Re: [FWDLK] MAJOR CHANGES IN THE COLLECTOR CAR MARKET???

I was going to pass on a reply to this one as i tend to get a little verbose on topics like this.. but hey, there has been alot of good input and debate so far. keep in mind everyone "likes what they like" as far as stock/modified, but in the end all of us here like a specific genre [fwdlk] so we cant cut eachothers' throats!

on a personal level- i see a trend in general with 50s cars- and its rather unfortunate... at 31 yrs old... i know very few others my age and younger into this era of cars, not just mopars... and most of the younger crowd falls into the "scene lately of fat-fendered and down, which i like/have as well.. but neglects the fin era...

a stock model A is awesome, a piece of history.. i almost bought a stock 30 nash at macungie this year- it was on a trailer giving demonstration runs to prospective buyers... how cool to see the vacuum system siphon fuel to a reserve container just to gravity feed it to the updraft carb... but where do you go with that? you will die trying to drive it to a show with a top speed of maybe 50 while suvs blast you out of the way... the wind force alone will put something like a stock coach-year car out of control... what stinks is that the crowd that wants stock '39-under cars is slowly leaving us due to age.... however a '30 A on a boxed chassis, with juice brakes and a modern ['55-up] drivetrain will go cross-country with little event.

stock cars preserve history for the future- but the way the world is going... enjoy what we have now- there's no way to preserve the future more than say a generation ahead....

my best interest is in what the say resto-mod... from outside you couldnt tell most of my builds from a dead stocker, until that is, it out-accelerates that brand new camaro SS and stops just a few feet farther than it... modification leads to safety in most cases, total contact breaking works great when in proper tune- but not as good as that prius or 735 in frt of you... even with proper following distance. and a 318 power pack was an impressive motor, drove one to 240k a few yrs ago and just put a .030 over fresh fact 4bbl 318 in place of the 301 in my 57 2dr wagon... again an impressive little motor..... compared to a stock 283 or 292.... nothing compared to a 350 chevy or 383 swapped in its place.... you cant think about jackrabbiting into a short highway entrance with that....

BJ is a dream-price show... but it is reality- though most buyers arent "car guys" but more enthusiasts with deep pockets looking at it more as an investment than a recreational vehicle. last time i updated i've invested something like $380,600 in cars over the past 15 or so years... and got just shy of 50k of my investment back in sales... which leaves me with a current fleet of 39 cars... 1/2 being forwardlook mopar with 2 "significants" the rest all of other brand and 4 "significants" and of them all only 7 AREN'T 50s cars... and of that only 3 are dead stockers due to significance [57 linc premier convert, 57 fury, 58 commando savoy] everything else is either modified for performance or safety without visual giveaways going down the road...

for instance i just set my 59 galaxie convt back on its chassis last week, i restored the chassis with all factory grease pen markings and color-coded inspection markings, reluctantly kept the drum brakes, though swapped on 59 edsel 2.5" wide frts instead of stock pass car 2.25... however with concours attention to factory detail, it is getting a 500 caddy witht the original FE valve covers grafted in to take away the shock value of the driveline swap- most ford guys wont even notice unless they note the canted distributor.... also with a frt-hinged hood, the dist is of little attention.

another thing to consider- going along with "trends"......... my heart lies with the forwardlook cars/era... the sad part is [going back to age] that in maybe 10 yrs or so.... the only way any new hotrodders will care about fwdlk cars is "christine".... all the perfect survivors out there are going to end up red, probably with a set of my inserts on them... i admit i put about a dozen christines out around the world, but at the time it was business.. have a few houses now too, 1 was 1/2 funded by ebay cars... but looking back, there are 2 i'd rather not have converted... another car i sold to a friend got "christined"... a 31xxx mile 57 belv [rossi - adam]... a guy bought it off my friend for something like 12k after he put some funds into it- then threw on an average paint job, my inserts, and sold it for 31k at the height of the christine carze 5 or so yrs ago....

its cyclical, there's an ass for every seat out there... though with the onset of fuel legislation and all the issues SAN is fighting for- the fate of stockers in the future seems compromised... what i call modernized on cars i do is still 30 yrs behind todays technology.....

-----Original Message-----
From: George McKovich <george@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Mon, Jan 24, 2011 11:20 pm
Subject: [FWDLK] MAJOR CHANGES IN THE COLLECTOR CAR MARKET???

One thing to consider… For every one of those “hot rod” ForwardLook cars they create, there is AT LEAST one LESS “original” or “stock” ones remaining. I think in the long run that makes those that are left more valuable. Also, about 3 or 4 years ago, the HOT item were the crate Hemis being put in 318 or 6 cyl Challengers and Cudas….. NOW what are they worth?? The market ebbs and flows but I think will always come back to the quality originals.

Just my 2 cents worth.

George

On 1/23/2011 01:28:29 PM, Mike Clark (half_aussie@xxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
> Ron, I certainly agree with what you are saying here. I think BJ auction causes more harm than good to the hobby. But let me put a little different spin on things, maybe you'll agree and maybe not.

>
> Yes Barrett-Jackson is the most popular auction going, but it isn't the only one. How many others do we see or hear about? Not many. We are in the old car hobby, not the Barrett Jackson hobby. If people want to spend their money on custom cars, they can do that. Plenty of people still like the stock originals.

>
> Remember, BJ isn't there to promote the hobby, they are there to take our money. In Scottsdale alone, they have a week-long festival. Speed channel only shows a few hours of it. If customs are what's hot right now, then guaranteed that is what will be scheduled to show when Speed is on the air. We don't see the other 4 1/2 days of regular cars, classic 4doors, grocery wagons, etc. They want hype.

>
> It might even be they schedule the cars for Speed that they can most exploit. And I'm pretty sure there's a fair amount of shilling going on. I can see it in that fat bastard Craig Jackson's eyes. Remember we only see what they want us to see, the alternative to this is being there in person.

>
> I'm with your friends that have the pure stock originals. I'd much rather have one of those than a hacked up job. What would be tragic is if they took there pristine originals and customized them soley because they thought they'd be worth more.

>
> How many times have we seen a ragged out Camaro, Mustang, vintage Chrysler even, that the seller wanted big bucks for. His reason? I saw one on Barrett Jackson just like it sell for X. Well, it isn't just like it. This doesn't do us any favors. I'm hoping in the not too distant future,

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