Category: Commentary

Eighties Vehicles at the 2014 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale

As always, the January auction at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale provided much interesting fodder for commentary. I’ll stay away from the “Salon Collection” and concentrate on the 1980s cars (and a few trucks) that sold and add some of my opinions.

Tuesday:

  • 1981 green two-tone Cadillac Seville sedan—$1,000 hammer price.
  • 1984 Light Briar Metallic Oldsmobile Toronado coupe with 32,000 miles—$6,200
  • 1987 green Toyota custom pickup truck—$2,500
  • 1987 Copper Chevrolet Corvette coupe—$5,750
  • 1980 black Mercedes-Benz 450SLC coupe—$9,500
  • 1989 Signal Red Jaguar XJ-S convertible (the real convertible, not the earlier targa convertible)—$6,200
  • 1986 white Mercedes-Benz 560SL convertible—$17,500
  • 1986 black Mercedes-Benz 560SEL sedan—$7,500
  • 1987 black Buick Grand National coupe with 15,000 miles—at $23,000 the first car in this auction to meet my criteria for serious 1980s collectability of original cars: selling for equal to or above its original list price. I’ll mark these cars in bold green.
  • 1987 black Buick Grand National coupe—$25,000
  • 1987 Bright White Buick Regal Turbo coupe with T-tops and 39,000 miles—$18,500
  • 1987 black Buick Grand National coupe (was somebody dumping Grand Nationals at Scottsdale?)—$18,500
  • 1989 white Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 20th Anniversary Edition hatchback coupe with 10,000 miles—$28,500
  • 1988 red Ferrari Mondial convertible (always the 80s Ferrari stepchild)—$29,000
  • 1985 Chevrolet Camaro very custom coupe—$8,000

Wednesday:

  • 1986 Dark Chestnut Metallic Oldsmobile Cutlass coupe—$5,200
  • 1988 silver Mercedes-Benz 560SL convertible—$11,500
  • 1984 Bright Red Chevrolet Corvette coupe—$10,000
  • 1988 gray Mercedes-Benz 560SL convertible —$12,000
  • 1981 Beige/Dark Bronze Chevrolet Corvette coupe—$13,000
  • 1987 white Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS aero coupe with 11,000 miles—$17,600
  • 1988 Dark Red Metallic Chevrolet Corvette coupe with 10,000 miles—$12,500
  • 1988 red Ford Mustang Saleen coupe—$24,500
  • 1985 white Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z Live Aid coupe—$29,000
  • 1988 beige Lincoln Continental limousine with 16,000 miles—$16,000
  • 1982 Toyota custom pickup truck—$4,200

Thursday:

  • 1987 black Alfa Romeo Veloce convertible—$12,000
  • 1981 Charcoal Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 coupe (really nice late second generation F-cars are beginning to come on—this one sold for $5,000 more than Hagerty’s “all the money” price)—$30,000
  • 1982 gray Ferrari 400i coupe (maybe all 2+2 Ferraris get killed on the market)—$24,000
  • 1981 red Porsche 911 custom coupe—$36,000
  • 1980 black Mercedes-Benz 380SL very custom (it has an LS2) convertible—$30,000
  • 1989 white Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 20th Anniversary Edition hatchback coupe with 7,000 miles—$27,000
  • 1989 white Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 20th Anniversary Edition hatchback coupe with 677 miles—$25,000
  • 1982 Dune Beige Toyota Land Cruiser FJ-40 SUV—$29,000
  • 1982 red Pontiac Firebird Trans Am custom with a Gale Banks 611 bhp twin turbo V8 (the Car and Driver 200 mph cover car for those that remember). I think this was a huge bargain at $23,000.
  • 1982 blue Toyota Land Cruiser FJ-40 SUV—$45,000
  • 1989 Rosso Corsa Ferrari 328 GTS targa—$59,000
  • 1981 black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am coupe—$35,000

Friday:

  • 1986 red Mercedes-Benz 560SL convertible with 9,000 miles—$20,000
  • 1980 Georgian Silver Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible with 16,000 miles (Dean Martin/Dennis Farina owned; did this add much to the price?)—$57,000

Saturday:

  • 1987 black Buick GNX coupe with 11 miles (the top 1980s sale—it doesn’t seem like the GNX is a “Lost Car“—almost exactly at Hagerty’s #1 condition money)—$95,000
  • 1986 black Ferrari Testarossa convertible conversion by Straman, driven by Michael Jackson in a Pepsi commercial. This drew just a little over Hagerty’s #1 condition for a “normal” 1986 Ferrari Testarossa coupe.—$67,000

Sunday:

  • 1986 red Chevrolet El Camino custom—$17,000
  • 1987 Pearl White Porsche Gemballa Cyrrus custom convertible—$43,000
  • 1985 red Mercedes-Benz 380SL convertible—$10,000

Looks like a lot of Mercedes-Benz SLs, turbo Buicks, and 20th Anniversary Trans Ams. What do you think of this year’s results?

Not So Lost Cars of the 1980s

The always interesting Hemmings Daily blog runs a regular feature titled as Lost Cars of the 1980s. Usually, it talks about at least somewhat unloved cars like the Cadillac Cimarron. This week, one of the cars written about was the 1987 Buick GNX. Many comments on the blog post mentioned that the GNX wasn’t really lost—that it was much loved and that the prices were holding up just fine, thank you.

This particular post got me thinking. What are the “not lost” cars of the 1980s? I started a list of cars that retain significant portions of their original value and interest (in alphabetical order with years listed where it matters):

What do you think? I’ve got many of what I think are the marginal “not lost” cars: any C4 Corvette, the Fiero GT, the IROC-Z, and the 944 Turbo. What cars am I missing?

Happy Holidays For 2013!

Happy holidays for 2013!

This has been an interesting few months for me as I try to kick off this blog. Some things I’ve found:

  1. Merely doing this blog has made me a lot more aware of other good and interesting work on eighties cars being done by other folks. In particular, Curbside Classics and the Hemmings Daily blog often have very interesting 1980s related material, though they often have a different viewpoint than I do.
  2. It’s hard to come up with regular content that I feel is worth posting. As I write this, there are twenty draft posts in various stages of completion, but still found wanting in some way. Maybe there’s not enough visual appeal, maybe I don’t feel like I’m saying anything distinctive, maybe there just isn’t enough content to make a real post.
  3. I still haven’t found a WordPress look I’m happy with. My favorite so far is the 2014 theme, but it’s not quite what I’m looking for.
  4. I am looking to get a little more serious about this blog in the new year. I’m considering other contributors and I’m going to do some things to increase visibility. We’ll see what happens …

Again, happy holidays!

On What Cars Become Collectible

Hemmings Motor News is keeping me busy this week. Today, one of the articles in their Hemmings Daily blog asks “Will some cars never be collectible?” [emphasis added] At the top of the article is a picture of (of course) a car of the 80s—in this case, it is a 1980 Oldsmobile Omega.

It is an interesting thought. I own an eighties car that is at least somewhat of a collector car—a 1985 Corvette. There has always been aftermarket support for my car, and there is increasing restoration support for it, though very little existed ten years ago. At the various times in the Corvette hobby, there has been heated discussion on what defines a collectible Corvette. Once the cutoff year was 1962 because the Sting Rays were “just used cars.” Then, the cutoff year was 1967, because the sharks were “too new to be judged.” After that, the cutoff year was 1982, because the C4s were “late model” Corvettes. You get the idea—rinse, repeat.

Of course, it depends on what you mean by collectible. I wrote last month about seeing a lovingly preserved/restored first generation Chrysler minivan at a fairly serious local judged show. I’m not sure that a minivan is collectible (though I do think they were significant) but I am sure that I like seeing one in beautiful shape and I am happy that the AACA has provision for judging them once they hit 25 years old.

I think one of the things that makes seeing the not easily defined cars really cool is the degree of difficulty. I know that the folks who restored that Chrysler minivan didn’t have access to the wide range of suppliers that I do and I know that there isn’t (for example) a Minivans at Carlisle show for them to search for parts.

So here’s what I’ll say: every older car that is lovingly restored by its owner is collectible (at least to she or he). There may not be a big market for the results, but, in the end, one more car from a particular era has been saved.

By the way, there is an X-car for sale in Hemmings Motor News as I write this, so folks are at least trying to sell them. It is not a 1980 Oldsmobile Omega, but rather a 1983 Buick Skylark T-Type with 112,000 miles going for $5,000.

Who Saves These Cars?

I was walking around a local auto show in August 2012, and I came across a near-perfect early Chrysler minivan.

Photo of a first-generation Chrysler minivan at a car show in New Hope, PA.
First-generation Chrysler minivan at a car show in New Hope, PA.

The Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) has what I think is a wonderful rule—if a vehicle is 25 years old, it can be shown and judged. Period. No cut-offs because of importance or beauty or rarity or anything else.

I would argue that the first-generation Chrysler minivans were actually very important—the first of 15 million sold over the last forty years, but that’s not the point here.

What’s interesting is that almost all of these minivans led unglamorous family or corporate lives and got “used up,” and this one looks virtually untouched. It’s a labor of love bringing one of these cars up to show quality: there’s no aftermarket providing restoration parts like there is for Mustangs, Corvettes, or Porsches of the same age. Methinks there’s a lot of chasing around junkyards and perhaps a donor vehicle or two.

Save

A First Post For Yet Another Car Blog …

I grew up in the early 1980s, graduating high school in 1986. Almost all cars from the 1980s are unfashionable right now: they are electronically primitive, squarely styled, and most of them have fallen apart.

I love these cars.

They can be frustrating, but they were markers that things were getting better after the rather frightening 1970s: auto makers were finally learning how to build systems that could yield decent mileage, good emissions, and respectable performance. Aerodynamics were actually becoming more than an afterthought and every year brought some more improvements.

This blog will take a sometimes random look at cars of the 1980s and why they are interesting or notable. I may not publish every day, but I will make an effort to update often.