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DOES THE NAME ON YOUR CAR SAY SOMETHING ABOUT YOU?
ACRONYMS FOR CARS
DIDJA EVER NOTICE THE FUN OF SLOW CARS?
"Sports Car Market's Arizona Insiders Guide" has an article by John Stein that tells us -- NINE MUSCLE CAR SLEEPERS
A FINACIAL EXPERT'S VIEWPOINT I DISSAGREE WITH The Financial Times of August 29 2009 says: “High-Octane Prices for Top Classic Cars Put Investors in Poll Position” By John Reed in London “There has been a flight into real assets,” says Historic Automobile Group founder Dietrich Hatlapa, a former Baring Securities and ING banker and collector who designed the HAGI Top, a new index that tracks the prices of a cross-section of historic cars. “People want something they can look at and touch in the evening, rather than a piece of paper in the bank.” “While turnover at top classic car auctions has fallen since before the financial crisis, auction houses are still reporting brisk business, and setting records.” “The HAGI index, which Mr Hatlapa designed with another former banker and which tracks 11 marques and 38 models, has risen by nearly 39 percent from it's launch at the beginning of 2008 to the end of July.” “Artprice.com's Art Price Global Index fell by 29 percent in euro terms over the same period. The Liv-ex 100 Fine Wine index, tracking 100 sought-after wines fell by more than 10 percent. Spot gold prices have risen by about 15 percent since the beginning of 2008.” From what I've seen, I find those HAGI index figures highly suspect. Bob Rader PLAY THE MUSCLE CAR GAME AT YOUR OWN PERIL
ARE AMERICANS GOING TO STOP LOVING THEIR CARS?
SECOND PAGE Mitsubishi Diamonte - I don't know what it means either. FROM FUNEHUMOR ON THE NET
Acura- I have always wanted to own the Buick of sports cars BEST CAR-SHOW HORROR STORY Several years ago, we were accepted for entry in the Pebble Beach Concours. I parked our 1947 Lincoln Continental coupe in our class, with an 810 Cord, a Brewster Opera Car, and some other really exquisite cars. It was going to be a tough class. After wiping down the car for 10th time, I decided to take a break and sat in the front seat with a cup of coffee and the Sunday paper.
IS THE THRILL GONE? BEST CAR-SHOW HORROR STORY
Halfway through the sports section, I lowered the paper and saw a man at the front of the car with both hands on the hood ornament ! My first thought was to start the car and run over him. Sanity prevailed, and I hit the horn ring instead. The car had extremely loud horns. As the hood-ornament fondler fell over backward, the white cane on his arm came into view. Three hours later, the judges arrived. Two of the three judges were Strother MacMinn and Phill Hill. Phil had entered his 1931 4.5 Blower Bentley in the concourse. While checking the operation of lights, turn signals, etc., the unknown third judge asked me to operate the power windows. On this Lincoln they were operated by an electric pump with a brake-fluid reservoir mounted on the fire wall. I opened the driver's-side door and lowered the window. As I pushed the button to raise the window, the hydraulic cylinder in the door sprang a leak. The judges shoe was directly in the stream of brake fluid leaking from the drain hole in the bottom of the door. I saw it, he didn't. I spoke to Phil Hill after the event. He told me that virtually the only difference between our first-place car and the second-place car was that we had authentic cloth-covered wiring under the dash whereas the other car had plastic-covered wiring! No mention of the shoe. Final score: One blind guy knocked down. One judge's shoe ruined. DIDJA EVER NOTICE?
IN THE FEBRUARY 2, 2009 ISSUE OF FORBES MAGAZINE ART IS FOR LOVE, NOT INVESTMENT “In times like these when wealthy people are at a loss as to where to safely put their money, persuasive voices are often raised: Invest in art. That's dangerous advice- and I know a little about the subject. My father was an artist and the headmaster of an art school. I was practically born in a studio and heard art discussed throughout my childhood. I have drawn and painted since the age of 3. Much of my life I've spent visiting art collections the world over, buying drawings and painting and writing about art. But I think investing in art to make money is a fool's game. The art market—now enormous and global—is crowded with smooth-talking con men (and women) who make Wall Street fraudsters look like amateurs. Art values are determined by unpredictable trends that are rarely linked to quality. And who's the arbiter of quality anyway?”
Johnson goes on to say that he must admit there are a few examples of people who have proved outstanding art collectors. I can only say the obvious-- Collecting cars fits this image just as well. Buy what you love. Don't even think about making money.
HOW OLD IS YOUR CAR IN PEOPLE YEARS? Like dogs and fine wine, cars age differently than humans. Now there is a formula to tell us how old your car is in human years
CLASSIC MUSTANG OWNER ASSESSES THE AUTO INDUSTRY From The Wall Street Journal December 2008 by Kate Linebaugh Mark Mosteller, a retired high school physics teacher, stood in front of his red and white Mustang, pondering the future of the U.S. auto industry. “You know what I’d say? Take your money out of stocks and invest it in this,” gesturing to his car at a Mustang show before the reveal of the 2010 Mustang. He cashed in his IRA in 1995 and invested the $15,000 restoring his car. It’s now worth about $72,000. “I raised two kids in it, drove daily to work for 25 years, and of course, it was my hobby,” Mr. Mosteller, 76, said as the sun set on the Santa Monica airport showgrounds. Joking aside, he looked out and said the redesigned Mustang is the wrong direction from where the government wants the industry to go. “These cars are the opposite of green,” he said. He worries about the economy and the future, and about government oversight. “But we’ll always drive on the highways.” Note that he did this some thirteen years ago. You can’t take your money out of the stock market now to put in anything else because the money you have there has gone down so much it’s a pittance. Don’t you wish you could have heard this news at least six months ago? If things keep going the way they are now his car isn’t going to be worth any $72,000 either. Methinks I already see a softening of the classic car market. The real test will come in January at the big auctions in Scottsdale. Keep tuned here. Last month I mentioned words that are being lost in our lifetime (Hi-Test is now Premium) asking for your input. Steve Sklute in Tallahassee says, “Anybody with a 1955 Ford that had dual exhausts from the factory, with any luck could convince mom and dad that Smittys would improve fuel economy. What a beautiful sound!” Let us hear some more from you. HUMOR CHANGES WITH AGE I really hadn’t noticed the economic problems-- Until yesterday. I went out to buy a new electric toaster –And they gave me a free Bank. I told that story at a gathering or ROMEOs (retired old men eating out) while in the mountains of NC. It got lots of laughs. Came back to Orlando and told it to my kids and their kids. Nothing. No laughs. They have no memory of banks giving out toasters when you opened a new account. Which made me remember gas stations giving out glasses Amazing how time changes when you’re not noticing. I call it Hi Test gas. They call it Premium. Let’s start a list of the words that have changed or been lost during our lifetime. What do you miss? Running boards? I want to hear from you. THE ECONOMY HAS GOT OUR ATTENTION
HEY IT'S 1987 AGAIN............
IF THIS ECONOMY KEEPS GOING THE WAY IT IS NOW.... Just watch. If you remember, not a long time ago we were all aghast that the Japanese were buying up expensive American real estate. Now we're crying because Budweiser is becoming a foreign company. The American dollar has lost so much value that our stuff is worth more to the foreigners than us. I remember a time when our best collectible cars were going abroad--being lost to us. All because of the dollar vs. the pound or yen. Here we go again. And globalization is assisting it. We're going to lose some of our most valuable cars. But don't worry because the worm always turns. The Japanese lost money when they had to sell off the American real estate and their Ferrari Testa Rosas. And there seems to be a similarity between the economy and the weather. It always changes. I predict the cars we are about to lose (It's always the cream of the crop too) will be back if you and I live long enough to see it. Fifty years ago I wouldn't have been so sanguine about this, but age and maturity does give one a certain calm in crisis. Plus, if globalization has anything to do with it we're going to see the major foreign currencies fall soon, not just in sympathy to the dollar but they are going to be paying more for their oil, copper, and other commodities just like we are. It's a little late to jump on the bandwagon buying gold, but it's not too late to invest in a collectible car. Other collectibles are still growing. Rare watches are hitting new records at auction. Christies recently sold a Monet for $37,000,000. From the January issue of CAR COLLECTOR, Edward Herrmann talks about our DNA........ IT'S FINALLY HAPPENED (And it's not just because I'm old)
This was shared with us by David Donaldson in Orlando
DRIVING IN THE MIDWEST **
THE CAR THAT GOT AWAY Is the title of an article by Jennifer Saranow in the January 11 2008 copy of the Wall Street Journal about the lengths men will go to find the car they once loved. I guess it’s only logical. It’s even more difficult to go back to our first human love, but not impossible to find our first vehicle. “Middle-aged men are going to extraordinary lengths to locate the actual vehicles they drove decades ago. They are trolling online car classifieds, cold-calling junkyards and hiring lost-car detectives to help. When they get desperate, they’re begging friends in law enforcement to run serial numbers and even sending instant messages to strangers who live near the last known person to own the car.” Excuse me while Dr. Rader, the philosopher takes over. This phenomenon belongs with others just as important in today’s society like- The fact that people consider it normal that the majority of the good looking women in LA are augmented. The fact that Viagra and Botox are main line everyday normal. The fact that families with children aren’t eating supper together. Let’s get a sense of balance here. What brought this country it’s incredibly high standard of living is being lost . We have the luxury of time to worry about things that should be unimportant while we forget the values that have brought us to this point. And truth be known , the chances of me finding a certain 49 Ford convertible after 50 years is impossible. A word of caution to you who may be searching the that certain car. Drive another one of the same type first. It’s a fact of life that memories do exaggerate and romanticize things. You will be sobered quickly when you try to get the larger you into the tiny MGTF or hit the first corner at highway speed in the ox cart suspension of a 59 Flip-top Ford. If you are sober and still love old cars we’re still here for you.
IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF, OR, A WORD TO THE WISE After over thirty years in this business I can at least look back now and report some things that may be of some interest to those newer in the hobby. I never paid attention to what my elders told me when I was a sprout myself, so I really don’t expect anybody to pay much attention to what I espouse here, but do you remember what happened in 1987 when the stock market fell 500 points in one day? Many investors took their money out of the market and what did they do with it? Not all, but many decided to invest in collectables. Collectables like fine art, antique American furniture, and, yes, old cars. The values of collectable cars went up drastically. Now I realize there are some dissimilarities between 1987 and the situation today but there are also some similarities. Basically the money is coming out of stocks and people don’t want to just let it sit there not earning something or at least giving some opportunity for pleasure, which they certainly aren’t getting watching their investment in the stock market go down. You can’t enjoy looking at the numbers go down on the monthly statement from your broker. You can at least look at and drive and have fun with your Packard or Model A while it might just go up in value too. So I predict we’re going to see some rank amateurs bidding at the big auctions and driving up prices. Except for the muscle cars which are finally showing signs of deserved weakness, but that’s another subject.1911 OLDSMOBILE LIMITED 7-PASSENGER TOURING This car was the subject of an article in Sports Car Market’s January issue by Miles Collier. He discusses the strange way we value originality versus perfection. Here we have an example of an unrestored genuine barn find to compare with the 1912 Limited that sold at Otis Chandler’s estate auction a year ago. That car was seen as “the finest and most desirable in existence” a very expensive restoration. It sold for $1,250,000. The 1911 car sold at the recent William Swigart auction for $1,650,000. Apparently we’re finally beginning to see greater appreciation in the marketplace for historic integrity. In the past perfect operating capability was more valued. The perfect restoration mechanically and cosmetically was the most valuable car. The car needing a total restoration was a pitiful heap. Collectors could only see immense amounts of costs to make the car correct. This situation has been the opposite of the scene in other collectable markets for some time. Furniture, silver, porcelain, firearms, clocks and others like scientific instruments have been valued for their original patina. You only need to watch PBS’s Antiques Road Show to hear an expert explain to the unfortunate owner of an early American highboy that if she had left it with all its poor looking worn finish it would be worth $80,000 instead of just $10,000 now. Sure it looks beautiful with the new brass drawer pulls, hand made tapered legs and gloss, but spending $6000 has cost her $70,000. Collier says, “By erasing the evidence of history, the car loses its identity as a historical object, which is the only real value in the first place. Without evidence of time, what does a real object offer the collector that a perfect replica does not?” Obviously the collector car market has matured to takes its place along side the other older groups like numismatists and philatelists. Next thing you know we’ll have our own fancy name tooMORE BUYERS IN THE MARKETPLACE Who buys collectible cars? Baby Boomers, that's who. When the boys in uniform got home from WWII in 1945, after postponing marriage for four years, they had one thing on their minds. The inevitable result was that the birth rate immediatly skyrocketed. As prosperity took hold in the early 1950s, plans for a second, third, even fourth child filled new homes in the suburbs.
AN EXCERPT FROM THE FEBRUARY 2007 SPORTS CAR MARKET BY THOR THORSON A friend of mine is an antique dealer who now deals in collector cars and he taught me what I consider the most basic rule of collecting: What was special then is special now: what was ordinary then may be rare now, but it's not special.
If you are going to collect old things and are concerned with the investment aspects, always buy things that were "special" when they were new. Steuben crystal will always be more desirable than Depression glass: a Ferrari will be a better investment than a Fiat. I find it useful to define this concept by adding rankings, sort of accumulating points for various characteristics. The most valuable set is for things that were special, even famous, in their own time (Ferrari GTO). The second set is for things that were associated with special people or events (Clark Gable's Duesenberg), while a third can be assigned to simple rarity (a 3¢ stamp with the airplane printed upside down may just be a piece of paper, but it's the only one). With something that can be played with, like a car, the question of how much and how easily you can play with it becomes vital in determining desirability. By looking at that factor you can get a pretty good feel for where virtually any collectable should fit. Thorson says it well. Raders Relics has been saying it for thirty years now. Nice to see someone else independantly confirming my thoughts.
Eyes on the Road The Wall Street Journal of Aug 21 has a column, "Eyes on the Road" by Joseph B. White. He discusses a subject we've covered here a couple times already. He quotes some respected people in the hobby and it's nice to find they are confirming what I've been saying.
Here are some excerpts.....
"So 25 years from now, what will classic car fanatics be parading down Woodward Avenue or bidding on at Pebble Beach? What cars will emerge from beneath oily rags to delight some middle-aged buff in 2032? It's not an easy question. There have been some fairly severe automotive-design droughts during the past 25 years or so. Will someone who discovers a 1982 Chevrolet Citation under a drop cloth in the old barn experience some form of excitement-- unless that person happens to need something to run in a demolition derby?
Still experts in the business of automotive culture, design and collecting say there will be a vibrant classic car scene years from now, particularly if car fans broaden their minds.
At the high end, the key will as always, be rarity. Exotics such as the Bugatti Veyron, limited run Ferraris and Porsches will likely grace the Pebble Beach Auctions. More attainable cars could find favor as well, The Datsun 240Z, Dodge Viper, Buick GNX and limited special Mustangs.
Also Corvettes Z06, Chrysler 300 SRT8, Viper, Prowler, convertible PT Cruiser, Cadillac CTS V, Audi's original TT, new Beetle and Mini Cooper S. Future Woodward Dream Cruises could have crazy hot Hondas. One challenge will confront preservationists: Maintaining and replacing the onboard computers. There will be a business for someone who can build a generic computer, plug and play, to allow a current car to keep rolling 25 years from now. People collect from their youth." We already see some starting to collect AMC Pacers, Pintos, et al.
Subject: A/C-- Betcha didn't know. The Goldberg brothers - Norman, Hiram and Maxwell - invented and developed the first automobile air conditioner. On 17 July 1946, the temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees. The brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him they were there with the most exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter. Henry was curious and invited them into his office. They refused and, instead, asked him to come to their car in the parking lot. They then persuaded him to get into the car, which was about 130 degrees, turned on the air condition and cooled the car off immediately. The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he offered them $3 million for the patent. They refused saying they would settle for $2 million but wanted the recognition of having a lable which read, "The Goldberg Air Condition" on the dashboard of each car in which it was installed. Old Ford was more than just a bit anti-Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put their name on a couple million Ford autos. They haggled back and forth for two hours and finally agreed on $4 million and that just their first names would be shown. So, even today, all Ford auto air conditioners show on the controls the names, "Norm, Hi, and Max."
GAS PAINS High pump prices are not reducing demand very much because they are not imposing anything like the economic pain alleged by politicians. For instance, if we adjust nominal gasoline prices in 1949 (27 cents per gallon) by inflation, we get a price of $1.90 per gallon in today’s terms. If we further adjust those prices by mean disposable income, we find that gasoline prices would have to be $6.68 per gallon before they were taking the same bite out of our wallets as they were in 1949. In 1962- a year writ large in the popular imagination as the quintessential year of muscle cars and cheap gasoline thanks to the movie American Graffiti-gasoline prices averaged 31 cents per gallon. When we factor changes in disposable income, today’s gas would have to cost $4.48 to be a comparable burden. Jerry Taylor, Cato Institute FUTURE COLLECTABLES, DO YOU AGREE? Someone we wouldn't expect has picked out the ten most collectable American cars that you can buy right now. AOL no less has made it's choices anyway and I don't necessarily agree with them in all cases, but it deserves thought and I'd be interested in your opinions, both pro and con and any alternates you would suggest. 2000 Plymouth Prowler (Why not other years?) So what do you think? What did they leave out? What shouldn't be here? Why?
From The Wall Street Journal May 4, 2007 By Robert Frank.
"Rich Investors Deploy Money-Management Skills On Duck Decoys, Doorstops"
"The boom in collectibles is reaching unprecedented -and some say ridiculous- heights. And it's not just bottles of 1947 Cheval Blanc that are shattering price records. With a growing number of rich people looking for rare objects that few others can own, prices are surging for everything from stamps to toy banks, duck decoys and Chinese snuff bottles.
Some of the buyers are longtime collectors who have been pursuing their quirky pastimes for years. Yet auctioneers and sellers say the real change in these markets is being driven by a new breed of buyer: young, newly rich financial traders and entrepreneurs who are using their massive cash piles and sophisticated business savvy to stake big claims in obscure markets. To some of these buyers, collectibles aren't just accessories for the mantelpiece: They're tradable assets, just like stocks, bonds or derivatives."
Chinese snuff bottles? Doorstops? And to think that when we first went in this business with old cars thirty years ago, antique car collectors were considered a bit odd. Now we're astute investors. How nice.
FROM CLICK AND CLACK THE TAPPET BROTHERS ON NPR
AN EXCERPT FROM THE FEBRUARY 2007 SPORTS CAR MARKET BY THOR THORSON A friend of mine is an antique dealer who now deals in collector cars and he taught me what I consider the most basic rule of collecting: What was special then is special now: what was ordinary then may be rare now, but it's not special. If you are going to collect old things and are concerned with the investment aspects, always buy things that were "special" when they were new. Steuben crystal will always be more desirable than Depression glass: a Ferrari will be a better investment than a Fiat. I find it useful to define this concept by adding rankings, sort of accumulating points for various characteristics. The most valuable set is for things that were special, even famous, in their own time (Ferrari GTO). The second set is for things that were associated with special people or events (Clark Gable's Duesenberg), while a third can be assigned to simple rarity (a 3¢ stamp with the airplane printed upside down may just be a piece of paper, but it's the only one). With something that can be played with, like a car, the question of how much and how easily you can play with it becomes vital in determining desirability. By looking at that factor you can get a pretty good feel for where virtually any collectable should fit. Thorson says it well. Raders Relics has been saying it for thirty years now. Nice to see someone else independantly confirming my thoughts.
CAR NAMESI don’t know about you but I find it hard to understand why FoMoCo would change the Lincoln Zephyr (the recent one, not the 1936 version) to a MKZ. The Zephyr was a good old name and we were just getting used to it. Worse yet , they seem to want to refer to it as the em kay zee when we have been accustomed to Lincoln’s using the Mk to mean Mark. Seems like change for the sake of change, and for the worse too.Cadillac is doing a better job at this with their CTS, STS, SRX and so on. They have a great name sitting unused with LaSalle. I really miss the good old days of names that were names, even if they didn’t always make sense. I don’t recall ever seeing a celebrity driving a Chevy Celebrity. To the extreme one doesn’t see a cougar driving a Mercury either.Names that suit the car’s nature are practical—Dodge’s Ram, Land Rover, Land Cruiser, Explorer.Some are ambitious and descriptive as well---Cobra, Viper, Barracuda, Diablo.Some are poetic and somehow cool too—Azure, Silver Ghost, Phantom and Phaeton. The latter, a VW market failure in America, is a theft of a regular word that means a four door convertible without roll-up windows. But then doesn’t someone else call their convertible a roadster when we all know a roadster is not a convertible, one has side curtains and the other roll-up windows.And we don’t appreciate it when they make a calculated attempt to play on class consciousness, social insecurities or glamorous lifestyles with—Diplomat, Executive, Country Club or Versailles.Another poor group is the cutsey misspellings—Luv or Aztek. Subaru Gravel Express
THE MADNESS OF CROWDS By Michael Sheehan
From Sports Car Market of January 2007
" Back in the May 2004 issue of SCM, I wrote how muscle cars--Hemis in particular--had soared past comparable Ferraris.
In May 2005's SCM, I noted that prices for muscle cars and post-war American show cars had risen faster than anything since the Ferrari glory days (glory if you got out in time, Titanic-sized disaster if you held on) of 1985-90.
Since May 2005, a very nice Daytona coupe has gone from $150,000 to $225,000 while Hemi 'Cuda coupes have spiraled ever upward to a nose-bleeding $1.5 million. The muscle car crowd continues to say, 'this time it's different,' and that 'These cars are all being sold to end users not speculators.' Sorry, but I've heard that before.
I've survived four recessions; from 1973-75 (the first gas crisis); 1980-85 (21% interest, real estate tanked); and a mild one in ' 00-01 when the NASDAQ imploded and 9-11 changed our world.
Market run-ups are easy to trace. The Ferrari madness of 1985-90 was fueled by Japanese collectors with 2% bank money leveraged from a property bubble. Meanwhile, Baby Boomers (my generation) celebrated their 'Big 40' by throwing money at Ferraris. Add in the fax machine, which allowed any car to be offered worldwide in hours. and speculation about Enzo Ferrari's expected demise , and you've gat the makings of a very frothy market.
Finally, combine it with the growing attraction of user-friendly events such as the Monterey Historic race and the Colorado Grand, where boys could display their new (and very expensive toys), and prices went mad.
After a run-up of 500%, the correction was ugly. Very ugly."
I am older than the baby boomers, well into Geezerdom, and I agree with Michael's thoughts. I don't think the factory show cars and one-offs will decline as much from their run-up
But with the fall in muscle car values what will be the next hot segment?
Station wagons and pickups are already well on the rise and of course.
I just started a new book "Truck, A Love Story" by Michael Perry and I think some of you might like it as much as I do. Thankfully we don't sell the kind of vehicle he describes here, but his writing makes for fun reading.
" The front end of the truck is blasted with rust. The grille has deteriorated to the point that the headlights wobble in their sockets. You can stick three fingers through the gaps in both front fenders. The bumper is bent. Before I parked it the last time, the radiator was blowing green mist. The front windshield is cracked in the vertical, and the rain leaks around the weather stripping and streaks the dash. There is a boil the size of a grapefruit on the left front tire. The speedometer never has worked, and the deck of the bed is so riddled with holes that you could load a half a yard of gravel and just over three miles of bumpy road, sift the sand from the stones. To a large extent, the truck is, as they say, shot."
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1896 Kentucky Ave. • 1/2 mile from exit #45 at I-4 and fairbanks, • Winter Park, Florida USA 32789.
Tel: (407) 647-1940 Fax: (407) 647-1930 • email: Bob Rader therelic@theraders.net • email: Dick Schoppe cptbuick@mpinet.net
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