Each month Cliff Chambers takes a look at cars from the Unique Cars classifieds of the past and investigates what they’d be worth on today’s market.
This month’s crop includes the Chevrolet C-10, HSV SV5000, Porsche 356 Cabriolet, Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase 3, MGB Roadster 1978, Chrysler Charger R/T E49 and Toyota Corolla GTI.
Chevrolet C-10
September 2006 – WAS $26,750 – Now: $35,000 to $40,000
Very few Chevrolet One Ton (C10) pickups found their way to Australia when new, but numbers have swelled dramatically since the 1980s. Some have been turned in to quite extraordinary show trucks that can sell above $100,000.
Most will be like this one; a tidy, well-sorted driver, probably with GM’s super reliable 350 cubic inch V8 that can still serve a practical purpose.
Movement in the market since 2006 has been steady rather than spectacular but typical C10s have progressed from $25-30,000 to around $40,000.
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HSV SV5000
May 2007 – WAS $14,000 – Now: $45,000 to $50,000
For inexplicable reasons, SV5000 versions of the HSV VN have never gone close to matching the desirability or value of Group A versions.
Both shared the same basic architecture, although the SV with 200kW against the Group A’s 215kW was automatic only.
Still, that shouldn’t have created a price gulf that at times stretched to almost $200,000.
During the years following Holden/HSV’s shutdown, Group A values often reached $250,000 while SV5000s maxed out at $65,000. Today, even in showroom condition, they are worth less.
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Porsche 356 Cabriolet
July 1985 – WAS $27,000 – Now: $275,000 to $300,000
Back in the mid-1980s when old cars were seen as quaint diversions driven by people who were slightly bizarre, you could buy an open-top 356 for less than $30,000.
Ten years later, after the world had gone crazy for old Porsches, a car like this one would make $65,000 while the best examples sold at over $90,000.
Since that time, demand has become even more furious, peaking earlier this year at an extraordinary US$434,000 (around A$660,000) paid at Gooding & Co’s Amelia Island auction for a 356B with multiple concours wins.
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Ford Falcon XY GTHO PHASE 3
March 1993 – WAS $80,000 – Now: $750,000 to $800,000
Somewhere in my archives sits a copy of a long dead automotive newspaper with ‘GTHOs Hit 100 Grand’ splashed across the front page and a car similar to this one as the illustration.
That headline dates from 1989 and appeared shortly before the mightiest collector car in our market began taking big haircuts.
The 1990s recession hurt even these seemingly impervious investments and Phase 3 values plunged along with the rest until the ‘Boom’ of 2005-07. At present they remain in decline but that is unlikely to be the case for long.
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MGB Roadster 1978
November 1996 – WAS $16,800 – Now: $24,000 to $27,000
Australia stopped building its own MGBs in 1972, but cars originally sold in other countries kept finding their way here.
Check this month’s Classifieds and you will likely see at least one of these ‘rubber bumper’ Bs; likely built for sale in North America then exported and converted locally to right-hand drive.
Adding big black buffers wasn’t enough to meet USA height regulations so Leyland jacked them up and fitted bigger wheels which only made later Bs more nervous when cornering. A good one like this might today reach $25,000.
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Chrysler Charger R/T E49
December 1985 – WAS $7,500 – Now: $200,000 to $225,000
It is common for cars appearing in this column to achieve tenfold levels of appreciation, but very rarely do we see anything that in the space of 40 years has multiplied its value by a factor of 30.
Okay, this isn’t the most pristine of E49s and that isn’t remarkable because back in the 1980s when these were just another Charger with a drinking problem, owners didn’t worry much about presentation.
Neglect also afflicted a recently sold E49; a car described as ‘largely original’ when sent to auction in April where it still made $210,000.
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Toyota Corolla GTI
July 2003 – WAS $12,000 – Now: $18,000 to $20,000
If you checked the price before reading the entire ad you might wonder how anyone could justify asking that money for a Corolla GTi.
Then, after casting an eye over the list of modifications, you might have wondered why anyone would tip that amount into a Corolla GTi.
If you bought this car for a bit below its advertised price, then well done because finding a GTi of any kind today is almost impossible.
One advertised in England for £11,000 was the best we could do and even then it didn’t have half the additions this one does.
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