Corvette's at the
World Space Expo
Kennedy Space Center
November 2007
For Sale or Trade

December 23rd & 30th, 2005
As Published in V2-I48-#68 December 8th 2005

Hello everyone. I hope you have enjoyed the holidays. I am putting this together on Monday night January 2, 2006. 2006, it just doesn't seem possible that we have put 2005 to bed permanently and that 2006 has arrived. Along with the new year comes the annual phenomenon known as The Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction in Scottsdale Arizona. For the last couple of days I have been tuning in for a few minutes to see what is going on. The Speed Channel is broadcasting hours of the auction and that in and of itself says volumes about the condition of our beloved hobby. Just a few years ago the only auctions that saw any television coverage would be either fundraising for PBS or maybe for some disease that hasn't found a cure yet. That coverage is usually late at night or on a holiday weekend. Never before Barrett-Jackson would you have seen an auction much less a car auction on a national network and never at the prime time hours that the Speed Channel has broadcast this event. This of itself says that old cars are no longer just for gear heads and kids. This hobby has found itself in every living room across the North American continent. It could be because of the nostalgia, and the memories. It could be that mainstream America has heard about some the record breaking prices that some of these cars have sold for. It could be that mainstream America has grown tired of the cookie cutter cars and SUV's and trucks that are being produced in factories all over the world that all look the same. The same square boxes with wheels that just don't seem so square anymore but are really indescribable. The one thing that is certain is that they all have the same shape and that shape seems to be the same year after year. Last night I saw an ad on television introducing the new 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe, at least I think it was that model. The point is it didn't look much different than what I have seen on the roads for some time now, and didn't we just start 2006? Yep we did, I checked the calendar does say January 02, 2006. 2006 just arrived and it must be so boring already that we need to look at 2007 models that don't look much different from 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001,and 2000 models. I do remember that with the exception of Ford, and they didn't do it often that new models were not unveiled to the public until September. In the old days, if you wanted to see the new 2007 models you would have to wait until September of 2006. All of the car companies made the new introductions a big deal and there was a a lot of anticipation for the unveiling. Detroit usually made the wait worthwhile with restyled models that looked different from the year before and a Ford looked different enough from a Chevrolet or a Dodge or a Plymouth that you didn't have to look for a nameplate to know what it was. You usually did look for a nameplate to see what was under the hood before revving the engine at a stop light. The only companies that carried cars over unchanged from one year to another where the ones that were struggling financially and they weren't around that many years later. I hope Detroit reads this.

The American car companies have adopted the wrong business standards to compete in today's marketplace. Daimler-Chrysler in the last ten years has axed two brands. The first to fall was the Eagle brand which it inherited from the acquisition of AMC and no one really noticed or cared. The second brand was Plymouth which was a brand that Walter P. Chrysler developed as a "VALUE" brand way back in the 1920's if my history is correct. Daimler-Chrysler said it was too expensive to market and engineer a "VALUE" brand and chose to close it. In the last twenty years we have seen quite a few "VALUE" brands become available in our marketplace. The Yugo didn't last long, but that was not because there was no market for the car, rather a civil war put an end to it. Hyundai, Kia, and Saturn were and are "VALUE" brands that seem to have done well in the marketplace. Hyundai is doing so well that they now market a full line of cars that range from the entry level Accent to a luxury model that rivals most anything that you can buy at the Lincoln or the Cadillac store. The quality of their cars is such that it rivals Toyota and Honda and they cost less. Detroit at one time thought that the Japanese cars were no threat to their business and were a fad that would pass. Toyota now is chomping at the heels of General Motors as to which company is the worlds largest. Toyota continues to expand and General Motors continues to close plants, delete models, and eliminate divisions. The first to go was Oldsmobile. Oldsmobile was also another "VALUE" brand, marketed one notch above Chevrolet. Buick, Pontiac, and Saturn are also being closely watched with a possible decision made in the foreseeable future to axe one or all of those brands. Things over at Ford are not that bright either. Rumors float that the Mercury brand maybe the next one to get chopped. Automotive history does show one thing. Closing plants, eliminating workers, reducing models, and axing brands does only one thing. It spells the beginning of the end to each and every company that saw this as the solution to sagging sales.

Chrysler proved that in the eighties when things were not very bright in their future, that if you market innovative, new, quality products, that there is a market and that market is profitable. This was the time that the Prowler, Viper, Ram pickup, and Intrepid sedans were developed. The American car companies are in trouble and perhaps their future can be found in their past. I have to wonder if the cars being built today will have the collectibility that the cars of the past have. The cars that went across the block in Scottsdale, Arizona are all exceptional cars and I didn't see any one that sold for less than $50,000. In fact a 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 show car sold for a record $3,000,000. yes 3 million dollars. What this means to you and I is that the cars of the past have character and that character has not gone unnoticed. Collectors with deep pockets are going to pay huge dollars for the rarest models and lock them away to us. With the rarest models going away, this will increase the value of the others and our old cars are going to continue to escalate in value just as the housing market has. The time to buy and restore an old car is never better than today.

I am coming to the end of my article and have not said one word about the Friday Night Cruise at Old Town yet. The reason for this is two fold.

The first is that what is going on in Scottsdale does affect what we do in Kissimmee on the weekend. First off, as the older cars 1972 and older become more rare, the 1973 and newer cars become more valuable as collectors.

Secondly, our weekly event is known nationally and that will bring buyers looking for our cars, so if you put a for sale sign on your car, make sure you want it gone because that is exactly what may happen.

Thirdly, for the last three weeks I have been suffering from bronchitis. Add that on top of my asthma and being out in the cold night air hasn't been pleasant and as a result I didn't take the time to walk around and get the material to generate my usual report.

I did however keep a list of the checker flag winners.

The four flag winners for 12/23/05 are as follows:

Jose Riveria- blue 2005 Chrysler 300 four door sedan.

Tom Balmer- red and yellow 1987 GMC Sierra Classic pickup.

Raymond Iglesias- yellow 2004 Hummer H2,.

Yaritza Castro- White 1995 Plymouth Neon four door.
93 cruisers registered for the event.

The four flag winners for 12/30/05 were:
Richard Arroyo- white 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX four door.

Ralph Icker- red 1977 Chevrolet Corvette.

Hector Manuel- silver 1999 Porche Boxster convertible.

Edward Pagen- red 2005 Dodge Neon SRT-4 four door sedan.

107 cruisers registered for the cruise this evening. In closing I wish you all a happy new year and continue to have fun and cruise safely.









 

Read the first eight installments of
"The Disease"
by Gregg Nelson Sr.

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