Are FMJ cars really selling for these inflated prices?

Oldiron440 said:

Wasn't there a Fbody grill on ebay about a year ago that sold for over $1000?

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...and if you were a guy who desperately needed one, it was worth it I guess..... LOL

People dump money into all sorts of dead end pursuits......smoking is the biggest one I can think of.....pay hundreds every month to poison oneself.....booze, gambling too.

At least after we spend $1000 on a part we HAVE that part to show for it.

Typical pack a day smoker spends what -- $200-250 a month...for what?

Spend it what you like...even a $1,000 F body grill.

Reminds me of the guy with a perfectly restored, date coded, numbers matching, blah, blah, blah, '69 Roadrunner. The only thing not correct was the distributor. He found the correct one, with the correct date code, and in perfect condition but complained because they wanted $400 for it. It was the last part needed and he spent many thousands and thousands of dollars restoring the car. Chances of him finding another one were slim to none and the price would be the same or more IF one came up for sale. In the end, he was convinced to pay the $400. It's the same with (for example) a '78-'79 Aspen grille assy. They are made from unobtainium and if you really need one to complete a really nice car, $1,000 would be worth it, at least to me, although I'd be cringing when writing the check. Pass on it and, what are the chances of finding a perfect used or NOS grille again? Almost zip and the price is going to be about the same if you do find one.

As I've said, what something is "worth" depends on how much someone will pay for it. Some think a painting is worth $1.3M. To me, it's not worth anything because I don't want, or need, it. People pay $10,000 for a bottle of wine from 1862 that will never be opened. It's all what you are into. They like art or collecting wine, with me it's cars. Not to mention, I couldn't afford $10,000 for a bottle of wine, much less $1.3M for a Van Gogh to hang on the wall anyways

At times I think (including myself) we fmj people are the most delusional segment of the mopar world. REMEMBER I included myself in that group so its not a dig on anyone. Based on the money we spend vs what we would ever recoup if we had to sell.

Self-justification - Wikipedia

For me dumping alot into a car I will never sell is not a big deal. But when we come to watch some when its time to sell there FMJ car and wonder why its not sold in a year and they cant fathom why, hello?

I read one listing on a wagon on here for sale and my first thought was, good grief we got another 5k wagon here, but read on and it was a $7800 wagon, (nice car but it seems not a 7800 car)huh when nice kit cars can be bought for 12-14k and thats only when they do sell. But ifs not sold in a year in the group who loves and supports these cars, isnt that a sign? And this goes for most fmj cars we see listed forever.

Yep, ive a couple of those money pits, all nos parts on cars that just sit indoors, just like the 10,000k bottle of wine I admit I fall into that "fools and there money" category so no hypocrisy here.

A few nights ago I tallied up my matching #s matching 318 build, wow did I feel sick inside, I could of done the same thing with a hone, re ring and bearings, gaskets for about $600 vs around 4k in parts and machine work.

Really though, my opinion dont mean dick, people all over the world can spend there own money as they wish.

When and if I do sell a part ive never felt ive overpriced it by keeping grounded of what our fmj cars really are worth. Its easy for one to say my car is worth 50k because they have a policy with hagerty? for replacement cost of the build but they pay accordingly when the best thing they could hope for is a fire to break even vs a actual selling of the car.

In the past I've valued my Volare by the total of the value of the parts it is built with, not cost new but what I could get for them now. I never gave the body any value because it is a Volare. I still think it's a self way to view the value of the car

Here are two examples of unrealistic pricing. Both are in stunning condition.

1978 Volare, Slant Six, 16K miles
https://classics.autotrader.com/classic-cars/1978/plymouth/volare/101018068

1978 Aspen, 318, 94K miles
https://classics.autotrader.com/classic-cars/1978/dodge/aspen/101018066

Krazy

Technically those are selling through a consignment/marketing agency. Talking up the car and adding thousands to the price is all they ever do.

Auto Market King

Check the cars and prices in their "inventory" for a good laugh.

Ok, yes, it's a beautiful Aspen, no question there. But, it doesn't have "leather seats" nor does it have a "727 Torque Flight", and for $18,500, I don't like the wording: "no KNOWN rust". It's irritating that the sellers don't even seem to be very familiar with the car they are asking a TON of money for. I'd say it's priced about $10,000 or so too high.


Also, you would think that they could at least pull it out of the garage and take the junk out of it to take the pics! I don't think a used Kleenex box and old clothes make it any more attractive.

Just caught-up on this discussion...found some comments quite interesting IE..I'm never going to sell it anyhow"...Want to bet!!!???AT 78 years old I am just now thinking "what if I kept that 55 T bird, that 68 Dart 340, that A100 crew cab I built etc...and yes I own the "maybe over priced 77 wagon mentioned.." but time and something called the MARKET will prove all these discussing right or wrong. When I got back into the "fun" car scene I was looking for,GASP !!! a Pinto wagon...had 5 of them... !) 100 bucks, drove them to death and flipped them for 150... Guess what, the prices were out of site!!! Once again I , as a retired appraiser, will tell everyone that THE MARKET will tell us what our cars are worth, NEVER SAY NEVER... Fun discussion!!

slantman said:

NEVER SAY NEVER... Fun discussion!!

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I agree with you Slantman. I believe that the prices for F's and also M's and J's will only go up. All of them are very rarely seen anymore on the street, and more and more in the shows. This may be because of the aging of people who remember these cars fondly from their youth (as in my case), or that they are able to be modified and worked on without having a tech school degree. Likely also that they are still relatively novel and haven't been overexposed to death (think '57 Chevy). Personally, I don't worry about what my wagon is "worth" because I don't think of it as an "investment" except in the sense that it is an investment in my happiness.

OY, its good to see some are enthusiastic about prices only going up but alot of us have been keeping track of the market for 30 years or so and the facts dont support it. About 15 years ago was a much better time for F-s then now as far as prices go. But I know thats not a big concern of yours.

Yes a car will sell for good money here and there and I even know a guy with really deep pockets who would probably go 20 25k for the right super coupe, but thats rare.

Slantman, some of us will never sell and 30 plus years of ownership is probably a good indicator of that, realistically you say the "Market" will tell us what our cars are worth, again not picking on your car but it dont look like the market is there on yours yet is it? None of us is getting any younger and good health dont grow on trees and many kick off leaving our kids our junk to sell off just to dump it. Pinto wagons were always semi rare, ive not seen one in person in better then 25 years or so but cool rigs.

But I do hope you get your asking price or close to it because it does look like a nice solid car.

I do enjoy topics like this but yet havent seen any meat tossed into this one, I actually think the m and j cars have more potential to go up in price then F-s with the good styling and classy looks, most F-s were cheap disposable cars.

I dont know how I grew so fond of them, but like being married 30 years, too late, too costly to change up now.

It's hard to believe, but Darth Car has been up on a national listing site for several months with the same cars, and he was one of the bargains at $4995. There was one at $7995, another at $9899, and a crazy one at $16500. Those cars were all at independent dealers working out of small shack store fronts. In the last three weeks, all of those cars have sold. The sad thing is they have no documented mileage, or history. The write ups on them were whatever the listing service VIN decoder spit out. I can not believe folks would lay out that type of coin for cars with no verifiable history, or proof on the 5 digit odometer.

You're assuming they sold for list. If I had to wager someone offered cash a lot lower than asking.

Have owned my Aspen for 32 years,,,,,,,,,,it's not going anywhere, for any price!
This thread reminded me of a now retired chiropractor here in town who's a car guy and drag racer. Back in the '60's he had Max Wedge cars and factory light weights (Dodge or Plymouth), every one of them bought brand new and sold a couple years later for pretty much nothing. In '68 he was one of the lucky few to get a Hemi Dart. He raced it (succesfully it sounds) until '71 and then sold it for,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,$1,500. At the time, it was "just an old race car". Fast forward until today and how you'd probably add a couple zeros to the price. Has nothing to do with F/M/J prices but then again, maybe it kind of does in a way.
Don't forget, in the late '70's you could buy a '70 Hemi Cuda for $1,500, $2,000 if it was rust free. Sigh..................................

Yep, it's not an exact science for sure. Everybody here makes good points, but honestly, who really knows? Actually, I find it kind of stressful to think too much about it. Like you Aspen 500, I have no intention of selling OY anytime in the foreseeable future. To worry about the money part of it kind of takes all the fun out of it. When I found OY on EB back in 2012, I didn't haggle much at all with price - I had been looking for one like it for years, and was afraid of losing it. I wanted to offer enough to have the seller pull it off EB for me, which he did. I think I paid a good and fair price for it, but if I added up the stuff I've bought for it since, and what I want to do to it yet....nah, not going there. I prefer to keep it "priceless!"