Are our cars rare? Yes!

[jprather]

yep. still open! haven't heard the name prather in about20 years either!

not sure what age group you fall in, my dad raced " the vagabond" a red 57 bel air back in the 60's, and i went to Boone CO , but i have family all over N.Ky

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yep. still open! haven't heard the name prather in about20 years either!

not sure what age group you fall in, my dad raced " the vagabond" a red 57 bel air back in the 60's, and i went to Boone CO , but i have family all over N.Ky

 

[jprather]

do you recognize this car?

yep. still open! haven't heard the name prather in about20 years either!

 

[mmissile]

We have to be careful not to get caught up in the money side of this stuff. Its hard these days with Barret Jackson, mecum, and gas monkey. If you get stuck on value, rarity and selling price you wont enjoy what you have. More important question is what is it worth to you?

I use the values in Hagertys guide to justify keeping the old mopar to the wife (see, it doesn't depreciate like your new car!). Not a great investment though after you add up all the receipts. But there is no better therapy than working on the car on the weekend and taking the family out for ice cream with the old iron.

This is the second or third time these cars have gone crazy in value. When stocks are down, the money guys buy toys and make different money. However, the audience is getting smaller... every year.

 

[callofthemopar]

Jprather I am 40 now and I went to Simon Kenton High School with some Prather boys. I haven't been out and about like I used to be so I have not seen them in a while.

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Yeah remember seeing the cuda back in the day. loved that car!

 

[jprather]

yea, your a bit younger than i am. the cuda belongs to my oldest and best friend, he still has it, lives in covington.

 

[fwi]

Go to any large car show in the country, including the Daytona Turkey Run, maybe 1 out of a hundred cars will be a Mopar.

 

[tommyg29]

Rare is rare and scarce is scarce. But rare is also a relative term. In my opinion most of our cars are rare. Always were and still are. And all of our cars are scarce. Many may not be rare in the world of Mopars, but compared to the overall field of muscle cars (their segment) they certainly are.
Back in the 60s and 70s when those millions of ford and GM muscle cars were being built, Mopars were manufactured in fractions. Some Mopars obviously more rare than others, but all still relatively rare.
My 2 cents

 

[patrick66]

That's why the words "scarce" and "rare" exist. The vast majority of our cars are "scarce". Once again, words have meaning. Your definition would make the word "rare" as useless as "restored", "original", and "one-owner" are these days.

 

[roadrunnerh]

IMO, what's most important is ENJOYING your car! I love driving mine, working on them, and once in a while showing them. When I'm at Carlisle, I usually enjoy talking with the owner of a nice 4 door, Slant Six A-Body who's really into it, than some uppity jerk-off with a Hemi Cuda.
I've been into Mopars since my teenage years (I'm 48 now) and I've hit the Nats and Carlisle more times than I could count. I will spend more time looking over a super-clean restored 1970 225 4 door Satellite than I will a Road Runner. (I did see a Mega Clean dark green one a few years back).
My '68 Road Runner may not be 1 of ..... and my '75 Scamp may be less desirable, but I enjoy them both equally!

 

[XP29]

Even over here if we go to a car show you won't see many Mopar's but there will be a line of Mustangs surrounded by people in wolf coats and dream catchers.

how come the made and sold so many Fords and Chevys over Mopar's?

From memory they made less than 3000 '66 Dodge Chargers with a 383 and 4 speed trans, out of those, how many have been wrecked, rotted out, parted out etc? How many are left?

 

[patrick66]

You have to remember that the '66 Charger was a mid-Model-year release, with the first Charger in the showroom around the 15th of January 1966. The very first ones built would have a scheduled build date of C15, which is December 15th, 1965. I read that a LONG time ago, pre-intrewebz.

 

[TUFCAT]

Also, some stuff was rare because it didn't sell well or was not perceived well by consumers, and therefore dealers didn't order it. This stuff can be rare, but pretty much worthless to a collector in 2016. People vote with dollars to make rare stuff desirable.

 

[Speedbird]

Wolf coats and dream catchers?
That's funny.
I want pictures.

Somehow money always gets into the discussion.
When I hear the word scarce, I think of a commodity.
When I hear the word rare, I think of something that might be desirable, but not necessarily a necessity.
I also think you put the OP in perspective by being in the UK.
Rare and scarce are somewhat synonymous yet they are relative terms.

Even over here if we go to a car show you won't see many Mopar's but there will be a line of Mustangs surrounded by people in wolf coats and dream catchers.

how come the made and sold so many Fords and Chevys over Mopar's?

From memory they made less than 3000 '66 Dodge Chargers with a 383 and 4 speed trans, out of those, how many have been wrecked, rotted out, parted out etc? How many are left?

 

[XP29]

Yeah I know rarer does not mean more valuable. We bought our gen1 Charger as the gen2's are beyond our budget. I knew very little about the cars, but is surprised me how little amount they made! Think 38k in 1966, 17.5k in 67, but then they made around 90k each year of the gen2. A 66 Hemi car seems to sell for about $50k which is around £35k, that is the amount a nice driver average model gen2 goes for over here.

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I do wish gen1's were more common so I could find some working headlight motors!

 

[TUFCAT]

Here's a great example on this topic.

I knew the guy who owned this 1966 Barracuda Formula S (4-speed). Probably the nicest restored example in existence....and very high option car with desirable (and rare) color combo.

When the hammer fell at Mecum....it sold for $17,500.

We all know if this was a comparable B-body, with the same mix of options and restoration quality - it would have been sold for at least FOUR TIMES that number!


https://www.mecum.com/lot-detail/FL0111-102124/0/1966-Plymouth-Barracuda-Formula-S/4-Speed-Manual/

 

[callofthemopar]

Well guys, Since I started this I can tell you I am not talking about value, or Unicorn cars the majority of us could never own due to price or the fact we would get sick at the thought of it getting scratched. Just by reading through a lot of your post I know I am out gunned economically by most of you so you have more choices than I. Its just my opinion that average joe's mopar is getting harder to find as well.

Ever see a nova and say hey look a Nova! or Mustang! or 50 something chevy. but when you see an old dodge of any model you say holy $hit a mopar of what ever model it is. Even your chevy sucking friends respect the fact its on the road and are excited to see it too. Most car guys get more excited and have more respect for old mopars on the road even if its not their brand of choice because they know what it took to get it there and know they are not mopars guys because it is a greater commitment when looking for any part at 5 times the price and forget opening a catalog and having it overnighted.

 

[spenceryoung]

I'm 20 years old and love old mopars I have a 72 charger se factory big block car and I know a guy who has a survivor 72 satellite sebring but I have rarely seen anything from the early 70s driving around my town they are usually in the garage not being driven or they are being horded and the prices some people are putting on these cars is getting outrageous I live in the rust belt so finding anything that is half way solid is really hard to I hear all the time from the older guys that they are happy that the younger guy is interested in these old mopars