Thread: 57 Chevy Sedan Advice Needed

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I haven't hung with any AACA or CCCA folk for about 20 years now, but if they share that opinion it's understandable. BTW, as you probably guessed I'm not advocating that a Taurus (with the long shot possible exception of the SHO versions) will ever become a collectable of any particular note. I used that because it's merely a very ordinary, not particularly valuable, used car. The point should also be made that any prediction of a dwindling market isn't to say it will disappear altogether, merely that it will shrink to a very selective minimum where quality/uniqueness/style (both perceived and real) becomes more important.

But back to the point (not of the thread,sorry, but this discussion). I'm going to use an example that may bewilder some folks because of the numbers, but it's a good point maker if thought of in a broad socioeconomic sense. A good example of yesterday's hero inching toward tomorrow's zero (in relative terms) is the Duesenberg (might be what's behind the CCCA thinking). The popular rhetoric is that the B-J auction inflates values, if that's true, the Duesenbergs are positively cheap. They sold only one, a dual cowl pheaton, for a mere million bucks, 1.1 million with buyer premium (yeah a million bucks is still a lot of money, but not what it used to be). Twenty years ago the Duesenberg, any Duesenberg, was the top of the market standard for collector cars. Speedster bodied versions competed with the dual cowls for top of that market slice, the more "mundane" sedans somewhat further down market, but all of them sold for well over a million, a few very desirable topped two million. If you think in general economic terms related to value of the dollar, the cost of the average home, the price of a gallon of milk, or a package of underwear, a car that cost a million bucks 20 years ago should be somewhere around 2 million today just to stay even in intrinsic value. To be at "only" a million today says that Duesenbergs have fallen in value by at least one half. Why? Market demand. The supply is still approximately the same (and small), so demand is the controlling factor. There just aren't as many monied people interested (or identifying with that golden era) in these beautiful classics. Yes, there's still some interest, just not as much. As an aside, certain versions of Ferrari sufferd the same price swings since the '80s. If it can happen to these elite automobiles, it will happen to our more "pedestrian" vehicles. Today's Duesenberg equivalent in the collector market is the early '70s Hemi cars. Last year the market makers were Hemi Cudas and Challengers, this year their prices were off, some nearly half. Again, the supply is approximately the same, growing slightly with "clones", but the bloom might be off the rose for demand. Change is happening pretty quickly here. And as a Hemi owner it pains me to some degree, but reality is reality.