[Editor's note: All values have been updated to 2021 prices.]
This one always hurts: checking out old classified ads for investment opportunities that have passed us by. In this case, we grabbed the November 1967 issue of Road & Track. Several of the ads made us sob, especially once we checked Hagerty’s site for the current top values. Cry away.
Ha, in 2001 I sold my triple blue 944s2 cabrio on eBay for a decent amount of money and decided to reinvest it in a FERRARI. I figured I'd spend a max of $9900 so searched for a few weeks and two were in my wheel house; a 308 gtv6/4 "race car" in bright yellow on gottis for 9400 and a 400 in dark blue for 9100. I ended up buying the 400 which I drove for a summer then resold on eBay in the fall for 9300 and washed my hands. Recently I saw one trade for 105000 which was a little painful. My buddy at pinnacle motors in Barrignton advised a rebuild at $22000 of the engine which is the main reason I offed it. I should add that most 911 would fall in this same 20 year shift, not even needing to go back 50 years.
Hindsight is 20/20
Around 71/72 I was offered Maserati 200Si 2423 for $5000.00. Not once but numerous times. What do you do with a car not suitable for the street ? It was a no sale at Pebble Beach this past September for 3.3 M.
I will always remember my third year at San Jose State, when I would scroung for nickles and dimes to add a few gallons of gas to my wifes '64 VW Beetle. I happened to drive by a USED car lot in Sunnyvale and spotted a Mercedes 300SL coupe with big numbers on the windshield stating $4,500.00. I ultimately received my B.S. in Financial Management in 1971. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A GREAT INVESTMENT!
Oof, that Gullwing!
There were antiques, classics, and milestone cars, and their owners were various shades of eccentric. That was in the early 1970s, a generation before investors notice us, also when I said goodby to various UAW jobs and got paid restoring high classics on a flexible schedule and closer to university. Yup, it was actually possible to work, live, and pay for school back then. There was a has-been 1962 GTO at the shop. It had its track rash and cob webs removed, made pretty and recommissioned when I arrived. I could have bought it for $12k. My parents paid that much for their house a decade ago. Instead I bought an abandoned and dismembered MGTC from that shop for $800 three years later, and our first house. That Ferrari is now worth more than ten times our dual income carreers with four degrees earned. Now I read that one of two 300SLRs sold for three GTOs. Obviously, there is too much money going into some pockets. Enthusiasts and experts are going extinct. Only consumers and investors are catered to now. Here is our home made website, started twenty years ago, about some of that: www.enjoyclassiccars.com
JHantelman said:I will always remember my third year at San Jose State, when I would scroung for nickles and dimes to add a few gallons of gas to my wifes '64 VW Beetle. I happened to drive by a USED car lot in Sunnyvale and spotted a Mercedes 300SL coupe with big numbers on the windshield stating $4,500.00. I ultimately received my B.S. in Financial Management in 1971. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A GREAT INVESTMENT!
The issue with using what they sold for in 1970, is you're not realizing it's the equivalent of $36k today. Not that it wouldn't still be a nice return, but if you are looking for loose change, $4500 seems like a "should have gotten a loan" where $36k was never even a possibility.
When I was 13 my Dad was stationed in France, he took me to the 1963 Le Mans race. I was hooked! The Lola GT was the stand out. Been a Ford man ever since. I graduated from high school in '66 so you either liked Corvettes or a Cobras. Never could afford a Coba but 44 yeasr ago I bought a '66 Shelby GT 350H. I had to scrimp and save to get one for $3000, still have it and drive it all the time. Some day my daughter will get it and then her son. They're no fun in the garage!
That would be 'Arnolt' Bristol, not Arnold - unless they had named that particular car Arnold.
I had two cars that I would love to have today. My Porsche GT Speedster with the four cam engine, was one of the last made. It had the aluminum doors, hood and trunk. Sold for $2600 in 1969.
The other was a 1964, 289 Cobra, that was a race car, put back on the street. The floor boards got so hot ,in Fresno, in the summer that I couldn drive the car. Maybe I was lucky---the fellow I sold it to hit a tree and died.
I sold that one for $1500 and a beat up ´56 Porsche Speedster in trade.
Got a nice old DB-9 Aston Martin Volante...that I probably won´t keep either.
Never learn, Mike Eberlein
I bought a new 1960 Elva Courier and still have it. Hagerty has it insured for about 10 times what I paid for it. Yes, it is in my will
Low values for cars sold 55 years ago is not the trick here. It's how to find and buy the cars in the same situaton today as it was in 1967 - and then figure a way to live another 55 years to be 123 years old.
Back in the seventies I bought my first Porsche (1967 911S), it was an Iowa car and turns out it had some rust, which I didn't want to deal with. I traded it in on a new Jensen Healey (the one with a lotus engine)! Today that Porsche is worth 6 figures!
In 1971, as a 16 year old new driver looking for my first car, I really wanted a Healey 3000. Since I had a part time job and needed transportation, I did not have the luxury of taking much time to find the perfect car. In the paper I found a 1967 3000 for the high price of $1,450 which was out of my league. The thought of trying to take out a loan just never crossed my mind. I had $1,000 saved up, so I settled for a 1967 Sprite for $950. Although I regret not figuring a quick way to get the extra $500 to buy the 3000, the Sprite (which I still have) provided me with a lifetime of educational opportunites and skills which I used over the many years of my career.
In reply to CharlieV :
The Sprite sounds like a total win.
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