You may regret selling your car - Revcounter 449
So it's gone up in value. Then what?
We live in interesting times. There we were, the Unique Cars mag staff, were standing around a local fuel stop sucking on coffees. We get to all the exciting places: petrol stations, engine reconditioners, sometimes even Mick’s workshop in Brunswick.
The topic for discussion was where the classic and muscle car market was heading at the moment, with prices sailing north again, in a way we haven’t seen for over a decade. What was causing it? Well there seems to be a mix of factors – which Dave Morley has a look at here. The upshot is there is a surprising amount of money washing around in the market at the moment, despite the whole Covid debacle, and people are indulging themselves with something that qualifies as fun and (with a bit of luck) a decent investment.
Which is where we get into a real conflict of philosophies: should we be looking at our toys as investments, or wonderfully flawed gems that bring us joy? I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive, but there is sometimes a conflict of interests.
One of the people Morley spoke to expressed wonder at the incredibly high prices being asked for once humble chrome bumper family cars, such as your average Falcon, Valiant or Kingswood. As the owner of the latter, it’s nice to think it might be worth something, but I see no pleasure in the prospect of cashing in.
Surveying our crew, I got the sense they felt much the same. There were cars in their fleets that simply weren’t up for sale, because the money would never replace the quiet buzz of walking out, firing it up, letting it warm up and pointing it at the horizon.
There are lots of new cars that do the task of motoring better, but none – to us at least – that provide that visceral glow of quietly coaxing an old wheeled friend into taking you somewhere.
And what happens if you did sell it? Well the money would be nice, but then what? I suspect what might initially seem like a handy win would feel like a loss.
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