Open Road

The 911 pricing thread got me thinking about the cars I've owned that were good investments. I've never bought a car with the intent of making money, although some have been good (lucky) investments. I won't list actual $ amounts, but these are cars that I made money on even after spending to keep it running, maintained, restored, etc. . What have you made money on?

I'll start:

1985 Ferrari 308 GTSi. I bought the car in 1988 about 6 months before Enzo passed away. Once he passed, Ferraris values started a meteoric rise (and subsequent fall, then rise again). When I sold it two years later, I doubled my money.

1973 Lotus Europa JPS. I didn't own it long - about a year. But when I sold it, I made about 50%. Not because they went up in value, but because I bought it at a good price.

1958 Jaguar XK150. I bought it to refurbish and enjoy. It was in reasonably good condition when I bought it, but I spent a fair chunk of change bringing it up to Concours level. It won a couple of Best in Show awards, and was judged a 98.5 in a Jaguar Club of America full Concours show. It was so nice I didn't want to drive it. After a drive I would obsess on cleaning it......like spending an hour on each chrome wire wheel. Since I wasn't driving it, which was my original intent, I sold it to some collector in Mexico (that's another story) for a little more than I had in it. Today it's worth about double what I sold it for. But I should have just kept it, drove and enjoyed it occasionally and not worried about keeping it perfect. It's at the top of the list of cars I wish I'd kept.

Reynard Formula Continental race car. What!....you made money on a race car ?? One of my many SCCA race cars I owned over 20 years of SCCA racing. Hard to believe, but I actually sold it for more than I paid for it after two years of racing it. OK........I know the math doesn't actually work - you spend a lot of money to keep a race car on the track. Hey -when you race you rationalize lots of expenditures. But purchase price vs. selling price? I made money .

1972 911T. We probably all have those stories. My first 911. Drove it for several years and sold it for about what I paid for it, so I guess that counts.

Enclosed 22ft. trailer. It was the trailer I used for my Formula Ford (my avatar). Once the FF was gone, I sold for more than I paid. Just luck, I guess.

1997 993S. My 7th 911. We'll see what ultimately happens if/when I sell it. For the last few years it seems to be worth a little more than I paid in 1999. But I have spend a fair amount over the years maintaining it.

Cars I've "lost" money on? That's a much longer, uninteresting list (consisting of mostly British sports cars), and for another thread.

Cheers.

I suppose I have in a way that was unexpected. Bought a 928 in '06 and did my usual working on it. Met a ton of people in DFW and started working on those evenings and weekends and finally said screw it, let's do it full time back in '08. Seems to have worked alright 13 years later.

I paid $50 for my first car, sold it a year later for $300.

1956 Willy's CJ-5 Bought for $200, rebuilt the engine for about $200 (JC Whitney Parts Circa 1977) drove the shit out of it (High school) and sold it for $1500.

The rest we don't discuss.

Bought it the day I got my license for 595.00 drove it for 5 or six years don't remember how many head gaskets I put on it traded it for a YZ 125 Yamaha bike. You can tell me if I made a profit

I have made zero good car investments when it comes to monetary measure. However, when it comes to pure fun and driving enjoyment - I have made many. I still have most of them, or they have just recently been given new homes.

My first real car, after getting my degree and a real job - 1991 Eagle Talon. "Eagle 1" We won a lot of road rallies (including the 2004 Press On Regardless Rally) and I won several ice run events with it. It eventually became a parts car for two subsequent Talons.







During an engine rebuild:



"Talon 2" - was a 1990 model. I still have it - but the engine ended up in the "Partial Eclipse". T2 was a good stage rally car.











I'll stop here. I could go on for a while. Sorry for straying off topic - cars as investments have never, ever, been on my radar.

^^^ I would love to try that, looks like a blast!

Agreed, rally racing looks like the absolute most fun you can have in a car!

Cuda911 wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 2:38 pm ^^^ I would love to try that, looks like a blast!

It is. Going to the track is fun, but nothing like blasting through the woods as fast as you dare.

My first stage rally car was prepared by my father for the SCCA PRO Rally Series of 1975. He used it for a couple of years, until he built his next rally car. I took possession of the Colt in the early 80s when he moved to California. I got good use of it. It just went to a new home a couple of weeks ago.

You're lucky. No one else in my family gives a crap about cars, racing, or anything like that.

Cuda911 wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:18 pm You're lucky. No one else in my family gives a crap about cars, racing, or anything like that.

So true. I have a thread going on just that. How lucky I am...

Here's another nice investment. Another Colt ("Sammy"). I built this from a well worn rally car to a blast-to-drive autocross/ time trial car.



Even though it looks as if that cone will be hit - it was not. I was in a four wheel drift and missed it.







This is what it looked like in its prior life. According to its Rally logbook, it weighed 2650 lbs. I got it down to 1550 and had to add ballast to meet the class minimum I ran in. My brother will be taking it home soon. He helped me build it and also ran as my co-driver for a few years.

Amazing to me that the suspension can handle those airborne maneuvers!

1991 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 in Nile Black. I think I paid $3,500.00 for it. I put 20k miles on it, and sold it for $4,400.00. It wasn't a true profit, since the transmission locked up on me, and I spent about $2k on a Shepherd Racing transmission.



1992 Dodge Spirit R/T in Indy Red. I bought it for $1,200.00 needing an oil pump and intermediate shaft. I spent about $500.00 in parts to make it a daily driver for me. I got t-boned and insurance gave me $3k and let me keep the car. I drove it another year like that and sold it for $750.00.



1995.5 Audi S6 in Pearl White. I put 30k miles on it and sold it for what I paid. It would be worth more now, but I still consider it a win.



1998 BMW M3 sedan 5-speed in Technoviolet. I bought it cheap, repaired some things, and sold it for more than double what I had into it in a very short time. I would have loved to keep it.

Cuda911 wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 7:51 pm Amazing to me that the suspension can handle those airborne maneuvers!

Being airborne is not the problem - it's the landing. Generally speaking, rally suspension has to be robust. The dampers, in particular, need to take a beating. Spring rates are usually not much higher than stock. In fact I used stock springs in the Talon, with GAB rally dampers. Made for a good compromise.

This landing in particular was costly. The suspension held up just fine, but the transmission housing was damaged and cracked in essentially five pieces. The clutch slave was hanging loose. I discovered this when the clutch pedal went to the floor and did not return. We had to limp out of the stage by bump starting the car in first gear and then rev-matching shifts into second and then third gear. The wiper linkage also came undone, so we were having visibility problems too. Not something you want when trying to carry speed through the woods. We were doing well at the time. Unfortunately, we had to DNF.

Interesting. I would have thought super stiff spring rates. I know 0.0 about setting up rally cars

I really only ever bought 1 car to "flip", a Chevy Monza.

It was my buddy's car, and when the clutch went out (at least it was a manual) he was going to scrap it.

This wasn't one of the cooler looking fastback Monzas, oh no....it was a light blue "slowback" version with the partial vinyl top

Still, I matched the scrapper's price of $300 and bought the clutch parts (around $50 IIRC) then swapped it out in my parent's driveway in a couple of days.

Not fun, but I then sold it for $600 so quite the payday for a 20-something back in the day

I bought a late 90s jeep Cherokee for $500. Put on some BFG all terrain ko tires (worked at tire store so cheap) and modified the exhaust ($100). Sold it for $1500.

Never got lucky again.

My buddy growing up had one of these....anyone else? Only 3500 made. The one he acquired had a turbo and we were constantly dinking with the exhaust manifold. The thing was surprisingly quick, but handled like a small boat. It was purchased for 3500 in the late 90's and sold for 5k a few years later.

amdavid wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 11:37 am My buddy growing up had one of these....anyone else? Only 3500 made. The one he acquired had a turbo and we were constantly dinking with the exhaust manifold. The thing was surprisingly quick, but handled like a small boat. It was purchased for 3500 in the late 90's and sold for 5k a few years later.

My daughter's father in law had one. His "I'll fix that up someday" car.
Needed major work and they sold it when they moved out of NY a few years back.

amdavid wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 11:37 am My buddy growing up had one of these....anyone else? Only 3500 made. The one he acquired had a turbo and we were constantly dinking with the exhaust manifold. The thing was surprisingly quick, but handled like a small boat. It was purchased for 3500 in the late 90's and sold for 5k a few years later.

Oh how I lusted over that car when young I have a notification on BAT for any Vega coming up for auction in hopes of finding the right one. I know it takes all kinds.

997 4.0 made it so I could track depreciation free 2008-2020, then sold 991RS with 40K miles at 50K loss en 991.2RS with 20K miles at 25K loss.

Weirdly one of the cheapest cars I had was an ‘05 CL65. Bought it after the last collaps in 2009 CPO for $51K (MSRP $198K) with 20K miles, when I sold it a couple months before the CPO warranty expired in 2012 with 55K miles I got $41K for it.

I purchased a 1995 Audi/Porsche RS2 in 2010, for $26,000 Cdn. I drove it for 10 years, put 30,000 miles on it and sold it for $56,000 U.S. I regret selling it, but made it a little easier to endure, by buying my 928, recently.

Don Smith wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 1:52 pm I purchased a 1995 Audi/Porsche RS2 in 2010, for $26,000 Cdn. I drove it for 10 years, put 30,000 miles on it and sold it for $56,000 U.S. I regret selling it, but made it a little easier to endure, by buying my 928, recently.

Thanks Tim. I don’t even want to think of the money that I lost on the other cars......Oh well, it all balances out.
Next up, I will be selling my Audi S6 Plus on BaT, soon. Hopefully, I’ll come back to this thread.Lol!
Cheers

Don Smith wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 1:52 pm I purchased a 1995 Audi/Porsche RS2 in 2010, for $26,000 Cdn. I drove it for 10 years, put 30,000 miles on it and sold it for $56,000 U.S. I regret selling it, but made it a little easier to endure, by buying my 928, recently.

Weren't those all the Audi Racing blue color?
I remember a fleet of them at the Porsche Museum Test track in late '94 (Old Museum in Stuttgart/Zuffenhausen).

No. They came in an assortment of different colors, but Nogaro Blue was the most popular. On BaT, a Nogaro will sell for $10K more than the other ones. But between you and I, N Jay, Volcano Black(mine) is quicker. Doug Demuro bought my buddy’s Nogaro last year.
Cheers
Don

Don Smith wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 3:44 pm No. They came in an assortment of different colors, but Nogaro Blue was the most popular. On BaT, a Nogaro will sell for $10K more than the other ones. But between you and I, N Jay, Volcano Black(mine) is quicker. Doug Demuro bought my buddy’s Nogaro last year.
Cheers
Don

I just remember watching them run, and seeing the whole row with the big red brakes.
I was surprised to see the Audis there and asked what was up.

More than the big red brakes....993 mirrors, Porsche bumpers, front and back, Porsche wheels, Porsche tuned.

Don Smith wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 8:44 pm More than the big red brakes....993 mirrors, Porsche bumpers, front and back, Porsche wheels, Porsche tuned.

Hey, I was just a 914v guy back then.
Didi not get inti Audis for another almost 20 years.

Don Smith wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 1:52 pm I purchased a 1995 Audi/Porsche RS2 in 2010, for $26,000 Cdn. I drove it for 10 years, put 30,000 miles on it and sold it for $56,000 U.S. I regret selling it, but made it a little easier to endure, by buying my 928, recently.

Did you sell it to the US? An acquaintance of mine has one in that colour, which he bought in 2019.

Sold it to a gent from Virginia, named Zach. Sold it in 2020. Here is a photo when he received it. He looks pretty pleased.

Different car then! The one I know is in Ohio.