Reply to "Which Pantera model from "investment" point of view?"

Watching Barret Jackson this year a guy had an early 1970's black and white corvette. Obviously bought it for investment. Had about 500 miles on it and the plastic was still on the seats. Did he make money? I think they said he made around $15k. How much did he spend on storing it for 30+ years, trying to keep it factory new?

The guys that make investments from cars generally do it in a professional manner and it seems to be more like horse racing. some do a good job and some loose their ass. The one's that make money seem to buy an undervalued car at an auction one year and sell it the next. I hardly call these guys car enthusiast or collectors, more like sharks.

Like I said with horses the lucky Joe who got a good deal on a Hemi ANYTHING and left it parked in their barn over the last 30 years to pull it out, freshen it up picked a lucky horse. Not sure you can buy a car like that cheap enough to make a worth while investment.

On the flip side as an enthusiast I would rather invest in a car which will be worth my investment. I have $30k+ invested in an MGB restoration and V6 conversion. It is a fun car but a waste of money. If I had it all to do over again I would have never wasted my time on such a futile car. Now I am restoring a wide body conversion Pantera. It just makes more sense to invest money in that car. The MG is fun but if anything should happen to me no one in the MG community is ready to pay for what the car is worth. I sold a set of overhauled lever arm shocks on Ebay for $20; less then core charges for both. When the guy received the shocks he said when he left them upside down over night one was leaking a little and he wanted his money back!!!!! That's what you are dealing with in that kind of market and there is no way you can ever work with a car like that and see any return on what you have done.

I guess what I am saying is at least Pantera's hold a reasonable value over time and are valuable enough (and don't have a bunch of cheapskates for followers) you can make upgrades and not loose your ass. As far as investment, if you had invested right before the depression in the early 1900's you would still have a great return today. Nothing beats a long term market investments.

Gary