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I see that a very good '55 clipper driver can be had for at or less than $10,000. How much would this car have cost me 3-4 years ago?

I don't consider myself an expert, nor have I looked at everything for sale out there. But I have been looking at various makes and models, and I don't really see that asking prices have dropped from 2-3 years ago.

I have noticed over the past 8 years or so, many of the cars for sale in Hemmings are being sold by dealers. ...and then there is the rising number of auction houses advertising.

E-bay asking prices are always high. The "buy it now" prices are way over price guide estimates. ...and the resereves are high too.

I can't claim to have watched the special interest car/motorcycle vehicle market to any great detail. Nonetheless, it appears to me that there are now many more cars offered for sale (regardless of price reductions or no reductions) than there were 5 years ago. Especialy among the higher priced and more desireable collectible/expensive models across all makes.

Also look at the various offers for sale of large parts cache's that have srufaced over the last 4 or 5 years. Such parts collections offered for sale were very rare prior to 3 or 4 years ago.

There is always a disconnect between collectors and buyers. Call it egos, call it the collector mindset but collectors are essentially allowing you to buy their car--after they have "decided" what it is worth.

This seems to be a process where other club members vie with each other to hike the estimate of what it should be worth. Along the lines that so-and-so's car was reputed to have sold for xxxxx dollars and mine is worth way more....

I looked for two years for my car and in that time found three cars that I was truly interested in. Two were black and white, which I don't like; I'm driving the third.

I got mine from an individual who wanted to sell the car, who wasn't jiving his wife with a story about trying to sell the one too many car (a story that was repeated many times in various forms).

I also looked at a number of dealer cars which were, IMHO, grossly overpriced and were essentially speculative investments.

I have to say that I don't see these as investments. The longer you have them, the more they deteriorate in one way or another. If you need to tell your other half that they are an investment and she buys in,,,,,,

Plain and simple, most are adult toys and all are to some extent money pits.

What are they worth? What the high bidder will pay you. Since we don't currently live in extravagant times, chances are that value today is lower than the peak.

To me. that means enjoy them now and quit worrying about their value. If you get tired of them, put them on EBay, swallow your pride, sell them and move on.

Mine was just a question about the overall market for unique "collector" cars. I totally agree that they are toys, just don't let the wife know that I admitted that! When mine is done (YEEars from now), you will have to pry it from my cold dead hands. It is not a money thing. It is a family car. I was just curious what kind of deals, (in general) real buyers are getting compared to better times. Like I said in another post, I am passively looking...., but then again, I guess we all are if the deal is right.

II have been watching the adds over the years.The asking prices have not come down much but in the last few years, the cars are not selling.They pop up over and over and over again.I saw on 56 400 for sale in Virginia for about $40,000.00.He said it was fully restored.It came up every so often for about three years.Now I see it in Hemmings being pushed by some dealer for $56,000.00 or $65,000.00. Another car I watched for a few years was a 48 Custom Eight Convertible.Another frame off restoration.Listed over a two year period for $144,000.00.Just sold at Hershey auction for $88,000.00. Probably is a great time for buying a car but a bad time to sell one.

Hi Folks:

I totally agree with Pat Green. These cars are something you have to like having and keeping after. You don't buy a pair of shoes and expect to sell them for a profit.

The economic reality is that wages are falling, asset values are falling, and tax revenues are falling. There is simply no way these cars can appreciate in the absense of some insane speculative run up.

The old car hobby got started as a by product of national prosperity. The big players like Harrah and Nethercutt never expected to make money on the cars. They just liked spending big money. I remember when Jack Nethercutt had a Packard at Buck Hill Falls and him saying how much he spent to get the fenders perfect. He was totally pleased that it cost a bundle. That is the way rich people think. They don't go into Tiffany and complain they can get a watch at Walmart for 40 bucks.

However, that kind of spending can inflate a market.

Today things are different.

I will never forget talking to a rather wealthy old woman. Somebody's name came up and her disdainful response was "Isn't he the person with the old cars?" It was as if she couldn't understand why anybody would be so interested in reclaiming her own trash.

Patgreens post #5 pretty much says it all. I agree with him 110%.

There is another angle to pricing tho. Quite often the rather wealthhy will obtain cars thru various INSIDE information. For example, a dentist mite take very nice collectible piece of family heir loom furniture as partial payment for an UNpaid bill. Roll top desk for example. By the time he takes the tax write off for the loss of REAL payment, passes the rolltop desk to other doctors, lawyers, judges, etc all the time driving up the price (NO MONEY EVER REALLYchanges hands) the Roll top becomes a $10K museum DONATION for yet another tax break or other advantages. A few years later someone in the circle buys it back for pennies on the dollar who really liked it.

On top of that, every grunt that is sitting in the dentists waiting room suddenly has to have a roll top desk for themselves and the fad gets started and spreads further driving up prices. "OH Yes!!!! Dr Soandso has one of these too!!!"

So prices get inflated. YES.

I also suspect, but have not been able to prove, that the heads and their retinue of some of the "investment" banks started jacking the prices up to create a antique/collectable car bubble. When they finished bidding against each other and getting the prices way, way up they walked away with their windfalls. (Chump change to them in relation to their bonuses but major amounts of money to most of us). Thus putting out of reach and coming close to ruining the hobby for the average to above average hobbyist in both parts and cars.
I saw this happen in the WII aviation movement starting in the late eighties. A few egos came in, sent the prices of WWII aircraft and parts through the ceiling and a lot of the smaller players were out. It also came close to ruining a couple of the larger organizations.