Auction numbers can be deceiving as they include BOTH the buyers and sellers commissions. For example, the 88K Plum Crazy V code 4 speed had a buyers premium of $8,800. The seller had to pay a selling fee of $6,336 plus a time slot fee. Time slot fees can vary, but good ones cost a lot and okay ones run about $2,000 (you don't get to pick, they pick it and TELL you what you owe them for the time slot). So that $88,000 selling price put $70,864 in the sellers pocket. That's not including any shipping, fuel, travel costs, hotel or things like that. It's about $500 to $2,000 to get a car to BJ if you ship it in. If you're not there to clean it, detail it and make sure everything is good, they have a fee for those services too.
So you can see how a car that sold for $88K is really netting the seller in the high 60's.
So if you were to restore your car for $50K plus what you paid for it you would need to get over 90K at auction to break even. And to get 90K you better have a dang near perfect restoration. If you want to make a profit I would suggest selling it now and not restoring it.
I dont think we will see them numbers for a while.