Just researching ...are there any good classic car dealerships?Just watched 2 of them..1 was southjersey classics didnt look to bad and the other was gateway classics that showed a 74 corvette was winking at you,dark dealershipand luxury cars and a couple what I call clown cars no offense to them,maybe just a bad day.

Not interested in paying their 30% markups!

I gotcha too much time on my hands today.

gateway has a horrible rep, Don't know of the other, Volo usually has some nice looking stuff and priced accordingly. In 25+ years of owning a resto/ repair shop for classics I can't remember ONE bought from a dealer that was worth what the buyer paid.

I suppose it is possible to find an honest classic car dealer but I've never actually met one before!

too much time on your hands ? It funny you bring this up . I have a old friend, let's call him Timmy. Timmy has been calling me yearly and it starts every year and around January going on 5 . Maybe 6 years now. Well it started again a few days ago. It starts by him sending me a car ad from Classic auto asking what I think? Timmy knowing I've always had and have many mopars wants to know my opinion before he pulls the trigger on 1 .. part of me is laughing inside knowing he has no money to even put down. ( maybe 5k tops ) well in the beginning I would tell him to save up and we will find a nice mopar priced right letting him know imo he has to get the money first, then you wait till the right one comes and pounce on it . Any other way and you will only get the crap that no one wants and been for sale forever. I came to release he's not interested in this after year after year of just sending me gateway and other Classic car ads? I've tried explaining to him year after years 1 if they were to finance a car it was only if he was to put so much down that it as basically covers what the car was worth in real world and after paying off what was left he could of bought two others ? He drives me crazy to the point he sant me a ad to one and without even lqqking at it I tel him * cool.. do it in my mind this must be the people this places are trying to target? All they see is nice shiny paint and maybe they can pull it off. All I see is over priced cars and after all the hidden finance charges , insurance ,tax . you got to hate yourself ! It makes me wonder who is buying these cars and how... because I just don't see anyone with half a brain going this route. I've never lqqked into any of the financing of these places but I bet if they did have a car you just had to have and came in with cash they wouldn't sell it without financing ? Hey. You only live once right?

The people who buy these cars are older and long for a car from their youth. On top of that they are not hands on and most likely never were truly hands on. They indeed see the shiny paint and chrome- the V8 under the hood. They think it will be a reliable fun toy that will start and run all the time- requiring minimal upkeep like a 2000s era Camry. Watch Kiwis Classic and Customs. He makes his living fixing these cars brought to him AFTER the purchase.

This video (Try not to get riled up and unfocused because of a certain scruffy former magazine guy) Shows an amazing and beautiful Cougar with a hot 351 Cleveland. Paint, chrome and interior is amazing. But the car structurally is a lost cause.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wNmvDyoTO8&t=1s

I can't help but think - for any given dealership car - you could have bought it for a lot less from the private owner before the dealer got a hold of it

Most frustrating thing is people selling to a dealer instead of to guys in the hobby. Dealers pay market and then sit and sit with them until somebody way overpays. Somebody said guys buy them and don’t k ow how to work on them. I have a car now that was that exact thing. After five years of barely driving it and having a shop mess it up even more, guy sold me a great car with issues. I sorted them out and now it glides down the road with everything working. I don’t know what all was wrong when he got it, but I do know the list of things the supposed pros at a local classic car repair shop did had to all be redone. They even overfilled the trans doing a filter change.

And classic/used car dealers wonder why they have a bad reputation as a group.

That's why anyone even considering getting involved with classic car dealers needs to go see the car in person. It doesn't matter how far away they are from the dealer. Imagine paying for that car, getting it shipped, it arrives and that's what you get to deal with??

Man I wish I hadn't passed on this one. Sold in like a week. That'd cost $100k to duplicate PLUS all the effort.

https://www.fastlanecars.com/vehicl...ZWZMhPmb2Z14eYxwW9MCoSVqlZKmHGj8KG2A074t

What did it sell for?

We have a local guy that paid over 6 figures for a 57 Chevy Bel Air from the worst priced classic car stealership on the planet. He has had nothing but problems with it. He did look at it in person and decided to pay that price so that is his fault. It is a nice car, maybe $50,000+/- in my opinion, but for that kind of money it should be flawless.

Delete

Probably close to asking if it went that quick. He didnt say. Just said was gone.

When I lived out there, I saw some nice stuff at fast lane. Last few years I’ve seen some shaky stuff on their site. Prices tend to be stiff there.

that is Timmy. 55 years old.the car from his youth would be my cars I'd let him drive. Can't change a fan belt . I had to explain to him its not like 1980 and you can drive a classic mopar to Walmart or park it on a steet and expect it to still be there in the morning.. this guy doesn't even have a garage what so ever! He will then tell me how he will pay it off in a year two at the most and then thinks he can sell it and make money on it??? 🤣 🤣 I ended up yesterday morning after it started again to stop ✋️ I want no part of helping make a huge mistake! Telling him * I would think you would of learned from a boat he just did the same thing with 2 years ago.. ( 10 thousand dollar boat he financed 50 went out 4 times and now its gone? Not sure what happened with that.. he asked me to go out with him all last summer.. no thanks.

Speaking of 1957 Chev

I know this car and was told the owner designed it , but wrote the cks to have it built
I'm told he had well over $400k in the car / build . Very well done and very cool car.

I asked him why diesel, Reply was wanted something different

https://www.streetsideclassics.com/vehicles/3988-phx/1957-chevrolet-bel-air-diesel-restomod

I did. "St. Louis Car Museum & Sales" in Missouri.