This debating could go on forever. Probably will. Collectability is mostly a frame of mind anyway. Some people thought Hot Wheels were collectible. I never did. When I was a kid, we rolled many a now-rare car down a 2 X 4 set on fire with lighter fluid and a box of strike anywhere matches. Same with baseball cards. It can be lucrative if you're into collecting and trading things like that. But I never was. In 1969, Mickey Mantle went "flip flip flip" in my bicycle spokes just as well as Jim Maloney did (who? Reds pitcher).
Based on my own personal experience, three terms that can go hand in hand, or stand alone depending on your tastes and viewpoints are: Collectability, Rarity, Desirability. If you get all three together, then prices will reflect it. Price, for the most part, is determined by how all three of those fit together. A rusty hulk of a rare car that's collectible should cost less than a solid example, a rare-optioned car may be desirable, but the 4 doors generally isn't collectible. Price should reflect that. And so it goes.
It's unfortunate in some ways that most G-body "performance" came with 3-oh-nothing powerplants with anemic power. I think this is one strong headwind keeping prices in check for these cars (again, pricing is all relative). Had they had an LS engine in them back then, they'd all be commanding some pretty righteous dollars by now. I think this was the main allure of the muscle-car era cars and what made them so popular- having extra horsepower on tap to move those heavy hulks. So in a way, affordability is still relevant for most G-bodies. It's just finding them before they all rust out. Saving them is more important than whether the car is a collectible or not. JMO. If they never put a turbo on the Regal, then what? At least they did the GN up right.
As for people with money, I don't think that's as much of an issue nowadays as it once was. According to Bloomberg report, the US has more millionaires now than Sweden's entire population. So I don't think it's a money issue.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-has-more-millionaires-than-sweden-has-people
If you want a turn-key car, prepare to pay a turn-key price. It only hurts for a little while. You forget all about the price of the car in about 4 or 5 years. If you don't mind sinking some $$ into a project, by all means, buy that single repaint or bad original paint (and most G-bodies never come with perfect paint anyway) low mile car and repaint it yourself. At least you'll know the quality of the paint. For some, $40-$50k for a car doesn't hurt. For others, scraping together $3K to buy that solid car down the road as a project may seem a bit tight. It really is all relative. If a car needed ONLY a repaint to be perfect, I'd rather control that than let some P.O. do it for you.
It's all in what flips up your skirt. Your money, your time, your choice.
Based on my own personal experience, three terms that can go hand in hand, or stand alone depending on your tastes and viewpoints are: Collectability, Rarity, Desirability. If you get all three together, then prices will reflect it. Price, for the most part, is determined by how all three of those fit together. A rusty hulk of a rare car that's collectible should cost less than a solid example, a rare-optioned car may be desirable, but the 4 doors generally isn't collectible. Price should reflect that. And so it goes.
It's unfortunate in some ways that most G-body "performance" came with 3-oh-nothing powerplants with anemic power. I think this is one strong headwind keeping prices in check for these cars (again, pricing is all relative). Had they had an LS engine in them back then, they'd all be commanding some pretty righteous dollars by now. I think this was the main allure of the muscle-car era cars and what made them so popular- having extra horsepower on tap to move those heavy hulks. So in a way, affordability is still relevant for most G-bodies. It's just finding them before they all rust out. Saving them is more important than whether the car is a collectible or not. JMO. If they never put a turbo on the Regal, then what? At least they did the GN up right.
As for people with money, I don't think that's as much of an issue nowadays as it once was. According to Bloomberg report, the US has more millionaires now than Sweden's entire population. So I don't think it's a money issue.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-has-more-millionaires-than-sweden-has-people
If you want a turn-key car, prepare to pay a turn-key price. It only hurts for a little while. You forget all about the price of the car in about 4 or 5 years. If you don't mind sinking some $$ into a project, by all means, buy that single repaint or bad original paint (and most G-bodies never come with perfect paint anyway) low mile car and repaint it yourself. At least you'll know the quality of the paint. For some, $40-$50k for a car doesn't hurt. For others, scraping together $3K to buy that solid car down the road as a project may seem a bit tight. It really is all relative. If a car needed ONLY a repaint to be perfect, I'd rather control that than let some P.O. do it for you.
It's all in what flips up your skirt. Your money, your time, your choice.
