1972 Chevy Chevelle

Lol! Foot in mouth! I wasn’t even paying attention! I thought it was a little harsh…funny!

 

If you would have kept the ‘72 then you would have saved a bit of doe. Plus you could have died the interior red. Just as oddball as your ‘71 lol.

 

OMG..you're cracking me up!! I am a Seahawks fan!! Not the Washington football team...

 

So, the BIG question for today is.......
Will the Washington (placeholders) EVER get a new name?

 

I like the name Washington “place mats” it denotes continuity as well as the inference of a door mat in being steamrolled under pressure. Even found a color scheme that may work

 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-chevrolet-chevelle-concours-wagon/

...just for perspective...

 

I couldn't agree more. I understand it's partly a supply/demand thing, but ultimately I don't think the pricing trend we've seen, especially over the last 20 years, is a good thing for the hobby as a whole. What good is it when the average guy or someone younger wants to get into the hobby when all these cars will eventually be priced out of the stratosphere? The prices many people in the community have taken advantage of in the past may very well disappear entirely, and I'm not sure the loss of that kind of accessibility is a good thing. There may come a time when the vintage car market will become a rich man's game only.

I mean, for years now there have been people and even companies that have been buying vintage cars and selling them to wealthy overseas buyers, simply because they can make an even higher profit. The supply in those counties is literally non-existent and wealthy buyers will pay a hefty premium to get their hands on American iron. That's a smaller dynamic, I know, but it's just symptomatic of the environment and mindset that has begun to take over the hobby. A lot of it seems to be becoming about the money and getting the highest dollar you can from any car. Even for sellers selling absolute heaps of rust, and IMO, this trend is not healthy for the hobby in the long run at all.

We all have to remember, the car community wasn't created from a perceived level of value, or the cars themselves being a lucrative commodity. It was created by workaday weekend greasers working in their garage or driveway with parts they had available to them, and the hobby SHOULD remain as something that is accessible to the average person. I mean, for crying out loud, the cars that are now being priced into the stratosphere were designed, marketed toward and bought by regular Joes! I just feel we're getting farther and farther away from that with each passing year and I'm not sure that's a good thing at all.

 

It's not a good thing at all except for those of us who got in for cheap 20+ years ago and have held onto them or amassed a considerable collection to sell off.

I do not consider these high dollars being thrown around or auction fever TV shows to be a good thing nor something I want in my car community, but they're here and here to stay until the rich folks decide to go chase some other dragon...

 

I think it’s a fine balance. As a buy and hold guy myself I would still like to find deals. My heirs are the ones that will do well, so I like the fact they’re appreciating assets, but I don’t look to buy and flip. I think the other thing is, and this seems to be pervasive, especially among station wagons that just in my opinion I think that everything has gotten so tilted that people want to harken back to what we thought was a better time. I know I look fondly at cars from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s and wish we were in simpler era. Don’t know if that is truly affecting prices but it does seem like lower mileage, original stuff is moving off the charts in all body categories. I think there could be a reset in some of these prices. I remember in the late go go ‘80’s a lot of ‘59 and ‘60 Cadillacs were bringing 6 figures in Japan and other Asian countries. At that time I never thought a ‘59 Cadillac would fetch north of $100k, but they couldn’t snap em up fast enough. I guess we wait and see. The other thing is that back then you really only had Barrett Jackson and Ebay later, now it seems like there’s 500 internet dealers chasing a finite inventory.

 

I get what you're saying.. change is a hard pill when it's associated with something you love and have done for years..and maybe you feel like it's becoming more of a dream now than your once loved reality...but..what did gas cost 20 yrs ago...your house...your corn flakes...the hobby will be fine too...go V8 swap a $500 S-10 and love every second of it.

Keep them all worth $500... and every last one of them will end up at the county fair with no glass in it and pipes sticking out of the hood...yes yours too one day when your gone... but as it is..your family will have a beautiful return..you choose... change isn't going to hit the brakes...go buy every 2002 WRX you can...because in 20 yrs you will be rich at average Joe money today..and you can sell them and buy another wagon..until then congrats your flavor of hobby is in its day and climbing.