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Browsing through old issues of Competition Press and Autoweek, it’s great fun looking at the bargains in the classified ads. If one had only known! In the 60’s there wasn’t much use for old race cars. No longer competitive, they were cast aside and offered for bargain prices. At the time, not considered as investments, there wasn’t much one could do with them. Vintage racing did not yet exist. Some could be converted to street cars, but for most, this was not practical. Take a look at some of these ads.
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Okay, now. Imagine, knowing what we know now, if you had say, $12,000 to spend in the 60’s, what cars would you buy? Would you buy a single car, or several of the cheaper ones? Twelve thousand dollars in the 60’s was pretty good money. My ‘65 Pontiac GTO cost $3,500; a ’65 Corvette was $5,000 to $6,000. But these cars were not out of the reach or mere mortals. A 12-year-old paperboy making $300 a week in Florida, dreamed of owning a Ferrari. On his sixteenth birthday he spent $7,500 on a used Ferrari 250 (unfortunately, after a run-in with the law, his father sold it; he had to wait to get another). Would you park your investments, letting them sit for thirty years and then have them restored? Would you drive them and keep them up, but keep them original, so you would have a survivor? Original, unrestored cars may have the greatest value, with their race-worn patina. The George Wintersteen Corvette Grand Sport Roadster, advertised for $4,500-$5,000, was kept in original, as-raced condition for decades, while virtually every Ferrari GTO has been restored to better-than-new condition. Now, this is not a contest to see who could generate the greatest profit. If one wanted only money, he could buy a Ferrari GTO and call it done. But what would your favorite car be? Your favorite driver? Your favorite race? Your favorite race team? And while we’re using the Way-back Machine, let’s not limit it to race cars. Would you buy a 1970 Hemi Cuda convertible? A Boss 429? So, let me hear from you. What would you do?
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