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LowPolarMoment said:
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hamilton93 said:
355 refers to the cubic inches of the engine which is actually 354 but it produces a whopping 355HP, it's a Hemi-V8 and it sounds amazing

They stopped making the 354 cu in hemi around 1956 when it was enlarged to 392 cu in which was built thru 1958. The next hemi that was introduced was the 426 cu in engine with 425 horsepower.




Ding ding ding.... You are correct sir!!!

Hamilton93, your memory might be failing you a bit on that '65, you may want to get a refresher from your friend.

In any case, I've mothballed a ton of new cars, but not really for "investment" purposes, more for "collector's illness syndrome".

The roll-of-the-dice aspect of the deal is whether the car will EVER outpace inflation, along with storage and maint. and insurance costs.

There's two ways to "invest" on these cars. Extreme short-term and extreme long-term. Anywhere in-between, and you'll lose your shorts..

Extreme short-term involves finding a dealer that will sell for a decent price, and then to quickly "flip" the car to a higher-paying buyer for a profit. Just visit the back pages of AutoWeek to see all the short-term profiteer-wannabe's at work.

Extreme long-term means buy the car and wait...... at least two decades.... maybe longer.... for the car to raise up in value in a manner that might, hopefully, maybe, exceed the inflation-adjusted original investment.

Quite honestly, I don't see it happening on the new Z06. They're going to make a ton of 'em, and a bunch of wealthy guys will be doing the same thing your buddy is. And besides, I GUARANTEE, that Chevy will build an even hotter mouse-trap in years to come, basically bumping this car to second-tier status. The only cars that really beat the test of time, are the extreme low-production ones, and the ones that are unique for their time, and once extinct, never came back (like my brand-new Buick GNX). The Corvette will ALWAYS be around. Just look at the old ZR-1's. They used to be "King of the Hill", now, a box-stock C6 would destroy a ZR-1. As such, anybody who bought a new ZR-1 for sticker price, would take an awful hosing if they go to sell it, today, tomorrow, or whenever...

We buy cars because we love them, not because It's my retirement plan. However, we've done it smartly enough, and the market is hot enough, that we're still looking damn good!!

The first trick is to NOT buy the thing right off the dealer's lot. If you plan to collect long-term, then it's stupid not to be patient. You wait for some OTHER Schmoe who bought the car new, to get cold feet, or different priorities, and they sell the car after it's a year or two or three or whatever old and has depreciated a ton. That's where the SMART collector jumps in and takes advantage of the ignorant collector's misfortune/misjudgement.

That said, I've bought a few new cars, new, and put them away. But they were cars that were so limited-production, I feared that if I didn't get in while the iron was hot, that I would be hard pressed to find the right car down the road. I bought my '95 Cobra R-model new, for instance, only 240 ever produced, and you had to have a professional racing license to purchase the thing. No regrets there, but even still, the market value on it is no better than what I paid for it, so it's a money-loser from a purely investment standpoint. But that's not why I bought it. And 20 years from now, the pendulum could swing WAY to may favor as the values of 25+ year-old cars start appreciating rapidly.

That's the deal, you either get in and get out fast, or you get in for the long 25+ year haul. And it's VERY difficult with more modern cars to predict what will be gold (Buick GNX), and what will not (Corvette ZR-1).

Suffice it to say that nobody would have ever dreamed that 66-71 Mopar Hemi cars would be valued like they are today, having taken such a sharp and exponential increase in the last two years. It took 30+ years for that story to completely unfold.

Put away a new Z06? Sure, if you dig the car.... Investment??? Maybe, but will he be able to live that long, to realize a return on the investment?? And in my opinion, the new Z06 will just get soiled by the next new Z06. 50's and 60's Corvettes are incredibly valuable because of their BEAUTY and brawn. Their styling is iconic, and valued not just as machinery, but as REAL ART. The new cars just have brawn, they'll always be ugly and cheaply appointed ducklings. They will never be valued as art, and will always be worth less than the "bargain" $65K purchase price. Which is, by the way, one hell of a wild ride for $65 grand, kudos to the engineers!! But it's not a full driver's package for the more discerning among us. It's more of a bragging-rights car for people who get off on being able to brag of such things. The people who just love an obcenely fast car will also buy them, but they'll have their fun, and then move on and sell....