Black M Code GTS at Mecum

Muscle cars have peaked in value, they’ll decline some more and then level out. This happens with every generation of cars/owners. Look at ‘50’s cars like the tri-5 Chevies. They were super hot in the late eighties/early nineties. They were dropping pretty substantially before the recession, fell off a cliff with everything else, and have stabilized since. They aren’t “cheap” now, but they’re nowhere near the peak.

All you have to do is look 30-50 years after the build dates of the cars and toward the middle in that range you’ll find the peak of the market. Why? Because the majority of buyers spend money on cars they grew up with. That kid that was 10 years old when his dad brought home a ‘57 Chevy is gonna buy one when he finally has disposable income. When is that? Well probably sometime between when he’s 40 and 60 years old. We buy the cars we had in high school etc.

So muscle cars are pretty much done. The recession screwed up the progression of things a little, they were peaking before that and got hammered, then kinda returned to a second peak here since the recession. But now they’re declining. They’ll drop off quick as the investors jump ship because the investment won’t pay dividends anymore. And because most of the rest of the guys that buy them are in 70’s and aren’t buying or driving like they used to. But they’ll level out when they get back to reasonable prices. Rare and super nice cars will still get good money.

You can watch it all again with the late 70’s and early eighties cars right now, they’re peaking. Even the early eighties imports like the little Honda’s and Toyota’s are way up. Seems weird, but it’s not a performance thing, it’s a nostalgia thing.