[77 TRASHCAN]

I like appreciate nice cars, but am losing interest in the way way over the top cars, ones that are $100,000.00 and up...the ones where extreme amounts of work have been done to them...

Maybe it's just me...I can't fathom building such a car, or driving one. I don't like just factory stock cars either...

[77 Canamman]

With the *****ty roads we have, it would be a waste of time to drive a nut and bolt restored car. It would be ruined in 10 miles.

[Chief of the 60's]

Been there, done that. Just takes all the fun out of owning a car. Now that I have "grown up", I am more concerned about the fun factor than the "look at me" factor.

[ponchjoe]

As long as there are guys wanting trophies who have a lot of cash and these damn auctions happen we will keep seeing over restored cars. The market will change just as the hobby has. The younger crowd just isn’t into as we are and frankly, their cars aren’t anything to get excited about.
They were made to drive and enjoy, it’s the freedom of the road.

[66sprint6]

I'm thinking people that own these cars have more cars, and the trophy piece will never see the road. They'll drive their other cars, which are probably nicer than a lot of other peoples cars as well. I'd love to be in that position and would do the same thing if I could.

[dataway]

I'm very thankful there are people out there doing high level restorations. Another 30 years from now there will still be examples of vehicles that would otherwise be lost to time. Same as we now see pristine cars of the 30-40's still in existence. Same as we see pristine aircraft restorations from WWI and WWII.
If no one values originality, then originality will become unknown.
Don't understand someone not liking what someone else does with their property.

[Stuart]

Doesn't matter to me how other people spend their money.

Something I read here often is about how a car can be too nice to drive...I don't buy into that either. A few years back I had a cosmetic restoration done to my off topic daily driver; it came out beautiful with a show quality paint job, but I still drive it. Today there's one chip in the paint on the rear bumper (I did that one myself, backing into a post) but otherwise it still looks the same as it did fresh out of the body shop. It cost more than the car is worth if I were to try to sell it, but that wasn't important - I did it because I like the car and will probably keep it a long, long time.

[GT182]

That's why I love my modified 66. I can drive it and not have to worry. Well, I do worry about the other idiots out there. But that's what insurance is for... as long as they have it. Don't say it. I know what you're thinking, and I don't want it to ruin my day.

[skullbucket]

Shouldn't take a $100000 to restore a $2800 car.

[b-man]

Worry-free.

[dataway]

Originally Posted by skullbucket

Shouldn't take a $100000 to restore a $2800 car.

But they are not $2,800 cars. In today's money they are at least $28,000 cars. That's like saying gas should cost 18 cents today. ... well, it should, but it doesn't.

No such thing as a worry free 50 year old car. Little fender bender at the door hinge, or the door post area and you may need thousands to find the parts and repair it. If it's a $2,800 car ... might as well junk it and start over ... but you know that's not going to happen, you're going to fix it.

In the picture above, original dog dishes ... probably $50 each, original rims $100 each, probably bias ply tires $200 each, straight sheet metal and trim ... maybe thousands, perfect glass, excellent bumpers. Minor accident on one of those cars and you are probably talking twice to three times the cost of the original car to fix it .... going to junk it? No. You are going to fix it, so it's not worry free.


A worry free car is a 1995 Honda Civic. But I don't see people here lining up to drive one.

[Judge273]

I'm confused as to what Pontiac are bringing 100k plus?

It's a relatively small sector imho...

There are some way overpriced Pontiacs today that won't be worth anything close to purchase price...

So, why not enjoy your own car and not worry about others?

[skullbucket]

Originally Posted by dataway

But they are not $2,800 cars. In today's money they are at least $28,000 cars. That's like saying gas should cost 18 cents today. ... well, it should, but it doesn't.

I could restore my Grand Prix for less than $20000 and it would be perfect and worth $10000, thats stupid.
Im not paying someone $175 an hour to strip and spray the panel near the door hinges by the cowl panel.
There is no need for 100k cars.

[Chief of the 60's]

Uber rare Pontiacs like the '57 Bonneville and the '69 T/A will always pull huge money because of what they are. But a 100 grand plus for any GTO? Well, I'll be nice and only say that the seller is an idiot who thinks he has something special and the buyer, stupid enough to pay it, is your typical "look at me" who is a bigger idiot.

As far as the cost of parts to fix any Pontiac..... First off, millennials and those who have only played with Pontiacs since they became cool about 15-20 years ago do not have a clue what it was like to restore a Pontiac 20+ years ago when your only choice for parts were used or NOS. No repop or very little repop available and what was available generally was for a Chevy. For those that haven't figured it out by now, I am not a fan of repop but I will always say that there is a time and a place for it. But one thing you can bank on is that the repop parts, in many cases, lowered the price of the NOS. It was nothing to see an NOS quarter panel for most Pontiacs going for $2000.00-$2500.00. Today, you are doing good if you get $1500.00. At one time I got $875.00 for an NOS '65 GTO tail lamp bezel. Today, those bezels typically sell for $625.00 and down. You can thank the repop companies for that.

With all that said, I can tell you from years of experience, that the price of cars will always fluctuate, the price of NOS parts generally will always go up and a car restored with NOS and other factory parts will always be worth a lot more than one built with Taiwan repop parts. You can bank on that.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by skullbucket

Im not paying someone $175 an hour to strip and spray the panel near the door hinges by the cowl panel.

Holy cow, body shops must be expensive in your area.

The original poster didn't say anything about $100k Pontiacs, he may have been talking about restored cars in general. Even so, I'll stick to what I said earlier - it doesn't matter to me how other people spend their money. If it makes them happy that's great.

If someone has a car that cost a ton to restore and then they try to make back their money when they try to sell it, if they can find a buyer who's willing to pay that's fine too. Otherwise, they'll either have to keep it or sell it at a loss. That's one of the main reasons behind buying a car that's already been done up, since it's generally less expensive than paying for the restoration yourself.

If you think about it, the old car hobby has to be one of the few where people worry about trying to get their money back...other people golf, or go skiing, or travel or whatever, and there's no way to make a profit on those activities.

[FULZGOLD]

I'll tell you what I have noticed over the last few years. I go to a lot of cars and coffee events. Granted there are some nice old cars there, but it seems like a majority of the crowd is younger and into everything that is newer. Some people can't stand it, but I say hey, at least they are into cars. Just not what we older kids are. They are modding the heck out of everything from Civic's to Hellcats. There was even a small gathering of Teslas at a recent one! Times are a changing. Just a fact of life.
To each his own, but my car is only worth what it is to me. I gladly paid what it cost, but have no expectation of a return on it. It won't be that long before anyone even knows what Pontiac was. And when I'm gone, I won't care either.

[bird72]

Originally Posted by Stuart

If you think about it, the old car hobby has to be one of the few where people worry about trying to get their money back...other people golf, or go skiing, or travel or whatever, and there's no way to make a profit on those activities.

Nail on head, exactly. I know avid hunters, fishermen, snowmobilers and such. Outdoorsman stuff. They never talk about what they spend, but love what they do. It dawned on me they spend a lot. Like car stuff, none of that stuff is cheap. Gear costs. Outings cost. Old cars should be looked at as use of disposable income. Even if resto cars turn a profit, it is peanuts per hours spent.

Regarding OP topic, I think it is great nut and bolt restos get done. Examples of history. My only gripe on "Over The Top" is incorrect by way of Too Nice. Over crayoned. Over shiny underside. Over perfection. I remember them new and they were nice underside and hood, but not dazzling and radiant looking. And since they didn't have clear coat magic, they had surface corrosion on non painted underside parts already. Has a resto ever been done with correct corrosion from the air? What is bad is concours judging is actually judging a New Reality. Old one is gone. Awards seem to be for super done perfection. Even survivor judging is getting weird. How do 40K survivor cars have extreme perfect engine paint? Rant over.

[Chief of the 60's]

And then there are those that go so far as to have the correct date coded valve stem caps but their car was painted with urethane paint. DUH!

[BOB VIDAN]

There was/is a Corvette guy in this area that bragged about having date correct diodes in his alternator. Other than him, nobody gave a ____.

[Chief of the 60's]

LOL ^

I believe it.