I think that we are selling ourselves short on Comets & Mavericks!

t-buckets used to be cheap too, all the mavs that are getting thrashed and crushed will eventually drive the price up on the ones owned by the few of us who bought it strictly out of love for the car (sold my cougar and passed up a mustang to buy and keep my grabber). unfortunately that time is definately not yet. i have seen a couple grabbers recently sell for less that 3k and there are some other real steal deals going on. the economy is mostly to blame, if i wasnt broke like everyone else id have a newer boat and possibly truck\camper setup. i plan to trick out the comet and sell it for a minor gain to someone who wants a resto mod, but right now it isnt even worth the registration fees.....

 

as I talk more with guys that have been into these cars a long time the overall thing I
hear is mustangs are expensive to buy but parts are cheap ,,mavericks are cheap
to buy and parts are expensive ..as Dave said most guys are looking for a cheap car and think that the parts should be the same ,not the case

But I have said it before that our cars will be worth more in years to come

 

Exactly like this 51 chevy i got a rusted up hull like what i have goes for $1k but you can buy every possible panel for under $1k and you can buy the complete interior for $700. So its very easy to build a truck and it can bring big money.

 

WE GOT TO REMEMBER WHEN THEY DO GO UP SO DO THE PARTS,AND MOST GUYS ON HERE ARE YOUR AVERAGE JOE , WHO CANT AFFORD A 30,000 CAR,I FOR 1 HOPE THEY DONT GO UP ,ID LIKE MY SON TO BE ABLE TO BUY 1 AND USE IT ,SO IM HAPPY IF THEY NEVER GET WORTH MORE THAN 6000,IM NOT BUYING THEM FOR THE VALUE ,AND IF THEY DO GO UP IN VAL. WHO IS GOING TO OWN THEM ILL TELL YOU ,THE RICH COLLECTOR,NOT US AVERAGE GUYS,I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY ALOT OF GUYS ON HERE ARE TRYING TO OVER VALUE THESE CARS LETS KEEP THEM CHEAp ,I LOVE MAVERICKS ,I CANT AFFORD CAMAROS ,I LOVE THEM TO,AT LEAST I CAN OWN A MAVERICK AND MAYBE BUY ANOTHER 1 THIS YEAR

 

one of the workers at the J/Y was telling me he has seen mavericks on Barrett Jackson sell for more than 100 grand...i told him i doubt it and he said..."they were the V8 cars."...
so there you go...they are worth big money...

if Dave B., Craig S., Dan S. or Dan H. would put thier cars on B.J action, we would know what a clean Maverick sells for...

......

 

Hey thats what I was just going to type.
Maverick and Comets still carry that economy car persona that they were built for. Car guys still remember them as a cheap piece that you drove till the body rotted out then squashed them. Cant see them being worth much up here because of that. Mustang,Camaro,Chevelle etc were built and marketed as ego trip muscle cars not cheap transport for the wife to go shopping and pick up the kids. Even if the price does go up on our cars my belief is it will still be proportional to the muscle cars as they go up. I dont sell my car short. I'm realistic. Seen some nice Mavs go for peanuts the past year or so thanks to the economy.
Take my car for an example. I bought it just over 2 years ago after a long search for a rust free car. PAid 5 grand for it with the drivetrain already built and original paint rust free. Brought it to work and stripped it as most of you know. Body and paint alone would have been 8-10 grand from start to assembled if it was on shop time. $1700 assembled, parts,cash labor, paint donated by supplier and triple digit hours of my time. Add on the other work I accomplished over the first season and I'm somewhere around 8 grand including purchase.(likely more that I've forgot) So even being a tech and doing the body and paint with our bodyman cash I would be lucky to get even my rough estimate(likely low) of 8 grand back. If I had paid for the body and paint I would have around 15 grand in it give or take. By the time this car is worth or should I say this car could sell for 15 grand It'll be ready for another resto.
I wouldnt sell it for 15 grand anyhow. Didnt build it to sell it. I built cause I built one when I was a teenager and parted it out in my twenties. Regretted it every day since, till I bought this one. Its my step back in time to simpler times. PRICELESS

 

Well put. IF our cars cost 10-15 grand for a project mine wouldnt be in my driveway.

 

Comet - Maverick Resale

I bought my car cuz it was what I cud afford and I am partial to the Blue Oval.
I was'nt specifically looking for a Mav\Comet; I was hoping to go Ford. I bought the car last year at a car corral. I did not want a project car "rebuild everything". I found my 73 Comet GT to be in pretty solid condx w\o having to be towed - I been driving it since. It has some mechanical issue; not many 35+ yr cars don't. I am addressing those issues as finiances allow.

I agree w\ some of comments abt being the only car of it's type at car gatherings.

I don't know if the word cheap is a fair assesment for all Mav\Comet folks - for most of us it's a matter of what we can afford.

I bought the car to enjoy and return to the hobby, at 65yrs old Im not to concerned abt what I put into or sell it for. I am only concerned abt how well it serves me while I own it; theres a gud possibility I might not be the one to sell it anyway.

Lastly, I have benefited and had a lot more intrest since finding this group.

 

This forum has been very good to me also. I'll start another thread on that since I have found the person who built my drivetrain thanks to Derek. Finally I will know whats in my car. Calling him tonight then will write a thread on it.

 

The fact that these cars never had a true performance heritage (a screamin' hot rod model right from off the dealer showroom floor with 4bbl, 4 speed, duals, etc) translates into how most people view them. Not me though, as I've always loved the lines of the car. But when it was predominantly marketed as an economy car that's the heritage you get. Same reason why you don't hear a lot of people raving about getting original Nash Metropolitan parts. It was an economy car in it's day. I'm sure there is a message board site dedicated to them out there too, but the size of the group of people wanting a particular car from their youth or whenever is going to be the primary driver dictating the market for finished cars, parts cars, and parts. There just isn't that many people for whom the Mav-Com resonates in a significant way. I like the fact that original parts are still out there and within my reach. It's a bonus because with two young kids a decent 60's mustang would be a 10 year project. Besides I always preferred the "not everyone has one" Merc and Fords like the 60's Comets, Fairlanes and Falcons...
You can't have cheap original parts and high resale values, which you would rather have?

 

As long as you keep crushing them

Some day they will hit the 10000 dollar mark.

 

I still say $1500.00 for a nice maverick is a fair price.

 

I built mine to reproduce the one I had when I was 19,( see pic) and it was less than a year old.It's a second childhood thing,it reminds me of when I had my first one and was a LOT younger,there's no price for feeling like a kid again! I don't care whats it's "worth",it's priceless for that reason to me.I've had over 125 FORDS in my life and these cars are my favorite.They will continue to gain value like all the older cars,simply because of their rarity,but probably never be a big buck car.

 

I agree they will gain in value, but not like camaro's gto's etc. they were a different kinda car when new and a different type of person bought them then and its the same now,to me they were regular transportation cars then, not muscle cars and the collectors know that....but any thing that gets older with fewer and fewer around will be worth more, not just to the collectors. I got mine Because it was a cheap car to play with compared to the collector cars I have always owned, and that its different, than the run of the mill mustang, I know it won't sell for what will be in it money wise ,but there will be less money in it than starting with a gto or boss mustang to go play with... and thats worth more to me than having a car worth so much you can't enjoy it.. I have a 64 gto 389 tri-power, four speed, post sedan, that hasn't been licensed scince 1973, all tore apart to get restored back to original ,but when done it won't be cruised around in on saturday nights...

 

It's easy to look at these and believe they are worth more but times have changed. Look at the new Hemmings Muscle Machines, there is a section on auction coverage where they highlight a 70 Chevelle LS6 convertable. It sold in 2006 at Barret Jacksons for 1.2 million. It just recently sold at another auction for just over 200k. It's all about finding the right buyer to ensure you get the best price for the car.