Pro-Touring Value

[magic32]

Hi. I was wondering how do you determine the value of your pro touring vehicle? What factors do you use? Thanks in advance for your help.

[J-440]

The owners value and buyers value are obviously different. I'll use my car for example. 68 Dodge Charger I've had for 25 years and I've spent 65K. I love my car, there's an emotional attachment, it's a popular car used in tons of movies and I've got plenty of blood sweat and tears into it. Come time to sell, everything I just said won't mean **** to the buyer. He can look at all my receipts that I've put into the car and that might say how much the car's worth but pro-touring cars never sell well at all. That's why it's cheaper to buy someone else's project than building your own. I might make a profit selling my car if it was an all original, factory restored car. But to even restore a plain jane 68 Charger with a 440, 3 speed auto and single trac rear would cost upwards of 40K and might sell at the TV auctions for maybe a little less than that. The only way I could make a profit selling my car is to run into some dummy who just won the lottery and had to have it or find some emotional guy who understands exactly how I feel about the car and would pay me the 65K...but these scenarios are rare. Hope this helps.

[Tsaints1115]

Generally consider yourself lucky if you get $ .50 on the dollar.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

I take a gander at sold listings on comparable vehicles on eBay, Barrett Jackson, Mecum, etc. to get a ballpark figure.

[BMR Sales]

write a bunch of prices on pieces of paper, put them in a Hat, draw one out and there's your Deal!

[jaybee]

I'm actually OK with the idea cars aren't a "good investment" in and of themselves. It at least slightly puts the brakes on those who would drive the price of the car hobby totally out of everyone's price range by swooping in on all the decent iron, throwing some catalog parts, and reselling them for a big profit to gold chainers.

[c4racer2]

here is an interesting PT Mustang - looks to be very well built. Easily a $100K+ build. Reached over $50K today on BaT but that wasn't quite enough.
Seller indicated it was getting close - maybe $60K would take it home? Hard to say.

One data point on value and how it is viewed differently by buyers and sellers.
Especially if the seller is also the builder that spent over $100K to create a car worth half that. Tough pill to swallow - but I do think 50-75% of build cost is the range you are playing in here.

But hey - could be worse, I have a Panamera that is worth 40% what is sold for new. cars are hard to sell for $100K unless they are Ferrari's or collectible classics

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1970-ford-mustang-41/

[vette427-sbc]

Besides the value for trying to sell it, what about for insurance reasons? Im getting closer to insuring a corvette that I would like to be insured for (far) more than "what other 69 corvettes sell for" Are there appraisers that specialize in PT cars?

[slimjim]

It'll be interesting to see the results of the 'global auto salon' in Saudi Arabia next month and how that will change the PT scene, some of the best cars in the country are on their way there to be auctioned as we speak.

[c4racer2]

Besides the value for trying to sell it, what about for insurance reasons? Im getting closer to insuring a corvette that I would like to be insured for (far) more than "what other 69 corvettes sell for" Are there appraisers that specialize in PT cars?

You can insure for stated value with Haggerty - whatever you decide it's worth they will cover - no appraisal is needed.

[anguilla1980]

Besides the value for trying to sell it, what about for insurance reasons? Im getting closer to insuring a corvette that I would like to be insured for (far) more than "what other 69 corvettes sell for" Are there appraisers that specialize in PT cars?

Forget the appraiser, insure it for every dollar you have in it and maybe a bit more as padding. I do this through Grundy, hell I even increased my coverage by $20K this week due to some additional upgrades I just did. Any company that offers an agreed value policy should do it with just a few photos.

[Tsaints1115]

It'll be interesting to see the results of the 'global auto salon' in Saudi Arabia next month and how that will change the PT scene, some of the best cars in the country are on their way there to be auctioned as we speak.

That won't be a good reflection at all. Sending cars to a country where those bidding on them have obscene money and the person that spends the most is a status symbol is no true benchmark. People there spend millions on license plates with the lowest numbers on them.


As for the original OP question, You know how to make a million selling a PT car? Spend two million building it.

[67-LS1]

If your worried about what you’ll get for your classic car when you sell it you’ll probably be disappointed.
My example: 67 Chevelle conv, LS1/4L60E swap, total investment probably $40-45k. But....I drove it everyday for 5 years which was approx 100k miles. I sold it $25k in 2005. So I lost money but in my mind it was a better deal then my wife's MBZ 430CLK where we lost 50k in 5 years, 75k miles.
I’m just finishing a 66 that will be my daily driver too. And I won’t get back what I’ve invested but I’m ok with it because I enjoy it.
My next one, I may buy someone else’s completed project to save money.