srlove

You are right on (IMO) on all your points. I have tracked vette sales for 40 years and this market is typical of past down cycles. Bottom line - if you are in the market to buy and have done your homework I believe now is a great time to be buying. Five or 10 years out from now I think you'll be happy with what your C2 (or some select C3's) will be worth. And remember - there is no price you can put on the pure joy of owning/driving classic vettes. I always enjoy the feedback I get when out in one of mine.

kenba

If you need someone to tell you if this is a good time to buy you need do your homework. People bought houses because banks & Realtors said it was a good deal.Think for your self or someone will take your money.Find a correct car at a fair price & buy it if it is the car you want.You have to be a big boy. Daddy can't make all your decisions.
KEN

johnfharding

I think things are a little soft right now on the midyears. I'm seeing some deals I wish I could jump on that I swear weren't available a year or so ago. I sold a driver bird cage damaged 67 two years ago, NOM , for 35,000 and I'm seeing some really really nice stuff for in the 30 to 40 range. Stuff that is way better than my 67. That said I found the right buyer , somehow, and maybe I just got lucky. Money is tight right now and maybe banks are just not willing to loan out the money as cheap as in the past. I don't know, I say things are a little soft, but it may be more of a market correction for some of the more common small block midyears. The last few rounds of Barret Jackson seemed a little soft for all kinds of cars, at least thats what I thought. There were some cars that sold quite reasonable.

Bowtyeguy

I say its the pricing, I put my 65 up at a fair realistic price Wed at 9 am, by 10 am I had 2 very solid deals. I also had 5 kickers by the end of the day. I know some people took loans out and are unpsidedown in the cars but a FAIR Price for a Good car will sell everytime. By the way, my car was in BJ Auction, 2008, and I never go by Bjs prices. I go by the real world prices.

Buttonhead

Who cares what the prices are unless you are selling. For those that bought a couple of years afo and paid top dollar and need to sell now,you may be in a bind,but noe of my cars are for sale so I don;t care what the current market is. As amatter of fact I just completed an attached oversized heated and A/C garage.

tls630

Rememeber something is only worth what you can get for it. Not a penny more.. If you don't have to sell right now don't. It may take awhile but things will level out.

onevetteguy

I have some solid advice for midyear buyers & sellers.... First of all - you guys are talking in circles & frightening one another. I suggest you guys stop it.... I have been a private Corvette enthusiast since the 70's & I have seen very little change in midyear prices "except upward" It always has been that way and it always will be... period. Your house is not a 40 + year old collectors item that has become an American icon so stop comparing apples and oranges . Few people drive collector cars much so worry over gas prices is total nonsense - Any soft times in the midyear market vanish soon & as for auction prices dropping .... & your considerations of folks like Proteam suffering HA ! Those guys just take the cars back home and raise the price of thier print ads even more. Once again my advice to nay sayers with their low midyear prices ... is: lots of luck !

zadspal

Very well said! I agree 100%

stingrayl76

Ah, come up form the murky doldrums of depression for some fresh air.

kenba

Fred & Terry are taking 30 or 40 cars to Bloomington Gold for Friday & Saturday auction. Flyer said they loss there storage for their( private collection) wink. 1963 to 1970 Corvettes. We will see what cars sell for. Don't count nosale bids. Most reserve cars that don't meet close to the saking price are bid up with air bids to make it look like it almost made it.
KEN

joevette57

A Friend of mine called from a small auction and show in Helen Ga today. Auction prices on Corvettes were very strong! It will be interesting to see the results @ Bloomington.

Bowtyeguy

I will say it again, if the car is priced fair it will sell if you price it from watching Barrett Jackson it probably wont.

Doug F.

I hope so. I've got cash and I would like to find a C-2 big block coupe for less than $50K.

sub006

My theory is older Corvettes like C2s went up when new 'Vettes have lower performance, as in the mid-'70s. When new 'Vettes are MUCH better performing (even in gas mileage) as they are today, people who want to DRIVE their toy balk at paying more than new 'Vette prices for old ones.

cadguymark

what I have a hard time understanding is why people pay so much for a BB while the SB get a fraction of the cost, for the price of a BB you can buy a SB AND a new Vette, and you will enjoy driving and owning them much more.

SrfCity

I'm starting to see a whole new crop of better quality cars coming up for sale as people that have been barely holding on financially are starting to capitulate. The bad news is the prices don't seem too realistic considering today's unstable financial times. Time will correct that or the cars will get snapped up by foreign buyers taking advantage of our "fire sale" dollar.

woodchuck

I think you are full of BS, this market sucks and it is going to be a while for it to recooperate, If you sit here and tell me the economy is good you are full of ****. I love Corvettes and i have owned over 30 of them and currently own 3 and they 1967 Big block convertibles with docs and # match. I can not even get 50 to 60% of my money back. You do the math on that, That is the advise you need to learn.

kwkenuf

Uhh, I think you missed the point here.....Kenba was giving what I believe to be sound advice regarding the importance of doing your homework and NOT relying solely on outsiders to lead you down a trail....
Sounds like you bought high though... might be time to dollar cost average and buy a few more at the current low(er) prices!
Corvettes are not investments by the way........ (from your Bio/profile)

mchar

Woodchuck -
You can't get 50 - 60% of your money back TODAY!
Ten years from now, who knows?
Seems you SPECULATED on the Corvette market,
might be a federal bail out in the future...
Good luck, Mark

0JimJ@CountyCorvette

Corvette prices rise with inflation.
The GDP doubled in the past 8 years and basically so have Vintage Corvette values.
It is consistent over time. But right now prices are down a good bit even on some of the higher end cars where that was not the case last year.
As a buyer and seller it is safe to say I see very few fire sales on good cars. The desperate sellers I have encountered over the past year are typically fellas who bought mediocre cars for too much money usually with borrowed money. Most of the mediocre cars have been overvalued in my view since 05-06. These cars are dropping in value.

It is still very hard to get owners of collector quality cars to part with them as these are the guys who did their homework and rarely are in situations where the "need" to sell.

By spring of next year this doom and gloom may have passed. Who knows. One thing for sure is the past is a strong indicator of the future so it is a safe bet that in a few years we will look back on 2008 like we do on 1991.

Jim Jordan