Recent investigation I know have a conspiracy theory

[96Z28SS]

I sold my 96 Camaro SS to get into the pro-touring scene all because of this great website and forums.

I have been searching e-bay and have been bidding on a few cars that are somewhat solid to have a good base to start from. I haven't been bidding on correct number matching cars with bog dollar restorations.
Mostly 1969 camaro that are part way in pieces or half the body work all done even solid car that needed only cosmetics.

I have always been out bid or if it didn't meet reserve I e-mailed seller only to find out its been sold. So I don't think much of it untill I notice the buyer who has been out bidding me is always the same one.

I mean he only bought 8 cars in the last 2 months, nothing unusuall about that right. Only thing is he is buying 1969 camaro and Mustang Fastbacks.

Could this be the company that make the GT500E cars looking to make 69 Camaros also.

The e-bay seller name is umcars. If this is something like that then the prices of 69 Camaros are going to sky rocket cause they will be out bidding everyone to get the bodies. He is even buying cars that are real bad shape.

I guess its time for me to start looking at other car options for my pro-touring car.

Sorry for the long rant. I just had my heart set on a solid 69 Camaro.

[96Z28SS]

I found this looks like I was half right. Looks like the prices are going to skyrocket.

UNIQUE PERFORMANCE, CHIP FOOSE, AND YEAR ONE
LAUNCH MUSCLE PERFORMANCE CAR COMPANY
Group to Turn Ordinary Vintage Muscle Cars into
Extraordinary Muscle Performance Cars


Unique Performance, Chip Foose and Year One will build limited edition muscle cars that combine original 1960s era vehicles with 21st century performance technology. The team will transform vintage vehicles into world-class muscle performance cars with stunning bodywork and top components.

The 1960s era American muscle cars scheduled for limited edition production include Chevrolet Camaros, Dodge Chargers and Plymouth 'Cudas. The team will transform these cars into extraordinary muscle performance cars with the latest wheels, engines, suspensions, transmissions, and interiors, found in current production luxury performance automobiles.

"I'm asked daily to recreate the stunning one-off vehicles that we build for customers or showcase on the TV show, but we aren't set up for that type of production," commented Chip Foose. "Muscle Performance was founded to allow me to create exciting new designs that Unique Performance can build for a limited number of customers with expertise from Year One."

"The demand for limited edition vintage performance cars from top designers has skyrocketed," said Douglas Hasty, President of Unique Performance. "By combining our world renowned experience in building continuation Shelby Mustangs coupled with the talents of Chip Foose and Year One, we intend to offer muscle car enthusiasts the car of their dreams."

"We're pleased to be working with Chip Foose and Unique Performance to build ultra cool cars," added Kevin King, President of Year One. "Year One will contribute our expertise in working with the best components from top manufacturers in the muscle car world."

For more information on these exciting cars, call 800-418-4543

[bnoon]

Boooooooooooo! More poser cars... For poser people. :bsjerk:

[Zefhix]

Damn, that sucks. I love Chip Foose and all but what the hell are they doing? Lets make some more cloned, generic p-t style cars and charge twice as much because of all our names!!
:Alchy:

[Ralph LoGrasso]

'96Z,

Take a look at 67/68 Camaros. I initially had my heart set on a '69, but after not being able to find something solid and reasonably priced for 2 years, I bought a '68. I now like '68s more than '69s. I understand your frustration, though. Searching for a solid car can be an endless endeavor.

[96Z28SS]

They will probably sell for $80k starting price then go up from there.

[MuscleRodz]

Where did you see that press release?

Mike

[96Z28SS]

Where did you see that press release?

Mike

Where? The company that makes the GT500E here is the website and the press release. http://www.uniqueperformance.com/MusclePerformance.aspx

I did a search and that ebay user has bids on another 8 cars.
4 camaros and 4 mustangs.
He must have to fill a quota of 4-8 cars a month.

[will69camaro]

If there is a demand for those cars and they will be purchased, more power to them for finding a market to make profit in...It sucks that the cars are going to become next to impossible to find esp for realistic prices. I think it will be interesting to see what kinda cars come out of there. Maybe they should be getting the "new" 69 camaro convertibles and upgrade from there...I think that would be a better way of going about a project like that.

William

[BADVELLE]

OCC is building a chopper for these guys right now, I thought the name was familiar. This first episode was run last Monday and a new one will be on tonight. I believe that they are located in TX.

[MuscleRodz]

They are in the Dallas area. They are the ones that build the "Elanor" (sp) Mustangs. If they are anything like the Mustangs, the will fetch a high price.

Mike

[TonyHuntimer]

That really sucks about being outbid by a single person swiping up all the cars. That's worse than missing out on a slice of blueberry pie because some jerk decided to take two slices instead of leaving one for the next guy. The same situation applies to toilet paper. :)

69 Camaros have awesome lines, but there are plenty of other cars out there to build up. As Ralph mentioned, the 67 and 68's a great cars. Nova's, Omega's, Ventuta's, and Apollo's (notice the first letters of each car spells NOVA?) share the Camaros' suspension and are good cars to build. You can look at Fords and Mopars if you aren't stuck on Chevy's. Being different will get attention.

What price range and level of 69 Camaro are you guys looking for?

I know of a guy who may be selling a generic 69 Camaro with a running stock small block with TH350. It has 4 wheel drum brakes. It doesn't even have a rear spoiler. It's got steel wheels. I think it's a second or third owner car. It could use a front fender, or you could keep the original and fix it. I think all the sheetmetal is original but needs some dings fixed. It's got Protect-O-Plate. Needs paint and mechanically it needs a serious bushing rebuild. It's all there and original, but needs to be gone through. Oh, and from what I know, it's a California car. I know the owner is not going to "give it away."

I hope the jerk buying all the 69's doesn't get this one too.

Tony Huntimer
RaceHome.com

[trapin]

Why don't you look at doing a '69 Firebird? They have the same body lines and there's not much of them out there that are done in the PT style.

Be different. Although avoid the Mopars. Not trying to slam them (I love Mopars) but they generally tend to be harder to restore due to availability of parts. Plus the prices of those cars are almost out of control. I would love to be able to do a Mopar someday but I know that my financial status will never allow it.

It's too bad. All this energy going into reproducing first gen camaro Body shells....they should be doing Barracudas instead. That's where the REAL money is.

[Nine Ball]

hmmmm, as a current '69 owner, PLEASE make the value of these cars go up :D

Thanks. that is all.

[Piet]

I hear all the cool kids are looking at Second Gens! :secret: :naughty:

[MrQuick]

you know this is realy gonna suck for normal guys like us that can't afford to put $30 or $50 grand in a car...well at least not all in one shot that is. I say buy when you can, do you remember when you could get a running 69 Camaro for under $3k?? I do. Hell I bought an RSSS396 car for $1500. Sold it a year later for $4000. :hammer:
Heres a horror story for you...back in high school I was looking for a 71 vert Cuda I saw about 20 car most nice which I didn't bother with, fetched 18k-25k. Saw some nice rust buckets for $2500-4000. I passed...then Nash Bridges came along, they were buying everything up for 71's then I found a 71 hardtop for real cheap and I jumped on it. Glad I did cause 2 months after that the pool went dry of 71's and the transport company started buying up all the 70-73 Verts, hard tops, anything they could get there hands on. So this maybe a lesson or conspiracy to watch real close. Looks like im keeping that 69' now.
Think about what they are doing with the 67 Fastbacks...I'd like to take in $150 for one I bought on e bay for $10k but hell leave some for the workin folk. :scared: <---thats me crying

[Piet]

Remember when you could hardly give away a 67-69 Camaro... they were real cheap. Well now it is time to look for the "next" set of cheap performance cars. Here are some real sleepers


1980's Chev Camaros
1970's Chev Monzas
1970's Chev Vegas
1970's-80's Olds Omega's,
1980's-90's Chev Safari Vans
1980's Chev Impalas
1970's Ford Torinos
1970's Ford Galaxies
1970's Ford Mavericks
1970's Ford Comets
1970's Plymouth Volare
1970's Dodge Aspen
1970's Chrysler Cordobas
1970's Chrysler 300 Series

[Jagarang]

Geezzz...Tony!! I keep my 69 F-Bird just because there really aren't that many around!! Now you go and spoil everthing!!!

69Z...Tony is completely insane...ASK ANYBODY!! Please disregard any of his statments about 69 FIREBIRDS!! I like my parts cheaper than Camaros.

[MrQuick]

Kevin your nuts, have you ever tried to locate or buy a 69 bird front clip latley??? I can get a complete used 69 RS front for $2200... almost non existant for fbird stuff...heres where im at! he he





oh BTW im looking for some parts :rolleyes5

[MuscleRodz]

Kevin your nuts, have you ever tried to locate or buy a 69 bird front clip latley??? I can get a complete used 69 RS front for $2200... almost non existant for fbird stuff...heres where im at! he he
oh BTW im looking for some parts :rolleyes5

Tell me about it. I have a 69 bird almost as bad missing the front clip and there is a few parts you just can't hardly get. I have been looking for a long time gathering parts as cheap as I can, and I am not getting very far.

Mike

[trapin]

Really? I did not know that the firebirds were hard to find parts for. You'll have to excuse me however...I'm still living in my 'Camaro Coccon' with my phone book-sized Classic Industries catalog never far from my side.

That's why I'd like my next car to be a bit more of a challange.

[B Cichocki]

Unique Performance....glorified used car salesmen....I can't believe anyone would buy a car from those jokers for the kind of coin they want. I've seen their eleanor cars in person, and let me tell you, the bodywork is FAR from exceptional. The fiberglass work looks like ass, they have about 20 pounds of bondo in them, and the detail is lacking (like not having the stripes continue under the stainless trim around the windshield and backglass). The people that buy these things obviously aren't "real" car guys with an eye for detail- they're just overpaying for a big block ford, TCP suspension (overpriced to begin with) and Carrol Shelby's name, cuz you know you've made it if you got a GT500E, dammit. :slap:

I can't WAIT to see what they do with the Camaros....and you know they'll be even MORE overpriced with Foose's name attached.

-Brian

[BlazerSpeed]

I've gotta agree with Brian on this one, Unique Performance is not what I would call a superior shop. The first time I saw them on Rides, and they were beating on the suspension while the car was on the rotissorie, all I could think was "wow, I can't believe they're showing that kind of back woods craftsmanship on air :Alchy: " Second, I got to see one of their cars at a Ford show that came through Chicago, wow, it looked really thrown together. Poorly aligned sheetmetal, and curtains in the paint. I always had respect for Chip Foose, because he was kind of a huge name in the custom car world, but was still not very well known. now its like hes the only builder, don't get me wrong I still respect his work and his unreal talent as a designer and an illustrator. This does annoy me though, because its simply going to make the classic car market sky rocket, while only allowing those with obscene amounts of cash have the ability to enjoy it. And half the time these people really dont give a rats a$$ about the actual car, its more a status symbol. The Diet Pepsi and Puff Daddy superbowl commercial really omes to mind.
jaded and bitter...me...never :wedgie:
Derek

[trackzonie]

If im correct like i hope. They had a fairly large booth set up at barrett-jackson. They had a few show cars, year-one camaro, eleanor car, and i think two others. Got a pic but ill look at see if i can find it.

Kevin

[jr2]

Not surprised to hear it. There is a lot of demand for turn key “show” cars from people who really don’t want to wrench or go through the 6 month to a year long body shop hell waiting for the car to get done. This way they plunk down their $90k+ and drive away with their piece of American Muscle.

Quote from a friend:
"Whats funny is that scene from Gone in 60 seconds where Nic Cage is pretending to be the rich dude looking for the classic car- ragging on the Ferrari’s “I saw 3 just like this one parked outside starbucks this morning…” That’s exactly the guys that are buying these things. Not racers or gear heads. Racers would want to build the stuff themselves- and gear heads can’t afford that crap (and would also want to do at least some of it themselves)


Very doubtful any of these cars will ever see more than a casual pass at a track.


Still, Must be nice to be rich…. :bsjerk:

[Stangonline.com]

FYI - Ebay username UMCARS has been buying up Camaros and Mustangs on ebay. I know, been looking for a fastback project.

What surprises me is the condition that they will purchase one of these cars in. Hard to imagine taking a rusted through car and making it into a $150k car. If I paid that much, I would want to see the car that they started with, and it better not be a rust bucket.

The other thing that I think is complete BS, is that some of the cars that I saw them purchase on ebay did not have a title. In the "Rides" show that I saw, they said that Ford issued new VINs for these cars??? What kind of crap is that?? If they can do it, anyone should be allowed to re-vin a classic car if they need to.

[Piet]

My understanding is that they were NEW VIN's (Making it a 2005 custom Mustang that looks like an old one)

[Ralph LoGrasso]

My understanding is that they were NEW VIN's (Making it a 2005 custom Mustang that looks like an old one)

Would that make them liable to pass '05 emissions? That would certainly limit what they could do performance wise.

[Nicks67GTO]

Hello all, this is my second post. I found this site through team chevelle/team camaro and the info seems to be great....so... HOWDY!

Now that the intro is passed, ill get right to it. Plain and simple most guys dont have 40 grand+ to throw at our cars. I dont have 20!! This is why im calling my car a "Poor Touring" ride!! The new wave of in expensive cars i think youll see alot of are the 79-80 malibu's 73/74 Nova's, mid 70's-80's camaros, of course the never ending supply of 79-93 mustangs and cars like that, that have the muscle car look....but just arent the "69 camaro" Heck at first i didnt like my 73 nova for 1 reason....the dreaded grill! {And the front bumper WAS hideous but i removed all that safty crap and it looks fine now} But now that i look at it, other than the grill i like it better than the 68-72's!!! The lines at the rear window are better and the tail lights are better looking. Im getting used to the grill now too. I guess my point is if you want a 1'st gen camaro...go with a 67-68. 69's are cool, dont get me wrong but if your a bit different, your way cooler. When i showed up to Car Craft, or Power Tour last summer, Im the ONLY guy with a 73' nova....