Most people don't know the first thing about the actual price of a car when they buy it, restore it, and then eventually sell it. They see what appears to be a too good to be true deal, buy it on a lark, then proceed to dump $$$ into it to make it their own without regard to how much it's going to be worth when finished. Only when they have to sell it do they add up what they spent and then try to get it all back out of the car to recoup their mistakes. You can thank Barrett-Jackson, Jesse James and all of the TV builders for that mentality. If they don't get the $$$ they put into it by the end of the show, are the dedicated following gonna watch the next episode??? I have never seen a car on Barrett-Jackson come with the statement... " He built it the way he wanted it because he loves this car", it's always dump unreal money into it to make a profit because it's a one-of car that the seller has no personal connection to at all. Some of them have probably never even seen the car let alone drove it.
If I added up all the $$$ I spent on the 66 I would probably have over 30K into it just the way it sits, and I bought a lot of stuff way back before anybody was even considering the early A's as anything but fringe cars. Now they're all the rage because everything else Mopar has been snapped up and the $$$ have been sent through the roof. I can tell you that 10 years ago, nobody wanted the 73 and up Dusters, Darts, Scamps and such, but now they are the only cars left that haven't been scarfed up so their popularity has soared. Dump 20K into one though and see how much you can recoup when you sell. Bottom line is this... this is a hobby for the love of the cars, and in this economy that's the only way to do one. If you're building a car to sell, you're going to be sorely disappointed with the sale offers unless you got a Hemicuda on your hands!!! Thanks Barrett-Jackson for doing your best to ruin the hobby for the real enthusiasts!!! Rant over, back to the garage, Geof
