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    1. #1
      Join Date
      Feb 2006
      Location
      Idaho Falls, Id
      Posts
      1,342

      custom car prices

      I'm basically just gonna rant a bit.

      So obviously "a car is worth what someone will pay for it", and of course man hours to build a custom car add up fast when paying a shop, but does anyone else find price laughable lately? If you're gonna pay a shop to build a car and then turn around and sell it, you have to expect to take a huge loss on all that labor.

      I sell a lot of project cars, so I get it. I only need one buyer, not 100, so I price things where a few people will be interested and people bust my balls about my prices. But I'm talking like the 69 Camaro I sold for $8500 when everyone told me it was a $7000 car. I held out and got $8500, I wasn't asking $20k for it. But I look at some of the finished custom cars and think the prices are just ridiculous.



      There's a 54 Chevy pick up on ebay. Aftermarket chassis and crate LT4. You can see the orange peel and dirt in the paint and the panel fitment isn't great. They want $185k for it. Without that engine and chassis that's a $30k truck tops, and there's no way a $20k chassis and $20k engine is going to get them another $150k.

      I see Eleanor clones listed as high as $250k. I just don't see how a body kit, even a popular one like that, adds $200k in value to a $50k car.

      A buddy works at a custom shop and they just finished a 67 Firebird for a guy. The owner is trying to get $350k for it because that's what it cost to build. Good luck with that. I obviously love Firebirds, but the Firebird crowd is not a $350k custom kind of crowd.

      I have too many projects and I'd be willing to trade up a few for nicer cars, but people prices are ridiculous. I'd spend $30k for a finished, stockish 68 Camaro and sell my project. I seem to see stock ones in the $35k-$40k range. that's not terrible, but anything with brakes and wheels is $70k. Come on now. $10k worth of brake and wheels don't add $30k worth of value to an otherwise stock car. Add a $10k LS swap and now it's a $100k car, LMAO. I remember the first time I saw a 6 figure Camaro listed on this forum and everyone scoffed at that price. Now every 1st gen with a LS, tubular control arms, brakes, and wheels is 6 figures.

      I think people don't get the real difference between a $30k car and a $100k car. It's diminishing returns on all that work and the more you spend, the more you'll lose when you resell it.
      Traven






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