Is the Market for Muscle Toning Up?
By ROB SASS
PRICES of vintage American muscle cars peaked, along with real estate values, in early 2008 or late 2007 — the year when a 1971 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda convertible sold for an astounding $2.4 million at auction.
Courtesy of RM Auctions
PRIME CUTS Muscle cars sold in Georgia included a 1969 Chevy Camaro ZL-1, which brought $418,000.
But by 2009, prices of rowdy big-engine cars had plunged while the broader market in collectible cars underwent a comparatively mild correction.
Since then, the collector car market has generally settled into two parts. Highly desirable, top-notch cars in impeccable condition — with thorough historical documentation — have no trouble finding buyers at strong prices. Cars that are questionable, or in lesser demand, are languishing.
There are indications that the muscle-car market has also been firming up, based on reports of private sales and a few isolated auctions, like a Mecum Auctions sale in Indianapolis in May.
An auction last weekend in Gainesville, Ga., may have verified this upturn. The Nov. 13 sale of 55 prime American vehicles — most of them made after World War II and largely consisting of muscle cars — provided a temperature reading for the market in advance of the closely watched auctions in the Phoenix area in January.
The cars sold in Georgia, from a collection amassed by Milton Robson, who made a fortune in the food-service business, included some of the rarest and most desired American cars of the postwar period. Sales at the auction, conducted by RM Auctions of Blenheim, Ontario, totaled more than $9.1 million.
Donnie Gould, a partner in RM, suggested that the cars’ high quality was a primary factor. He said Mr. Robson had “a stellar reputation built over 25 years for only buying the best stuff, the best colors and engine and transmission options.”
Alluding to strong sales at the August auctions in California — where European sports cars did particularly well — Mr. Gould said, “We expected the trend from Monterey to continue, with people feeling better about the economy and more comfortable spending money on good-quality cars.”
Courtesy of RM Auctions
A 1962 Chevy Impala Lightweight 409 brought a high bid of $132,000.
Colin Comer, a Milwaukee dealer and author of “Million Dollar Muscle Cars” (Motorbooks, 2007), said he had seen higher muscle car prices in private sales in recent months, “with roughly three times the demand as last year for rare cars.”
Mr. Comer also noted that the Robson auction was a concentrated one-day sale with no reserves, meaning the cars would be sold regardless of price. “People flew across the country to be there, not wanting to lose the opportunity to get a great car at a market price,” he said. “Of course, when there are three guys aggressively bidding on one car, the market price goes up.”
Many of the best-known muscle-car collectors were there, Mr. Comer said, though more often than not first-time buyers ended up with the cars. In the past, novices often made purchases that proved less than savvy. That may no longer be the case, as more bidders take advantage of information — like previous sale prices — on the Internet.
In most cases, the amounts paid at the RM sale were in line with the market or perhaps a bit stronger. For instance, a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS6 convertible with a 4-speed manual transmission brought $214,500, including the 10 percent buyer’s premium. That price was almost exactly what some experts, including Mr. Comer, had expected.
A 1967 Corvette convertible did even better. The car, with 435 horsepower from its big-block 427-cubic-inch engine, found a new home for $176,000 — a strong price that was close to what it might have brought in the heady days of 2007.
While there was a fair bit of logic to the prices, a few sales proved surprising. A 1970 Shelby GT-500 convertible sold for a whopping $368,500 — a huge price in any market for the final year, and arguably the least special, of the classic Shelby Mustangs.
The car’s over-the-top restoration was largely responsible for the result, which was more than double what such cars generally bring. Another car that was in essentially brand-new condition, a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am, sold for $49,500.
Even orphans and oddballs had a good day. An attractive 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk supercharged coupe sold for $46,200, and a 1970 Ford Ranchero GT pickup brought $46,750.
While the results of the Robson sale do not necessarily signal a return to the freewheeling days of three years ago, they indicated that trends in the overall collector car market have extended to the world of muscle cars. Great cars are once again bringing significant interest, but buyers remain very picky, and strong prices for the very best cars are not yet pulling up the value of lesser examples.
Credit: The New York Times (www.nytimes.com)
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