a body value

Like anything the market goes up and down. With shows like BJ inflating peoples ideas of what cars are worth (especially being on the telly they reach a broader audience of brainwashees) and the insane money floating around in some segments of the country, the prices I believe (my opinions follow and you know what they say about opinions......) that the market is going to change and slump. Has been running on an inflated balloon for a while. Already seeing it in classic Minis. Seems like a 1275, disc brake car in decent shape non reshell had run up to the $10,000 to say $13,000 range. Now I'm seeing them back in the around $7,000-9,000 range.

I don't think that the general A body cars will ever be in the HEMI car range or in the low production number range (the afore mentioned winged cars), but I do think that they will gain in value. I think that as other desirable cars reach the levels of unobtainium it sparks interest in lesser priced cars. As with all supply and demand, this drives the prices up. Saw it with the Chevy II cars. Everyone seemed to want a '66-'67 because of the styling. Prices on the earlier years were quite low. When the pricing on the '66-'67 went way up many people who liked the cars could no longer afford them so they looked to the less popular early cars in order to get into the market. This then drove the prices up on these cars as interest gained on them. Same thing happens with model lines. Charger, Cuda, Challenger etc. lines getting too expensive to get into a decent car, the A body starts to look more attractive to potential buyers as can get a nice classic car, good runner for not as much investment. Combine that with the number getting parted or used for parts on building another car, number crushed, damaged and junked even the higher production number cars will dwindle down and supply and demand will drive the prices up.

I agree with the above in that probably the most gain is going to be on genuine 340 cars, factory big blocks etc. with originality the key to value. Next on the totem pole would be probably 318 cars with V8 swap cars in this area and sorry to say the /6 cars on the lower end. Four doors probably bottom of the heap as with most lines.

Here endeth the opinions.

As for us, we bought a Dart as we always liked them. Wife's father had many when she was growing up and I believe one of her first cars was a Swinger. In school I had camaros, firebirds and mustangs, but always liked my best friends 340 Dart. Bright orange, stick with shag carpet in........ah those were the days......... He and I almost teamed together and bought an all white as I remember convertible 383 Dart GT for $500, but ended up not. Would like to have that car now. Anyway, what attracted us apart from always liking the cars was that we could still purchase a decent one for not too much money. Granted, we bought a /6 car and may change it to a 318, but right now, apart from working on it to get it where we want it, we are driving and enjoying the car. That is what makes all the difference in owning one to us.

Cheers