View Poll Results: Car's Value vs Your Investment
Investment is more than car's value.
32
68.09%
About equal.
4
8.51%
Value is more than investment.
4
8.51%
Don't know, don't care, doesn't matter.
7
14.89%
Voters: 47. You may not vote on this poll
Your Car's Value vs Your Investment
03-29-2012, 10:10 PM
#11
Yukon Cornelius
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: deep in the heart of dixie GEORGIA
Posts: 11,808
ive got about 18.5k in the car including buying the car itself....im sure i could get more for it than i hae in it if i finished and tried to sell it...but right now i dont think i could recoup my money if need be
03-31-2012, 03:13 AM
#12
1st Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: California
Posts: 60
Not sure I want to know, I love working on older vehicles, fixing a issue, and making it fast and reliable. The cost would never matter to me. The satisfaction is greater then the dollar count. (provided you can afford it)
03-31-2012, 10:14 AM
#14
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: AR
Posts: 5,469
I find these discussions interesting.
Interesting because our society says it makes perfect sense to pay 55K for a car on a 5 year payment schedule. This car wont be worth what is owed on it til near the last year of the note, when the value of the car is maybe 10 or 15K.... So It makes sense to drop 40 or 45K of money that the buyer will never get back.
And then.... you might take the same person who spent 55K on a new car, and they might mock a person who invests 20K or 25K in a car that might still be worth 10K or 15K after 5 years of driving...
Yes,,,, it is that simple, investing too much money in our classic cars makes one hell of a lot more sense than buying ANY new car.
edit> oh yea, ALL cars should be drivers....
edit again> and.... in 20 years, I believe it will be a rarity indeed to see a car made today still on the road (due to their udder complexity, and "short parts runs" on the stuff that will be needed to keep them running.... the era of the truly disposable car is here.
Things that will make your new car into fodder in 20 years...
1. the wiring insulation used today is good and tough in the short run. In the long run not so much. The insulation used on cars 20 years ago is literally crumbling and falling off. How much wire in a new car these days? how much do you think it would cost to replace this wire? Will the average future restorer/hot rodder replace these wires one at a time?
2. Lots of car companies out there making lots of different cars, engine combos etc. The aftermarket will never be like it was for the "big 3". Ther will never be 20 million cars out there that use the same starter or alternator. Ever try to buy engine rebuild parts for a late model Dodge Hemi, or a Chrysler 3.2?
3. In spite of the hype, the computers in these cars DONT often self diagnose, they might give you a hint as to what is happening, thats about it.
4. When you have a "problem child", even the dealer can't always fix the problem effectively... (any 6.0 Powerstroke owners out there?
one example of many)
5. Needless complexity.... Car makers have even ditched throttle cables... instead they use a control module on the pedal, route the signal through a computer, and send it to an actuator on the throttle body... when a cable and TPS sensor would do the same job and even better.
Sounds dumb on the surface, but think a little deeper and you too will understand that they aren't making any more old cars....
Interesting because our society says it makes perfect sense to pay 55K for a car on a 5 year payment schedule. This car wont be worth what is owed on it til near the last year of the note, when the value of the car is maybe 10 or 15K.... So It makes sense to drop 40 or 45K of money that the buyer will never get back.
And then.... you might take the same person who spent 55K on a new car, and they might mock a person who invests 20K or 25K in a car that might still be worth 10K or 15K after 5 years of driving...
Yes,,,, it is that simple, investing too much money in our classic cars makes one hell of a lot more sense than buying ANY new car.
edit> oh yea, ALL cars should be drivers....
edit again> and.... in 20 years, I believe it will be a rarity indeed to see a car made today still on the road (due to their udder complexity, and "short parts runs" on the stuff that will be needed to keep them running.... the era of the truly disposable car is here.
Things that will make your new car into fodder in 20 years...
1. the wiring insulation used today is good and tough in the short run. In the long run not so much. The insulation used on cars 20 years ago is literally crumbling and falling off. How much wire in a new car these days? how much do you think it would cost to replace this wire? Will the average future restorer/hot rodder replace these wires one at a time?
2. Lots of car companies out there making lots of different cars, engine combos etc. The aftermarket will never be like it was for the "big 3". Ther will never be 20 million cars out there that use the same starter or alternator. Ever try to buy engine rebuild parts for a late model Dodge Hemi, or a Chrysler 3.2?
3. In spite of the hype, the computers in these cars DONT often self diagnose, they might give you a hint as to what is happening, thats about it.
4. When you have a "problem child", even the dealer can't always fix the problem effectively... (any 6.0 Powerstroke owners out there?
one example of many)5. Needless complexity.... Car makers have even ditched throttle cables... instead they use a control module on the pedal, route the signal through a computer, and send it to an actuator on the throttle body... when a cable and TPS sensor would do the same job and even better.
Sounds dumb on the surface, but think a little deeper and you too will understand that they aren't making any more old cars....
Last edited by JMD; 03-31-2012 at 10:44 AM.
03-31-2012, 09:52 PM
#15
1st Gear Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 83
It's almost always cheaper to buy a done car. But, buying a project, and putting money into it slowly makes it a lot more affordable for most of us. As someone suggested above, it's like having a car payment with interest, but the depreciation is much less.
04-01-2012, 05:31 AM
#17
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: sc
Posts: 457
I bought my 2003 GT Vert new for $ 28,300 in 2003. I have invested a total of aprox. $20,000 into her; the two biggest investments being the Cobra shortblock for $7000; That includes pulling the grenaded original POS motor and installing the Cobra shortblock, and the SC'er, $5,500 installed. I have about $48,000 total in her, including purchase price, I'd be lucky to get $15-17K for it. I never planned on selling her anyway.
04-01-2012, 09:16 PM
#18
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: 03246
Posts: 477
It is the only way ham & eggers like ourselves can fulfill the dream and I would argue a much more satisfying journey in the end. Don't get me wrong, there were times along the way that if given the ability, stroking a check would have been tempting. Now that I'm driving the car (they're never finished lol) I toiled on for 6 years, it is VERY rewarding.
04-01-2012, 10:25 PM
#19
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Washington
Posts: 347
I have the ubiquitous drawer full of receipts for my '66 which I have not added up. I have run some numbers in my head and it is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50k. Had I known it'd be this much when I began, I'd have bought a Shelby. A real one, lol. But after the fact, every time I fire up that small block and rip through the gears it makes it all worth while. I'd probably only get about 20k if I wanted to sell, but I don't ever plan to.
04-02-2012, 12:20 AM
#20
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location:
Posts: 8,162
As a investment it has to be a rare car or built by some big name car builder before it will break even or make a little on it.I use to buy newer cars and trucks at auctions and resell them but now that's hard to make money on.