A concours level Model T was worth $10K in 1975. It is worth the same today. $10K is not a small fortune in 2024. Ford made over 15 million of them. Supply is higher than the demand for them.
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Yep, the collectors of Model T - era cars are dying off. Plenty of ‘bargains’ to be had in the not-concours level examples.
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I recall working at a catalog sales counter at Christmas 1968 and had a mother of twin young boys who wanted ‘banana’ bikes but she could only afford the cheapest 24" bikes offered and pre-paid cash for them. Before leaving I realized that the bikes that were a few bucks higher were out of stock and if ordered would be substituted with the top of the line model for the same price so I reordered and paid the difference. That was the best Christmas ever for me. Bikes are cheaper now than 1968 as I recall
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Amazing… my childhood was spent on one. That doesn’t look like the original banana seat. 5 speeds. Cable hand brakes that even sorta worked when wet. Ape-hanger bars. Wheelies. Ramps and jumps. Ripping up the trails. I think my Dad paid $100.
The Model T I drove in 1975 was owned by my neighbor. It was all original down to the worn/torn leather seats. While it was certainly not Concours level, it was mechanically perfect. And it was worth $500 in our area of upstate NY. As a 16 year old who followed cars, I was amazed how little it was worth, but he had the paperwork and I saw the paperwork. Nobody but hardcore antique collectors really wanted a Model T in those days. They were just considered “old”. There were too many of them and they were/remain more difficult to drive than newer, more modern classics made after 1930.
Did you modify/repair them yourself? I expect that’s how a lot of the current crop of car-repair diy’ers got started with learning how to fix mechanical gadgets. Me, I didn’t do much to my bicycle beyond installing a banana seat and raised handlebars on my existing one-speed w/coaster brakes bike. Maybe apply a little oil here and there, but I don’t recall doing much beyond that, didn’t ever true the wheels etc. I became more interested in bicycle repair and maintenance techniques when I was older and had a job, when I could afford a multi-gear mountain bike and the required tools.
Did we modify them? A bit, but a Schwinn 5 speed Banana Bike was a well built machine so I don’t remember many mods. I do remember adding lights, speedometer, and somehow mounting a Panasonic transistor radio to the handle bars. Some of my friends would attach a card in the spokes for that buzzy sound. I did crash repairs and replaced the tires, especially I remember the rear tire tread would wear out quickly (skid-outs) and was not easy to dismount to replace the tire and tube.
Some friends had similar knock-offs by Columbia, Sears and Monkey Ward. None were as good as a Schwinn.
I surely don’t. Based on what they sell for - they surely aren’t. Classic cars go up in value.
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I thought they were the bottom of the barrel when they were new.
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I remember reading an article in the Wall Street Journal right after the Acclaim came out and Plymouth calling it the Accord killer. It was anything but. The Acclaim had more foreign parts made with more foreign workers then the Accord. It was NOT a reliable vehicle. In was anything but.
Circa 1982, Consumer Guide magazine (NOT Consumer Reports!) named the Olds Omega (one of GM’s notorious “X” cars) as the “Accord killer”. I was incredulous, mainly because I owned a mechanically-identical Chevy Citation. So, the Olds Omega was the ne plus ultra of compact cars, but the mechanically-identical Chevy Citation, Buick Skylark, and Pontiac Phoenix were not? In reality, they were all quite crappy.
As to the supposed impartiality of that magazine, a couple of pages after their article praising the Olds Omega, there was a full-page display ad for the Omega. Yes, that magazine sold ads, but I’m really sure that paid advertising had nothing to do with their ratings. 
Yeah… right…
IIRC, a college roommate in 1970 had an early-to-mid-60s big white Olds with a V8 and 3-on-a-tree transmission. Fun, big and comfortable, along with being such an odd duck.
Reminds me of my wife’s college car, a white mid 1970s Chevy Concours… dubbed “White Lightning” by her older brother, much to her father’s annoyance. It has a V8 engine, handled like a floaty tank, great in snow with studded snow tires, but otherwise overpowered and buggy as hell. The left rear side sat lower than the right and nobody could fix it… and it wasn’t the springs.
This is old thread but this reminded me- we had very little when I was a kid but we survived. When I asked for a bike, my Dad pointed me to the shed in the backyard and said, you want a bike, build one from the parts in there. I never knew where the various bike parts came from but there were a number of older bikes in various states, none of which were ridable.
I was disappointed at the time but much later realized what a life lesson my Dad bestowed upon me that summer. For years I patched together bikes to ride for the summer. Some of which had old swing set tubing added to the forks to make them into choppers. Many of the neighborhood kids with store bought bikes actually thought those cobbled together bikes were more desirable and wanted me to help them mod theirs. Years later, my parents offered to buy me a 10 speed. But I had to work the entire summer pulling weeds and other work to earn it. Taught me to work with my mind, hands and tools as well as value things that I had to work hard to get. Later on, it allowed me to buy cars for less money that needed work and do all that myself to save a ton. I appreciate that to this day.
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