29th Jul 2010, 05:07

Depends if you live in the rust belt or not. Down south cars can last forever without rusting, even if the rust proofing is next to nothing. Having owned several classics from the fifties, sixties and by now seventies, all of them are either cars driven by 'little old ladies' being babied for or cars from the south.

More or less, any car being an import or a domestic are used just like an kitchen appliance and then thrown away when they break. In the eighties I drove around in cars like fifties Bel Airs, Olds 98 and the like, and absolutely nobody was thinking about seventies Corollas would be a future classic, so nobody cared. They were just driven to the ground and scrapped, even with minor defects. I remember a neighbour scrapping one just because it was being burgled; having a broken door lock and busted side window. It simply wasn't worth anything even in running order, so he scrapped it.

29th Jul 2010, 10:46

Obviously there were Toyota and Datsun dealers back then, or there would have been no imports. The point is there were very few of them around compared with American cars in that era. Heck, there were much fewer cars overall back then. Imports didn't catch on until the 80s and then they took off, surpassing American cars, which is why every time I am driving I can count many more imports then American cars on the road.

29th Jul 2010, 14:57

Don't buy it as there were many on the roads in the 70s here. . In 1975 Toyota was the number 1 import sold in America; surpassed VW. There were over 300000 Japanese imports in 1970 alone sold here. There were like 5 Corolla models alone. So where are they? I never see them, however I see lots of VW bugs about. You would think I would see a few a week, but they are gone here. I have a 40 year old GM now worth 5 times its original selling price. If I had my 4K Toyota today, I might get a small down payment on a new Toyota.

29th Jul 2010, 17:49

"Yeah how convenient that Toyota would pay off investigators. Where did you..."

Several national media outlets clearly stated that "independent investigators HIRED BY TOYOTA" reached the "driver error" conclusion. And yes, that is pretty convenient... for TOYOTA!!

30th Jul 2010, 16:31

There were 313,000 Japanese imports in 1970. Compared to the 108,000,000 cars on the roads in 1970, it is not a high percentage.

Also, 40 year old domestic cars do have great value, depending on what they are. Try getting a lot from a Vega 4 cylinder (if you can find one) or a Pinto. Yeah, these were every day economy cars, which most of the Japanese cars were then. There were very few sports cars that were imports back then. You can still find a fair number of Datsun Z cars around if you look. You can't compare a Mach 1 Mustang that is now in the $40K range to an old Toyota Corolla. The Corolla was driven to death and scrapped. American muscle and classic cars have long been valued as collectible, because they are American Automobile history. Japanese cars were forgettable, and therefore were used and forgotten. Not a real good comparison, and definitely not a good measure of quality overall.

30th Jul 2010, 17:44

"I have a 40 year old GM now worth 5 times its original selling price."

We own a 56-year-old Pontiac, a 41-year-old Dodge and a 43-year-old Dodge. Any one of these cars is worth the cost of two new Camrys.

The 56-year-old Pontiac has been in our family since 1956. It has not a speck of rust, still has the original 4-speed hydramatic transmission that has never been touched, and only had a ring and insert job to the original engine at 150,000 miles due to very mild oil consumption. At present it is used only for parades or shows, and has 256,000 miles. Our three imports have been rusting in junk yards for years now.

31st Jul 2010, 10:05

I think I paid 5400 for my 77 Celica GT; a lot of money then, and yet I never ever see one anywhere. I know in the Northeast the salt ate up my imports fast. In Florida where my family lives, the salt air, intense sun and tropical rains eat up the cheap steel as well. I always seek out nice frame solid used domestic convertibles and never lose as yet. If I repaint it's resale red or black. The only import I ever made money on was a used 450SL that I redid in 560 trim and deck light. Other than that, I would never buy a Toyota to flip. I also hate front wheel drive cars to fix.

31st Jul 2010, 10:52

Okay, now we've gone way off topic here comparing old classic cars to modern every day drivers. Is this the length domestic owners have to go to in order to make some argument about domestics being a better choice?

Classic American cars that have been preserved or restored aren't always going to be worth more than a new Camry. It all depends on what you have and how desirable it is. Americans value our own automotive history much more than most foreign car companies. Of course, most of the old classics cost more than that new Camry (or two of them) to get back to their glory now didn't they? If you have an original example that is unrestored, then it is truly a very rare car and not the norm for any old car. At least 95% of old cars are now restored, which cost a lot of money, if done correctly, so they are worth what was invested in them (again depending on the car).

When it comes down to it, if you auction your classic in today's market, you typically won't get your money back out of it if you restored it properly. If you have an original, you'll obviously make money on it, but it is only worth a lot if it is desirable. A '56 Pontiac with 256K unrestored miles on it isn't going to bring a lot at auction, no matter what the condition. If it were a '56 Corvette all original with lower miles on it, then you can brag about value.

I am on Ebay looking at old cars a lot, and I watch a lot of auctions, and it is typical to see cars that are listed "over $30K invested" and they are selling for like $18K. Not much of an investment. I think the new Camry is much more of a sound investment given those kind of figures!

This, however, is truly an apples to oranges comparison, and has no point to it. I am not even sure why classic cars came up as an argument against buying a 2010 Camry. This will never be a valid argument until I see tons of old classic cars on my way to work every morning being driven as commuter cars like the current Camry. Yeah, that'll happen!