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Re: Why do TR's sell for so little money?

To: triumphs <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Why do TR's sell for so little money?
From: Steven Newell <steven@newellboys.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 17:24:13 -0600
V8TR4 wrote:

> While grieving over my potential loss I was looking at TR's for sale 
> with my car buddy. He is looking for a convertible 67-69 Firebird 
> which go for 15k and up these days. When I showed him a nice TR4 that 
> sold on eBay for just over 5k he couldn't beleive how cheap that was 
> for such a nice and classic vehicle.
>
> So the question is WHY?
> Why are they so cheap? 

Or you might ask why American muscle and pony cars are so expensive? ;) 
In fairness, there have been some remarkable sales of very good TR4's 
for $20,000 or more. But I have to say I'm surprised that good drivers 
are still so cheap, and project cars seem hard to give away. I like to 
think the market is low because I still want to buy one or two more, and 
I don't have silly money.

I met a fellow on vacation this summer; he brought a copy of Hemmings to 
dinner so you could tell he was good people. He was looking for a decent 
GTO. I said I was amazed at how much old American cars are going for -- 
I mentioned a Superbird I saw written up that went for $150K at auction. 
He said "yeah, I have one of those." If the Hummers his teenage kids 
drive are any indication, he has a little extra money. With the stock 
market uncertain, and a general pro-American sentiment in the air since 
about 4 years ago, maybe it's no surprise that silly money is being 
dumped into classic American cars.

I'm just a kid, but most of you guys have seen a couple classic car 
bubble markets. E-types have been up and down and up how many times? I 
know Corvettes have been all over, but I'm not sure if the more ordinary 
American cars like GTOs, Firebirds, Barracudas and Javelin's have seen 
that kind of mania. I'd say to wait a few years for a strong stock 
market, check those values again.

PS buy the next good $5K TR4 you see on eBay, and save your project for 
spares.

Steven Newell
Littleton, CO USA
'62 TR4 x 2




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