Ford Is a Buy, But Not What You Think
The first Ford Thunderbird that rolled off the assembly line in September 1954 fetched a winning bid of $660,000 at the January 17 Barrett Jackson auction. This amounts to an annual return of 10.93% based on the original suggested retail price of $2,695 in 1955. Not great, but it beats the recent stock market returns.
The February 9 auction of a 1939 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante Coupe brought a winning bid of $4.4 million. Not bad for a garage-kept beater, but a beater that was one of only 17 in existence. I’m no car aficionado, but I’m probably guessing that these are extremely rare cars and not the expected rate or returns for most collectible automobiles.
I wonder what the actual return on investment (ROI) is when you factor in the maintenance and storage costs , and capital gains tax. Heck, my Bimmer cost me thousands of dollars to replace the 20″ tires that had flat spots for sitting in storage without being moved at all. I cut my losses and traded her in…for a Hyundai. Have you ever seen a Broke Wall Streeter cry?
2 comments
I am with your guessing that these are extremely rare cars and not the expected rate .
Thanks for visiting and your comment. I doubt the future collectible car market will be as robust as it is with the baby boomer generation. Cars were a status symbol for them and few households had more than one car. The styling was much more cutting edge and stylish. Nowadays, households have at least 2 or 3 vehicles, they all look alike, and they are way over produced. Rarity is hard to find now and with gas prices and environmentalism, the allure of cars has diminished with the new generation. The “rare” cars of this generation, I would guess are the exotics and special editions like the AMG Mercedes, so I’m priced out of this hobby, even if I wanted to collect cars.
Leave a Comment