Real vs. Plastic

[06impala]

I sit here this morning kinda burnt to a crisp having returned from the 2008 Spring Carlisle Car Show yesterday. My sides are a litte sore from laughing at what some people were asking for their vehicles. Now I know why I build plastic replicas instead of the real thing. For instance: 1962 Belair, complete junker, rusted out everywhere, no motor, trans, interior. The asking price....$8,900!
How about a 1970 Roadrunner 440 6pak, auto. Price....$44,900! Do these poeple think they're at Barrett-Jackson? How about VW Beetles and Super Beetles, anywhere from $6,500 to $7,500. Nicely restored, but not for that money. Complete idiots is more like it. The best deal was 1964 Galaxie, 352, 4 speed, skirts,powder blue. Price....$10,900. Reasonable money for a driver in need of restoration down the road. Another great deal 1998 Camaro, 5 spd, 118,000 miles $6,500, for a very nice car.
I'm in no way a cheap skate, but these prices will drive any real car hobbyist out of the hobby and into the scale model hobby in a heartbeat. Just my rant for the day.

[Deleted]

I know where your coming from. I was looking at a 1995 Chevy Blazer in a guys font yard for sale. It had the leather interior, 4x4, factory style mags, AC, Auto trans. 4.3 v6. He wanted $8700.00 for it. It had scratches on the body and a cracked taillight lense and rear bumper. Seen a '97 at a dealer. Black like the '95 same features and 15,000 miles less and it had a price of $6995.00 on it. 2 yrs newer and 15,000 miles less and almost $2000. cheaper. Just figures how these people that sell there own think they can get over blue book value for the vehicle.

[Spider]

I'm not saying you are right or wrong but it does depend on how you look at things. I guess if you have the money and that's what you want, then the prices may not be an issue. For the average Joe that works a regular labor type job making the lower end of the pay scale, it would be out of the question.
As for the modeling, look at the prices some of these kits are going for. If you consider what you are actually buying, is it any more crazy that the prices stated for the 1:1 cars? Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

[spotlight]

My thinking is with Spider...it all depends on what you're into, what you want and what you can afford.

There comes a time that you cannot really put a blue book price on an old restored vehicle.

Here is an example.

In October 2000 my son bought a '65 Ford Galaxie 500 XL for restoration and asked me to help him do it. It was in fair shape and he paid $1100 for it. I wont' go into detail on what we did as it would take to much time and typing. But I can tell you it was an education with a lot of money, frustration, tears and heartaches involved.

But here's the problem...
Total cost to restore including price of car: $22,000
Would possibly sell for: $15,000

But you know what? It was well worth it.

Check it out.

October 2000








The result



May 2003

Win

[41chevy]

But..Look at it this way. Would a new $22,000 box have the memories and camardre that you and your son had doing the Galaxie? Can't get that with a New one! As for the prices, alot of it is that is just people with more money than brains. My daily tranport is a 1963 Corvan,Paid $900. for it in 1976,it goes to my yard, job sites,the ocean to go fishing,to home depot and even to Virginia a few times. What is it worth today? Probbly not much more than I paid for it. Paul

[phoneguy]

I wouldn't mind having that car Win. What's under the hood--289?

[Eagle78550]

That Galaxie looks great ! You do not see many 2 doors anymore...is that the same body style as a 500 or was the XL the version before?? I am not up on my classic fords ..but i did notice that is has the same rear seat configuration as my old 66 t-bird...that was a good car...shoulda kept it

[Eagle78550]

You know Win ..it reminds me of what my Dad used to tell me when I dumped a bunch of money into something ...car ,bus,truck ..whatever...

" Now you have to find somebody that loves it more than you do .."

Isnt that the truth!! In all my years I only found a handful of guys that gave me SOMEWHAT of what I had into rigs...most of them were losses...but hey , I justify it by telling my wife..." at least its going to a good home"...HA !! ...she would come back with .....
" keep telling yourself that.."..LOL!!!!

Just keep buildin what you love !!

[spotlight]

Apr 26, 2008 12:16:23 GMT -5 phoneguy said:

I wouldn't mind having that car Win. What's under the hood--289?

Hey Jerry,
It has the 390, rated at 315 h.p. but not the police intercepter. The police intercepter had solid lifters and they are a pain in the butt. It has a 3 speed Cruise-O-Matic and my son wants to put in a C6 (they're available) but he's not sure if it will bolt up to the fly wheel. I'm here to tell you this 'ol girl will roll out and quiet as a church mouse.

Win

[spotlight]

Apr 26, 2008 12:38:21 GMT -5 Eagle78550 said:

That Galaxie looks great ! You do not see many 2 doors anymore...is that the same body style as a 500 or was the XL the version before?? I am not up on my classic fords ..but i did notice that is has the same rear seat configuration as my old 66 t-bird...that was a good car...shoulda kept it

The 500 and the XL had the same body style along with the LTD which was the "big daddy" of Ford. Body parts off all three were interchangeable. In fact, we replaced the right front fender with one off an LTD. '62 was the first year of the XL and I believe '72 was the last year the XL was made.

The emblem on the package tray in the rear does resemble a T Bird emblem.

I think we all have at least one car that we have owned over the years that we wished we would have kept. Mine was a '56 Ford Victoria.

Win

[455 Rocket]

I'll get in on this too. Due to having to pay for two cars and insurance for my teen sons to drive, my project is on the back burner. I'm building my 50+ models for now, but one day I'll get back to my Olds. I have mine priced out at about $25K to $28K to complete (455, th-400, 12-bolt, etc.)

Prices are a little better on real muscle cars right now, with the bad economy. A friend of mine has been going to Barrett-Jackson for the last four years and this was the cheapest he has seen cars in a while.

My 64 Olds Cultass

[spotlight]

Apr 26, 2008 11:31:36 GMT -5 41chevy said:

But..Look at it this way. Would a new $22,000 box have the memories and camardre that you and your son had doing the Galaxie? Can't get that with a New one! As for the prices, alot of it is that is just people with more money than brains. My daily tranport is a 1963 Corvan,Paid $900. for it in 1976,it goes to my yard, job sites,the ocean to go fishing,to home depot and even to Virginia a few times. What is it worth today? Probbly not much more than I paid for it. Paul

Paul,
You hit the nail on the head about memories of doing this restoration and especially working along side our son to get 'r done. This is the reason that if you asked our son if it is for sale, he would flat tell you NO!

I have a question for you though. What is a Corvan? Is it related to the Corvair.

Win

Win

[78KW]

I love the color!!! Sweet ride Win.

[spotlight]

Apr 26, 2008 13:59:57 GMT -5 455 Rocket said:

I'll get in on this too. Due to having to pay for two cars and insurance for my teen sons to drive, my project is on the back burner. I'm building my 50+ models for now, but one day I'll get back to my Olds. I have mine priced out at about $25K to $28K to complete (455, th-400, 12-bolt, etc.)

Prices are a little better on real muscle cars right now, with the bad economy. A friend of mine has been going to Barrett-Jackson for the last four years and this was the cheapest he has seen cars in a while.



My 64 Olds Cultass


I would say that you are probably in the ball park figure for doing this car as prices now are higher than when we did the Ford. There is one advantage to redoing a GMC product...believe it or not, parts are cheaper for GMC products than Ford but you can put as much money into one that you want to and it doesn't matter what the make. Seems like there's no limit except what's in your billfold.

That will make a sweet, mean ride when it's finished and I hope that isn't to far down the trail.

Good luck with it,
Win

[spotlight]

Apr 26, 2008 19:52:14 GMT -5 78KW said:

I love the color!!! Sweet ride Win.

The color is....you ready for this....2000 Dodge, forest green. Yep, on a Ford.

My model color picker outer told our son that she would be picking the body color, and interior color and fabric. He, not being married at the time, kind of hung his head, kicked a rock and said..."OK Mom". ;D ;D Man, the power of a mother is awesome especially when the son stands 6'2" and Mom is 5'2".

Win