Analog
Lifer
'70s cars are latest, hottest collectibles
Nostalgia, increasing rarity fuels price increases at classic car auctions
By Jonathan Welsh / Wall Street Journal
Disco-era automotive oddballs include AMC Corp.'s Gremlin. "Campiness is coming back and to some degree, that's driving prices upward," says Paul Taylor, economist for National Automobile Dealers Association.
Terry Fitzpatrick?s mid-1970s Ford is chunky and not too fast, with plastic panels and peeling faux-chrome trim inside. Three years ago, he figured the car was worth buying for $5,000 because it reminded him of a TV show he watched as a kid. Now, he?s getting offers from people who are willing to buy it for $20,000 or more.
?I never thought it would take off like this,? says Fitzpatrick, a 39-year-old insurance underwriter in Wooster, Ohio. His 1976 Gran Torino, like the one from ?Starsky & Hutch,? is red and white. ?It?s really just a paint job,? he says.
That ?70s nostalgia has taken an unusual turn. Cars from that decade ? widely viewed as the low point of the U.S. auto industry ? are showing up on the antique auto circuit and starting to fetch classic car prices. A boxy 1977 Cadillac Fleetwood sold for $11,600 on the eBay Motors Internet auction site this month. A 1976 Chevrolet El Camino ? an early cross between a car and a pickup ? recently sold for $13,000 at Auburn, Ind. auction company Kruse International.
More than a few of these cars have a connection to 1970s television. The 1976 ?Starsky & Hutch? Ford Torino that Fitzpatrick owns is one of only about 200 known to be on the road today.
With a ?Starsky? movie set to come out in March, prices are expected to rise well beyond the $5,000 to $10,000 the cars have fetched over the past few years, says John Quirk, who tracks prices for the car for his Web site, Starskytorino.com.
Not every wacky ?70s-mobile is a good bet.
Consider the bubble-shaped AMC Pacer, the car driven by the suburban characters of ?Wayne?s World.? A 1976 model sold at Kruse auctioneers last fall for $8,200.
But Larry Mitchell, president of the AMC World Clubs, an organization for owners of American Motors cars, says he doubts his own two late-?70s Pacers will appreciate in value.
Collectors know spare parts are virtually impossible to find. As a result, the group has lost nearly half of its members over the past three years, declining to about 800 from about 1,500. ?People are just giving up,? Mitchell says.
Text
Nostalgia, increasing rarity fuels price increases at classic car auctions
By Jonathan Welsh / Wall Street Journal
Disco-era automotive oddballs include AMC Corp.'s Gremlin. "Campiness is coming back and to some degree, that's driving prices upward," says Paul Taylor, economist for National Automobile Dealers Association.
Terry Fitzpatrick?s mid-1970s Ford is chunky and not too fast, with plastic panels and peeling faux-chrome trim inside. Three years ago, he figured the car was worth buying for $5,000 because it reminded him of a TV show he watched as a kid. Now, he?s getting offers from people who are willing to buy it for $20,000 or more.
?I never thought it would take off like this,? says Fitzpatrick, a 39-year-old insurance underwriter in Wooster, Ohio. His 1976 Gran Torino, like the one from ?Starsky & Hutch,? is red and white. ?It?s really just a paint job,? he says.
That ?70s nostalgia has taken an unusual turn. Cars from that decade ? widely viewed as the low point of the U.S. auto industry ? are showing up on the antique auto circuit and starting to fetch classic car prices. A boxy 1977 Cadillac Fleetwood sold for $11,600 on the eBay Motors Internet auction site this month. A 1976 Chevrolet El Camino ? an early cross between a car and a pickup ? recently sold for $13,000 at Auburn, Ind. auction company Kruse International.
More than a few of these cars have a connection to 1970s television. The 1976 ?Starsky & Hutch? Ford Torino that Fitzpatrick owns is one of only about 200 known to be on the road today.
With a ?Starsky? movie set to come out in March, prices are expected to rise well beyond the $5,000 to $10,000 the cars have fetched over the past few years, says John Quirk, who tracks prices for the car for his Web site, Starskytorino.com.
Not every wacky ?70s-mobile is a good bet.
Consider the bubble-shaped AMC Pacer, the car driven by the suburban characters of ?Wayne?s World.? A 1976 model sold at Kruse auctioneers last fall for $8,200.
But Larry Mitchell, president of the AMC World Clubs, an organization for owners of American Motors cars, says he doubts his own two late-?70s Pacers will appreciate in value.
Collectors know spare parts are virtually impossible to find. As a result, the group has lost nearly half of its members over the past three years, declining to about 800 from about 1,500. ?People are just giving up,? Mitchell says.
Text
