1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham
More classics, many of them pre-war, continue to roll by the camera of JC.
1962 Maserati 3500 GT Touring Coupe
1932 Packard 900 Light Eight Coupe Roadster
1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Pinin Farina Cabriolet
1910 Packard 30 Four Runabout
1933 Packard 1006 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Runabout
2003 Ferrari P4/5 Pininfarina Coupe
1914 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost Shapiro-Schbera Skiff
1928 Lincoln L Locke Sport Phaeton
1948 Chrysler Town & Country Convertible
1930 Duesenberg J Murphy Dual Cowl Phaeton
1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn Kurier
1948 Lancia Aprilla Pinin Farina Spider
1922 Hispano-Suiza H6B LaBourdette Skiff Torpedo
1936 Packard 1407 Twelve Coupe Roadster
1927 Mercedes-Benz S Tourer
1937 Packard 1508 Twelve Rollston Convertible Victoria
1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II Brewster Special Brougham
1985 Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole
1973 Porsche 917/30 Can-Am Spyder
1964 Ferrari 250 GTO Scaglietti Berlinetta
Mercedes 300SL Roadster
1964 Porsche 904 GTS
1958 BMW 507 Roadster
I love me some 50s Cadillacs and 300SLs!
Being 36, I can’t help to wonder how much longer some of those earlier cars will so be regarded by the next generation of collectors. My give-a-heck cut-off certainly lies in the 1940s cars, I wonder what others my age think. Luckily there are plenty older than I with different tastes but still one has to ponder…
As I get older (late 50’s now), my interest increases in cars from well before my time. Jay Leno demonstrates that, he has the money to buy, restore and care for classics from well before his time.
We old guys get bored with just the cars we grew up with, our horizons expand with time.
I’d love to have a step-down Hudson.
When I lived in Dallas, Texas, during the 1980s, one of my friends was very much into Hudson cars. He owned a several of them, including the 1949 Commodore with straight eight engine and 1952 Hornet 2-door sedan.
I certainly would encourage you to get Hudson. Please don’t get dreadful 1954 revision or 1955 replacement.
Really, I can’t think of an era that does not interest me, unless maybe it would be post 1980s – and even then there is a lot of interesting stuff, as I think of it.
I love the “snapshot in time” aspect of period engineering and styling – which is perhaps why restomods leave me so cold.
I can tell you what my sons, who are your age bracket, and their friends think about old cars. Not much. Glad to see them gone. New cars are better because they are safer. Old pieces of crap.
You are among a select group who appreciate old cars.
Moparlee,
I agree with your comment about the younger crowd not appreciating what we love. Part of this is because many older car guys and gals didn’t make an effort to impart our interest in the cars.
I’m fast approaching the age of 70, and I an very lucky to be blessed with 2 girlfriends who are half my age. Both of them share my passion for vintage cars, and they are always looking out for vehicles I might like to see. They also love trains, and we are planning a trip to the Strasburg, PA steam train museum, and I’m hearing “when are we going?” almost daily. [It’s next month, but it’s a surprise!]
I took the girls to the Packard Club national meet at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana, and I will not forget the smiles as they rode in a circa 1903 Packard.
I mention this to impress on all of us older collectors that if you are planning on going to a car show, consider taking a younger person or 2 along for the ride. And you might discover a young guy or gal who will be eager to drive you and your car to the show when it becomes too hard for you. When I was in my 20s I often drove other older collector’s vehicles for them. That’s how I was able to drive such vehicles as a Bugatti type 57 coupe, a Marmon 16 sedan, multiple Packard 12 cars, even driving a Tatra T-87 onto the Hershey AACA show grounds.
The Object de Art rare vehicles will keep/increase their value. It is the “everyday classic”
type of car that will take the hit with demographic shift. One can already see that in the low
prices many common vehicles of the fifties and sixties command.
Jon,
Your 100% correct in your statement regarding vehicle values. In most instances, everyday 2 and 4 door, 5 or 6 passenger cars, when inflation is taken into account, don’t even keep up with inflation. Because restoration costs will probably exceed 2 or more times the value of the car, many restorable sedans are ignored. This is one reason rodders are turning to sedans for inspiration. What we are starting to see is pre-war cars that show up and are mostly original and unrestored cars, as there was no expensive restoration required.
The vast amount of pre-WW2 cars still in existence today are not suitable for highway speeds, so the only time they typically show up at a car show is if they can drive local roads or travel by trailer. Many cars built before about 1930 had TOP speeds of 40 or 45, and can’t keep up in heavy traffic, nor can they stop quickly.
And while on the subject of car shows: Today’s car shows are often put together by a younger crowd that feels it’s necessary to encourage very loud music, either by a DJ with huge speakers, or by various competing cars that have their trunks filled with amps and speakers. Owners of 1970s and earlier vehicles are generally NOT drawn to this style of car show.
It’s important to be inclusive of all types of vehicles for today’s shows, but show organizers need to take into account the fact that most owners of older restored cars won’t show up [or return next season] if it appears the show organizers feel loud music is more important than the cars.
As my girlfriend says, “We go to concerts to hear loud music, not to look at the average cars in the parking lot. We go to a car show to see cars, not to experience loud music.”
I stand to be corrected but it seems to me that there is very little interest in Ford Model T and Model A cars these days. Of course they were not around in any numbers in todays collectors lives.
The collector car market is no different than the antiques market in general.
Take furniture.
We still see really high prices for the early stuff, like 17th and 18th century, with colonial stuff being more valuable in the US, but European stuff being pricey as well, so long as it was quality stuff to begin with. Nobody pays big money on a milk stool from 1742, regardless of where it came from.
Pre-war and post-war have different valuations and aficionados based on style, and the name of the maker usually determines the value, along with condition. Nobody who loves mid-century modern seems to want the dark wood stuff from earlier styles, and vice versa.
The same will go for automobiles. The early and high end ones will always have a following. Those of the 1930s and 1940s are distinctly divided between the plebian and the patriarchal, and prices follow those mores. The 1950s have their own rules, with the more garish end of decade ones being more popular. The 1960s versions lean heavily into the muscle cars, and the 1970s to the brougham-tastic ones. The 1980s see the diversion into the foreign ones, and the 1990s are still a mystery to me, but we shall see.
And even with those divisions, there will always be those who see the item for the beauty it holds, the story it tells, and nothing more or less is important to them. They will see a 1909 Ford with the same open mind as a 1975 911 turbo, and love them both.
A lot of older ones will lose value over time, as their stories no longer pique the interest , or their importance to the story diminished. And newer models will rise in price, as these things happen. Hell, even a Beanie Baby will hold some value at some point in the future, but we may not be around when it happens.
jfrank,
Very well said.
In the mid-Atlantic area, we see late 19th century wood items [what I call “brown furniture”] and items that can’t be easily boxed and shipped, often don’t even get a bid! I recently watched a beautiful 7′ tall, late 19th century, home pump organ with multiple ranks that played nicely, it brought zero bids at a local auction. If I had a place to put it, I would have placed the $10 minumum bid and brought it to my storage building, except I know it wouldn’t fit inside.
I find today that people in my age bracket [retired or nearing that point], typically have too much stuff now, and except for serious collectors and hoarders, our generation is getting rid of stuff. It’s only the roughly 35 to 60 year old range of Americans & Europeans who actively collect stuff, & are actively buying. Those under 35, what I call the “Electronic everything” generations, don’t want old stuff. They want everything new, and when it breaks, it’s thrown away and they replace it at Ikea or Amazon.com.
I just wish I could be around in 50 years time to see how the world treats gasoline & diesel powered items, and how they handle vintage electronics when all the microchips finally begin to fail.
That 1933 Packard 1006 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Runabout has presence! What an incredible assemblage of classics.
I feel like I’ve stumbled upon the entire production of Continental Mark IIs at one point or other; in conditions ranging from 2+ to 4-. I’ve only ever seen one first generation Eldorado Brougham though, and it was rusting in the lot of a bizarre service station on Sunset Cliff, within two hundred feet of the Pacific ocean.
What a show! I did a double take with the ’48 Lancia Aprilia Pinin Farina Spider, It looks like a modern re-creation take rather than an original. The detailing is so pared back, so current. Magnificent car.
Seriously cool array of cars hard to pick a favourite.
The Hispano, for which I would build a very big mantlepiece when it was not in use.
And the 917, for the freeways.
The 1933 Packard 1006 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Runabout is a completely original, unrestored car that has been out of sight in a long-time collector’s garage for over 60 years. Its whereabout were known to a very small inter circle of Packard enthusiast who could be trusted with it secret location. It is an absolute gem!
Why the secrecy? It is a V-Windshield Dietrich Individual Custom which are the most coveted of the Twelves, selling in the seven-figures now. The are considered the ultimate expression of Ray Dietrich’s design mastery with Packard’s apex years.
Very odd color choice for a custom car. Was the original owner in the Army or Marine Corps or just trying to avoid speeding tickets?