Lot's of folks are always on the look out for "deals" on muscle cars. Since the internet was invented it's become a whole different game. Previously most of us bought out of local trader papers with limited markets so we competed for purchases with maybe several other local potential buyers. Now the whole world knows 15 minutes after a "barn find" comes out of storage and there's a bunch of folks with cash in hand trying to jump on them. I bought my Firebird out of a local trader paper pre internet for the asking price of $190.00 without trying to haggle. Today that car would have been thrown up on an auction site and been sold to a very happy buyer for at least 10 times that amount even as a "ran when parked" car as I found it sitting in a back yard.
I bought the new Pro Touring magazine. Partly because I buy 1st issues and partly because I know some of the folks and cars featured in the mag. There are 30 pages of wheel and tire ads out of 100 total pages so I'm guessing thats where the money is in today's aftermarket. Most of the featured cars are well known internet superstars already and it'll be interesting to see if they continue to feature well known cars and corporate sales tools or start to feature some of the lesser known but very nice builds. I have to say I'm disappointed with the almost computer generated look of the pic of Mark's car on the cover. It's a really nice car and the pic doesn't do it justice. The pic in the feature of the car in Charlie's garage would have been better.
The TV shows are for entertainment. I ignore the numbers and the drama and take them for what they are, entertainment. I remember when the only thing we had for car guy stuff on TV was an occasional motorsport race of some type shown on Wide World of Sports and to watch the race we had to put up with Howard Cosell's voice and comments as well as the show cutting away for segments on golf, tennis, or something else. So an hour show got about 15-17 minutes of racing action.
As far as the prices on the muscle cars now it is what it is. The guys who are buying them are at the point in their life when they've hit their earning potential, raised family's, and have the disposable income to buy the car of their dreams. Many also realize they don't have the time, skills, tools, health, or stamina to build it themselves so they just want to buy. Another thing is that they want to use the car now, not work on one for the next 5-10 years while they continue to age and are less likely to be out having fun with the car. While the cars seen on the shows MIGHT turn a profit the real profit for the shop is the tools they get and exposure plus whatever the TV company pays them. If you figure in shop hours and expenses on their builds you'd probably find they don't make much without the TV involvement. If there was big money in building up old muscle cars, lots of shops would do that instead of working for customers who foot the bill. Customers have cars built that are worth maybe 50-75 % when done.
Most of the cars on the shows I've seen really need finishing. I remember watching the Fast and Loud crew selling cars with no headliners, door gaskets etc. in the beginning.
As for many of the PT cars they're not cheap to build and parts alone often add up to 50-70 grand. Here's a typical build cost below. To have it built by someone like me figure 10- $12000.00 labor on top of the costs below and if a shop does it $20,000.00- $50.000 for labor. Why so much for labor you might think but it adds up, although something like a wiring kit is $600.00 it can take 40-50 hours for a nice clean tucked install and then add a few hours each for aftermarket gauges, electric fans, Vintage AC, aftermarket headlights, secondary fuse panel, aftermarket ignition system, and other features. So although the rewire kit is only 600 the installation labor with extras can easily be 3-4 times that.
Starting point would be something like a 69 Camaro plain Jane hardtop V8/auto in average drivable condition. Probably repainted in the 70's or 80's. Some rust but nothing extreme. A car that needs any new sheet metal would cost more for the body work. Think the body and paint cost seems like a lot? Just the materials to do the paint on my car will total $4,500.00 - $5,000.00. Even a crappy 20 footer paint job costs a couple thousand now and won't last very long with the cheap products.
Car 5- $10,000.00
body & paint 5- $20,000.00 (includes labor)
Engine 4- $15,000.00
Belts & serp kit $1,500.00
Fuel tank & system $3,000.00
Rad, fans, hoses, etc. $1,500.00
Headers & Exhaust 2- $3,000.00
Computer $3,000.00
transmission & swap kit 4,000.00
Suspension 4- $20,000.00
Rear end 2- $3,000.00
Brakes 4- $6,000.00
Wheels 2- $6,000.00
Tires 1- $1,500.00
Gauges $500.00- $1,500.00
Vintage Air $1,400.00
Roll bar $1,500.00
Race harnesses $500.00
Bucket seats 1- $2,000.00
Wiring kit $600.00
refresh interior $1,000.00
Chrome exterior bits (bumpers etc) $1,000.00
Battery & trunk mount $500.00
Stereo $500- $2000.00
Then you can add more $$$ for stuff you want or just think you can't live without ahahaha. BUT, you can sell off some of the old parts that came off the car to recoup some of the money.
tints
intermittent wipers
Cruise control
Custom dash panel
Carbon fiber goodies
Billet aluminum bling like hood hinges
Aftermarket headlights
Digital tail lights
ISIS wiring system
datalogging
Video cameras
Racing pedals
