because it sure isn't me!

I bought my '72 Olds 442 from the original owner in 1982 for $2200. It was in excellent condition and had 58K miles. It now has 82K and still looks good with the original paint. One of the best purchases I ever made.

You would think that it would be a good time to buy, considering the turmoil the world is in right now with so many without jobs and the huge food donation lines, people might need to sell their classics just to stay a float.

That's just the media narrative.

Have you been un employed? Or tried to get through to them to sign up? The lines are over loaded with calls and the internet site is worse, keeps blowing up. That tells me people are hurting, losing jobs. I know first hand trying to get through.

A government run system being "overloaded" or incurring long wait times is not evidence of any broad narrative that the country is hurting. Certainly, some people are being hurt disproportionately when compared to others. There are still a lot of people with a lot of money. Many people have extra money because they are not spending it on travel, restaurants, sporting events, etc.

Ifdsteve....I don't have any info on prices, but I just had to tell you that I love your Bird !
Add some TA flairs, painted midnight blue....and that was my ride in the late 70's.
Some of the prices out there are shocking, but if people are selling...more power to them.
Thanks for the flashback, and good luck

Thanks! Same, I built it just like my dream car back in high school (obviously big rims, road race suspension. 5speed) weren’t a thing in the 80’s but wanted to keep it relevant! She’s a really nice car but it deserves more than 1 weekend at Woodward and I’m just not a car show guy.
Now teleport me with this baby back to cruising the strip for chicks in the 80’s and watch out! Of course the wife wouldn’t appreciate that.
Thanks again for the compliments!

This post is making me feel extra lucky for picking up my ‘71 Lemans sport convertible last month for $5000. Just needed a carb rebuild from sitting.

Damn! Good score.

That 71 was a great deal!

Yeah, that's a once in a lifetime deal, I'd say.

its all over
these cars are worth nothing
$25 tops

People are hurting today but they’re also a lot more foolish with money as well. Look at all the payday loan places. From the articles I’ve read on banks regarding loans, foreclosures and repos people today are in significantly greater debt than in 2008. Just look
at how many payday loan places their are today.

That is exactly right. And it is going to get much, much worse. Much better to have your money in “hard” assets such as land, classic cars, etc. than in fiat money printed out of thin air by the Fed and the Treasury.

Lol....
I have a 70 formula 400 sitting in limbo right now. Can't decide if I'm going original resto, or making her into my old ride from back in the day.
I'm thinking that I'd have a lot more fun with her looking like the day I drove to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert in 1977. I had 9 people in my 72 bird headed to Asbury Park, NJ in July. Yes, It's possible to get 9 teenagers into an old F-bird
Boy/girl in all seats, me driving, my girl on console, and another girl in the back
middle....it helped that I had air shocks!
I believe that was the last concert in NJ for Skynyrd, before the plane crash in the fall of 77 that killed most of the band : (
A lot of memories made that night!

Several of my cars I have because they were my dream cars 35 years ago. Cars I saw that were owned by people I had a connection to in my teenage years. Interesting to think that if those people had different cars back then, maybe I would not have the same vehicles I have today. impressions like that were absolutely huge in a 17 year olds eyes. My friends & I used to drive around all the time with no destination. So many edge of town roads to be explored & maybe a couple of corner to corner races along the way with other kids doing the same thing. There were a lot of us back then & those races actually happened more than a person would think today.

The majority of the kids today have social media to explore & the cars they drive just get them somewhere, not an extension of who they are. Its sadly not like the anymore. I'm guessing if we all had iphones back then it would have been more like it is today, but I would not trade that for one second. barely had enough money for gas & insurance, but had an absolute blast with my friends & hanging out in & around our cars. Just looking for an excuse to drive somewhere.

Once & a while I still go for a cruise thinking about those days, but its definitely not the same feeling. Those years are un duplicatable.

My very first car was a 1973 Pinto. bought it in 1983 with a decent fender bender & it had to be towed. Paid a whopping $50 for it. about half of junk yard price back then I suppose. Just amazed my parents let me do that back then. Fixed it up & sold it 6 months later for a decent profit & bought my first of many to come GM v8 cars :)

Kinda derailed the thread a little here, but your comment about cruising & racing in the 80's hit it on the head for me. :D

Interestingly enough my dad sent me a few cars off Facebook marketplace last night that all seemed pretty reasonable.

56 Chieftain- 11k
62 Tempest 6k
63 LeMans very 8k

Still- none of these are what I would call extremely desirable.

I am going to the Mecum auction in Houston today so it will be interesting to see what cars sell for- or if they sell.

That makes two of us with the derailing thing!
But I remember those days as well !!

Well I have two observations from the Mecum Houston auction.

1- prices are definitely up. People were bidding pretty strong on everything except square body Chevy trucks which I thought was odd.

2-never buy based off the pictures. On the four cars I was interested today I was severely let down by the condition and my top bid dropped significantly on all of them but in each case an internet bidder (that I assume didn’t see it in person) ran it up higher than it should have been.

There was a 2014 6 cyl Challenger I was looking at for my daughter. I think clean retail was about 12k, average trade was 8500. This car was rough. Dings and peeling paint all over, extra speakers in door panels, smoker car, did not look like it had been wrecked, but looked as though it might have spent 6 months in an impound yard. There was some switch with wires coming out from under an AC vent.... I figured it would go for 5k. It was the color she wanted and I would have to be ready to spend 1000 in paint work immediately.

Sold for $9900 to an internet bidder!

There was a 2012 V6 mustang that came with aftermarket wheels. Looked worth checking out online. Interior was trashed and seats were torn up. Paint was awful- 4 different shades of red and all kinds of issues. Decals looked like they were in a desert for 40 years. No panels lined up (the gas door was off by 1/2”!) and the 20” wheels were the wrong offset, tires were too small and rims were destroyed! Average trade in was 5800, clean retail was 8000.

This piece of junk sold for 10,500(!) to an internet bidder....