Whats up with these time capsule 90's cars?

First there's the 740 that sat in an air conditioned bubble, now there's this:

26 mile SS454 pickup truck

Who does this stuff? Buys not inexpensive cars and never uses them?  I mean, i understand the high dollar stuff, but this i don't get.  Don't get me wrong, I've got a boner for this truck, but for the money it will take to buy it I can get a new half-ton that will smoke this in every way (except looks and coolness).

Edit:  I just read the article, still don't get it but i guess I've never been the demographic (collector)

Doesn't make sense to me.

A co-worker of mine has the next newer generation of that truck, and it’s ok, but nothing special compared to today’s regular trucks.

Like you other guys, I don’t get it either.

That would be right about the time that muscle cars started to become stupid money, and a 454SS pickup truck is the closest thing to a limited edition collectible muscle car that was readily available at the time.  Maybe.  Or not.

Keeping a 740 Volvo in a bag is a sign of a diseased mind.

Streetwiseguy said:

That would be right about the time that muscle cars started to become stupid money, and a 454SS pickup truck is the closest thing to a limited edition collectible muscle car that was readily available at the time.  Maybe.  Or not.

Keeping a 740 Volvo in a bag is a sign of a diseased mind.

It was a 740 BMW, Volvo would be a step up.

They were just waiting for gas to get back below $2 a gallon to drive it. 

Time warp cars have always been around.  Maybe someone put them away thinking they would be collectible, maybe the original owner died, or maybe there was some other reason.  The time warp cars from previous decades have mostly been found, so now it's on to the time warp 90s cars.

In 1978 the 25th Anniversary Indy Pace car Corvette came up and they were grabbed up and put up for sale for $25000.  Today the going price for a mint one is kinda $25000.

Drive 'em.  Enjoy 'em. 
 

Ive seen that truck in person. When it was still in the original owners collection here in north Carolina. 

Just cant remember who it was. One of the nascar guys.....

It's not even 9ft tall, though. And I bet you can load the bed without a stepladder. I don't see a single lightbar. And those aren't offroad tires. Headlights below eye level? 

I don't believe that's actually a pickup truck and there's certainly no way it could match the absurdity of a modern quad cab suburban pavement princess.

In the late 1970s there was a rumor that the USA was going to stop building convertibles for safety reasons , 

so 1977 VW cabrios bugs  , Caddy El dorados and I am sure other cars we re bought for "investments" and store away.....

they built the same cars in 1978 and 79 and they were also going to be the "Last" ones so people bought them and stored away.........

As you can see they NEVER stopped building convertibles ,  so these cars sat around with the owners thinking they could retire off the profits "one day"

Plus the dealers jacked up the prices with lots of add-ons........

Buy them, Drive them !

I would be far more interested in an 80s/90s survivor with something like 40k-60k miles on it, that was garaged and babied but still actually driven. Sitting for all those years is far harder on the car.

Most of these cars, even if they sell for a bunch, were terrible investments. Horrible and sometimes even negative returns. It just doesn't make sense as an investment. Drive them!!

I always heard this was like marrying a super model and then saving her for the next guy.

I've always wanted a 454SS truck though.....  can't afford that one.

I'm glad someone has kept things like this around for history's sake, but glad it wasn't my money or idea.  

newrider3 said:

I would be far more interested in an 80s/90s survivor with something like 40k-60k miles on it, that was garaged and babied but still actually driven. Sitting for all those years is far harder on the car.

Buddy of mine in the Air Force picked up a '95 Mustang GT.  Had 12K miles on it when he got it in about 2003, owner bought it and got stationed in Guam.  Guy retired there and barely drove it because everything was close enough that he just biked where he needed to.

I loved that car

When the collectors market started blowing up, people starting buying weird E36 M3 like futures. 

Streetwiseguy said:

Keeping a 740 Volvo in a bag is a sign of a diseased mind.

Which makes me wonder which forum member is responsible.

No kidding. Cars were built to be driven and anyone who stores one away as a collector should be driving it regularly anyway or it will need everything rubber and plastic replaced at least. At most stored improperly, it will be trash and worth scrap. I have a relative that has two packards that have been in the family since new but have not ran in over 60 years probably 70 years actually. Mind you when I was a young boy in the 1970's they were sitting on dirt and had no glass or paint. They are in the same place right now and have been since I first saw them. My relative believes they are going to sell for big money some day. Meanwhile they return to the earth. Notwithstanding, I have an e28 M5 that I bought back in 2010 before they went up in value. I have maintained and repaired it for whatever it has needed for the past 10 years so it is always available to drive anywhere, anytime. I've put on 40,000 miles in the last 10 years only about 3000 in the last 2 years.

Why so little in the last two? I changed jobs and got a company car that I take to and from home daily and it sits, and sits. At that, it's time for it to move on and let someone else enjoy it. Someone is going to get a lot of years out of it, just like I did. It's a driver. I hear that a few of the 996 911's are getting 600,000 miles without a rebuild. Not a "collector car" right? Exactly.

Drive them people.

I'd love to have that 454ss.  One day I'd like to buy something like that and use it as a DD,  mainly because I couldn't afford one back then,  but can now and amazingly "new" ones seem to still be available.

Datsun310Guy said:

In 1978 the 25th Anniversary Indy Pace car Corvette came up and they were grabbed up and put up for sale for $25000.  Today the going price for a mint one is kinda $25000.

I worked with a guy back then who traded in a minty 1967 Corvette plus a bunch of cash for a 25th Anniversary model.  That was a bad investment.

I could have bought that same 1967 Corvette for about what I paid for a new 1980 Mazda 626.  While I loved the 626, in retrospect that was also a bad investment.  

Sooo....he paid $18k for it and wants to sell it for $52k

Had he invested $18k in general stocks in 1990 it would have been worth $262k as if January 2020 (or $197k as of today)

Had he put it into basic/guaranteed 30-year treasury bonds in 1990 it would be worth something like $80k right now (guesstimate)

And he didn't actually get to drive it.

And he presumably had to spend money to store/maintain it.

So yeah, seems like a pretty idiotic "investment"

In reply to 06HHR :

Nissan of Everett had a 54 mile 96 Z32 TT black on black in the showroom next to a R35 and I was in the market for a new car. I inquired into the Z32 and they wanted more for that than the GT-R 

have a friend with a 6,000 mile 3rd gen camaro.  Its just a 305/5speed non-t-top.  Not an IROC, or anything special. All stock.

It sits in his garage undriven...  Just taking up space.  

He has 5 3rd gens and 4 corvettes that arent bubble cars unused.  He might drive a one of them once a week as he has a regular beater car. I think it winds up happening when people get too many cars and too obsessed with keeping one nice.  Its like the shiny new pair of roller blades syndrome. Afraid to use them as they might get scuffed and not be perfect anymore.  He tries to justify with not ruining the investment, but its more like a hoarder mental thing. He knows it wont be worth big money. He just likes having a perfect example. So it sits...

I keep telling him to throw it on Bring A Trailer and spend the money coming back out racing again. 

When this truck was new, there was a lot of talk about the "end of the V8 and HP! Doom!" due to emissions, gas cost, etc... with no idea of the HP wars that were to come.  So seeing one of these get put away is not surprising.