Car Values

I was told that car values drop the moment you drive them off the dealer's lot. I believe that's true in general.

I was in Seattle recently and encountered a classic car show on Saturday at Alki Beach along the Puget Sound. As we ate breakfast in a restaurant across the street, classic car motorists drove onto the beach area, registered their cars, found their parking place, and began wiping the surfaces of their shiny cars.

After breakfast, we began walking among the cars and listening to the beach music blaring from the disc jockey who was there for the day of fun.

I talked with several owners about their cars. One of particular interest was a man with a 1969 Camero. He told me about saving his money while in the military in Vietnam and paying cash for his new Camero when he exited the Army in '69. He said, " I paid $3,200 cash for the car, drove it for 10 years, garaged it, and now have it ensured for $35,000." This man is the one with the beard in the picture below.

Of course, he spent money keeping the 1969 Camero clean and serviced. He and his wife have fun driving the collectible car and attending shows with people of similar interests.

I bought my first car late in 1967 when my age was a few months short of 21. I, too, paid cash of around $3,200 for the new 1968 Plymouth Sport Satellite. I bought it off the showroom floor of a dealer in Yadkinville, North Carolina and drove the metallic blue, vinyl-top, stick-shift car for five years when I traded it for a new 1973 Ford.

I wonder how much that car would be worth today if I had kept it.

Return here on Friday, August 4 for an update.

Have a good day!