OT car auction

[Ed Pawlowski]

If you are a car guy, you dream about finding stuff like this

Included is a 1978 Corvette with 5 miles A 1959 Chevy with 5 miles

[The Daring Dufas]

A Chevy Vega station wagon with 17 miles on it. Yea! That's what I need. ^_^

TDD

[nestork]

I'm thinking that about the only practical thing you can do with a 1959 Chevy is to drive it in parades or rent it out to movie sets.

If I had a car like that, I expect I'd put it up for auction too. But it behooves me to understand what the successful bidder would do with it, other than to put it up for auction too.

[Ed Pawlowski]

It had an aluminum block engine. My brother had one and he moved across the country. I drove it from Philadelphia to San Diego over about 4 days. It was never the same after that, sustained 75 mph. Used a lot of oil and he sold it soon afterwards.

[clare]

Sanday afternoon drives.

[clare]

And a few actually hit 100,000 miles. Just do not EVER overheat one.

[DerbyDad03]

I was watching the Mecum auction last night. This 69 Mustang, with 902 miles on it, sold for $550K.

The plastic wrap is still on the seat belts, steering wheel and passenger seat. Every decal, sticker, nut and bolt is original. Obviously this car was purchased as nothing but an investment.

The announcers noted that someday that Mustang will be a million dollar car. Obviously that million dollars will be impacted by inflation, but thainvestment if the value continues to appreciate at the current rate.

In 44 years the car went from a selling price of about $4500 to $550K. That's about 11% annually. At that rate it'll could worth over a million in about 6 years.

[Ed Pawlowski]

That was me that bid on it. I dropped my 401k and invested in Mustangs at 11%. Better than the stock I had.

[WW]

That was me that bid on it. I dropped my 401k and invested in Mustangs at 11%. Better than the stock I had.

Ed>>>>>>>>>>>>>You wish. WW

[Ed Pawlowski]

And 44 years ago I had neither the money nor the balls to do such a thing.

[The Daring Dufas]

I believe Chevy later came out with a warranty kit to install steel cylinder liners as the only way to fix those engines or some aftermarket manufacturer did it. I just remember that it was an experiment by GM to have an aluminum block engine with pistons in an aluminum bore without steel liners. It had to do with a high silicon content aluminum and the cylinder bores etched to expose the silicon for the piston rings to slide up and down on. Then there was "The Iron Duke" 4 cylinder engine which was basically the same engine but made of traditional castings and it was a very good engine. This is all from my memory but I think I got it right or very close to what happened. ^_^

TDD

[CRNG]

On Sat, 17 Aug 2013 17:44:20 +0000 (UTC), DerbyDad03 wrote in Re Re: OT car auction:

What about deducting the cost of storage? Was the car stored in an old barn or in an air conditioned storage facility? Were the tires and other rubber changed in the 44 years? I would wild-guess storage and maintenance at 1% per year.

Still a good investment if you love the car, but I'll stick with the stock market. The S&P had a total annual return (incl. divs.) of about 9.94% from 1970 to 2012

IMO much easier to deal with than a car in storage.

[DerbyDad03]

Hmm...which investment vehicle (no pun intended) had the greater volatility over that time period? How "easy" was the 37% drop in 2008?

BTW..were you 100% invested in the S&P 500 index (or a portfolio that mimicked the S&P 500) from 1970 to 2012? Did you yourself experience that average annual return of 9.94%? If so, did you subtract your investment fees (both direct and hidden) from that figure?

[Dean Hoffman]

There's usually a yeahbut. Inflation is one of those. There are bunches of charts showing inflation's effects on the stock market. A couple here:

It doesn't look like dividends are included.

[CRNG]

On Sun, 18 Aug 2013 13:09:18 +0000 (UTC), DerbyDad03 wrote in Re Re: OT car auction:

I'm pretty much a buy and hold investor; so I generally experience all the ups and downs. Since 1973 when I started in the market my overall total return after expenses but pre-tax has been about 10% or 12% averaged over that period. Certainly you can cherry pick cases where a car or stamp or coin or piece of real estate has done better; but I'll stick with the liquidity of market securities.

Overall over a long period of time (30 or more years) history indicates that no investment segment consistently outperforms any other. If it did, everyone would flock to it. It's just a matter of preference (over the long term). I was never good at short term trend picks. To me, that's just gambling.

[WW]

And 44 years ago I had neither the money nor the balls to do such a thing.

Ed>>>I sold my 1956T Bird in 1967 to buy a new Ford bronco. Got $1700. for it. Sigh. WW

[Dean Hoffman]

Over $27 million for this car:

I wish I would've known about this auction. My gallon jug of change is almost full.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Most of us cannot comprehend having that much to spend on a toy let alone actually doing it.

[Dean Hoffman]

I don't understand a lot of people's reasoning about money. I was in a motorcycle shop one day and overheard a couple talking to a salesman. They were talking about financing one. Huh? Motorcycles in Nebraska a a luxury. One won't come out ahead using one as a commuter vs. a car. I understand borrowing for a house or to make major improvements to one's property. But borrowing money for a toy makes no sense to me.

[Ashton Crusher]

I don;'t get it either. In my whole life I have borrowed money once for a used car, borrowed to go to college, and borrowed to buy my house. Everything else, cash or go without.