In 1985 I owned a twenty-year-old 1965 Sting Ray coupe. It had 150K miles with a non-original engine. I paid three times what the car sold for new.



Today, I own a twenty-year-old 1997 C5 coupe with 64K miles. It is worth about one-third what the car sold for new. My, how times have changed!

 

Wow, never thought of that. You would think modern Vette's would hold their value better. There is a lot of competition in the market now days.

Take into account the 14% prime interest rate of the 1970's and High inflation. The '65 became a classic quick too. Most of the late 70's and early 80's cars were dogs.

 

Inflation and the cost of living.

IN 1965 I was making 200 dollars a month ( military ) IN 1985 I was making 7,000 a month. I retired in 2001 with a considerable increase in pay, I retired at 55 years of age because I could. My how times have changed. You Can't wait for the weekend??? For me everyday is the weekend.

My health has changed dramatically over the last three years. Overall If I died tomorrow I would not feel cheated.

Bill aka ET

 

WOW!
Did you sell the 1965 for more than you paid for it? There has to be some more interesting stuff to this story.
Inquiring minds, and all that.

 

Cars I had before 28 years old !!
1. my first car, a beautiful 1960 Impala bubble top, paid 300.00 traded it in on the Camaro for 500.00 dollars, today 12,000 ???
2. 1969 Camaro 5 months old 11,000 miles paid 2500 today 70,000 or so ??
3. 1959 Corvette 42,000 miles 283 2 four barrel and 4 speed both tops, paid 2400.00 sold it 5 years later 4800.00 today 60 to 80 grand ??
4. 1964 Impala SS 327 4 speed paid 200.00 (no clutch) used it for a winter car and a tow car for my Camaro, sold it for 500.00 today, 20,000 ???
5. 1061 Impala bubble top, paid 50 dollars for it(no engine or trans) used it also for a winter car and tow car, sold it for 200.00, today 12,000 ???

Just a tip of the iceberg of cars I had and would love to have today !!!

 

I owned the '65 for five years. My 'ole lady at the time had racked up thousands of dollars in debt behind my back. I had to sell the car. Got what I paid for it (15K). Dumped the 'ole lady soon afterwards!

 

Glad your not my financial adviser. sure was some nice rides.

 

well I made money on most of the cars I had, just wished I threw them in a garage for 40 years ????

 

I had a girlfriend like that.i could be sitting on the beach with out a care in the world.but she was a PITA!!!!!!!

 

we all had one of those !!! In the mix of cars I mentioned was a 64 Corvette that I made the mistake of putting in my Fiance's name, I lost the vette and all I had into it. (and her) the bright side is I didn't do something that would have put me in jail for a few years ??

 

When I look at what some of the old cars sell for today, I think I sure wish I knew back then what I know today. I would have found some way to buy some of them.

 

I doubt that I would have ever picked the right ones. Would have probably ended up with a Chevy Vega , and a Ford EXP , and a Cadillac Cimarron .
After that maybe a Ford Maverick .
And remember how all the crappy pieces of plastic and rubber that break and how they were so expensive and hard to find before the internet?
Still, its a lot of fun to dream ... "if only .... "

 

Even with some of the cars that ain't worth much,some would still be fun to have.

 

In 1992 I bought a '70 'Cuda that had been abused and had a lot of non-oe parts. But it did have the dual scoop hood and was originally a 4 speed. I paid $5500 for it and loved that car. When I got out of the Navy, I left it at my in-laws when I moved to Portland in hopes to recover it once moved. When the ex and I split, I signed the car over to her to sell thinking she would get at least what I had paid for it.

She sent me an email "The car sold to a guy in Chicago sight unseen for $800!!!" I sent her a picture of that hood for sale for $1500 at the swap meet. I would have given her $800 for it if that was all she wanted.

I know my C5 won't likely b worth much because there isn't much about it worth collecting other than many miles of smiles.

 

In 1988 I bought a 68 RS/SS Camaro for 5k. Sold it in 91 for 7k. Today its worth 40K.

 

just posted all the cars I had pic's of on Facebook, including a 68 Camaro I restored, bought the perfect body with like new interior for 200 dollars in 1977 ish, sold it to buy my first home for 6800 dollars in 1982 !!!

 

I am loving this thread.
In April 2004 we bought a used Baby Grand Piano for $7,000. Sold it in April 2016 for $8,150. Still amazed that we were able to sell it for more than we paid. It was a convertible 88-cylinder model with 3 pedals.

(Take that ET .)

 

I had quite a few cars (75 or 80) and most were some sort of specialty/performance/musclecar/sports cars. I am glad I had them because there is no way I would want to spend what they cost now.

A partial list of my more memorable cars is below.

1964 GTO 4 spd (several motors up to a SD 421)
1965 Impala SS (several motors)
1966 442 4 spd
1968 GTO 4 spd
1968 442 4 spd (several motors up to a 70 W30 & a SD 421 pontiac)
1968 Firebird 400 4 spd (several motors up to a 462)
1969 Firebird 400 Auto (several motors up to a 462)
1969 Firebird 400 4 spd
1969 RS Z28 (a Nickey car)
1970 Monte Carlo SS
1970 Nova (several motors)
1970 Chevelle SS 454 (LS6) 4 spd
1971 Trans Am auto 455 HO (blue w/ white stripe)
1971 Trans Am 4 spd 455 HO (white w/ blue stripe)
1977 Trans Am
1979 Formula
1978 Buick (with a 455 pontiac)
1979 Trans Am 4 spd 400 ci. (10th anniversary)
1981 Olds (several motors)
1984 Z28 5 spd
1986 Regal T-Type
1986 Monte Carlo SS (Several motors & transmissions)
1990 Camaro 5.0 5 spd
1995 Caprice 9C1 (LT1)
1996 Caprice (LT1)
1996 Impala SS
1996 Z28 6 speed

And that doesn't even touch all of the ones that I test drove and thought about buying. At the time they were pretty reasonable, but way too much now.

I would still love to have some of them back again. (20-20 hindsight)

 

@QCVette

A partial list: WOW! Were you in the car business?
I could maybe see using money from selling one car to buy the next one, but you seem to have had so many that you may have owned 3 or 4 at the same time.
I bet you have some great memories about most of them.

thanks for the interesting post

 

I have never been in the car sales business although I have been a speed shop owner, supervised a machine shop, a sr. engineer at a car factory, and a manager at tier one automotive suppliers.

Yes, I almost always had more than one car. When I was 15 I had the '64 GTO and the '65 Impala SS before being 16 years old for a driver's license. I currently have 7.

I have been into cars for a long time and it is an ongoing hobby/passion/sport/etc.

The ones I didn't get were things like a pair of '60 Corvettes for $600 (one was nice and the other was close to being a parts car), or a '65 Corvette fastback in great shape for $2000, a '69 Trans Am RAIV that was only 4 years old for $1400, a '69 Camaro SS427 (dealer installed 427) for $1000 that was 4 years old, etc.

Makes you wish you could have a second chance to get and keep some of them.