"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
06/07/2016 at 20:49 • Filed to: None
2
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"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
06/07/2016 at 20:49 • Filed to: None | 2
| 27 |
Back when internet was a luxury that a small percentage of the population had access to, cars shops and garages willing to advertize their stocks would do it in magazines that people like you and me would buy and drool onto. Nowadays, of course, internet is king, and shops just take a few pictures of their cars, before uploading them on craigslist or autotrader, where random people will contact them, offering them to trade their RX7 for an Xbox 360 and 5 games. This method is fast, cheap and allows you to get rid of stock much faster than through a magazine.
There is one big difference though. Sales on those websites desappear after a while, leaving no trace. In magazines, you can go back and look at what an idiot you were 10 or 13 years ago for not buying all those cars when they were so damn cheap.
So today we’ll look at 2 classic cars magazines, Nostalgic Hero and Old-timer from October 2003 and October 2006, and together, we’ll regret not buying those cars, that are now either a lot harder to get or simply unobtainable.
Quick explanation to help you read the prices: Japanese don’t separate numbers in thousands, but in ten-thousands. So when you read 1 (Ichi-man yen), it means 10000 yen, which roughly equals to 1$. So when a car is sold for 100, it means it costs 100 x 10000yen = 1 million yen, whichis roughly 9000$ in 2005 or 10000$ today.
Also when I mention the rough estimate the cars are worth today, I base myself on the japanese market prices.
So...
Toyota 2000 GT: $200,000 —> 1 million $ today
Price 2000 GT 4-door: $11,000 —> $25,000
Datsun Roadster 2000: $14,000 —> $25,000
Toyota Sport 800: $18,000 —> $70,000
G-Nose S30Z: $16,000 —> $40,000 (yes, RHD S30Z are VERY expensive here)
TE27 Toyota Corolla: $10,000 —> $25,000
Kenmeri 2000GT Skyline (non-GTR): $25,000 —>$65,000
Kenmeri GTR-R Skyline (real one!): $60,000 —> $300,000
Hakosuka GT-R: $45,000 —> $200,000
S30Z Fairlady Z432: $40,000 —> $200,000
CHEAP Toyota 2000GT: $160,000 —> Still 1 million $ now...
Toyota Celica 1600 GTV: $10,000 —> $20,000
I’ll let you enjoy the rest of those used car ads. Watching this hurts. A lot. :)
And keep in mind, that if you had access to japanese dealer only car auction back then, all those prices were roughly 40% cheaper there.
S65
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 20:57 |
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I’d Be Happy With Your RX7
Berang
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 21:00 |
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Needs more early Subaru 360s.
fintail
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 21:01 |
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It’s like all my old Tomicas in 1:1 form. I think I’d pick off that Cosmo Sport, the normal Cosmo above it, and some of the oddball 4 door hardtop cars. I like some of the quirky or overdone styling more than value.
Somewhere I have some old 70s era car classified magazines - 6K gullwing and 10K Duesies/Bugattis, anyone?
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Flavien Vidal
> S65
06/07/2016 at 21:02 |
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Strangely prices for it have not moved that much in the past 10-15 years. Only fairly recently (last year or so) have I seen turbo SA22C sold for A LOT more than it’s still worth for now. Regular SA22C still sell for 6 to 12000$ here though (more expensive than in the US actually)
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Flavien Vidal
> Berang
06/07/2016 at 21:04 |
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Prices on those have not gone up since then though... You still find decent ones for 5 to 8000$ today.
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Flavien Vidal
> fintail
06/07/2016 at 21:06 |
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I have a few old magazines like this, but I wanted to stay realistic. My father bought his Alpine A110 1600SC for 5000$ back in 1976 and he was originally lurking for a Ferrari Daytona at 15000$. But I cannot hate myself for not buying cars when I wasn’t even a project in my parents’ mind lol. On the other hand, 10 years ago...
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Berang
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 21:13 |
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But can you find a 1964 or earlier model? O:
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Flavien Vidal
> Berang
06/07/2016 at 21:15 |
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http://www.goo-net.com/usedcar/spread…
This one says 1965, but it looks like a first gen one...
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fintail
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 21:19 |
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I suspect a Daytona in the US wasn’t more than 20K when new. To be fair, the dollar was a bit more valuable then - my mother bought a new Beetle in 1970 for 2K, eventually my dad put a Porsche 912 engine in it, and when they sold it around 1976, they still got around 2K for it. And had one bought a 75K house in my zip code then, they might be sitting 2MM now. Maybe an old real estate listing would be more cringe-worthy.
I bet back then you could have got a Berlinetta Lusso for 10K and a 250 GTO for like 20K.
The ones that get to me in NA are 911s and 190SLs and W113s, both of which were pretty cheap 15-20 years ago. 30K could be 100K easily. Of course, 20 years ago I was a teenager with no dream of having 20K to blow on an old car.
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Flavien Vidal
> fintail
06/07/2016 at 21:25 |
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http://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/infl…
:)
2000$ in 1976 is 8,523$ today. But 2000$ in 1970 was 12,547$ today.
My father’s Alpine that he bought 30000 Francs in 1976 (1 euros was worth 6.5 francs in 2000) wwas in reality 20,514 of today’s euros. The Daytona was 100.000 francs, which equals to 68,378 euros today.
interstate366, now In The Industry
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 21:26 |
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I’ve been looking at CL1 Accord/Torneo Euro-R’s lately (I don’t really know why, since I have ~9 years before I can import one). The Accord version seems to be holding its value better.
Spridget
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 21:28 |
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Here in the USA, prices on some of these cars have even hit their early 2000s numbers. You can pick up Datsun Roadsters for $8k to $10k here in the US, and a mint TE27 will cost you $10k at most. There was recently an amazing 260z on ebay here that the guy couldn’t get $11k for.
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Berang
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 21:28 |
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What a neat car. The top was probably added back when it wasn’t as collectible - I don’t think somebody would do that these days. ‘64 was the year Subaru introduced the new oil-injected engine, it’s also about the time 360 sales really took off. ‘64 and earlier cars seem pretty hard to find.
That Hino in the background is also pretty interesting.
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Flavien Vidal
> interstate366, now In The Industry
06/07/2016 at 21:28 |
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I have to say that I had no idea what those cars were until you wrote about it now :)
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Flavien Vidal
> Berang
06/07/2016 at 21:30 |
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Oh ok, I had no idea... Only one I drove was sketchy as fuck and caught fire once. That was my only experience in this car :)
http://oppositelock.kinja.com/1968-subaru-36…
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Flavien Vidal
> Spridget
06/07/2016 at 21:34 |
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Yeah, Datsun Roadsters and S30Z are VERY expensive here when compared to the US. Big difference with the TE27 on the american market is that you guys never got the DOHC 2TG engine on it...
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Spridget
> Spridget
06/07/2016 at 21:55 |
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Yeah, we got the short end of the stick as far as TE27s go. Most of them are automatics and granny spec; not a whole lot of Mangoes over here.
My bird IS the word
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 22:54 |
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I spy a 79 trans am. In Japan. Damn, that's like the least Japanese car ever built. Price is weirdly on par with what they have been selling for up here before the bubble
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Flavien Vidal
> My bird IS the word
06/07/2016 at 23:05 |
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They are probably cheaper here now than in the US... People don’t like these cars so much here. There is a niche of buyers but quite a few cars were imported over the years, so they don’t sell that easily.
http://oppositelock.kinja.com/toyota-museum-…
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fintail
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 23:20 |
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Inflation is a funny thing, hard to calculate reliably. But by any measure, a lot of things were a lot cheaper then. Did he keep the Alpine?
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Flavien Vidal
> fintail
06/07/2016 at 23:33 |
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He very much still has it yes :)
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fintail
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 23:42 |
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Excellent foresight, looks like he cared for it too. I wish my parents kept some of their odder old cars - all of my dad’s 50s and 60s bikes, the 61 Impala, the 70 Mustang, etc, but cars came and went as they did for normal people, consumable objects.
Maybe that’s why I’ve kept my fintail since I was 18. I don’t want seller’s remorse.
greenagain
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 23:45 |
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What’s worse are the classifieds from late 60's early 70's Road&Track magazines. Cobras, and Ferraris for a few thousand dollars.
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Flavien Vidal
> fintail
06/07/2016 at 23:46 |
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Yeah, I hate selling cars too... Not going to be selling any of the next 4 or 5 cars I’ll buy though, at least for many years... Working on starting a little collection, some of those being most likely great investment :)
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Flavien Vidal
> greenagain
06/07/2016 at 23:48 |
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Of course, but most people here can’t hate themselves for these as they were not even a project at the time :)
I wanted to focus on cars most of us could have bought 10 years ago :)
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fintail
> Flavien Vidal
06/07/2016 at 23:58 |
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I was kind of upset when I sold my W126 and even a little miffed to sell the E55. I still kind of wish I had them as toys, along with the C43. No storage space though, I limit myself to a bike and a “hobby car”, along with a DD. No more, garage space here is just too expensive. The things I like don’t tend to be investments per se, just cars I kind of bond with. I suppose after 20 years, the fintail hasn’t depreciated, anyway.
If I had space, I would keep hoarding MBs, have a few American cars, and some Japanese cars too.
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My bird IS the word
> Flavien Vidal
06/09/2016 at 06:22 |
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Yea, I figured it would be the odd man out.