I was wondering about a few things. These are my ideas and I would like to know what you guys think about these ideas. Or other ideas.
Low mileage of TTA's:
When I see a 67 Vette with 24k original miles I am impressed and the car brings good money. But with a TTA, 24k is going to be high mileage, because so many people have these cars with 100 miles or 300 miles or even 3,000 miles. So, are these cars with 20k miles going to suffer because of this? will they be considered high mileage? And what about the people who have cars with 50 or 75 k miles. That would normally be a good thing but with tta's it might be a bad thing.
Speed of TTA's:
Even considering that they are the fastest ta ever built according to the car and driver article that said they do 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, and the motor trend article where it could do 162 mph beating all the other cars in the test except a prototype zr-1, these cars are no longer fast. Regular Mustangs that are a dime a dozen do 0-60 in 4.6 and Vettes and Porsches do it in the 3's. Who are we kidding. Chevy sells and leases passenger cars with 638 horsepower. Our cars are not fast anymore. They were fast in their time, sure, and for the ten years after their time and prior to their time, but not any more. Nissan maximas have more power.
Is it going to be like saying a 165 hp 1975 Vette is fast because it can run 16 second 1/4 miles and the other cars at the time could only run 18 second 1/4 miles?
I mean, our cars killed all the competition regardless of price in 1989. The Testarossas and Countaches and Porsches and Lotus's couldn't touch it. But will that mean anything now that there are 400hp Hyundai's? And in the future when the Hyundais have 500 or 600 hp?
The problem of not being a Chevy or Ford:
Pontiacs are never worth chevy or ford money. Just a fact of life. They are the ugly stepsisters (even though they look more attractive and are more sophisticated). Camaros and Mustangs are always worth more than Firebirds. Perhaps it is popularity. But rarity conflicts with that. It seems you need a rare version of a popular car to win in a value contest. Like a 69 Camaro has the popularity and the ZL1 or COPO iron 427 option makes that popular car rare and thus valuable.
Our cars were definitely not popular. I drove one of these every day for 10 years and took it to car shows and embarrassed mustangs and vettes and camaros and exotics on the streets for the whole time and in all that time only 2 or 3 people knew what the car was. Not only that, I came across many people who insisted the car did not exist. So we missed the popularity boat.
The v6 and the automatic:
Everyone wants v8's and stickshifts. Is this going to be a problem? Especially since the cars are so slow and have so little power compared to the modern 638 hp Vette? Especially since the rating was only 245 or 250 hp! Only slightly more than the GTA. (On the other hand, R/AIII's have 366 hp and R/AIV has 370 hp and RAIV is worth tons more money even though only 4 hp more)
And get this:
I was able to buy a convertible TTA from a guy just because he wanted a car with a stick! (Maybe the amount I paid had something to do with it but the way he tells it he just wanted a stick and that is the end of it. On the other hand, the car was running very poorly and slowly because it had sat undriven for a decade and perhaps he thought that it was performing as well as it could since he hadn't ever driven a healthy one)
Any ideas on these thoughts or other thoughts that you guys have?
I used to really hate the way there was no frame and the structural integrity was so bad, and the lack of roof because of the t-tops, ...
but I hear that the Hemi Cuda convertibles have terrible unibodies and their door gaps change according to the position of your right foot and those cars sold for over $2,000,000. So I don't see that as a problem.
Also, there may be no gasoline. But nobody drives the valuable cars anyway they all get trailered.
I thought we really had something, because the most valuable muscle cars are the ones that are customized by subcontractors, or have the motors put in by someone else because the production numbers are too low for GM to get involved. Like the Yenko Camaros or Berger or Nickey camaros, or the GNX, or the others that I can't think of right now. And our cars were customized by someone else.
Also, the most valuable muscle cars are usually ones that have very expensive engine options, usually the most powerful available for the model, and sometimes doubling the price of the car. Like the ZL1 camaros and Hemi Mopars. Our cars cost as much as 3 basic firebirds because of the engine that we have.
Anniversary models are sometimes worth more.
Pace cars are sometimes worth more.
See what I mean? I used to think we had it made, but now I am not so sure. I can't imagine the car hobby will stop. People will die and younger ones will take their place and then get rich and want the fastest rarest coolest car from their childhood. But what is the point of a fast car from your childhood if it is so much slower than your 2025 Prius with 5,000 horsepower and a 6 inch coffee can fart pipe out back?
Low mileage of TTA's:
When I see a 67 Vette with 24k original miles I am impressed and the car brings good money. But with a TTA, 24k is going to be high mileage, because so many people have these cars with 100 miles or 300 miles or even 3,000 miles. So, are these cars with 20k miles going to suffer because of this? will they be considered high mileage? And what about the people who have cars with 50 or 75 k miles. That would normally be a good thing but with tta's it might be a bad thing.
Speed of TTA's:
Even considering that they are the fastest ta ever built according to the car and driver article that said they do 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, and the motor trend article where it could do 162 mph beating all the other cars in the test except a prototype zr-1, these cars are no longer fast. Regular Mustangs that are a dime a dozen do 0-60 in 4.6 and Vettes and Porsches do it in the 3's. Who are we kidding. Chevy sells and leases passenger cars with 638 horsepower. Our cars are not fast anymore. They were fast in their time, sure, and for the ten years after their time and prior to their time, but not any more. Nissan maximas have more power.
Is it going to be like saying a 165 hp 1975 Vette is fast because it can run 16 second 1/4 miles and the other cars at the time could only run 18 second 1/4 miles?
I mean, our cars killed all the competition regardless of price in 1989. The Testarossas and Countaches and Porsches and Lotus's couldn't touch it. But will that mean anything now that there are 400hp Hyundai's? And in the future when the Hyundais have 500 or 600 hp?
The problem of not being a Chevy or Ford:
Pontiacs are never worth chevy or ford money. Just a fact of life. They are the ugly stepsisters (even though they look more attractive and are more sophisticated). Camaros and Mustangs are always worth more than Firebirds. Perhaps it is popularity. But rarity conflicts with that. It seems you need a rare version of a popular car to win in a value contest. Like a 69 Camaro has the popularity and the ZL1 or COPO iron 427 option makes that popular car rare and thus valuable.
Our cars were definitely not popular. I drove one of these every day for 10 years and took it to car shows and embarrassed mustangs and vettes and camaros and exotics on the streets for the whole time and in all that time only 2 or 3 people knew what the car was. Not only that, I came across many people who insisted the car did not exist. So we missed the popularity boat.
The v6 and the automatic:
Everyone wants v8's and stickshifts. Is this going to be a problem? Especially since the cars are so slow and have so little power compared to the modern 638 hp Vette? Especially since the rating was only 245 or 250 hp! Only slightly more than the GTA. (On the other hand, R/AIII's have 366 hp and R/AIV has 370 hp and RAIV is worth tons more money even though only 4 hp more)
And get this:
I was able to buy a convertible TTA from a guy just because he wanted a car with a stick! (Maybe the amount I paid had something to do with it but the way he tells it he just wanted a stick and that is the end of it. On the other hand, the car was running very poorly and slowly because it had sat undriven for a decade and perhaps he thought that it was performing as well as it could since he hadn't ever driven a healthy one)
Any ideas on these thoughts or other thoughts that you guys have?
I used to really hate the way there was no frame and the structural integrity was so bad, and the lack of roof because of the t-tops, ...
but I hear that the Hemi Cuda convertibles have terrible unibodies and their door gaps change according to the position of your right foot and those cars sold for over $2,000,000. So I don't see that as a problem.
Also, there may be no gasoline. But nobody drives the valuable cars anyway they all get trailered.
I thought we really had something, because the most valuable muscle cars are the ones that are customized by subcontractors, or have the motors put in by someone else because the production numbers are too low for GM to get involved. Like the Yenko Camaros or Berger or Nickey camaros, or the GNX, or the others that I can't think of right now. And our cars were customized by someone else.
Also, the most valuable muscle cars are usually ones that have very expensive engine options, usually the most powerful available for the model, and sometimes doubling the price of the car. Like the ZL1 camaros and Hemi Mopars. Our cars cost as much as 3 basic firebirds because of the engine that we have.
Anniversary models are sometimes worth more.
Pace cars are sometimes worth more.
See what I mean? I used to think we had it made, but now I am not so sure. I can't imagine the car hobby will stop. People will die and younger ones will take their place and then get rich and want the fastest rarest coolest car from their childhood. But what is the point of a fast car from your childhood if it is so much slower than your 2025 Prius with 5,000 horsepower and a 6 inch coffee can fart pipe out back?
