$60K investment?

It’s really hard to MAKE money on a vehicle. It’s really easy to LOSE money on a vehicle.

I know a couple people who actually made some GOOD money on a vehicle…BUT…it was all due to LUCK…and nothing else.

First guy I knew wanted a Viper when they first came out. So he put himself on a wait list at about 10 different dealers in a 100 mile radius. He had to cough up $10090 PER list but it was refundable if he didn’t get the car.

Well he got TWO cars from two different dealers. When he went to the second dealer to cancel…They told him they’d GIVE him $50k if he walked away from the deal. So he took the $50k and walked…The MSRP was about $50k…But because of all the hype when they first came out some dealers were getting well over $100k…BUT they had to honor the $50k deal for those people who were on the list.Within a yeat the hype ended and those cars were selling BELOW MSRP…PURE AND SIMPLE LUCK.

I’m not familiar with that acura, it’s value will probably depend on the number made and the “status” of acura in 20 or 30 years.

The 80s SL benz weren’t really low production, the 500SL was the early 90s version, you may be thinking of the 560SL. It will take a while to the 80s benz to gain much value, the 70s 450SL are still pretty affordable.

There’s an auction coming up somehwere in the near future and approx. 10 Lamborghinis (same owner) will be sold.
All of these cars are approx. 10-15 years old and all have less than 5 miles on them. None have ever been registered, tagged, or street driven.

Wonder what kind of return this guy will get? Not as much as he thinks I would bet.
It makes no sense to me to rathole that much money into cars just to allow them to sit in the garage and collect dust.

I have made money on several cars, a 1967 Porsche, a 1969 Porsche, and a 1977 MGB. Of course, my profits don’t include an allowance for hundreds of hours of free labor or thousands of dollars worth of parts. :frowning:

All of these cars are approx. 10-15 years old and all have less than 5 miles on them.

That’s a tough age to try to sell cars, they are not really old enough to be collectable (unless they are very rare). He may not even get the original value, especially if he tries to sell them all once. He would need at least 11 motivated bidders to get a good price for 10 cars, this sounds like a buyers market.

The NSX is a sought-after car. Even a 1991 NSX still sells for $18,000. A 2005 sells for about $70,000 - about the MSRP for it in 2005. A 1991 500SL retails for about $10,500 and all 1991 BMWs are well below $10,000. A 1992 Viper (1st year) commands about the same price ($18,000).

The NSX is a sought-after car. Even a 1991 NSX still sells for $18,000. A 2005 sells for about $70,000 - about the MSRP for it in 2005. A 1991 500SL retails for about $10,500 and all 1991 BMWs are well below $10,000. A 1992 Viper (1st year) commands about the same price ($18,000).

Those must be KBB or edmonds numbers, they all sound pretty low to me. I don’t know how those folks can be so far removed from reality, their data must be based on the average sale price of some real junk. A decent 91 SL will bring significantly more, I’m sure some BMWs or a good viper (especially the first year) are also significantly higher than those numbers. I don’t have any idea what a NSX is really worth.

I have made money on several cars, a 1967 Porsche, a 1969 Porsche, and a 1977 MGB. Of course, my profits don’t include an allowance for hundreds of hours of free labor or thousands of dollars worth of parts.

You’re joking, right? If not, finance is not your strong point.

I would buy a used Honda Accord for $8,000 and invest $52,000 in real estate or stocks. My stock portfolio is earning 11 percent and my real estate is off the charts. A car is transportation and passion, not an investment. Ask anyone who bought beanie babies as an investment.

LOL, that’s exactly how you calculate the return on your automotive “investments” when you are trying to justify all your toys to your wife. Works for me, sometimes.

Yeah, but i still don’t believe these cars would have any decent return in 5-10 years. Maybe another 20-25 years. But, imagine the cost of preserving a car like this for 20 years. You’ll never get a return on that money.

Yep, that’s how it’s done. I’ve bought a number of old, interesting cars at low prices and sold them for a lot more than I paid. As the OP said, all you have to do is leave out how much you paid for all the restoration parts and value your time at zero and you are making money! At least, that’s what you can try to tell your SO.

There are some very good answers on this page already. The best ones are the ones that recommend spending a small amount of money on a car and investing the rest. I would recommend investing a very small amount of money on a book called “A Random Walk Down Wall Street,” by Burton G. Malkiel, and then invest some time into reading it. Then you could figure out what you should do with all that money.

If you experience a lot of cold weather where you live, buy a truck with a snow plow. Also be willing to wake up really early in the am and go driving around neighborhoods. That vehicle might turn you a profit (depending ofcourse on your climate, the competition, and how much you value your time and sleep.)

Invest the rest in a diversified portfolio of mutual funds or ETFs.

All of the replies with advice to buy a cheap car and invest the remainder are not to the point. The OPO wanted to invest $60k in a car and make some money. That is possible to do so answer that question. It’s OK to say: “I don’t know which car you should buy to accomplish that” or alternately, keep quiet.

I think the NSX and the Viper stand a good chance of increasing in value. Another car that might be sought after in another 10 or 20 years would be the Plymouth Prowler. Not many made, and I bet a lot of 20 somethings today had posters of it on their wall a few years ago. Give them some time to earn a few bucks and have a mid-life crisis . . .

Or, if you go by the Mustang example, a cheap sporty car for the masses. The early years of the Mazda Miata might just start looking collectible.

1: buy a cheap new Charger or Chrysler 300
2: put in a viper engine/tranny
3: ???
4:profit

The OPO wanted to invest $60k in a car and make some money. That is possible to do so answer that question. It’s OK to say: “I don’t know which car you should buy to accomplish that” or alternately, keep quiet.

I think the point everyone was trying to make was that it may be possible, but it is very unlikely (especially over only 5 or 10 years). No one KNOWS which car he should buy to accomplish that, the folks that think they have a pretty good idea may do it themselves, but they probably won’t “invest” any more than they are willing to lose.

One would have to be very lucky to find an undervalued car and buy it just before the value jumped significantly. Keep in mind, to “beat the market” (assuming a 10% average return) this car would have to increase from $60K to over $90K in five years; unlikely.

Seriously, put your money in a good mutual fund and buy a $90K car in 5 years (or a $150K car in 10 years).

One final shot and then I’ll move on. Car Talk now and when it was part of Wonder is and was frequented by some people who, if they could not answer a question would answer anyhow. No hard thinkers, them.