The 1953 Chevrolet 210 Tudor
My first big car trade. The ’40 Ford for a 1953 Chevy 210 Tudor with the 108 hsp six and standard transmission. It was slower than the ’40 Ford but a lot nicer to drive.
It was a fun car and again not very demanding. It cost a whopping $200 bucks and the ole Ford. Of course when I say old Ford, this was 1960 so the Forty Ford was only 20 years old.
Think 1989 Ford or Chevy. Of course the ’53 Chev was only 7 years old. Yikes, my 1995 Chev truck is 14 years old. I guess I am working backwards from my youth.
Anyway, this car got me through my sophomore year in high school and yes I drove to high school at 14 and 15 on what was called a school permit. You were supposed to drive by the shortest and most direct route from your home to the school and back. Of course I always did that??
At a later time we’ll move on to the next car, a cool 1954 Ford Customline Tudor Sedan. But, right now I’d like to comment of car auctions and car prices.
There have been a couple of articles out on car prices. What the high end auctions are doing and what is in and what is out (or someone thinks is in or out). If your car thoughts are about an investment, and you have investment money to spend, then I think there are some good number 2-3 cars out there that are worth the money. I also think if you invest in a very high end car today, you do have some risk. Like every market, you can say all you want about value, but the real value is what someone else will give and sign over a good check. Given that, some cars that are extremely rare or special will likely retain all or most of the current value even if appreciation is at a slower pace.
A bigger concern that I see in the future is the ability to build –rebuild?- clone – tribute car (whatever you want to call it) almost anything out there. While there are not likely to be many hours spent on low buck clones this high end market could be confusing in a few years. Titles, re-titles, new titles and whatever else can be quite different from state to state and what you see is what you get even when it is not what you think.
The fun is still in buying something you want because you want it. If you have always been able to pick the right stocks (in any market) perhaps you have some insight into picking the right car for investment. For me, and I think a lot of others, I want to have fun with my cars, not fret over investment value.