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I recently had FCA do a VIN search to find out how many cars were built like mine. Come to find out, with engine, color, interior, and packages, mine is a one of one. Is that good?
I recently had FCA do a VIN search to find out how many cars were built like mine. Come to find out, with engine, color, interior, and packages, mine is a one of one. Is that good?
Depends on what the car is.
If it's a GT 500 with the "king of the hill" engine for it's year, 6-speed manual, in attractive colors and with options that most enthusiasts want, it helps.
If it's some sort of mini-van, being one of one does not matter much.
60's Cameros with 250 cid inline 6 engines and Powerglides are relatively rare. They are not particularly valuable though.
I test drove a 2010 Acura ZDX on Monday. They made 7,191 ZDX's between 2010 and 2013, I would classify that as rare, leaning more toward semi-rare than super-rare. It was at a big Acura dealership and they haven't had a ZDX come in in at least four years.
$13k and it has 170k miles, for a vehicle that started at $45,495 in 2010.
For comparison a 2010 Mercedes E350 with that many miles goes for about $8k and it started at $49,500.
The ZDX flopped because it's unique, sort of a mix between a sport sedan and a crossover. Now that uniqueness seems to be holding its value a little higher.
Lotus made:
296 Type 46 S1 Europas in 66
350 Type 46 S1b (with movable windows) Europas in 67
2750 Type 54 S2 Europas from 68 to 71, but almost none are in the US - I have one
865 Type 65 S2 Federalized Europas for the US market
4710 Type 74 Twin Cam Europas - 3130 sold as John Player Specials
Or how about the 1030 Type 14 Elites from the 50s
1894 Cortinas
2820 Type 75 Elites
1957 Eclaits
2820 S2 Elites
The Elan isn't rare by Lotus standards, there are about 8600 convertibles made over 12 years
Production run does nto necessarily make a car rare. Rare does nto necessarily = collectible or valuable.
They made something like 10,000 Jensen Healeys. However the fuel T between the two carburetors dissolved in whatever they put in gas to replace lead. So, most of them burned up. There are something like 2500 of them left in the USA. So it is pretty rare. However they are not valuable. You can get a beater for $3000 or so. A solid runner for $5000 and a nicely restored one for $10,000 - $15,000.
The coupe version (Jensen GT), there were about 500 built. However you can get them very cheap. No one wants them (looks like a pet hearse).
249 made in total at the Shelby America facility out in Vegas. The body was completely made out of carbon fiber and the chassis was completely aluminum. Had a 4.0L V8 borrowed from Oldsmobile, most of the interior was also out of the GM parts bin.
Production run does nto necessarily make a car rare. Rare does nto necessarily = collectible or valuable.
They made something like 10,000 Jensen Healeys. However the fuel T between the two carburetors dissolved in whatever they put in gas to replace lead. So, most of them burned up. There are something like 2500 of them left in the USA. So it is pretty rare. However they are not valuable. You can get a beater for $3000 or so. A solid runner for $5000 and a nicely restored one for $10,000 - $15,000.
The coupe version (Jensen GT), there were about 500 built. However you can get them very cheap. No one wants them (looks like a pet hearse).
I'm surprised that many exist.
Merkur XR4Ti... quite a few crappy ones with major issues exist (Hey, parts for the rest of us!) as do modded ones.
Very clean survivors... less than 20 exist. World record price is about $15K.
None get restored, they're not worth enough money. Many "rare" cars fall into this category.
This is what most people don't get. They think a rare car is valuable.
But most rare cars are actually worthless. They made a lot of some of them.
Merkur Scorpio... there may be 10 clean survivors. Good times getting parts for a Scorpio.
249 made in total at the Shelby America facility out in Vegas. The body was completely made out of carbon fiber and the chassis was completely aluminum. Had a 4.0L V8 borrowed from Oldsmobile, most of the interior was also out of the GM parts bin.
Saw one 15 years ago pulled on side of freeway in Milwaukee.
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