Collector car market cools with economy
Sales of new cars are a good bellwether for how the economy is affecting the average consumer — and the indication is that a significant number of people are too concerned about their financial situation to buy a new vehicle this year.
In addition, sales of collector and exotic cars may be an equally good sign of how the well-heeled among us are doing.
Last month’s sixth annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event in West Palm Beach, Fla., showed there’s still plenty of money being tossed about by people who want to buy cars they coveted as kids.
The auction sold 509 vehicles for a total of about $23.3 million, according to Barrett-Jackson, an Arizona-based auction house.
“Even with questions about the economy, we built an impressive docket of collector vehicles that brought solid prices across the board,” says Steve Davis, president of Barrett-Jackson.
Still, there were signs that this market may be cooling just a bit.
Z28 Camaros and other muscle cars from the late 1960s brought strong money, but prices seemed lower than what was bid for similar cars at Barrett-Jackson’s January auction in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“I think things are slowing down generally,” says Stefan Lombard, managing editor of Sports Car Market, a monthly magazine that tracks collector car auctions.
“People who were a little more freewheeling with their money now are being more cautious. They know that right now they can’t make back the money instantly” by reselling the cars, he says.
Lombard says that what he calls “blue chip” collectibles — mostly old, rare European cars that routinely sell for $1 million or more — are still climbing in value.
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