Why spend money when you could make money?

[freebeard]

Today on Just A Car Guy:

justacarguy.blogspot.com/2023/05: 2nd best investment, cars.



Personally I would specialize in sedan deliverys. (The XFi has the rear seat folded down and an FUV sticker in the window.) Given that Art is the only thing that appreciates faster, old Ridler Award winners might be the best investment.

It's a common situation. Many project cars reach a point in the build when you have to make a choice: keep building it as a driver or step it up and build it as a high-level show car.

Joe Horisk never had to make that choice. His most recent car was always meant to be a driver and was always meant to be a contender for the most prestigious show car award around—the Ridler Award. We know that Joe accomplished the second goal. When his custom 1961 Impala wagon appeared at the 2016 Detroit Autorama, it had everybody talking—including the judges, who selected Joe's now-famous Double Bubble as a Pirelli Great 8 winner and Ridler finalist.

The plan for the latest Impala was a little different and a little more ambitious. In Joe's words, "It all started with me wanting to create what I thought a 1961 Impala concept car might look like after the demise of the two-door Nomad."

Linked from that article is a '55 Chrysler with a slant top chop that gives it similar roofline to the new Magnum.


www.motortrend.com/features/0810rc-1955-chrysler-two-door-wagon/

[redpoint5]

It's too bad passively investing in the stock market outperforms classic car sales.

There's practically no cost and effort required to buy and hold stock, but holding cars long term takes a lot of space and effort.

[Blacktree]

Good point. Storing and maintaining physical goods (like cars) has overhead costs. I wonder if the graph above takes that into account?

[freebeard]

That might explain the delta. I paid $5500 for the SUPERBeetle

https://www.jdpower.com › cars › 1971 › volkswagen › beetle-super › 2-door-sedan
1971 Volkswagen Beetle Super 2 Door Sedan Values
Prices shown are the prices you can expect to pay for a 1971 Volkswagen Beetle Super 2 Door Sedan... Average Retail $11,400.

But midbook for the XFi is only $875 and I paid $1000.

[redpoint5]

Does the data account for the overall used car market, meaning not picking particular models, or does it require a collector to know what is going to be collectable prior to it becoming a classic?

13 years ago when I bought the Acura, and was a new member here, I contemplated a DeLorean as it was at about maximum depreciation, not having reached "classic" status quite yet. Good examples were going for something like $12k. I wouldn't be surprised if good examples were going for $30k+ these days.

...I was also contemplating a used Lotus Elise back then too. Bet those hold value decently too and will become a collector.

[freebeard]

IMHO there is an inherent bias toward convertibles and sedan deliverys.


https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/&ipo=images

Maybe some other generalities -- first and last year of a particular model, Studbaker because there are more OEM parts than car that still need them, etc.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

IMHO there is an inherent bias toward convertibles and sedan deliverys.

When it comes to sedan deliverys, maybe the fact that in my country some tended to be converted into a "normal' car in order to increase resale value made their price skyrocket as a collectible model due to rarity.

[freebeard]

When I was in the one-time Republic of South Vietnam, in the streets of what was Saigon, I saw shopfronts open to the street wherein they were converting Japanese sedans into station wagons.

In Southern California those would be called phantoms.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

When I was in the one-time Republic of South Vietnam, in the streets of what was Saigon, I saw shopfronts open to the street wherein they were converting Japanese sedans into station wagons.

Turning sedans and station-wagons into trucklets used to be a thing in Brazil, most likely due to lower taxation and the possibility of making it legal to convert to Diesel some decades ago.

[Blacktree]

That seems to be a popular thing to do with older VWs, here in the US. For example, a company sells a kit to convert a Mk4 or Mk5 Jetta / Golf into a ute. At one point, I was considering doing that with my Jetta TDI. ( Link - https://www.smythkitcars.com/jetta-golf-ute )