'69-'70 Mustang values

[DarkBuddha 107]

First, I want to preface this with the fact that I don't pay attention to values very much, and I don't care what my car is worth on the market. I've owned my Mach for 26 years and it's being built to be driven and used. It's not an investment for me at all. Now, that said...

 

So by way of a random web search result, I spent way too long looking at auction results for Mustangs over the last couple years last night. Some things I casually observed:

 

1. Prices appear to have gone up over the last year by a good 10-20% across the board.

 

2. Restored big block, Boss 302, Shelbys, have remained relatively stable comparatively.

 

3. Boss 429 cars are big money. Period.

 

4. Exceptional cars of any sort (low mileage, survivors, pristine restos, high option cars, etc.) command a significant premium over similar, but less exceptional cars.

 

5. Yellow cars don't pull good money. Same for any overly bright/neon colored cars.

 

6. Cars of mediocre quality still pull good money at auction. Mediocre workmanship, paint work, detail work, etc. don't seem to hurt values nearly as much as I think they should.

 

7. Show quality, custom built, magazine cars pull HUGE premiums... by 150-300% over their "normal" counterparts. I'm talking about Ring Brothers/Foose/etc. type cars that compete for things like Street Machine of the Year and SEMA awards. Think in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. $$$$$$

 

8. M code cars have been gaining value steadily, especially well restored cars.

 

9. Pro-touring style builds pull a good sized premium, even compared to some restos. This is especially true if there's custom paint, stroked motors, modern engine/transmission conversion, and suspension/brake upgrades.

 

10. Blue and silver cars seem to pull better money. Grabber orange seems to do well as do black cars. Reds are hit-or-miss, and green, yellow, gold, are less popular.

 

11. There's no obvious value difference between manual and auto cars, but either one upgraded to have more gears/od gets better money.

 

12. Any car that has been overly customized toward a particular genre (pro-street, hot rod, "kustom", with a theme, etc.) don't do as well. More subtle is more popular and sells for more money.

 

13. Any Shelby bodied car (whether real or not) pulls a significant premium over an otherwise comparable non-Shelby bodied car.

 

14. Convertibles are not as popular and don't command the same kind of values as sportsroofs. Coupes seem to do fairly well comparatively.

 

15. Driver quality cars, especially ones modified to perform and drive better, have very very good values, and sometimes pull a premium. Seems buyers like the idea of cars that can be driven and enjoyed and are willing to pay a bit more for them sometimes.

 

16. There have been some exceptional buys out there... insanely well built and detailed restos that seem to randomly sell for significantly less than they should've. Maybe it was the day/time the car crossed the block, or the location of the auction, or whatever, but some folks got some high quality cars for damn decent prices.

 

17. There seems to be no discernible difference in the value of efi over a carb. Carb'd cars sell just fine, even on otherwise premium built and customized cars.

 

18. Absolute correctness seems to be less of an issue on an otherwise well done resto. Added a/c, stroked motor, aftermarket ignition, etc. all seem to get a pass.

 

19. Generally, any '69-'70 sportsroof of any decent quality is a $25k+ car, and most are $35k+. Convertibles are generally $25k+, and coupes are $17k+. And keep in mind, these were auction results that didn't include the buyer's premium or seller's commissions, so actual out-of-pocket costs for these cars would've been 8-15% higher.

 

20. Generally, all of this stuff applies to '65-66, and '67-68 cars as well. Except that Shelby bodied cars and Eleanore cars are even bigger $$$.

 

Admittedly, there are exceptions to all of these, but they are exactly that: exceptions.

 

Anyway, as I said, just casual observations. The things I really latched onto were the rising value of well done M code cars, Shelby bodied cars, and pro-touring cars, and how the level of quality can be very varied and still pull good money.

 

Just thought I'd share.

[jandj1970 13]

Thanks for the info mate.

[miketyler 15]

Makes me feel a little better about my Mach 1 M-code restomod. I am no where near ready to sell but figured I was closer to a break even with receipts for 28k.

[mustangstofear 608]

Very good info.