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The Good Old Days Of Car Values

turbine68rt

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These were current prices you could expect to pay for certain cars during this particular era. Found this while looking through some old mags. I'm sure there are plenty of cases where nice cars were bought very cheap prior to this, but can you guess the year?

20210206_094527.jpg
 
I was going to guess 1985, based on the fact this was when the car mags started discussing prices of stuff other than Corvettes (still have some Corvette rags in my stash from the late 70s, quoting '69 427s going for about $5000). When I bought Baby Blue in 1983, I paid $1800, which was what "Old Cars Price Guide", the only pricing venue at the time, valued a '68 GTX in #4 condition. Figured I got a good deal, because the car had all NOS trim pieces, which the guide said raised it to a #3.

68 gtx bill frost 005.JPG
 
I was going to guess 1985, based on the fact this was when the car mags started discussing prices of stuff other than Corvettes (still have some Corvette rags in my stash from the late 70s, quoting '69 427s going for about $5000). When I bought Baby Blue in 1983, I paid $1800, which was what "Old Cars Price Guide", the only pricing venue at the time, valued a '68 GTX in #4 condition. Figured I got a good deal, because the car had all NOS trim pieces, which the guide said raised it to a #3.

View attachment 1065227
How would you like to triple your money right now? I have cash!!!
 
Internet and cable shows opened up the market as a for-project venture. IMO it is dooming the hobby to just those with fat checkbooks. I feel for the younger guys that want a car to call their own, not to flip for profit.
 
I purchased my 68 "X" QQ1 for $1350.00 back in 1975 at a local Ford dealer
with 20k on the odometer. Leaded Premium was $0.18/Gallon. Dang!
 
I purchased my 68 "X" QQ1 for $1350.00 back in 1975 at a local Ford dealer
with 20k on the odometer. Leaded Premium was $0.18/Gallon. Dang!
Wow, you must have enjoyed the cheapest gas in the country! The average was .57 back then for regular.
 
How would you like to triple your money right now? I have cash!!!
The car's sale price in fact went up in multiples of three. In 1991, I sold the car to pay for a heavily optioned, one owner red survivor '69 GTX (Baby Blue was a no option car, two previous owners). I offered Baby Blue first to my friend Bob Miller, who had sold me the car in 1983, for three times what I paid him. He passed. Fast forward 22 years, the car comes up for sale, current owner offers it to me or Bob for three times what I sold it for. Bob passes again. I don't mess around, fill a bag with $100 bills and close the deal.

Bob and I meet at Carlisle every year, and when folks hear the story, they pile abuse on him. He can't help himself, he's a Chebby guy, but he did an incredible job of preserving that GTX, and he's a great sport when the Mopar guys beat him up. He still has the '68 Camaro that was his dad bought new. He sold Baby Blue to make room for it.
 
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Looks like you're the winner, Eric. Early '85 to be exact.
Yep, right around the time I bought my 66 GTO for $1,700, painted it for $1,100 then sold it around 88 for $4,200, than bought a 70 Challenger for around $3,200. Both really nice cars.
 
I purchased my 68 "X" QQ1 for $1350.00 back in 1975 at a local Ford dealer
with 20k on the odometer. Leaded Premium was $0.18/Gallon. Dang!

Lol, same year I bought my 71 V code X
30k on it, $1,800 and change.
What was great is that's all they were worth and we could have the fun of beating the crap out of them and park them dirty.
:drinks:
 
Lol, same year I bought my 71 V code X
30k on it, $1,800 and change.
What was great is that's all they were worth and we could have the fun of beating the crap out of them and park them dirty.
:drinks:
Must've been nice. I was born too late!
 
Don't ever say you were born too late! This isn't a drag race to the grave! The only reason I still
have my car is that I wanted to race it, and I took it apart. Life happened, and I had to put it in
storage. (lucky me) So, Premium was $0.25/gal. but the bad thing was it had Tetraethyl Lead
in it and we were all poisoning ourselves slowly.
 
Don't ever say you were born too late! This isn't a drag race to the grave! The only reason I still
have my car is that I wanted to race it, and I took it apart. Life happened, and I had to put it in
storage. (lucky me) So, Premium was $0.25/gal. but the bad thing was it had Tetraethyl Lead
in it and we were all poisoning ourselves slowly.
Born too late to enjoy the affordable prices! Soo many cars I'd like to add to my name but are not cheap. 2nd gen chargers are on that list but we all know how that's going! Would really like an AAR or TA e-body one day too....
I will say it's a good thing I can work on my own stuff because if I had to pay someone to do everything I don't know if I would even have 1 car let alone 2!
 
When I purchased my 1st 1968 Charger R/T,
in summer of 1974 @ 15 y/o
I was making or started at $1.65 an/hr, + bonuses
working at a Shell station, in rural Ca., 24 hrs a week
I paid $350 for the Charger, it was a good deal even then

I bought it from a neighbor lady, that recently got divorced
she needed the $$$, that was about all the $$$ I had saved
& I worked for 212+ hrs, after taxes probably something like 270+ hrs,
because I had to spend some of my earnings on gas in my Hodaka
to get back & forth to work, some 12 miles back & forth from my home

2nd gen Chargers were going for like $500+ -$1,000, maybe $1500 in my area
they were just another used car,
gas prices just doubled to like $0.50 + cents

"to say the least, they've increased seriously in value"
near if not 20 fold, $70,000 'in the same condition today'
that'd be the equivalent of $33-$35+ an/hr income today,
about what I was making at 25 y/o, to buy the same car,
same hrs, same condition etc.

the new #'s seems about right

everything is relative, work is work
I worked all summer to earn that

those were the days, but I still had to work hard to earn it
just like people do today, there's not much difference
other than a 15 y/o isn't probably making $33 an/hr
'maybe' $15 an/hr & most 1968 Chargers aren't going to be
in that near perfect condition either, many would be far less in value

I remember when a '$5,000 Hemi car', was out of reach for me
in that same era, it was completely out of my reach
that's nuts to think I couldn't have bought a $5k Hemi car

yep stuff was cheaper
but we didn't have as much $$$ back then either

it's really an apple to oranges comparison
when people say cars were cheap, cheap is relative to the era

oh what I'd give to have a time machine
 
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