Old Car Prices vs New

[Bigtime53]

I have been looking at all of the GM old cars commonly known as muscle cars and the prices the sellers are asking for them is just crazy! Camaro's, Chevelles Oldsmobile, Novas etc it is hard to find one under 30 grand and the sky is not the limit cause alot are over 80-100 grand. I have to ask why would anybody pay such a crazy amount for those old cars? You have to know if they have been restored the metal is poor fitting as nothing fits and it is cheap and thinner than the factory metal was plus most are put together with every shortcut the builder can do to make more profit on the car. I have a 2015 ZL1 and just absolutely think that I would not trade it for one of the old cars. Call me crazy if you want but for the money the ZL1 is alot of car. It drives better,runs better and the suspension is better and it is not a rusted up pieced together car and heck it even looks good. I am not saying if you have the money and just have to have a old muscle car go for it! I think if people who own these modern day muscle cars like we all do here we should be getting more money out of our cars when we decide to sell them. Inflation is going up seems like everyday and the new ZL1's are more money now than they ever have been so if old cars inflate like they are so why can't our modern cars do the same? They do not have to be 20-30-50 years old to adjust to inflation right? I am just saying the old cars keep getting more expensive and so should our cars, Sorry about the long read but I wanted to see what you guys think.

[Crash76]

Maybe one day todays cars will be worth more... people did not think of the 69 Camaro as a classic to be car, it was the first generation of a new product line... hard to come by and it was the beginning ... So value is high to those with nostalgia ... you would have to run the numbers, how many gen 1s were built? How many gen 5/6s ? It comes down to affordability also... you can charge someone 40-100k for a 69, but that car cost 5k back in the day... that is 8x-20x more than original .... 8-20x the price of a 65k ZL1 ... no one is going to be able to afford that in 50yrs ... unless min wage for McDonalds is 35$/hr meaning your avg good paying job would have to be 100$ or more, housing will be 1mil for a shack ... If they even allow internal combustion on the road in 50yrs

[Limelight]

Interesting thread as I was thinking of this recently. I have taken my ZL1 to a local car meet the last few Saturdays. Sure the car gets some looks and visits, but not anywhere near the attention a Fastback Mustang, 60’s Vette, Belair, or Chevelle SS gets. Clearly the ZL1 is an overall better car due to modern technology, but even I have to admit the old cars have something the ZL1 doesn’t have - the sound, exhaust smell, etc. This meet blasts out music from the 50’s/60’s on loud speakers and honestly these cars are time capsules of a simpler time.

In an ideal world, I have both old and new in the garage at some point. My kids joke that maybe in 25 years the ZL1 will get more attention - and then they laugh that the 69 Camaro or Fastback Mustang will still be the star of the show as they too will be even older.

Heck, even catfish Camaros get a lot of attention and they aren’t the best looking Camaro ever made... Following that logic, the ZL1 definitely should appreciate in 20 years.

I think a stock clean ZL1 example will appreciate over the years because it is a low production special car, but my gut says not to the extent of the traditional old muscle cars of the past.

Just last night I said to my kids I think the reason is because in the past when muscle cars just started being a thing, they were everywhere and not overly special. Then as time passed on, fewer and fewer clean examples existed, making them more rare. Today, people buy new cars thinking they will be collectibles, only to sell them years later for less than they paid - because they weren’t the only ones doing it.

It’s kind of like an old mint Mickey Mantle rookie card - they are worth a lot because few people collected them at the time. Now, you can be lucky to get a rookie card of a league MVP, but so did about 2 million other people who are also collecting them - rendering the card basically worthless.... So back to the ZL1, a clean example in 20 years, as more and more get totaled or beat up, will make the good ones worth more - but not to the extent of a 69 Camaro. Just my two cents.

[Brutale arancia]

Democracy, capitalism, supply/demand used to dictate. Now it's the internet. The most useful propaganda tool ever created. Chaos is the new normal.

[2013ZL1FUN]

I traded a 67 RSSS convertible Camaro that I had for 32 years in 2014 for a new 2013 ZL1 convertible. My reasons were simple. The 67 needed to be electrically overhauled even though it looked good, I chased electrical gremlins the whole time I had the car. Plus a car that was purchased in 67 and was used for transportation as most of them were, is not going to be as nice as a garage kept limited use vehicle. Even though I drove the 67 about 2K miles per year over 32 years it had 178k miles on it at trade time. I had the car painted twice during my ownership and I did the interior once. It looked spectacular on trade in day. I don't regret my decision as the ZL1 is the Pro Touring Supercar that I always wanted, at a lower price than what it would have cost to make the 67 into the same thing. Plus the ZL1 is more reliable and rides better, which is very important to me now that I am over 60 yo.

[Nailbender]

I have a 2013 HWSE camaro and a1967 Chevelle and I wouldn’t get rid of either one of them. I love driving both on sunny days.The Chevelle gets more thumbs up by along shot. I think you just don’t see them everyday and their so easy to work on.Don’t buy or sell for the money,drive and enjoy who knows what tomorrow will bring you.

[KenKat]

Originally Posted by Limelight

Interesting thread as I was thinking of this recently. I have taken my ZL1 to a local car meet the last few Saturdays. Sure the car gets some looks and visits, but not anywhere near the attention a Fastback Mustang, 60’s Vette, Belair, or Chevelle SS gets. Clearly the ZL1 is an overall better car due to modern technology, but even I have to admit the old cars have something the ZL1 doesn’t have - the sound, exhaust smell, etc. This meet blasts out music from the 50’s/60’s on loud speakers and honestly these cars are time capsules of a simpler time.

I think this is largely it. No insult to the ZL1 but it is a modern car, new and relatively easy to maintain. All you need is enough money to afford it and anyone could have one. Compare that to a restored classic - most people will put a tremendous amount of time (and some money of course) into these cars, restoring them, maintaining them and showing them. It’s more of a labor of love. You could buy one fully restored (at great expense) but you still need to be able to maintain a 50+ year old vehicle with all mechanical systems.

[O.F.]

Originally Posted by Brutale arancia

Democracy, capitalism, supply/demand used to dictate. Now it's the internet. The most useful propaganda tool ever created. Chaos is the new normal.

Meh...I'll stick with supply/demand.

[Bigtime53]

I have read the replies on my thread I started and thanks to all of you who have shared your thoughts. Each year new vehicles no matter which company builds them they have a price increase. So the old muscle cars get more expensive to rebuild hence the higher prices on those to buy. So my point in general was why isn’t the Camaro’s we have now not appreciating to? The new ZL1’s are in the 80’s price range but yet the cars like mine (a 15 model) has deprecated instead of appreciating at least some. Each year the cars have went up while our “used cars” went down more than the new ones went up. There is no balance here. If I am not making sense let me try and say it this way. New ZL1 80 grand used 15 ZL1 with say 20k miles would be lucky to get 35-37 out of it. New Z’s next year will go up another 3-5 grand probably so why isn’t our cars going up in value at least 25% if new cars are adjusting for inflation? That’s my point. It feels like we are all getting screwed but I guess that is the price you pay to have nice things!

[KenKat]

The Gen5 Camaros are just too new to expect to appreciate. They are in plentiful supply and while fantastic cars, lack the features and performance of newer models. Keep it 20-30 years in good condition and it may be a different story.

As a comparison, my dad has a 1987 Mustang GT convertible that he keeps garaged and in pristine condition. There was a period of time where that car depreciated as faster cars came out (performance is roughly comparable to my V6 Camaro honestly) but over the past few years as all of the 80s Mustangs and Camaros start to disappear from the road, it’s really climbed in value and is probably worth more than the original purchase price at this point. For awhile, when people saw it, the comments were “that’s a nice older Mustang”. Now, it’s “boy, you don’t see many of these this nice anymore”. It’s a U shaped price curve, down in value to a point where desirable cars start to get scarce and really old and then it starts to climb again.

[Bigtime53]

Well maybe in 5-10 years these cars will be a dime a dozen so I guess we should all start saving our money and buy everyone of these cars we can because 20-30 years from now we can sell then to all the kids who are 14-15-16 years old now cause they will say they always wanted one! Only problem then is everything will be electric and all of our cars will just be scrap metal!

[2013ZL1FUN]

Collector car prices were higher 20 years ago. There are not many new collectors coming into the hobby these days, so really collector car prices have to a degree stalled. I am talking about the average nice cars, not ultra rare or extremely nice shape originals, numbers matching etc. Plus many collectors these days are retiring and divesting themselves of there least favorite cars.

[2013ZL1FUN]

Yes in 5 to 10 years theses cars will continue on their trajectory downward, as they age and become less reliable. Plus I won't be around in 20 years!

[BuddyLee]

Originally Posted by Nailbender

I have a 2013 HWSE camaro and a1967 Chevelle and I wouldn’t get rid of either one of them. I love driving both on sunny days.The Chevelle gets more thumbs up by along shot. I think you just don’t see them everyday and their so easy to work on.Don’t buy or sell for the money,drive and enjoy who knows what tomorrow will bring you.

Is that a covered bridge? And I do not see any burnout rubber laid down on that wood.