Classic car prices !

[Tony Tee]

Mopars are increasingly gaining more value.
Saw this on YouTube today.

 

[dfrazz]

Ran across this article this week that has some good information on Charger prices - https://www.hemmings.com/stories/ma...curring 2025-03-02&utm_term=eDaily Newsletter

"One surprise in the data that we did not expect to see so distinctly was the rise in value of standard Charger values over the same time frame we looked at the Charger R/T. For the non-R/T models, the average value rose from just under $60,000 to right around $78,000, according to the data from Classic.com, a trend which we have seen here on Hemmings Auctions and Hemmings Make Offer, as well. Given that the market has pulled back for the R/T and collector cars in general, we didn’t expect this performance.

Generally speaking, the standard Charger average values are right up there with the 440 Magnum R/T, which tells us that collectors not in the market for Hemi or 440 Six Pack cars perceive equal value in Charger and Charger R/T alike. However, just as with the R/T market, there are some caveats to consider.

Despite the naysayers, the muscle car market remains robust. At the very worst, the Dodge Charger R/T average value has outpaced the market as a whole, despite retreating about 10% over the past three years. Alternatively, we’ve seen a 30% increase in values of the standard Charger over that time, closing the gap between the two trim levels of the model while also outpacing the entire market which has gone the other direction."

 

[XS22J8R]

Here is the article that chart came from.
The Long-Term Value Of American Muscle Cars In Today’s Used Car Market
The internet gurus on various car forums have been predicting the muscle car market will soon crash as the baby boomers die off, for the last several decades. I’ve been waiting for their insight to come true so I can buy a hemi car like I’ve dreamed of since I was a teenager.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Buy low, sell high. If I had the funds, I'd buy a Charger because it seems like they won't lose value. Or, time to buy some Chevys, hold a few years and flip a sale?

I own a 68 Sport Satellite. I often see the Dodge Charger base models go up in value, however, the Plymouth Satellites may slightly go up in value or stay flat, but so far I haven't seen them keep up near Road Runner and GTX values. I wonder why that is? I'm glad I got my base model car in 2010 when I did for a great price. It's been a fun platform for improvements.

 

[toolmanmike]

Coming from the A body side of the auction block, the 67-69 Barracudas have always been worth good money. Demons and Dusters are next with the 340 4 speed cars being at the top of the heap. Some of those are selling for $35+ g's. 340 powered Swingers are next with the 318 cars following close behind. I have seen clean 318 Swingers fetching upwards of $30 large. Hey, what's not to like.

 

[toolmanmike]

The early A bodies can fetch $15,000 or more especially the HP273 4 speed cars. The Early Barracuda's bring good money as well.

 

[SlingLow]

When I retired from flipping houses about 3 years ago, I started buying old cars. On about the 3rd one my wife asked me what I was doing. I told her I'm flipping cars now. She said, 'but you haven't sold any yet'. I explained that when I was flipping houses, I would add value through the remodel process. My cars are all drivers, so if I'm not adding value, I have to wait for them to appreciate. We're in the appreciation/fuel burning phase right now. She really appreciated that!

Current status: 7 bought, 1 sold. I'm en fuego!

 

[440 4 speed]

Coming from the A body side of the auction block, the 67-69 Barracudas have always been worth good money. Demons and Dusters are next with the 340 4 speed cars being at the top of the heap. Some of those are selling for $35+ g's. 340 powered Swingers are next with the 318 cars following close behind. I have seen clean 318 Swingers fetching upwards of $30 large. Hey, what's not to like.

View attachment 1817376

If I was going on a cross country drive, and had a choice of an A, B.E, body it sure wouldn’t be an A or E. A collector nearby wanted a particular coloured Challenger. Flew to get it, drove home about 450 miles. Said he would keep driving B bodies for long trips.
About 35 years ago, I adjusted the buckets to my wife’s and my liking. Have done some 10 day- 13 trips. Have put on a few trips around 3500-4200 miles. Never had a back issue, she maintains that her seat is probably one of most comfortable that she has ridden in.

 

[toolmanmike]

If I was going on a cross country drive, and had a choice of an A, B.E, body it sure wouldn’t be an A or E. A collector nearby wanted a particular coloured Challenger. Flew to get it, drove home about 450 miles. Said he would keep driving B bodies for long trips.
About 35 years ago, I adjusted the buckets to my wife’s and my liking. Have done some 10 day- 13 trips. Have put on a few trips around 3500-4200 miles. Never had a back issue, she maintains that her seat is probably one of most comfortable that she has ridden in.

Absolutely. The buckets in my 66 are way more comfortable than the bench in my Swinger.

 

[Budnicks]

Yeah the longer wheelbase helps, the most part the B-Body ride quality

It's about freaken' Time MoPars get some real respect, value/worth
seems the resto-mods are selling for as much if not more than
some of the OE restored cars, a different demographic todays market
they like the extra stuff or the modern drivetrains/performance moods etc./

Plymouth started in 1968 (height of MoPar 1968-70) was a 'midsize-5' program
#5 Belvedere 225 /6 w/3 on the tree/or 318/904 bench seat 2/4 door,
#4 Satellite 318/904, still sold well, 2/4 door
#3 Sport Satellite 2dr HT (optional 383, some even 4 speeds),
#2 RR 383 4 speed, std equip., w/optional 426 Hemi, not very many sold in comparison
later could get with a 440 4bbll or the A12/6bbl option
#1 GTX 440/727 (gentleman's muscle-car/hotrod) few with a 4 speed
or the rarer 426/727 or rare 4 speed
They pretty much sell, from cheapest to most expansive in that order

supposedly they sold more Plymouths than Dodges,
probably because of the lower prices

1968-1970
Dodge B-body was, competition for their own brand, in that same era
#5 Coronet Base model 225/6 w/3 on the tree or 318/904 2/4 dr,
#4 Coronet 500, (or lesser models of the Coronet body style)
#3 Super-Bee 383 4bbl 4 speed (Coronet youth market platform), later the A12 440 six-pack
#2a Coronet R/T 440/727 rarer 4 speed model some optional Hemi (sort of GTX equiv.)
& then top dogs
#2 Charger Base Model 318/904 sold a crapload, even a couple with slant/6 & 3 on the tree
why who knows ?
#1 Charger R/T 440/727 a lesser extent a 4 speed (Dana-60s) or rarer 426, 440 six-pack in 70
all of these had even a 2" longer wheelbase, than the Plymouths/equivalents
there really was no equiv. to the Charger Platform, from Plymouth...

outside of the 68 Charger R/T (my 1st car, for $350 near perfect condition in 1974)
& the 68 Barracuda Formula-s Fastback 333 4 speed (Inherited from my uncle)
Plymouth, specifically RR & GTX were my dream cars, most were 68's
1968 was still is my favorite year across the brands...
Seems like I'm not the only one seeing the pricing of them....

Dodges #1 - #3 Platforms were also good sellers, the Coronet R/T rarest
Chargers didn't really take off until 69
(IMO the 68 Charger R/T is the best looking car ever made)
the Coronet base was their big sellers "deemed 'the taxi cab' looking cars, of the time...
Plymouths #3 RR models way outsold their expected #s, 1st year 1968 was 44k+
they figured it was going to ne like 5,500+, never thought it would take off like it did
the Satellite/Sport Satellite way outsold the RR, Belvederes way outsold
the higher end Plymouths...
the 1969 RR was car of the year, added a convertible & an 440-6bbl to the options list

the 1968-70 was their hay day, MoPar Muscle

seems if they were popular in 1968- thru 70 they sell for good money today
especially the special cars, R/Ts, RRs, Super-Bees, GTXs, Chargers base & R/T models

carry on just blabbering

 

[Jerry Hall]

I have not bought any of my cars in anticipation of making money on them. I buy them for the nostalgia and memories that they revive. Sure most have appreciated in value, but there are also costs involved in improvements and maintenance. They provide fun for me, by driving and maintaining them. As I have said before, when this hobby quits being fun, that's when I will sell. If your in this hobby for the money, I think it's the wrong reason.
I built one car to sell and it took 2 1/2 years to find it a home. All the other cars I have sold were sold by people asking me to put a price on it. There is not hassle that way, they either buy or go home.

 

[Detective D]

Chevelle boys and Ford guys are going to watch their rides go to the entry level price range, because no matter how rare they claim it to be they made hundreds of thousands of those things back then. Younger GM boys like Camaros and G body cars. Younger Ferd owners want a modern Mustang and could care less about the old ones. That is Ferd's fault for switching to OHC "modular" BS and destroying their own reputation for anything newer then a Fox body. Youngsters for GM would as soon "LS swap" something then buy an actual muscle car.

Chrysler though, well, they maintained a performance attitude until recently as a main marketing tool. So there is demand from multiple generations. Names like "Hemi" and "Charger" resonate to all ages, and a certain movie franchise helped link the two worlds of modern and old.
A lot of youngsters like EV's. But I think the market for EV enthusiasts is niche, personally, and I don't see the enthusiast group gaining numbers at the same rate they did in the last ten years. EV's have no soul.
I also think the current trend of the auto makers to only sell enormous, overpriced, super heavy, unreliable crap is going to prop up the old car market for a while. A young coworker just told me last Thursday they are sick of their car(late teens VW) and are going to go look for "somthing old, like a 1990's Ford Ranger or an old Toyota tacoma" because they are sick of the electronics in their reasonably newish car failing. A tall order in WI rust city, but I understood the sentiment. That desire to have something simple and easy to repair, reliable, maybe with a stick shift is going to keep people looking back at what we had more and more. Been a long time since I heard anyone excited over some new model of anything from any brand.

 

[Budnicks]

MY observations are;
take it or leave it

Camaros 67-73 & Chevelles 66-72 SS396 or SS454
or the 442s or GTOs 64-72s
or 1969 (68?) -71 Buick GSs/Skylark body style are big $$$,
even some 65-67s etc.
(the Rivieras 1963 - especially the 65 Rivieras have gone thru the roof)
many or most of them will always have their place,
yes they've came down off their highs,
a few thousand
they're still $65-$70 grand or $100k+ or $150k+ for the rarer ones,
entry level, $25k for a rusted basket case or a crap build
(just like the MoPars have too)
they still demand
BIG $$ for a finished professional quality car/s,
in the right settings & market
a lot depends on where you live or where it's being sold
in a dry climate or the rust belt/midwest or east coast rust/near shores areas
prices vary vastly

Muscle car era markets always go by what was popular
& those popular models, that sold well back in the day
will always retain some/good prices & value

yeah some rarer cars that didn't sell well that were limited #s now
have more market value, one of one BS options
sell better today, then they didn't/wouldn't have decades prior
Those cars aren't the norm (just like Superbirds & Daytonas or SS/Hemi cars)

afore mentions brand x cars, they ain't cheap, still
even if they went down from their highs

It's about time MoPars go the respect
they have long deserved too across the brand

 

[themechanic]

I think what we're seeing is the effects of massive inflation plus the results of popular TV auctions.

 

[kiwigtx]

Current status: 7 bought, 1 sold. I'm en fuego!

keep up the good work.

 

[erickson]

I think the nice 340 4 speed #s matching high impact color 1970-1 Dusters and 1971-2 Demons will be a good investment I think they have been under valued and will go up As with any car try to buy the nicest car you can afford

 

[DeltaV]

Or, time to buy some Chevys, hold a few years and flip a sale?

You can still find C-10 pickups for "cheap" and people will spend stupid money for an updated one (e.g., suspension update) with mild engine mods.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I think the nice 340 4 speed #s matching high impact color 1970-1 Dusters and 1971-2 Demons will be a good investment I think they have been under valued and will go up As with any car try to buy the nicest car you can afford

Quality 340 A bodies already seem to be in the 50+ grand range now.