[DeTomaso] [NPC] Big dollars at BJ auction

[Michael Shortt]

You all have stated the case very well, it helps those of us who have our
cars already and clearly it makes saving some borderline cars ( two in HI
that come to mind ) more feasible if the investment can be redeemed in the
black someday.  People rebuild lots of Ferraris just from a part of a
chassis or body part and serial number plate.,

I think some of the hype that went on is just silly and those who literally
bought into it are fools i.e. The Alice Cooper "Zephyr" Billion Dollar Baby
Car.
It's freaking fiberglass kit with a "35K Paint job", most of the 32 Fords
were also kit cars and ditto on the recreations and tributes, real is the
deal. -  period.

On the flip side, two years ago or so, Johnny Carson's last sports car, a
white C4 vette went for 10K, and given the market price for a 20 year old
corvette, it was a fair price, that same car today would go for 50-100K and
it'll still drive like a truck.  I cannot look at a Mustang GT 350 and see a
house, I just don't get it, it's a Mustang fastback with $1,000 worth of
parts stuck on it, but in HHI in the fall I saw 3 sell for 225K plus each.
Several went this weekend for much more.  It all smoke and mirrors, my
friend has a GT-350H, the door was dented recently, the replacement door is
available for pocket change because the of the created market for Mustang
parts, still don't get how it's a $300K car car with a $500.00 door!

I know that a truly Stock pantera is rare - and for good reason, the cars
needed help and we have all fixed, repaired, researched and diagnosed the
problems that have allowed them to still be running ( and quickly ) 35 years
later, in fact they are better now than they ever were before.  Originally,
they had a reputation for being unreliable and for overheating, heck, Elvis
only paid something like $5,400 for his in 1975, it was just a 4 year old
used car, 50% of the sticker value.

The Italian-American hybrid sports cars are now coming into their own and
it's about time, the rest of the world will gravitate to us, because
Panteras are still a great value, I watched hundreds of cars go by this
weekend on TV, and I thought to myself, I'd trade my car for that
one...about 3 times.  It wasn't the money when I bought it, it wasn't the
money when I was 11 years old and lusted after it, it was the styling, the
performance and I guess some of that weird part of all of us (Pantera
People) that wants to run with a different crowd and not become the gold
chain bejeweled, Smokey and the Bandit aluminum jacket wearing, Corvette
driving, Mid life crisis jackass who thinks he's driving a P wagon, going 55
in the left lane!


Michael Shortt



On 1/22/07, Ken Green <kenn_green at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>       It is a lot easier to justify spending the $s to make a Pantera nice
> if it will have a reasonable value when it's done.  But I worry a little
> that unless the cars getting auctioned are very carefully inspected, some
> people are gonna get stuck with expensive rust buckets.  That could really
> hurt the marque.  I assume the auction houses covers themselves with a
> blanket of disclaimers?
>
> Ken
>
> *Mark McWhinney <msm at portata.com>* wrote:
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com]
> On
> Behalf Of Joel Montero
> Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 9:43 AM
> To: B. Seib; Michael Shortt; detomaso at realbig.com
> Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] [NPC] Big dollars at BJ auction
> >> I worry at times whether or not these sorts of events are beginning to
> push your basic, run-of-the-mill car guy/gal away from the hobby for
> economic reasons.
>
> That is a good question. I think that it actually helps bring people into
> the hobby just like the Superbowl brings players into the sport even
> though
> only a very few select people will make it to the big event.
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Michael L. Shortt
Savannah, Georgia


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