Classic Cars-Buying an Investment: Today or Yesteryear

You want a new car, but you want to purchase something that will hold its value. Most new cars drop their value as soon as you drive them off the lot. I had a choice in my last new car purchase: I could purchase one of those new little BMW M3s or I could shell out a couple thousand and purchase a 68 Camaro. After about two microseconds thought process, I told my husband to hightail it over to the dealer and get the 68! (It was a trade in).

What is the average person looking at when buying an old or antique car as an investment? First, you will need to know which old cars bring money. Or if you do not care, and just want to show off some of your skills, you can get whatever you like!

Once you’ve done the research and picked the car you like, you have to find it. This is not as simple as going to the neighborhood dealership and picking out a new BMW! The older cars – especially the popular cars like the Mustang and the Camaro, are difficult to find. Once you find them, you will need to be sure they are not so rusted that you have to replace so much that the car does not hold its value.

There are plenty of sources to get N.O.S. (New Old Stock) parts, or if you are handy with a welder, you can fabricate just about anything on these old metal cars!

Your biggest challenge will be getting the body in shape – that means getting rid of all the rust by either repairing with new metal, or purchasing the entire piece you need. For most of the popular older cars, you can purchase fenders, floor pans, trunk pans, doors, dash parts, bumpers, new insignias such as the name of the car, the SS markers, new lights and more.

Once that if completed, you have a wide choice of paints and paint schemes – you can either go completely original, or you can do a trick paint job – though the car will not be as valuable if everything, including the paint is not as it was when it sold brand new off the showroom floor.

Once the body is done, you move to the interior: headliners, carpets, seats, door panels, heater control panels, dash, shifters, etc.

Then, the engine and transmission – if you are lucky enough to find a car that is “numbers matching,” you found yourself a great investment. Depending on the year, make and model of the car, a car with the original engine and transmission can bring thousands more than the same car with the correct year engine, but not the engine that originally came with the car.

If you find the right car for the right money, you have a great investment that only grows with age. Some of the popular cars are Camaros, certain Corvettes, Mustangs, GTOs, and of course the much coveted 57 Chevy Bel Air.