Flops Then - Collectible Now (No Corvettes)
 

Ran across this in an article showing cars that did not go over very well at first but are now collectable. The link gives information on each car. Hagerty has something to do with this as they are listed in the link address. Might have been in their magazine. Bob

Thought I would add the estimated values to the post. Don’t know how they came up with the prices but this is what they are suppose to go for now:

Edsel Convertible + $100,000
Amphican $26,000 to $58,000
Isetta $30,000 to $60,000
Delorean $10,000 to $35,000
Jolly $30,000 to $60,000
Pantera $42,000 to $65,000
Avanti $15,000 to $45,000
Tucker $575,000 to $1,000,000
Thing $13,000 to $29,000

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/...ers/index.html

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...ker_avanti.jpg

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...so_pantera.jpg

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...fiat_jolly.jpg

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...bmw_isetta.jpg

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/amphicar.jpg

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...agen_thing.jpg

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a.../48_tucker.jpg

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...rean_dmc12.jpg

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/58_edsel.jpg

hello,
where the chevy nomad?
regards, xiaoman

i read this article yesterday.
A neighbor of mine back in the early late eighties had 4 Edsels parked in his front yard. I thought back then, who the he!! would want them fugly things.:lol:

who'd a thunk.


jack

another one porsche 914-6
regards , xiaoman

I'll take the Pantera, you can have all the rest!!!:D

Shelby Cobras didn't exactly set any sales records either. Pretty much a sales flop regardless of their competition record.

DT

:withstupid:

Although the Avanti is pretty :cool:

Mechron has two of these (Pantera,Delorean). How did he get so smart?:lol:

I wouldn't mind the Tucker!

Why is it that I knew the Amphicar was going to be in there? And WHY do I know each and every one of those cars on sight?

Rich

'cuz you're a car guy Rich. I'll bet there were many of us that looked at this post and said the same thing.

"I'll take car trivia for 2000 Alex"... :D

Avanti , Tucker and even the Edsel were pretty cool lookin cars in their day, and still are today.

I often wondered why the Pantera never seemed to get respect. I thought the car at least looked awesome. I remember the A.C. Cobras well in the day. By comparison to a Corvette, they were very crude. How many people have ever seen one with a top up? They get ugly quick when that happens. I remember a R&T comparison between a fuelie and a 289. In this road test, the performance was the same, but the amenities in the Corvette were from another planet and they were the same price! Still, with the top down, I still like the looks of an A.C.

I traded my 69 corvair coupe with about 400k on the clock and $200 for a 57 isetta in the early 80's. The guy who sold it had an Edsel too. He had to sell the Isetta because the local kids kept picking it up and putting it on the sidewalk and he was getting ticketed every night... It was lime green , like driving a large peanut M&M. Went to look at another corvair one night for sale and that guy was the president of the Amphicar club, lived in Yorktown Heights NY. I like the Deloreans too, and they are relatively cheap to get into. Plenty more cars could have made that list. Plenty of Micro cars "messerschmidt <sp>" or how about a corvair Ultravan? :eek:

cool pix. Thanks.

The 71 to 74 Panteras ( the ford years) were 10K to 12.5K . You could have bought 2 vettes and had change. How about the sunbeam tigers? They were fast with the 265ci., swap it with a 289 and it was brutal.

I don't know that I agree that with some of their choices.

The Avanti was a flop for Studebaker because Studebaker went under shortly after the Avanti was introduced. It was well received when it was introduced, and originals have always been highly valued by collectors. After Studebaker closed, the Avanti's plant and molds were sold and production of the Avanti II continued for many, many years after Stude's demise. Concidering that the car was built for more than 20 years, even if just as a limited production vehicle, should hardly qualify it as a flop.

The Pantera is another one that I think is a little unfair to call a flop. Lincoln/Mercury imported them between 71 & 75 and sold over 5,000 of them. The 71s were pretty poorly built and very unreliable, which probably effected future sales. After Ford ended their relationship with the Pantera, De Tomaso continued to build and sell Panteras up until 1992. The Pantera was intended to be a limited production "exotic" car from the start, like other Italian built exotics. Again, I find it hard to call a car that had a 20+ year life span a flop.

By the way, how the heck did the DeLorean make the list and the Bricklin, which was just as big of an ill-conceived flop, get left off?:toetap::lol:

The Jolly doesn't make sense either since it was just a low volume specialty mod 500 for the yachting set. The 500 was basically the Italian mini and definitely not a flop!

DT

Nice piece '63 Corvette. Thanks for putting it up. I think the DeLorean is still the dog of the century. The stainless idea was terrible. You see them at shows on occasion and the sheen is long gone from those cars. They are dull and depressing looking.

BTW, the "Thing" is a little overpriced. I have a friend who passed away recently and his estate has one that can be had for $5K.

Last I saw the 500's were getting pricey. Should have kept mine, except I replaced the 2 cyl air cooled with a VW engine shortly after this picture was taken.
http://i29.tinypic.com/2nkrli0.jpg