Pondering how many are left..

[thunderball]

They disappear. In the early 90's, there wete still 62 Ford Galaxies around. My dad parted out a sedan, a rusty hardtop and wagon. He gave yet another hardtop a second chance. Now they are gone. They aren't sitting around any more. There are afew out there but they are few and far between. In 25 years our cars will be pretty rare.

I think a fundamental difference is people hoard cars a lot more since the 80's. People had already seen older cars go through a redneck yard junk phase followed by a shortage and people stashed g bodies and prematurely thought they had something valuable on their hands. Which is why I see people obsessively garaging ragged out cars and base models and sellers asking insane prices. IMO it'll take way longer if ever for gbodies to reach rarity of past generations of cars.

The problem I tend to see is people afraid to enjoy their cars whether its fear of rain or theft.

 

[hunter_alexander]

As far as I know, there are only 2 other 442's in Erie. One is a 87 442 total rot box that he put next to his barn and doesn't drive anymore, the second I see an older gentleman driving it on sunny days, and its an 85 442, looks nice.

 

[thunderball]

Theres also tons of preserved low mile examples of all these cars you probably just dont see in the wild.

Any time I look at MCSS theres tons of low mile examples. Recently I was looking at convertibles saabs, bmw, even irocs and the amount of preserved examples is practically nonexistant. a few nice irocs amongst tons of 175k cars but nothing like g bodys.

 

[ldr]

This is still on the lot a few miles from me.

 

[hunter_alexander]

This is still on the lot a few miles from me.

Probably because they are asking too much money for it. I see that a lot on ebay and craigslist. Insane prices for cars with too many issues. Repaints gone wrong, important parts missing, emblems and the 442 stickers crooked or on the wrong side, interior modded and nasty, and they rate it as great shape, interior a 8 out of 10. Crazy

Of course I want my car to be worth a lot (I have no plans on selling it, even at a profit) but its a shame these people "I know what I got" aren't more realistic on their prices.

 

[ldr]

They do want a lot for it. But its 100% virgin.

 

[pontiacgp]

maybe I was wrong with my thoughts if this is indicative of future "car" owners.....

"The survey questioned 80,000 owners of 2017 model year vehicles about the problems they had in the first 90 days of ownership. Owners were most likely to complain about technology, including poor voice recognition systems, clunky navigation and problems pairing smartphones to their cars."

 

[Jeff L]

I think a fundamental difference is people hoard cars a lot more since the 80's. People had already seen older cars go through a redneck yard junk phase followed by a shortage and people stashed g bodies and prematurely thought they had something valuable on their hands. Which is why I see people obsessively garaging ragged out cars and base models and sellers asking insane prices. IMO it'll take way longer if ever for gbodies to reach rarity of past generations of cars.

The problem I tend to see is people afraid to enjoy their cars whether its fear of rain or theft.

I agree with you that some thought when the performance resurgence was going on in the mid 80's that in 30 years it would be a repeat of the high prices the 60's muscle cars were getting. Nostalgia and what many saw as the end of an era had many craving 60's muscle.

In my opinion the only way that would have happened to the 80's cars is if some kind of gas crisis or crazy insurance rates would have had cars basically being like Ford Escorts in the 90's. Instead cars and performance continued to develope to the point you can now buy a high horsepower car with ac, adjustable suspension, good mpg and no foreseeable end to performance of future car models.

What keeps me interested in my SS still today is what I mentioned before: nostalgia. Plus the fact that after 30 plus years my car is not something you see on the road everyday. It is unique because of time but does that make it valuable? For me I could not put a price on my car but in the marketplace the only G bodies I see making insane money are the late 80's GN and GNX.

Just like the old saying of how much is my car worth depends on what someone will pay for it. Recently a very low mileage SS was on Ebay and the highest bid was around $10,000 where I believe the owner wanted $24,000 in the reserved price. Is that a good price? Is it just plain nuts? I do not know?

 

[Texas82GP]

You can pick up a catalog for the first gen Chevy pick ups and buy all the body parts to build a new truck. You can buy complete bodies for the A bodies, Camaros and Firebirds from Dynacorn Bodies. In time the G bodies will be available.

http://dynacornbodies.com/

Maybe for the most popular models. Monte SS, Cutlass, Regal/GN. I doubt the GP gets any love, to say nothing of the even less common G-Bodies like Lemans and Aerobacks.

 

[LOCOGOMEZ]

When I was stationed in Minnesota, I had gone to a local junk yard there I had found 2 cutlasses there. The guy moving the cars there with the loader had them stacked to put in the yard. He went around the corner and dropped them on their side. I saw that and I yelled wtf!!!! he picked them back up and took them back in the rear of the building and I never saw them again. I kept asking them what happened to them and they said they were not taking them out. Needless to say I found them getting loaded on to the crusher a couple of days later. Never had the chance to look at them and get parts!!!!