Pro-Touring car prices???

[theturboman2010]

I tell you what guys,I'm fifty years old and have owned a **** ton of cars in my day!! I still own a 1966 true SS Chevelle 396 4-speed car that I paid a whopping $4500.00 for in 1985!! My Dad and I did a full frame-off restoration on the car in the early 90's. It's still a beautiful car but a got the bug to get a Pro-Touring 1969 Camaro and I can't believe the prices people are asking for these cars these days!!! I told my Dad what I was wanting to get and that people were asking anywhere between 50k-120k for these cars!!! He started laughing and said noway!!! Now he is 75 years old and doesn't really get onto a computer very much. I guess I feel the same way as him in a way!! When did these cars start going for these kind of prices? Hell I can buy a new z06 with 650hp with my Mom's GM discount for less than some of these cars are going for!!! I think it's because a bunch of rich guys fell in love with the sport of Hot Rods but cannot build or work on the cars themselves and these shops started building these cars for people charging crazy money for these builds!!! Then these rich guys get bored with the car and are now trying to get their money back!!! I think it's just ruined it for the average buyers!! Because now people with average cars are seeing what these guys are asking for their cars and think well **** if this guy wants 100k for his Camaro,mine isn't as nice so it must be worth 50k!!! I'm not sure where i was going with this but it's just scary what people are asking for cars these days!!! I probably should be happy that my Chevelle is worth more than what I paid for it back in the day!!!

[dhutton]

The parts cost alone for a decent LS powered pro touring car with aftermarket suspension, steering, brakes etc can easily be $50k or more. Add labor and the cost of a 69 Camaro builder and see what it costs.

And then there is rust repair plus paint and body work. It really adds up.

If you think they are overpriced build one or have one built for you. It will be quite an education.

And yes there are cars out there with nothing more than tubular control arms and wheels that guys claim are pro touring but they are not imho....

Don

[fishface]

I totally agree Don. I'm at about 55k on my car and that's with me doing the labor. By the time I get the paint done easily $70-75k. I'm sure I will never get that but intend to keep it anyway. I once heard that you could total up everything for an LS swap then double it. I'm starting to think maybe triple it if you want any bling.

[Tincup]

If you think its expensive to build a Chevy, try building a Mopar....

[XLexusTech]

It's not hard to spend six figures doing a quality build

[GoodysGotaCuda]

If you think its expensive to build a Chevy, try building a Mopar....

Definitely. I have an easy $45k in just parts on my car and a large portion of the parts are not new. The only labor I paid for was pretty minor body work and shooting paint and I have a "small" Hemi. Oh...and I haven't included the cost of the car, any reasonable and complete e-body is about $18-20k these days. It's easily a $100k [cost, not value] car if I had to start with buying one today and had a shop do the work.

Values of old cars have almost nothing to do with what you can go buy off of the showroom floor today. Completely different market. Hagerty didn't hesitate on insuring me for $70k...

[HotRod47]

To the OP, yes, back in 1985 that Chevelle was only worth $4500. But time has moved on, that was 32 years ago and prices have sky rocketed. That early 90's frame off rest that cost pennies then, cost buckets of money in today's dollars.

My car, where I have done almost everything myself and I still have $35k in parts and 1500 hours in labor. Thats why these cars cost so much. If I were to have paid a shop to build this car, at a labor cost of lets say just $75.00 per hour. I would have had to pay $112,000 just in labor, now add the parts and my car would have cost me around $150k. Yes its a lot of money, but thats wy I built it and didn't have it built.

[sheck44]

LOL ,... call up DSE or the Roadster shop and ask them how much for an 'average build' pro touring 69' Camaro ... THEN you'll get sticker shock !!
Ya you can get Z06 for 1/2 the price but then you'll be like everyone else, and 2 years later you lost 1/2 your $$

There are lots of 69 Camaro's in your price range BUT it won't look like this ... These cost a lot of money to build, both in labour and parts.
There is over 1500 hours into this car ... just do the math, I'm certainly not rich but a rich kid did buy it !!

I laugh when all of a sudden guys want a pro-touring car then come to the realization that they are somewhat expensive. Its like someone wanting a Ferrari and then complaining because they can't afford one

[slimjim]

supply and demand, that's how it works, people pay the money, prices go up, there's a lot of 6 figure pro-tourers out there now, and also a lot of people paying that, that doesn't make the prices "crazy", and no-one said there's profit to be had.
Just like the story above, I've heard of people walking into a shop,"I've got 30k, I want my car to look like the last one you built.." but the last one cost almost 10 times that to build.
a lot of classics will follow suit, C10's and F100's are a bit behind the camaros and other pony/muscle cars so now's the time to buy that farm truck. Well that's what I'm telling the mrs...

[kochevy67]

LOL ,... call up DSE or the Roadster shop and ask them how much for an 'average build' pro touring 69' Camaro ... THEN you'll get sticker shock !!
Ya you can get Z06 for 1/2 the price but then you'll be like everyone else, and 2 years later you lost 1/2 your $$

There are lots of 69 Camaro's in your price range BUT it won't look like this ... These cost a lot of money to build, both in labour and parts.
There is over 1500 hours into this car ... just do the math, I'm certainly not rich but a rich kid did buy it !!

I laugh when all of a sudden guys want a pro-touring car then come to the realization that they are somewhat expensive. Its like someone wanting a Ferrari and then complaining because they can't afford one

That is a work of art there.

[rocketrod]

Yes, the prices seem high until you start adding up the cost of the parts you want, let alone the labor cost.

[J-440]

Actually it is a really great time to buy any pro-touring project. These things are cheap when you buy them already built. The resale value is terrible. Ever watch any of the auctions on TV? Man they are giving these things away. If you have a cool 50k that's burning a hole in your pocket, then go to an auction and pick up a 120k build on the cheap. If it has a modern drivetrain (which it probably does) you'll get a lot of miles, fun, reliability and head turns anywhere you go. In a sea of 1000hp NEW Camaros, Vettes, Stangs and Challengers, you'll be the one standing out.

[USAZR1]

Ten years ago, prices weren't so crazy and this site was booming. Now, costs have gone through the roof and this site is still booming. Wait, no it isn't.

Another site I spend a lot of time on,Team Chevelle, was doing great ten years ago and still is,today. High-dollar builds are the exception,not the rule, on that site.

Protouring has become a rich man's game,IMO. Too many people here honestly believe that if your car doesn't have a $1,500 pair of front spindles or $7,000 set of wheels, you're just a wannabe.
Go ahead and belittle me,if you want. I've been a member,off and on, for fifteen years and have seen the changes. I'm concerned. You should be.

[andrewb70]

Ten years ago, prices weren't so crazy and this site was booming. Now, costs have gone through the roof and this site is still booming. Wait, no it isn't.

Another site I spend a lot of time on,Team Chevelle, was doing great ten years ago and still is,today. High-dollar builds are the exception,not the rule, on that site.

Protouring has become a rich man's game,IMO. Too many people here honestly believe that if your car doesn't have a $1,500 pair of front spindles or $7,000 set of wheels, you're just a wannabe.
Go ahead and belittle me,if you want. I've been a member,off and on, for fifteen years and have seen the changes. I'm concerned. You should be.

Clint,

I respect your opinion, but I don't think it's all that.

If you look in the Project Update section you will see all kinds of builds, not just "high dollar" ones. There are numerous ways to go fast, and if someone really believes they need $1500 spindles and $7000 wheels, then that's their perspective.

Andrew

[heySkippy]

It's clear to me that forums in general are in decline, mostly because of competition from social media. It's happening faster with some sites than others, but it's happening everywhere.

[andrewb70]

It's clear to me that forums in general are in decline, mostly because of competition from social media. It's happening faster with some sites than others, but it's happening everywhere.

Facebook, instagram, twitter, etc...just don't offer what the forums offer.

Just ran across this today:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...l#post19746672

I see stuff like this posted all the time.

Andrew

[Jetfixr320]

Facebook, instagram, twitter, etc...just don't offer what the forums offer.

Just ran across this today:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...l#post19746672

I see stuff like this posted all the time.

Andrew

I agree.

[CampbellshotrodsAZ]

I tire of people complaining of the high costs of these pro-touring cars. The standard old hotrod with a few bolt ons, done up like the 70's is still around, and they can be had for the same prices as these cars always used to be (adjusted for inflation of course). I browse all the time, there are still plenty of deals to be had, especially on the project car end. What has changed, is the level that these cars are taken to. It is a surprise how desirable these cars have become. I saw it firsthand at Barrett-Jackson last January. Talked to an owner selling his gorgeous red 70 Camaro with full DSE suspension, LS, all the good stuff... and it wasn't even an original RS car (cloned now), sold for $150k. Yes, that's a great chunk of change, but like what's been previously mentioned in this thread, start adding up the cost of the parts that went into these cars. Then factor in the cost of $75-100 an hour for a shop to build it. Now the price isn't out of line. The difference now is that these cars are capable of EVERYTHING. 20 years ago, hotrods were still primitive. Many were unable to drive out of town. It was rare to see one with A/C. MPG? You've got to be joking, right?

Now in 2017, these cars can handle as good as a new sports car. They have EFI, overdrive, efficient engine designs (25+ mpg), cold A/C, stop on a dime, all the creature comforts, you can drive cross-country with them, they do everything well now. It's not the same car world as it was "back in the day". You can still buy a nice Chevelle or Camaro like they've always been like for $30k all day long, I just don't get why it's expected that throwing in modern P-T reliability, performance, comfort, handling, etc shouldn't cost any more than a Chevelle with Cragars and glasspacks.

This is why you don't buy one done, and you build it. I figure I'll be about $30-35k into my 71 Firebird, but it'll be worth substantially more. That's the way it works. Not everyone can build them, so the ones that do... do, and reap the benefits, whether you're one person, or a shop.

[BMR Sales]

It's clear to me that forums in general are in decline, mostly because of competition from social media. It's happening faster with some sites than others, but it's happening everywhere.

Personally, I hope this is a temporary hiccup. Facebook & Instagram don't have the depth that Forums do. It's easy to search Forums.

[BMR Sales]

I tell you what guys,I'm fifty years old and have owned a **** ton of cars in my day!! I still own a 1966 true SS Chevelle 396 4-speed car that I paid a whopping $4500.00 for in 1985!! My Dad and I did a full frame-off restoration on the car in the early 90's. It's still a beautiful car but a got the bug to get a Pro-Touring 1969 Camaro and I can't believe the prices people are asking for these cars these days!!! I told my Dad what I was wanting to get and that people were asking anywhere between 50k-120k for these cars!!! He started laughing and said noway!!! Now he is 75 years old and doesn't really get onto a computer very much. I guess I feel the same way as him in a way!! When did these cars start going for these kind of prices? Hell I can buy a new z06 with 650hp with my Mom's GM discount for less than some of these cars are going for!!! I think it's because a bunch of rich guys fell in love with the sport of Hot Rods but cannot build or work on the cars themselves and these shops started building these cars for people charging crazy money for these builds!!! Then these rich guys get bored with the car and are now trying to get their money back!!! I think it's just ruined it for the average buyers!! Because now people with average cars are seeing what these guys are asking for their cars and think well **** if this guy wants 100k for his Camaro,mine isn't as nice so it must be worth 50k!!! I'm not sure where i was going with this but it's just scary what people are asking for cars these days!!! I probably should be happy that my Chevelle is worth more than what I paid for it back in the day!!!

Any car that has any collectable value has gone up. This is mostly become people that dreamed about these cars when they were new, now have the money to buy them.

You should see the prices of Porsches! I just sold one that I would have never gotten the same $$ out of even 3 years ago.