There's no profit in it...

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Lots of posts on this thread saying it's not about the money, and I suppose that's a helpful thing to tell yourself after spending a lot of money, but it is not unreasonable to care (a lot!) about opportunity costs. $40,000 spent on a car is $40,000 you can't spend on travel or grandkids or retirement.

I paid way below market rate for both of my cars and I'm pretty happy about that. Everyone has a story about the NOS item they bought for a song at a swap meet. Bargain-hunting has been an undercurrent in the Model A hobby from day one. Often that leads to making short-sighted choices that the next owner of your car will have to cope with, and we try to discourage that and that's fine. But it's unrealistic to act as if people don't get satisfaction out of saving money. Trying to get the best restoration possible for the least money is a perfectly reasonable way to participate in the hobby, and ideally it motivates you to learn new skills so you can do things yourself.

Very true!

 

[TerryO]

Driving my A is a lot more fun than counting my money (and takes a lot longer...)
TOB

 

[denis4x4]

Can I ask you a question?? Excluding a few CCCA eligible vehicles, -how many vehicles can you name that you can buy at fair market value, truly restore it properly, and then being ethical when you sell it can you actually get a ROI??

I have bought and sold a 1948 Chrysler Town & Country convertible, a 1947
Pontiac Station wagon and a 1948 Chevrolet with the factory authorized dealer installed wood trim kit. I made good money on those transactions and it had a lot to do with timing. The common denominator here is that these were all original woodies in excellent condition. In the overall scheme of things, I'm still upside down on my 45 years of owning old cars.

 

[Russ B]

My joy with Model A’s has always been in learning new skills or improving them. That is my hobby, much more than driving. While I have driven thousands of miles on my A’s, and have them mechanically in excellent condition, I can not feel safe in modern traffic. Thus I am happy just to work on them with no thought of any monetary ROI. What I have learned is my ROI.

 

[Jeff/Illinois]

.................If I run out of money I can park my cars in the barn and ignore them for a while.They can't do that with their animals.

. Nice '70 Boss 302's that were hitting $110,000 - $120,000 two or three years ago are going in the price range today, sometimes as low as the mid 70's and low $80's.......



I have to lower that....I just watched Mecum sell a REAL nice '70 Boss 302, a condition 2- car near mint,,, they had to struggle to get $60k for it. Right after that came a '69 Mach 1, R Code car (428CJ) same restored beautifully condition it stalled out at the same money, $60K. The auctiioneer paused and said '$60,000? Are you kidding me? What's going on guys??' The car sold I would have never let either one go for that money...I only regret I wasn't there to bid!

 

[rackops]

My Model As were literally a life saver when I was going through a tough time years ago. Working on them, even just tinkering, was enough to keep my mind off reality for a while. Definitely positive.

Fast forward to now, and I enjoy figuring out new things. In my procrastination restoring my 1928 Phaeton, I've gotten good at rebuilding carburetors, traditional Jappaning, restoring 3X spark plugs, and re-plating nickel. There's a good sense of satisfaction when you can look at something and say, "dang, that really looks nice! And to think I started off with a rusty hunk of metal..."

In my previous/other hobby, I usually broke even or sometimes made a profit. When I got into writing books, that hobby became more of a "labor of love" and I'm far from breaking even. I feel the same way about my Model As. More of a labor of love, preserving history, rather than something profitable.

In the long run, I'll have a lot of positive memories with my family and the Model As, just as I've had a lot of positive memories and impact with the books. Sure, I could have made more money by investing what I spent, but no one puts your bank account balance on your tombstone.

 

[Brendan]

I read a comment recently, somewhere, I cannot recall where.
It was along the lines of..."there's no point in restoring a Model A because you will almost certainly not get back all of the money you put into it".
This has been on my mind as I embark on a restoring a barn find. Am I a fool? Is this what smarter people instantly avoid?

i have never gotten back the money i spent on a car i have sold

 

[SteveB31]

I have multiple hobbies. Model A’s, ATVs, a race car, snow mobiles, bowling,and more. None of them are profitable. The definition of a hobby is a thing you do to spend time and money that you have to spare.