Collector cars | GTAMotorcycle.com

Collector cars

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nobbie48

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Collector Car Productions

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I came across this and wondered about the guys that spend tens of thousands on restoring vehicles that wouldn't repay the cost of a paint job.
Ex show cars going for the price of a cheap new one.

I know there are a few collectors on the forum and wonder about the motivation.

While I like cars there are several things keeping me from collecting.

1) One car garage
2) Can't really drive them anywhere other than ice cream runs and show and shines.
3) Costs. That is relative because if I had Jay Leno's money I'd have a collection.

I went to one of the auctions a number of years ago as it was next to the spring bike show. The saddest part was seeing the owner of a fully restored Ferrari frantically pacing back and forth as bidding stalled at the mid $30's. Rebuilding the motor would have cost more.

Of course the Mecum auction saw the Bullitt Mustang go for $3.4 million. Sold by the buyer that paid 1/1000 of that decades ago and used it as a daily driver. Don't you wish........................
 
Hobby, something to spend money and time on, entertainment, etc. Has to be something that you do for your own enjoyment, because with extremely rare exceptions (like that Mustang), the only people who make money on this are the auction houses and the restoration shops!

Collector cars peak in value and then frequently go down. People want memories from when they were young. My theory is take a typical age at which people can start getting enough cash to spend on something like this but before they get to be too old to drive (let's say 60), and subtract the age when they first started getting into cars (let's say 20), and that's probably somewhere in the vicinity of the age of collector cars that would peak their demand and value. Subtract 40 from today, and you get 1980 ... which wasn't a prime era for hot-rods and performance cars, so perhaps you have to go back to the last era before that, to cars that were let's say 5 or 10 years old at the time. But still ... Demand (and selling prices) for late-sixties muscle cars peaked a few years ago and is generally dropping. Not many people want a Ford Model T any more ... or even know how to drive it. Of course there are some timeless classics.
 
nobbie48 said:
Of course the Mecum auction saw the Bullitt Mustang go for $3.4 million. Sold by the buyer that paid 1/1000 of that decades ago and used it as a daily driver. Don't you wish........................
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He turned down an offer of $4M from Leno the week before the auction. $600K D'oh.
 
nobbie48 said:

Collector Car Productions

ccpauctions.com ccpauctions.com

I came across this and wondered about the guys that spend tens of thousands on restoring vehicles that wouldn't repay the cost of a paint job.
Ex show cars going for the price of a cheap new one.

I know there are a few collectors on the forum and wonder about the motivation.

While I like cars there are several things keeping me from collecting.

1) One car garage
2) Can't really drive them anywhere other than ice cream runs and show and shines.
3) Costs. That is relative because if I had Jay Leno's money I'd have a collection.

I went to one of the auctions a number of years ago as it was next to the spring bike show. The saddest part was seeing the owner of a fully restored Ferrari frantically pacing back and forth as bidding stalled at the mid $30's. Rebuilding the motor would have cost more.

Of course the Mecum auction saw the Bullitt Mustang go for $3.4 million. Sold by the buyer that paid 1/1000 of that decades ago and used it as a daily driver. Don't you wish........................
Click to expand...
1) Put the collector car on a lift, park under it (if you have enough ceiling height)
2) Register it as a real car and drive it for fun whenever you want (similar to a bike). I have no interest in a vehicle with all the restrictions required by historic plates.
3) Never "restore" a classic car if you value money. Do to it what you want to make you happy and/or keep it running, but assume that all money you spend on the car has been lit on fire. I seriously contemplated a 928, but was terrified at the potential cost of an engine if it let go so I bought a mini. The engine let go in the mini and it sucked but didn't require me to double the investment in the car. I have the engine that blew and want to rebuild it as it made a ton of power (probably >100hp from 1275cc A series) but haven't decided to lose that much money yet. As it sits, it may be worth a few hundred, once I rebuild it (at unknown cost and time), it's hard to get more than $2000 as I'm not a well known engine builder and people will only pay so much for a lottery ticket. If I was a reputable engine builder, it should sell for $10,000 so I am financially ahead to pay someone, but what fun is that?

In short, for me it's the same as bikes. Only put in what you can afford to lose. Yes, the rebuild on a ferrari costs a fortune. If it needs one, either fire sale it to the next sucker or part it out and buy something else.
 
FullMotoJacket said:
He turned down an offer of $4M from Leno the week before the auction. $600K D'oh.
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Less auction fees as well. Still no need for a go fund me retirement package.

Maybe Leno did buy it at the auction and saved a bit. Maybe not with the buyers premium.
 
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I lIke fixing the old cars up to better than new standards . I have done a 73 challenger , 1965 PORSCHE 356 , and 1982 PORSCHE 911 turbo. Cost me blow your brains out money but most Canadian “ restorations” are just terrible hack and patch jobs bought by cheapskates ....proven by the fact no one bought any of my cars in Canada even though the price was way below the restoration costs and the cars were beyond perfect , 356 went to Germany , challenger was sold at Barrett Jackson and the 911 turbo went to a PORSCHE performance shop in louisiana
 
There are treads. The Japanese markees that were bargains have taken an upswing. Datsun 240/260 chrome bumper era, Honda 600, Toyota Supra, etc.

Being in the British Car Club, even the desirable cars that would fetch big bucks are falling. Owner base getting older. Mechanics and shade tree mechanics retiring or passing away. And new enthusiast don’t want (or know how) to tinker with carburetors and poor performance compared to a 5 year old 4 door Honda Civic with apple car play.

Lots of folks have property and out buildings to house them. But, they don’t want to keep them, insure them or even drive them anymore.

There will always be core classics. 356 Porsche’s, split window Vettes, 289 mustangs and the muscle cars from the 60s, and old Italians such as 60s Ferrari’s, Maserati and the like.

Old 50s American sedans are cheap and great shape.


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Or minivans.


I appreciate seeing the old cars around ... but I don't particularly want to own one myself.
 
I don't think that is a fair comparison.
The Dodge is a homolagation special who's sole purpose in life is: VROOM turn left VROOM turn left... with the appropriate alignment and bias ply tires. A stock 6 cylinder '69 Dart could blow it away on a road course
The Dodge was built KNOWING that anyone that bought one was going to replace most of the suspension, tires, brakes and remove the interior (ever see the interior of one of those things?).
Those "super birds" were/are TERRIBLE street cars, and Honda Odyssey's are GREAT street cars.
 
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The Pontiac Beaumont that a classmate had back in the day, cornered on the sidewalls of its tires with the outside suspension bottomed out and the inside topped out. It was hilarious!
 
Brian P said:
Or minivans.


I appreciate seeing the old cars around ... but I don't particularly want to own one myself.
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Whoa. That's a name from the past. I haven't seen a clip of Tom in years, used to enjoy watching him and Peter Klutt. Always though they were the Ron Maclean and Don Cherry of the auto world.

I think he was a good driver himself back in the day. I know he lived in Oakville

He must be dead around 10 years now. Sad really as he was really still quite young when he passed away
 
RonnieRev said:
I have a 1935 Chev couple that I have owned for over 40 years, It doesnt get used much do to motorcycles getting in the way
picasion.com
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The nice thing about having it so long is that the economics, good or bad, have been spread over many years. Unlike the baby boomer that invests major cash in restoring or buying the car of his youth only to find out the high school cheerleaders don't swoon when they see him coming. A couple years later he takes the hit.
 
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