Here we have the hoary argument or dilemma; someone takes an orginal car and turns it into the car of his dreams (or he just wants to copy everyone else) he ascribes a certain value to the car which he belives reflects the costs of materials and the car itself plus something for his labour, plus the wow! factor.
If he sells the car to someone who has also bought into the same social/economic value structure well and good, with the usual negotiations (horsetrading) he will just about break even if he's lucky. And the new owner drives around in his new dream machine.
However, a reality check is never far away. In economic terms this alone explains the difference between Hot Rodders/Customisers and Restorers/Original's afficionadoes. When our Hot Rodder/ Customiser offers up his 'creation' to this market bewilderment is the inevitable outcome.
Our seller thinks he has something unique for sale, and is surprised to find that in the eyes of the 'Classic' market he's gone backwards. Sometimes he's taken a car worth nothing and made it into something (value adding) but the classic market isn't interested, in short it shakes it head and walks away. Sometimes our boy has taken an orginal or restored car and worked his magic on it, sometimes he learns the hard way; the car he paid xxx dollars for is now worth xx dollars to the classic market. And the only other guys interested (hotrodders) are only going to Horsetrade for xx dollars as well.
A car is only worth the amount a buyer is prepared to invest in his dream. In the scheme of things (call that life if you will) a Hotrodder being a lively chap, quick witted, full of bravado, innovative and most likely an extrovert will often pay for the privilege of owning and driving a car which embodies and reflects who he his.
That same car holds no attractions for the quiet thoughtful man. The man who sees the original as a worthy representation of all that is right in his world. A car has been made; it is the embodiment of design and the technology of it's time. And time has designated this car a classic, for this marque stands out from the others, this marque stands for a completeness an epitamy, where all that a society strived for in it's heyday is made manifest in this marque, this car we hold dear, for it contains our dreams and our memories and our hope that the future would resemble the past. It stood for solidity, for industrial purpose, for the betterment of society, for; as Henry Ford put it: 'Where the man from the country could meet the man from the city'. Where a society could be liberated from the constraints of place and set forth (even for a day) on an adventure his grandparents could not have done. Ford et al began the American Dream, but others also dream...of another way.
Our sister site the HAMB dreams one way...
We dream another way...
