Bill and Others;
You obviously haven't priced out a T-Bird or a Cadillac lately. The prices
on those cars are no where near where they were ten years ago. People just
aren't lining up to buy Fifties cars anymore. As for Imperials, or any other
old car, they are a mechanical beast of burden not an investment. You buy
and old because you like it or need a hobby not because you need money for
retirement. Most old car owners count themselves lucky if they can get back
what they have into a given vehicle.
Just take a look at the classic Imperials and Cadillacs from the salon age.
At one time they could draw a quarter million dollars or more now they would
be lucky to garner half of that. By rights they should be the most valued
and charished cars but the crowd likes 60's/70's muscle now. I believe that
the value of any car is directly determined by what generation wants to
relive their youth and has the most amount of money to spend in doing so. If
you take a look at most of the guys into these muscle cars they are
currently in their early to mid forties and they all want to buy that same
factory hotrod that they drooled over as a teenager.
In short it has nothing to do with how good or how interesting a car is but
whether people, with money, want to buy them and for how much. I am just
facinated as to why the majority of people will blow all kinds of money on a
new car and accept the fact that they will be worth half of what they paid
for it in five years. Yet some of the same people will handwring about why
the cost of a brake job or a set of tires on an old timer doesn't add any
value when they try to sell it. Playing with old cars just doesn't make any
economic sense unless you work on it yourself.
Best Regards
Arran Foster
1954 Imperial Newport
Needing A Left Side Taillight bezel and Other trim parts
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