I get the numbers matching and original specs thing, I really do; but didn't most of us get into this for the take what you had and customize it, making the cars cooler and faster than the factory did, at least I liked doing that.
The factory hot rods were for the rich kids, remember, they bought a new one when the ashtray was full! $3.5 million for a Hemi Cuda, great ! ; but really, some people have more money than brains, Mecum and Barrett-Jackson is proof of that. Nuff said.
For the collector, the more original the better. There are few examples of 100% correct cars that are unrestored and those that are out there collectors want. It is only ORIGINAL once. A restored car can be anything the guy wants but for the high dollar the closer to as factory built the more valuable.
The auctions have driven the cost up for all of us. A nice car use to be $10,000 but now that they show on TV one just like it except it was a convertible, 4 speed big block in ultra rare color, and a different model, but it was just like it, they want $40,000. A rust bucket parts car now is $5,000 that wouldn't have brought more than scrap price 15 - 20 years ago
It is supply and demand and the bubble will burst when us old guys die and the kids don't want our crap. When I was growing up an original model T or A would be $20,000 today luck to bring $10,000 for most, no one really wants them. The old guys are dead, we want street rods, so many nice originals get stripped and parts sold to the few that want originals to build hot rods.
The economy already has taken a bite out of the collector car prices but the true original muscle has rebound. The clones, well they are not doing as well.
I could care less about a numbers matching car. Give me a day 2 car anyday over an original.
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My Aspen close to Day 2 in 1977
