RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cto/2698472675.html

Banzai

iTrader: (13)

That looks like a nice car Karack. The seller sounds firm in his price too. I know popular opinion around here seems to be that asking prices like that are way out of line. To me, I find these numbers encouraging. Right now, there are three 1st gens I know of with asking prices in the low to mid teens. These all appear to be very nice cars. Finding buyers at that price is another thing but at some point I believe they will gain momentum and popularity. At least enough to get the truly nice ones out of single trading digits on a regular basis.

Hell, even Trans-Ams of the same vintage can bring 20-30K at auction. Not to pick on them, but by the late 70's, early 80's the T/A was overweight and underpowered compared to It's earlier rendering. More bling than actual bang but since their DNA is traced to muscle cars, it's made all the difference. I think it was DD who applied the term "Budget Collectable" to our cars, which describes it pretty accurately I believe. At the same time, it's always a moving target. There was a time when a multi-million dollar Vintage Ferrari was just an old beat war wagon.

DreamInRotary

iTrader: (49)

Haha two weeks since I checked last and he still has it up for 10K. He's probably goin "Why can't I get a decent offer??"

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

had an argument with a customer out of state who stopped by my shop. he thought that these were collector cars, which there certainly is some cars that can be considered collectors editions which would be say a low number SA, a low number GSL-SE a clean 10th anniversary or an unmolested FD. anything in the middle that may be clean certainly has some value if it is original low mileage.

basically waiting for someone to come along with $15k who is a die hard rotary enthusiast who wants a clean run of the mill car with low mileage, will be waiting for a while, possibly until you die.

the owner i had an argument with had a 10th anniversary with 400,000 miles, yes 400k. it had dents, dings, the common white paint flaking, ripped up bra, tattered interior. he would be hard pressed to get $2k from even a real enthusiast. i tried to burn it into him that the car needed $10k+ worth of work to fully restore it so it was worth little, not even close to blue book value. hopefully he understood my point of view as i hand people their bill for $3k just restoring their engines and other misc things, i have yet have anyone bring me a car and ask me to fully restore it, knowing that it would be a money sink and they would never see a fraction of it back.

the last link i posted is an average model, yes although clean he will be holding his breath for a long time. he's really rolling the dice that he will find that winning lottery ticket buyer, he would have been better off spending the money he paid for the car and tossing it into the slot machines here and there, he at least would be down some but likely could at least break close to even without holding onto the car for 30 years hoping to get half his invested amount back.

Banzai

iTrader: (13)

Agreed that presently, any 1st or 2nd gen rarely sells much above 6-7K. The vast majority move for more like half this. To me, it goes without saying that only truely exceptional cars need even apply for the bigger money, but it is good to see what appear to be some nice cars at least asking for more.

You'll always have the guys who think their particular car is something special regardless of its actual condition. It's not worth the time trying to convince them that your not just a load of crap.

The cars actually worth the bigger money speak for themselves and these are few and far inbetween. Unless these cars are able to pull overall prices up someday, you'll never see anyone wanting to invest the money it takes to justify the higher price. Even if the investment could be justified, where would the parts come from?

If you want to replace your door panel with a factory style new one today, you're pretty much screwed. There has to be a strong market to get others interested and manufactures providing new, orginal style replacement parts. Thats what powers it all and is why I find at least some higher askng prices, encouraging. If I were in this for the money, I'd be somewhere else.....