When we are old ! what to do with our Corvettes

[Steven S.]

Re: When we are old ! what to do with our Corvettes

I fear that if the market value goes south, so will their interest and many good machines will end up in the next Government "cash for clunkers" program.
Stu Fox

Extremely unlikely, if so you would have seen model A's getting traded for hybrids last time around. You guys have to accept that just because your kids may or may not love your cars, that doesn't mean someone else out there would.

[Dale S.]

Re: When we are old ! what to do with our Corvettes

Stuart, Fornately or unfornately or kids and grandkids are not like us. Both of my boys were raise at my dragstrip. They dont care about dragracing. They also were raised around my parts store and machine shop. They dont care about that. When I see some one whose kids or grandkids have the same interest as theirs I am happy for them. One of these days I am going to sell my 67 because they dont care about that. Dale

[Martin T.]

Re: When we are old ! what to do with our Corvettes

When I can no longer drive (safely), I'm going to take the 56 out into a field, pour gasoline all over it, put a match to it and that's it (seriously).
None of the 5 kids would, or could, properly take care of it, or they would sell it.
I KNOW a lot of Corvette owners, but do not have any Corvette friends (or car friends) that I would sell or leave it to.
I'm not particularly a charitable person, so that's out.
It won't even NCRS Flight (not even 3rd Flight), so it won't qualify for an NCRS member to have it.

Tom, there is always someone that would want and care for that 56. Oh gee, that would be me. Let me know when you're ready, I'll send you something else to burn in effigy.

[Paul J.]

Re: When we are old ! what to do with our Corvettes

... If most of the collector cars out there are owned by men or women that are say 55+, where will all of these cars end up in 15-20 years? Further, what will happen to the values? The children of a lot of collectors will be selling the cars for various different reasons. No interest, intimidated by the upkeep, to satisfy estate taxes to keep other things, etc. Will there be a glut of cars on the market? I seriously think we may have seen the top of the market for a majority of these vehicles. Even if there is another run up, the prices can not hold, can they? There will always be a special few that continue to rise, but many of the more "ordinary" vehicles may not see the values they have seen before until many of them are treated as though they are not cared for and there are only a few really nice ones remaining. Just one train of thought.

Larry, I've given this a lot of thought over the past few years and I believe that you are absolutely correct! But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Most of us grew up with these cars and see a personal attachment to our past. Very few young people have that attachment, much less our level of interest. The market will be flooded in the future and the prices will go down, but that makes them affordable to younger people who are performance minded. Young people will gain more interest in these cars as more people can afford them and they have more exposure. Look around, I haven't seen a vintage Vette on the road in over 10 years, and I live near several of them (including some of the contributors to this board!). I very seldom ever see them in a local car show. With more exposure, interest will rise and the market should eventually rebound, although it could take a while.

I was working with a client last week who has a completely restored Challenger. He said that he took his son and the son's girlfriend for a ride, and the girlfriend was in the front seat. When he punched it hard she goes "Whoa, what was that?!" with a surprised and startled look on her face. He said "You don't know? That's what these cars are all about." She was clueless, but now perhaps she understands a little bit about what fun these cars can be. Imagine what that demonstration would do for any performance minded young adult.

Paul

[Stuart F.]

Re: When we are old ! what to do with our Corvettes

I guess I am fortunate that one of my sons is a Corvette nut. The other (twin) is not - not at all. The boy that likes them (has had 3-78 Pace Cars and now a 96 G.S.) endured many days working with me back in the 70's on our 63. He put up with all my anger fits and frustrations and stuck right there with me, learned a lot of Army words in the process. The other boy would turn, run and hide. Now I don't know if I did either one of them any favors or not, but they both came out of it with enough mental stability to become airline pilots. Least wise, neither had to see a shrink who would blame all their troubles on Dad.

But this presents another problem in how do you treat them equitably when you will your only Vette to just one of them. You have to come up with equal compensation for the other. My wife says not to worry as she has lots of bling and has started giving it out already.

Stu Fox

[Wayne B.]

Re: When we are old ! what to do with our Corvettes

Well I'm certainly not going to get buried in it! That might work with a Pontiac but you could bet that within days it, and I, would be dug up by someone looking for "date correct" parts