Kube makes some very valid points above, and everyone would do well to re-read and comprehend what he is saying.
Now, I will add some thoughts and opinions to this topic.
To begin with, ...price increases are not due to "greed" IMO. It is because we have allowed Politics to supersede Common Sense. One of the best paint products for the collector vehicle market (-both for the professional painter and the hobbyist restorer alike) was PPG's DCC Concept 2k Urethane. It was a profitable line for PPG since the mid-1980s that has filled a need for decades, ...until an overreaching political party pushed the EPA to over-regulate it because it had trace amounts of heavy metals in the ingredients. As a result, the taxation thru fines and surcharges exceeded what the general public would pay, so an (inferior!!) alternative was developed. FWIW, had the present EPA leadership been involved just a few years ago, because of their current deregulation on so many over-reaches, it has been said that Concept would still be in production today if the laws had been relaxed sooner. A PPG engineer told me personally that corporate had continued to cut their profit margins to be able to continue selling the Concept line until it was no longer profitable at a pricepoint that the consumer would pay.
Secondly related to that, the cost of Labor for the companies that cater to this hobby has increased WAY faster than the hobby has kept up with. The Labor inflationary period within this Country is the major cause of price increases. Gone are the days of a good $12.00-$15.00 an hour employee. To hire a respectable employee or tradesman that can pass a drug test, -one that has a good work ethic, ...and someone that is a responsible citizen (-a good family man that pays his bills, and has good overall moral character) is very hard to find for less than $50k a year. Add someone who excess in their craft, and that annual wage easily doubles. Employers have learned that to invest time & resources into training employee is expensive, so retaining that employee requires paying the proper wage. That really isn't greed, but smart business practices. So Bill is correct that he has never seen anything like this, ....however look at how much in this world has changed since 1973.
Now I want to address a couple other things. This hobby's mindset had changed significantly since I became exposed to it as a kid 60+ years ago. Back then, 90%-95% of all of the restoration work on collector vehicles were done by hobbyists who did all, -or most of the work themselves. Back then, the hobbyist's talent levels was strong enough where components were actually restored instead of being replaced. In the Model-A hobby, club members made fun of someone who used parts from Specialized Auto, Ricks Model-A, JC Whitney, et/al as it showed lack of effort or ability to do the job correctly. Fast forward to today where 90%-95% of Model-A hobbyists cannot, -or do not restore themselves, and struggle with anything more than the basics when it comes to diagnosing or repairing their vehicle. This is limiting the availability of quality Model-As to fill the need. Instead, the market is saturated with poorly restored or severely worn-out Model-As on the market, and savvy Buyers now are not interested in purchasing a PoS Model-A that will be plagued with breakdowns and constant repairs needed. Ironically, I have stated before that my worst customer is a MARC or MAFCA member. That is because of all collector vehicles that I know about, the average Model-A owner tends to be the cheapest hobbyist of all marques. It used to be the vintage Volkswagen hobbyists was the cheapest followed by the Model-T owner. Even those people have upped their game to be responsible stewards of their vehicles. Someone who posted a comment above told me something about a decade or two ago that I have never forgotten. He said "There are too many people collecting Model-As that need to be collecting baseball cards or something that they can actually afford." His comment has so much merit simply because hobbyists now will not do proper maintenance nor will they repair their unsafe or unreliable vehicle. Instead, they hide behind excuses such as 'Mine's a Driver!' or 'I want the Patina look because they are only original once!'
So do I think the hobby is dying? Not really. I know of about a dozen professional Model-A specific restoration shops out there, and to my knowledge every one of them is extremely busy with a long waiting list. These are shops that are charging more than $50,000 to restore a Model-A, ...and I repeat, they are busy. So if that is the case, where is the problem? Is it the Shops are charging too much for a restoration, -or is it that many of the Consumers have not kept up with the times?
