440-6 cars are way undervalued compared to the hemi?!?!? Whoa, guys, since when are ANY of these cars REALLY worth that kind of coin? Don't get me wrong, I drive Mopar and only Mopar, but the thought of any of these cars being "worth" $500k is ridiculous, and you all know it. Just cause Bill Weimann will throw money at car owners until they relent doesn't mean the darn things are "worth" that much. At some point, EVERY car gets sold, unless it is crushed. Who's gonna buy those Cudas from Bill Weimann's estate sale, and for how much? Who will buy these cars at a higher price than they were sold to their current owners at? That's what it's going to take to make these "investments" break even. All these guys who just paid $1m for a car will have to sell it for $1.3m to feel like they are making a profit, and then what?!?!
"Rotsa Ruck" to all the speculators. Rot in heck, vile vermin. I hope they all lose their a$$e$. (It's not sour grapes; I paid $13,500 for my Cuda ragtop at Carlisle '95)
Has nobody heard of the Tulip speculators of the 17th century? (yes, Tulips, as in the flower)
(For a laugh, I've inserted the word 'hemicuda' for the word 'tulip' in the following story, and made a few annottations...)
(From wikipedia) The tulip (hemicuda), introduced to Europe in the middle of the 16th century, experienced a strong growth in popularity in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands), boosted by competition between members of the upper classes for possession of the rarest tulips (hemicudas). Competition escalated until prices reached unsustainable levels.
Tulip cultivation (hemicuda restoration) in the United Provinces is thought to have started in 1593, when Charles de L'Ecluse (Roger Gibson) first bred tulips (restored a hemicuda) able to tolerate the harsher conditions of the Low Countries from bulbs (an unrestored hemicuda) sent to him from Turkey (France) by Ogier de Busbecq (Carlos Monteverde). The flower (car) rapidly became a coveted luxury item and a status symbol. Special breeds were given exotic names or named after Dutch naval admirals. The most spectacular and highly sought-after tulips had vivid colors, lines, and flames on the petals as a result of being infected with a tulip-specific virus known as the Tulip Breaking potyvirus (billboard stripes).
In 1623, a single bulb of a famous tulip variety could cost as much as a thousand Dutch florins (the average yearly income at the time was 150 florins). Tulips were also exchanged for land, valuable livestock, and houses. Allegedly, a good trader (Craig Jackson) could earn sixty thousand florins a month.
By 1635, a sale of 40 bulbs for 100,000 florins was recorded. By way of comparison, a ton of butter cost around 100 florins and "eight fat swine" 240 florins. A record was the sale of the most famous bulb, the Semper Augustus (Bill's white export hemicuda), for 6,000 florins in Haarlem ($2million at B-J).
By 1636, tulips were traded on the stock exchanges of numerous Dutch towns and cities. This encouraged trading in tulips by all members of society, with many people selling or trading their other possessions in order to speculate in the tulip market. Some speculators made large profits as a result.
Some traders sold tulip bulbs that had only just been planted (unrestored shells) or those they intended to plant (in effect, tulip futures contracts) (bodyshell with resto work prepaid). This phenomenon was dubbed windhandel, or "wind trade", and took place mostly in the taverns of small towns (swap meets) using an occult slate system to indicate bid prices. State edict in 1610 made that trade illegal by refusing to enforce the contracts, but the legislation failed to curtail the activity.
In February 1637 tulip traders (hemicuda owners) could no longer get inflated prices for their bulbs (cars), and they began to sell. The bubble burst. People began to suspect that the demand for tulips (muscle cars) could not last, and as this spread a panic developed. Some were left holding contracts to purchase tulips (cars currently undergoing high $$$ resto) at prices now ten times greater than those on the open market, while others found themselves in possession of bulbs now worth a fraction of the price they had paid. Thousands of Dutch, including businessmen and dignitaries, were financially ruined.
Attempts were made to resolve the situation to the satisfaction of all parties, but these were unsuccessful. Ultimately, individuals were stuck with the bulbs (cars) they held at the end of the crash—no court would enforce payment of a contract, since judges regarded the debts as contracted through gambling, and thus not enforceable in law.
Lesser versions of the tulipomania also occurred in other parts of Europe, although matters never reached the state they had in the Netherlands. In England in 1800, it was common to pay fifteen guineas for a single tulip bulb. This sum would have kept a labourer and his family in food, clothes and lodging for six months.
See any parallels, people?
Yeah, restore that hemicuda and get it out of there, and don't take short $$$. Go ahead and punish the fool that's gonna buy it, hurt him bad! Put it in the garage of someone with too much money, then buy or build a clone the way you want, and enjoy the darned thing. If you gave me a real hemicuda, I'd unload it that day and pick up a Cuda, a Chally, a pickup and car hauler, a Ford GT for me AND a Lotus Elise for the wife. And I'd have change left over...
What are they, Faberge eggs, and we're ALL trying to be Malcolm Forbes? Sheesh. Come back to reality people. It's nice that some folks can cash out an old car for a retirement fund, but all these cars changing hands without being driven is a game for Fruity Ferrari Guys, Bloomington Gold Golfers, COPO Code Chasers, and now Hemicuda Hype-Believers. All trailer-queen crowds.
Let them have their fun, if spending $1m on a car they don't drive is fun for them.... Losers, I reckon. If I wasn't allowed to sell it for cash, I'd much rather have Goody's 318-powered a$$-kicker than Wiemann's gay red hemicuda any day.
It's only a car...
[rant off]
Oh, yeah, the auction. B-J for sure, that's where all the bid-dong-swinging-contests will occur. People pay way too much there, and the same cars go unloved and don't meet reserve at Mecum and Kruse. You take a risk with B-J's no reserve policy, but with a black R-code hemicuda I think you will have no problem draining some fool's bank account. I'll be watching and cheering from the sidelines!
BTW - hemi71, aren't you selling your black Cuda right now on moparts? Promise me you won't buy a Corvette with the money!
