Collecting Cars

I have been thinking about this for a while and started an OT

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5097

Our friends came up with some really good suggestions.

But your input on this.....

 

I still OWN the car I coveted as a teenager, 1982 Alfasud. My other cars are 1980 308 and 1981 Lancia Montecarlo and I think I still have them all when they are 30 years old, about 2010-2012. Will they be worth a lot? Not in money but in savings because I like them and don't need/want to buy other newer or more expensive cars.

 

While my '77 308GTB does match up with the "teenage years" profile, it's actually pretty effective as a daily driver I can afford.

I'd like to have another one of those, maybe two, and the other Ferrari
I like would be a matching 512BBi. As a recent interview with Scaglietti observed, the Boxer was the last Ferrari that could be considered as
"hand built" in his shop.

After that, the newer Fcars were more "mass produced" as quantities went up. Not to take anything away from the newer cars. A yellow/black 550 Barchetta 6 speed would be styling!

I'd drive, show, and track 'em all.

 

Too True
I am really on the look out for a Nissan 240z that i can do some work on.

Funny, There are no North American cars on my list of Most Wanted. I don't think I am alone on this but when i was growing up in the 70-80s there was nothing that turned me on except the early BMW M cars and other German and Japaneese.

 

Point well made about the art!

I've got many Jay Koka, etc., and had to quit puchasing them when display space ran short.

A friend observed I could change them out periodically for different ones, but putting something "away" is the same as not having it all.

Beauty wasn't created to sit in the dark.

 

It will be back on the road, only dust!

 

James, if I get lucky enough to make it to old age the way I'd like to, I've always thought becoming an exotic car broker/dealer in retirement would be my dream. I can't wait to see this year's Barrett-Jackson (starts tonight I think) as it gives a taste for what's currently hot.

No doubt that people always gravitate towards things that they were exposed to when growing up because it brings back comforting memories when life was happier and more innocent. This has manifested itself in the "bump" in USA iron with 60's-70's muscle cars being the hottest items in recent years.

Incidentally, my mother sold her all-original 67 Camaro the year before I got my driver's license for about $1500. On day one of the 2002 Barrett-Jackson auction, the highest sales price for a car went to a red/black 67 Camaro just like it...$110,000. Gee, thanks Mom!

 

It's the spider version, canvas roof that you can roll up and store under a lid/hatch over the rear window.

 

The Duesy is a work of art, but it does not inspire any passion in me.
My fault, I was born too late.

As a teenager, my boss helped his father restore a Cord. They showed it at Pebble Beach in the late 60's early 70's. Today he is still a car guy, but his passions run to vintage racing a Shelby GT350 and cruising in a 427 Cobra replica. He is in his 50's so even early exposure to an earlier generation of cars is not enough to overcome the imprinting of current cars that goes on in your teenage years.

Erich

 

What did your father told you when the 250GTO was sold for an record amount in (I believe) 1989?

In such a case you should like to turn the time back. Isn't it?

Do you know that Nick Mason (owner of 3757GT) in the 80s brought his kids in the winter with his 250GTO to school. Because his modern cars wouldn't start.
Nick Mason bought his GTO in the '70s for 35,000 dollar or pounds. The seller thought he has done a good deal. But about 15 years later the cars' value was raised more than 200 time.

 

Napolis, maybe i missed the thread but i would like to hear more about your collection(s)and even more pics if possible. That Dusenburg is gorgeous!!!

 

Interesting question, Jim...

I see this as three different sandboxes. First, you have collectors who treat cars and motorcycles like art. Second, you have your restorers who enjoy the process of bringing back something from the dead (sometimes they bring back too much, but that's another story). Third, you have your drivers, whether on the street or the track.

I confine my collecting activity to motorcycles from the 60s (mostly because I was 16 in 1968). When I turned 50, I decided to hang up my leathers, but I still love the look of the older motorcycles. It doesn't get much better than a 1970 Triumph Bonneville (of which I have one). I don't need to ride them anymore. I can just pull up a chair, sip on a glass of Macallan, stare at the bikes, and remember when. Even better, I don't have to deal with oil leaks, stuck carbs, vibration that would shake your teeth loose, thick smoke, slow horses, and fast women while I stroll down memory lane. All I need to do is to convince my wife to let me hang them in the house. Maybe someday.

Because this is a car board, I will not bore you as to which motorcycles I lust after from a collector perspective, except to say that they are all from the 60s.

Personally, I'm not at a place in life where I have time to do the restoration thing, even if I farm the work out. Maybe if I was better organized, I'd have the time. But if I was better organized I wouldn't be wasting time on F-Chat.

On the driving side, I was actually headed this direction when I figured out that I could buy a 5-year old Maranello for less than a 30-year old Daytona. The fact that the Maranello has a real A/C made this a slam dunk.

However, I'm slowly coming to the realization (or is it quickly?) that one problem with the newer exotic cars is that they are too good. (And yes, I do conside the Maranello to be an exotic.) Do the ton in my Bonneville, and it will let you know that you having more fun than the law allows. Do 150 in the Maranello, and you might as well be driving your granny to church. Only problem is that, sooner or later, doing 150 on the highways and biways of this great country will bite you, hard.

So, after my road trip to Pebble Beach this Summer, I'm leaning toward getting a vintage driver. No traction control, no ABS, no idiot lights coming on randomly, no OBD, RD2D, or BBC, or FBI, or CIA, just dig it. (Yeah, I know that I'm plagarizing from the Beatles, Mr. Hart. Get over it.)

If I was to go with the cars from my youth, this would exclude Ferraris. In the panhandle of Florida or the flat fields of Illinois (where I went to High School), the only sports cars were MGs, Triumphs, Jags, Corvettes, and very rarely, a Porsche. Ferraris were something that you read about at Le Mans and whatnot, but you never saw one on the road.

However, after many, many years of screwing around with British motorcycles, I ain't making that mistake again with British cars. While seeing a beautiful XKE will still move my heart, it will not budge my pocket book.

Only problem with the early Corvettes is that darn straight axle. In real life, it was the Vette that lost it on Dead Man's Curve. The Jag broke down before it got there.

So what's catching my thought dreams for a vintage driver is a Daytona or a GTC. If I got way off the deep end, I might even consider a 275...

Having gotten this far, though, I have a question for you. Lately, I have been thinking that it makes more sense to get a vintage race car than a street car. That is, it probably makes more sense to drive on closed tracks than the open road. Plus, because I'm an old fart, a newer race car is probably not the best idea. I plan on living to be an even older fart.

But here's my question -- How much fun it is to drive vintage race cars? In their day, they were state of the art. But the art wasn't all that advanced back then. For example, is your GT-40 a beast to drive at speed? Again, in 1965 or whenever, I'm sure that drivers raved over your car. But that was 35 years ago. Is it still fun to drive today, or would a later model race prepped BMW M-3 be more fun?

My apologies in advance for the length of this post. Once dem fingers start flapping, who knows when they'll stop?

Thx, DrTax

 

I think the 30-year rule is pretty on the money. Now, here's what I'm curious to see in 15 years or so: kids today have less regard for history relative to generations past and have more of a "live for the moment" attitude. Interest in Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche, etc. isn't what it used to be since not only are there so many high-performing cars on the market, but those with real heritage cost crazy money. Instead, interest has turned to self-tuned performers (nee, "ricers") which give them their kicks for much less. So, at the Barrett-Jackson 2021 car auction, are there going to be a bunch of cheesy-looking Civics and Mitsubishis on the block selling for $1million? Or will there be a return to tradition at some point? Will this generation's enthusiasm for performance evolve to marques like Ferrari, Porsche, etc? Or are they going to be ricers for life?