seems there are some decent deals coming up...

http://santabarbara.craigslist.org/car/682495455.html

looks clean

I think that the word 'Deal' is being re-defined every three months lately.

We don't know what the next few years are going to bring. Could be that same car will sell for far less next winter. Next summer it could be even less than that. Same with houses/land.

I'm hoping the opposite happens though - that this is just a short term situation.

We don't know if that seller is being real smart to break it loose today, or will regret it next year if things stabilize and recover.
Wish I had a crystal ball.

Long term, I don't ever see these cars coming down in value, they are better than money in the bank, short term, like any other investment, they are soft now, and probably will remain soft until at least spring 09 when the economy should start turning around. Bad thing is you never know where the bottom was until after you passed it, but my gut says this is a great time to be buying a car

Ther are deals to be had. Earlier in the year i bought all my deals. Started with 70 camaro RS. Last being a 70 REAL trans am that i stole i think. Yes there are deals. I bet there will be more of the in process projects that people give up on. I have money right now and will be on the lookout for more.

Here's my take: I'm old enough to remember the gas "shortage" of the 70's. Gas went up to a whopping 50 cents a gallon. Back then people were literally dumping their Lincolns, Cadillacs, and pickups for pennies on the dollar. I was a teenager, but I remember all those really nice big cars going for peanuts (all we had back then was the newspaper classifieds-lol). The world adjusted, carmakers built more efficient cars, and all the while we sowly got used to 50 cent gas and eventually we drove the big gas guzzlers just as much as we ever did.

The current economy is probably a little more complex. People are not paying twice as much for gas as they did in the 70's, but 3 or 4 times as much. We also have less disposable income and tighter money than we did a year ago.

Anyway, here's my cracker jack analysis that means absolutely nothing. I believe that peoples attitudes and take home salaries will adjust in the relative short term (1-3 years) and our muscle car market will once again stabilize to levels we have become used to. All this depends on one very important factor--a gallon of gas & oil prices. Once we have accepted the fact that the 4 dollar gallon of gas has arrived and will never go down, we can begin to get on with our economy. Of course, along with that we also accept the fact that everything from a doctor visit to a take-out pizza to a jar of jelly costs more as well.

I think we can collectively accept all this and overcome the crisis provided the dirty, greedy, rat bastard oil companies (mainly OPEC) allow price levels to maintain at the 4 dollar retail level. What worries me is if they continue to manipualte production and drive the price even higher. If it continues to go up, short term anything is out the window and we're screwed.

But even the oill shieks are smart enough to realize a worldwide recession would hurt their bottom line and hopefully will leave well enough alone. Let's hope.

To summarize: If oil stabilizes at current levels, we eventually adjust and life is good. As a side note, I think the Barret-Jackson stupidness is probably gone forever but the good thing about the BJ syndrome is that it raised awareness and interest in muscle cars and up-classed the hobby a little. It's a little more cool to have greasy fingernails on Monday morning when people know you worked on your classic muscle over the weekend.

I'm not real smart, my fore head slopes a little, and sometimes my knuckles drag the ground when I walk. If I'm right I'll say I told you so. If I'm wrong I'll crank up my big sausage fingers and delete this post.

Mike

Here's my take: I'm old enough to remember the gas "shortage" of the 70's. Gas went up to a whopping 50 cents a gallon. Back then people were literally dumping their Lincolns, Cadillacs, and pickups for pennies on the dollar. I was a teenager, but I remember all those really nice big cars going for peanuts (all we had back then was the newspaper classifieds-lol). The world adjusted, carmakers built more efficient cars, and all the while we sowly got used to 50 cent gas and eventually we drove the big gas guzzlers just as much as we ever did.

The current economy is probably a little more complex. People are not paying twice as much for gas as they did in the 70's, but 3 or 4 times as much. We also have less disposable income and tighter money than we did a year ago.

Anyway, here's my cracker jack analysis that means absolutely nothing. I believe that peoples attitudes and take home salaries will adjust in the relative short term (1-3 years) and our muscle car market will once again stabilize to levels we have become used to. All this depends on one very important factor--a gallon of gas & oil prices. Once we have accepted the fact that the 4 dollar gallon of gas has arrived and will never go down, we can begin to get on with our economy. Of course, along with that we also accept the fact that everything from a doctor visit to a take-out pizza to a jar of jelly costs more as well.

I think we can collectively accept all this and overcome the crisis provided the dirty, greedy, rat bastard oil companies (mainly OPEC) allow price levels to maintain at the 4 dollar retail level. What worries me is if they continue to manipualte production and drive the price even higher. If it continues to go up, short term anything is out the window and we're screwed.

But even the oill shieks are smart enough to realize a worldwide recession would hurt their bottom line and hopefully will leave well enough alone. Let's hope.

To summarize: If oil stabilizes at current levels, we eventually adjust and life is good. As a side note, I think the Barret-Jackson stupidness is probably gone forever but the good thing about the BJ syndrome is that it raised awareness and interest in muscle cars and up-classed the hobby a little. It's a little more cool to have greasy fingernails on Monday morning when people know you worked on your classic muscle over the weekend.

I'm not real smart, my fore head slopes a little, and sometimes my knuckles drag the ground when I walk. If I'm right I'll say I told you so. If I'm wrong I'll crank up my big sausage fingers and delete this post.

Mike
It couldn't have been said any better:beers: