The good old days I never experienced…
What ever happened to them?
I wasn’t around to witness gas at $0.25 a gallon, nor the $0.05 candy bar, but I wish that cars were more affordable. Todays particular case: The 2009 Dodge Challenger.
Dodge recently released the pricing on the new Challenger: $37,995. The price for a 1970 Challenger with a Hemi : $6,100 (About $32,000 in 2006 money). Now, depending upon your prospective, $6,000 may not sound like a lot, but the fact of the matter is that six thousand dollars is a 16.7% increase. Now here is the kicker; Dodge will only be making 5000 of these in their first year of production. Because of this, and the rabid consumerism in America, there will inevitably be dealers charging a premium ON TOP of the MSRP. Some have even been so bold as to create an ebay auction to dictate how much OVER the MSRP you’re willing to pay. The auction has closed already with the winning “buy it now” option being 50% of the cars base price!!!
In reality, this car really wasn’t made for 24 year olds who want to go fast. It was made for the baby boomers who dominate the wealth in America. For the boy-racer, there is the Mazdaspeed 3.
Heck, at least these people paying too much might have a collectible on their hands. Unlike those iPhone suckers early adopters that got the shaft with their near instantaneous devaluation of their toy. Most of which will probably end up in the trash in two years time.
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by Larry
On December 10, 2007 at 9:54 am
It’s hard to say what will become a classic these days. The cars just aren’t made to last that long with that many electronic / “disposable” parts in them. I’m thinking of the difference between an older car that uses a carburetor with no electronics whatsoever and a newer car that requires a 20+ pin connector just to find out basic information. Dunno, this could be completely wrong due to my limited knowledge of cars, but I don’t think you’ll see many newer cars come back in thirty years as classics.
Besides, 99% of cars lose half their value the minute you leave the lot. Mmm… iPhone crappiness.
by Travis
On December 10, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Lose half their value huh? Well good thing some idiot paid that on top of the MSRP. Now his car is still worth $37,995. Congrats buddy.
Didn’t really spell it out, but I saw the iPhone price cut as depreciated value. Apple got their moneys worth out of consumers on June 29th 2007.