Model A prices rising?

bart78 said:
Of course they have gone up in price the past fourty or fifty years ago. The prices on model a's reflrcts labor costs. You can add parts to that but most stuff is pretty affordable. Fifty years ago machine shop labor was not what it is now. If it would have cost back them what it does not to have someone work on your car. There would be no mod a's. They carry some value because they are old. They are not a rare car. And the fact that they make nice hot rods has made the price go up. In a few years the way things are going. But when you have 4,000 in a motor. And if you have someone put a good paint job on it. You are allready up there pretty good. And that's just two things. These cars will continue to go up. But my opinion it will be due to labor prices.
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Pretty much. Despite unemployment, car labor is skyrocketing because few people want to do hot or cold dirty work any more. And restored high dollar CCCA classics and exotics and pro built street rods are bringing stupid money and that's where the talent goes.

And the only way to learn to do this is to do it....you need a place to work, tools, and time and the drive to do something besides play video games or watch sports on TV. There is no school you can go to, really.

Pro shops are also getting a lot more expensive due to insurance, environmental and safety laws, and such. When you get a $100/hr bill from the stealer for labor on your out of warranty car, that all does not go to the mechanics. It goes for all the real estate, the exotic electronic tools, the smoke machines and nitrogen tire fillers, health insurance for employees, advertising, etc. Even if much of that is not germane to what you need to have done, you pay. The independent shops track the dealers.

There are still in some places guys that build up cars in their garages, work for cash, have no insurance, pay little or no tax. They aren't going to restore a stock model A because it is not profitable as compared to building or working on muscle cars and street rods. There's a guy like that about ten miles from me. Fixes up cars, drives them to LA and flies back with cash. survivalist type, totally under the radar.
 
hefty lefty said:
Pretty much. Despite unemployment, car labor is skyrocketing because few people want to do hot or cold dirty work any more. And restored high dollar CCCA classics and exotics and pro built street rods are bringing stupid money and that's where the talent goes.

And the only way to learn to do this is to do it....you need a place to work, tools, and time and the drive to do something besides play video games or watch sports on TV. There is no school you can go to, really.

Pro shops are also getting a lot more expensive due to insurance, environmental and safety laws, and such. When you get a $100/hr bill from the stealer for labor on your out of warranty car, that all does not go to the mechanics. It goes for all the real estate, the exotic electronic tools, the smoke machines and nitrogen tire fillers, health insurance for employees, advertising, etc. Even if much of that is not germane to what you need to have done, you pay. The independent shops track the dealers.

There are still in some places guys that build up cars in their garages, work for cash, have no insurance, pay little or no tax. They aren't going to restore a stock model A because it is not profitable as compared to building or working on muscle cars and street rods. There's a guy like that about ten miles from me. Fixes up cars, drives them to LA and flies back with cash. survivalist type, totally under the radar.
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Good points! Also there seem to less and less people working on their own cars. 40-50 years ago most work done cars seemed to be done by the owners. Now the owners, not all but very many, farm out a majority if not all the work.
 
bart78 said:
With cars like model a's I think it's labor prices bringing prices up. And hot rods. It's amazing what people will pay for a rusty body. I actually think car prices will come down in the next for years. Without getting into political junk. I think next year is going to be pretty rough on a lot of people. And these cars are some of the first things to go when people need money. And allso there are a lot more of these out there than people think.
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bart78 said:
Of course they have gone up in price the past fourty or fifty years ago. The prices on model a's reflrcts labor costs. You can add parts to that but most stuff is pretty affordable. Fifty years ago machine shop labor was not what it is now. If it would have cost back them what it does not to have someone work on your car. There would be no mod a's. They carry some value because they are old. They are not a rare car. And the fact that they make nice hot rods has made the price go up. In a few years the way things are going. But when you have 4,000 in a motor. And if you have someone put a good paint job on it. You are allready up there pretty good. And that's just two things. These cars will continue to go up. But my opinion it will be due to labor prices.
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Bart, I am not sure I understand what you are saying. One place you say the prices will be coming down yet then you say they will continue to go up. :confused:

Your comments about Model-As being more expensive now due to "labor costs" is possibly true, ....but couldn't that be said about other things too? Is there an area in our society where labor costs are not higher? :rolleyes: Wanna talk health care? :D

The thought about Model-As making good hot rods is interesting too. A convincing argument could be made about how many nice Model-A's have been butchered up by an overzealous hot rodder who got started, made a big mess, then put it on eBay with a description that the hard part is done. :p

One thing that IS different is that back 30-40 years ago, I would venture a guess that 98% of all Model-A owners did all their own work, in their own garage, with their own tools! For different reasons now, that number is much less. If you must for pay labor, I guess it drives the cost of the car up! ;)

.

Ross/Kzoo said:
Good points! Also there seem to less and less people working on their own cars. 40-50 years ago most work done cars seemed to be done by the owners. Now the owners, not all but very many, farm out a majority if not all the work.
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Yep, the casualty rate on the recent B/R Tour proved that!! :D
 
What I mean is the price to restore a model a is just going to get more and more. But I think in the next year or so. You will be able to buy one less than you can now. Jobs are going to be lost next year. Full time goes to 30 hours. There will be a lot more companies with the Walmart mentality. All the old people with these cars stuffed away in a barn or hidden in the bushes are dieing off. The next few years are going to see a lot more of these showing up. That is why I think the price to buy one will go down.
 
I have built a Brookville body roadster so I will offer my opinion. I am not to sure about the reproduction bodies actually effecting overall prices that much in either direction. While all new sheet metal is nice to work on, they seem expensive for what you actually get. Several years ago I bought a half finished Model A project with a new Brookville body. At the time the body sold new for $4,000. I noticed in a recent 2013 catalog that the same body was up to $7,200. Then you have to spend another $5,000+ to complete JUST the body (gas tank, windshield, stanchions, top, seat, door handles, upholstery, etc.) It is very easy to spend $25,000, not including any labor, to assemble a complete Brookville bodied roadster. I have seen several running, driving, complete, original roadsters sell for $12,000 to $16,000 in recent years.

FYI. Dennis Carpenter bought all of Drake's 40 Coupe dies several years ago. You can buy a pretty nice, complete, already done 40 for what one of those bodies sells for. At the Spring Auto Fair I was told that they were mostly going to high-end rod shops.
 
I think overall the quality of cars for sale is going up, and that prices just seem to be higher because of that.
I've been looking at our local Craigslist, anything within a 100 miles, for a coupe. What I want is a more or less complete car, an older restoration maybe...something I can drive and tinker with at the same time. A nicer car than my old jalopy trucks, but not something so nice that I have to worry about the grandkids climbing on it and scratching it up. I havent been able to find one, so far.
What I find is what I call really nice cars, with a price to go with it or a pile of rusty parts that would need a lots more time than I have right now.
Almost every car I see, 80 years later, is a "restoration"...whether done well or not.
 
glenn: Only if someone wants it. My feeling is that in a few years the A market is going to be saturated with cars for sale. JMO
Paul in CT
 
I am afraid Paul's point is exactly right. At your next club meeting or car show, look around at the owners and think about how many cars are going to come on the market in the next ten years.
 
I think a lot more A's are coming out due to the ecomomy and people getting older. Just last week a Roadster with a 1982 inspection sticker and a '29 wagon with a 1979 sticker came into the shop. Any Model A that is advertized in the $5,000 range around here is a future Hot Rod, that will produce a rolling chassis looking for a buyer with $1,000. Bob
 
When people ask how much my car is worth, I try to give them an honest opinion based on my 50-plus years in the hobby and what I know about my particular car. Their replies are often, "Really? I would have thought a lot more!" I think that is the perception among the general population, probably due to TV. People who have been in the hobby are more aware of true values. This is why we often advise newbies here (and other places) to read a lot and do serious research, preferably with an experienced Model A'er, before plunking down their hard-earned cash for the "car they've always wanted". Even as an experienced Model A guy I have gotten over-enthusiastic sometimes, spent too much, and been skinned. But this is my hobby, and not my business; I do it for fun and I don't expect to ever make a profit from it, any more than I would expect to make a profit if I collected stamps (which I do) or played golf (which I don't).

In short, I think if somebody considers buying a Model A as an "investment" he is doing it for the wrong reason and will likely be disappointed.
 
I sold my daily driver 1970 Barracuda for $6800.00 in 2003 and I thought I did pretty well. Barrett Jackson came on TV a year or so later and now they sell rust buckets with the quarters flapping in the wind for 10 thou. Crazy. Maybe I got an A just in time.
 
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