Railroadman

And on my pedal steel guitar forum, about twice a month there's a thread lamenting that "real" country music has left us, or at least is in such low demand, and today's country music is crap, or at least all us old farts think so. You could almost take a thread from one forum, replace a few key words, and post it in the other without anyone being the wiser.

"I had one just like her, son, back in 1963...." From The Corvette Song, George Jones. Yes, the guy is actually talking about the babe IN the car but we can just picture the car regardless. And George Jones has left us, too.

426 Hemi

Never though a discussion like this would even come up between Corvette owners back when I was a young 30 y.o. (1992) buying my first C2.

Wonder when I went from "young guy strangely interested in an old Corvette" to "an old guy farting in his old Corvette"?

Railroadman, good point. Reminds me of a Johnny Cash quote. Something like ----country music used to be "about horses, railroads, land, Judgment Day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. And Mother. And God.”

ChattanoogaJSB

Thanks for the props Frank. I’ve bitten on a bunch of these threads and beat the subject to death- let’s me just say this for once-

im reasonably young at 39 and have a sort of nostalgia of my own for the cars. I see inflation adjusted prices falling in the next 5,10 years with demand falling but (and here’s the thing) it doesn’t matter!

I’m here to have fun.

Also- maybe these cars got too expensive anyway.

If if I lose selling my 64 in 10 years or 40 years I don’t mind and chances are it won’t be losing like buying a new car every 7 years to feed a habit for modern tech.

Simple.

Also- if prices drop it’s not like we’re going to scrap the cars. Maybe I’ll own a few more someday.

Frankie the Fink

Classic cars, for most, will move from desirable to own/operate to just a passing curiosity...I think that will happen with restomods too (which have breathed a bit of life into the market for a while). This applies to the one or two young kids flitting around your car excitedly at some show- they'll forget they even saw it when they get home and sit in front of the X-Box...

Doesn't bother me...

3JsVette

IMCO I think the majority of us remember the past and aren't really enthralled with where the future appears to be headed on many fronts not just on the Corvette Forum.

dcamick

https://imgur.com/NQaNnd3.gif

Relative to this.............I'll take "Old" every day of the week..........This guy will never come to me for advice......He knows it all!!!!!!! My roll at 69 is to laugh at the "Know it all's".......and help as much as I can those who are genuinely interested in learning the Trades.......

If you are a young Corvette owner............you need to be here.....

scotty t

I can't wait for everyone to get tired of midyear coupes, if I'm still around when the price drops enough I want a stock one and a hot rodded one! I'm in my 50's so hurry up.

Nowhere Man

Been saying that for years. Might be the only way I get a solid lifter BB

62 C1 Owner

I'm 56. I was born in Florida, and grew up in the south. For as long as I can remember, I wanted a 62 Corvette. I like the C2 coupes, but I've always loved the design of the C1, 62 in particular.

It seemed like the Corvette prices kept increasing just out of reach, but that didn't kill my desire to own one "some day".

Well, and 56 years of age, "some day" finally presented itself, and I took advantage of the ability to make it happen.

I believe that pricing, more than anything else, has moved the younger generation(s) away from trying to own, maintain, and enjoy classic cars.

Combine that with the new skills that they would need to eventually learn in order to take care the cars themselves, and most of them would simply turn their back in favor of the Honda Civic that they can finance, put some black wheels on, and let the Honda Stealership do all the maintenance. Oh yeah, I forgot about the Elephant Fart exhaust pipes that they like. Because how else are they going to try to make their 4 cylinder Honda engine sound like a V8?

Sorry, I went on my Ricer Rant by mistake...

But I think you see the direction that I'm heading.

Older people own these Classic cars, because that's who can afford them. And they are also who understands how simple they are to maintain. Kids today don't want to learn how to change spark plugs, or set timing, or even change the oil in their cars. They are more concerned with getting to the next level of whatever the latest video game is that the are playing. I think that kids today actually do think that these cars are cool. My 15 year old grandson loves the Vette. But it isn't necessarily something that he would pursue, because it isn't that attainable... Yet!

I don't think that the hobbie is dead; or even that it's dying. I think it will always be here, and it will always be under the careful watch of older individuals (not OLD, but older). Because that's who can afford the entry fee, and they're the ones who care.

Just my 2 cents...

I love my new 1962 Corvette. It's everything that I had hoped that it would be for all those years.

Mike

ChattanoogaJSB

Mike- my experience with the tuner crowd is just like my experience with the C1’s/C2 forum. Some guys open their wallet and buy the car they want and pay to have it built and maintained. Some do all their own work.

If you categorize the import crowd as a bunch of posers because their exhaust sound preference is different from your exhaust sound preference you’ve gotten a lot of them wrong. There are some brilliant kids building and fabricating and tuning. Most of them are happy to talk but old car people treat them like second class citizens or worse.

AZDoug

Wait a minute!

I am not eligible for Medicare for 2 1/2 more years.

Doug

GTOguy

I'll add that the younger set who are currently driving have never lived without a cell-phone in their hand, have never known a wind-up window, a carburetor, non-abs brakes, and on and on. Those of us who learned to drive back when, who learned on a standard transmission car with no cupholders, who WANTED to be able to drive asap...we're fossils now. I watched a blip on the news this weekend about some Hollywood crap, and realized that not only did I not know any of the shows or movies, I knew none of the actors or musicians. And I didn't care in the least. The world has changed, which made the times most of us grew up in even sweeter. Yesterday I drove my tripower 4 speed '65 GTO 20 miles to visit a friend, and got challenged (in town, in heavy traffic) to no less than 4 drag races. 2 Mustangs, a Challenger, and a Charger. All guys between the ages of 22-30. All of their cars had loud exhaust, ghetto wheels, and automatic transmissions. They were driving like idiots, weaving in and out and gunning their engines. Youth really IS wasted on the young!!

Stan's Customs

I just bought a 1969 Chevelle...thinking I would build it for some big Hp and keep my '61 Corvette a little less abused.
The Chevelle was a little more project than I really wanted, but hey..the price was OK.
Then I ran across one that was MUCH nicer, so I bought it too.
I had a 4 speed and a strong 454 planned for the first one...but that idea has morphed into a 700 hp 496 BBC or something similar, and a Turbo 400, the 4 speed Muncie wouldn't hold the hp. of the second plan. (and I don't care for slow shifting late model stick transmissions).

I say all that ...because somewhere along the line I quit worrying about how much money I had in the Corvette...or anything about the market. It's just an expensive toy that I love, and I'm interested in something different now too (to my surprise).
Whatever power he Corvette has is difficult to get to the ground, it is what it is, so what's the point of more power? No point that I can see...and I don't want to start over on the Corvette.

BUT...I still want some big/bigger horsepower...

I say all that to say...
Maybe the market isn't changing...just volatile. Some may just tire of Corvettes and go to other things while and others graduate to Corvettes after growing tired of something else.

I may have mine a long time...but I'm really excited about my new toys at the same time.

I think all these cars will cost too much to build...be popular for a LONG time, and still loose money when sold, even if if you build them, or improve them yourself, providing you drive them a few years.

Do they stay worth the same as the were when they are fresh built. Nope, not in my opinion, but they aren't a total loss either.

So use 'em up and take the depreciation hit when you sell it, keep it and go on to the next toy,.... OR do all the current engine upgrades and freshen up the car ...to sell quickly while it's fresh. Then you might make up the depreciation of the old build you've driven a while. That's a wash imho.

The builders make money if any is made...but we have a LOT of fun, for what we may loose.

Too many owners expect their car to be worth the same or more than what they have in it...and when they price something similar have a heart attack when it isn't worth as much as they thought.

Really ??
...that's not a sign that the sky is falling on Corvette values, it's just a sign that new fresh builds are a little cooler and bring the big money while the older builds depreciate some.

All is good...
We've got a long way to go before these cars are like Model A's, or any other car.....
Nice fresh ones are still worth plenty, and I don't care what the age group is: They are too beautiful to be totally ignored by any generation, now and for a very long time, (except by a few dumbasses that don't know anything about any automobile...or anything else really).
That's OK, there were a few D.A. s in our generation too...some of them still don't know what a sparkplug is..lol

IMO... old Corvettes are timeless, and will always have considerable value... unlike many other classics, like my Chevelles and GTO. They are pretty cool but will never have the mystique that a vintage Corvette has. Coolest of the cool cars...Priceless.

The disclaimer is: As Patrick Swayze said in Road House..."Opinions Vary"

Happy Trails...Stan

Larry Wegner

Old corvettes can still be bought and restored if you take the time, read up, ask a lot of questions, and do most of your own work, shop for good parts, l feel that a person can still bring back an old vette as a real nice driver. Good frame and birdcage to start and the work can be very rewarding. Plus if you don't get in a rush you're car will be worth more than you've got in it . Plus you can drive it, enjoy it, and say I did it. And if it gets dinged up, you know how to fix it !!

tangel2

As a contemporary of Chattanooga (also just turned 39), I'll say I never ascribed to the "Model T comparison" mainly because everything from C1s through the muscle car era are capable of comfortably riding at modern highway speeds. Of course "comfortably" is a subjective term but interstate driving really isn't an option for most cars from previous eras.

As for the stoplight dragraces, fortunately I haven't had to deal with that much in my '58. Completely opposite of my air-cooled Porsche. Holy smokes, but for whatever reason that car summons the @hole streak in every other driver on the road. I've had guys powerbrake their landscape monogramed pickup truck at lights and soccer-moms in minivans dive-bomb the shoulder in merge areas to pass me. It is nuts! To the point I'm about to put a dash cam in...

With regard to values, I'm happy either way. If they do drop off Ill finally be able to get that '65 fuelie vert I've always wanted.

Jonz79

I am 55 years young. Feel younger, and look younger than 55, certainly act younger most of the time. have always loved cars, and this is my 6th "classic", perhaps the keeper, because it is the bucket-list car for me. (64-Vert)
I got into the classic thing, hoping I would discover a brotherhood of sorts. Well, maybe it's where I live (N-VA), maybe it's me, but the brotherhood thing never happened, not even close. More like crabs-n-a-bucket with cars. Everyone trying to out-do, out-talk, out-buy one another. Narcissists with cars! Lost count how many cruises, and shows I have attended, with my car, only to be talked to death by owners about their cars, not a mention, or inquiry as to what I drove in with. Fact is, they don't care. They care about having an audience, and blathering on about their cars. Funny thing is most of them don't have a clue as to what they are talking about. They simply have a bank-account.
That's ok, I have resolved myself to the fact: I own the cars for me, no one else, and I am fine with it. I have encountered far more brotherhood, and good natured effort to share, help, discuss on these boards than in the "real-world", or out on the street. In the rather snooty area I live in, people barely bat an eye at a classic. No surprise with the McClaren/Porsche, Lambo dealerships nearby, not to mention the plethora of luxo-SUV/s, sedans people use as daily drivers. Lost count of the cut-off's, tail gating Mercedes, Lexus, BMW's,.......who make it a point to blow by me way over the limit as if to scream "nice dinosaur you have there Pal".....zooooooom. lol
Again, I'm over worrying about it. Between the tree-hugger Prius owners, Subaru crowd, and the "world owes me a favor" people, we are often seen as gas-guzzling, polluters, with too much money to burn. Add in the Ricers, and Soccer Moms, and we are even more of a minority. Truth is, America has changed, and we have to change as well. We are forced to simply exist in our own little worlds.

Railroadman

As long as you keep that firmly in mind, you'll be fine!

SupremeDeluxe

I'm 40 but have have owned vintage Corvettes as well as the internet community of vintage Corvettes since I was 19. I was on the Yankee Lady Corvette Board (how many people remember that?) and the NCRS board even before there was a CF. The 63 I just sold was my 7th "old" Corvette, and my 12th Corvette overall.

We used to have TECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS on these forums, and for me that's what made it so great. They came about at a time where there was a high level of interest and activity in collecting and restoring these cars, and in conjunction with the quality print media of books and magazines supporting the hobby, there was quality information available from many sources. Additionally, it was a time period where BG and other shows drew far larger attention and attendance.

Sorry to say, but the primary reason why i don't participate nearly as much as I used to, is for the fact that the scope of discussions has moved away from hard-core technical information. Despite being 40, I am the kind of person who makes a tool to make a tool to fix something, and I really enjoy the analog nature of vintage cars. Before I was an entrepreneur, I was a mechanical engineer. And long before that, I was a mechanic. Among those things, being a mechanic is the most satisfying but the least lucrative (versus my potential in other areas).

Jonz79

here's a thought:

The plethora of highly publicized and televised auctions has hurt the hobby immensely, along with the car-community as a whole.

Nothing worse than hours of eye candy, "classic cars" (most of which seem like resto-mods these days), being sold to a bunch of fat guys, with their trophy wives, all with drinks in-hand. The whole thing is a like a huge bacchanal of auto-erotica, being sold below street-market (to most of us), to a bunch of old guys. Despite the never ending narration, discussing to the provenance of the car, and some OEM history of the make/model, the bark of the auctioneer is ever present, along with the camera time of the weird roamers, and hawkers. To me, it just devalues the entire culture, and makes the cars appear so available, so numerous, the rareness and sanctity of the cars seems to take a back seat or disappear. I know auctions have been around forever, and I know this is merely a perception, but I can't help but feel it just adds to the lack of empathy and aggressiveness we encounter on the road, and in general. It may have people looking at us thinking: here is a jerk who went to an auction, rather than here is a guy who wrenches on his car, and saved nickels and dimes to acquire. The car shows (though I admit, I like them too) add to the watering down of the entire experience. We are no longer a an eccentric bunch of gear heads, we are Gas-Monkied, Barrett-Jacksoned, Mecumed, try-hards with means. (in other words - Jerks with Vettes) The heroic ideal of :"that guy still keeps that running, and its cool" has been supplanted with:" he probably bought that at Mecum". Like everything, oversaturation is never good.

68hemi

You moved to the wrong part of the state.