Well as I said, S197 Mustangs will hold their value far better than any old 4 door sedan or SUV. But as stanmckinney pointed out, other than a few rare models, nobody is going to get rich buying a new S197 today and hanging on to it for 20 years. I was around in the 1970s and back then 1960s Mustangs were a dime a dozen. You could pick them up for next to nothing. Yea I can kick myself today for not buying that GT-350, but at the time I already had 2 67 Mustangs so what in the world would I have done with a third? I didn't have a place to park another car so I would have to pay $$ to garage it. How you will come out ahead with a S197 is the exact same way as people made out on the 1960s Mustangs. In 5 or 10 years few people will want S197s. That will be the time to pick one up cheap and wait another 15 years.
That means since '94(when i bought my first Stang), I have owned 4 "crap" Mustangs '92 LX 5.0 Hatchback Manual, '95 GT Auto, '00 GT Manual, '06 GT Auto
Ok, I did some checking at Manheim Gold, "The Gold Book was established in 1968 and is the oldest continuously published authority on collector car values. Gold Book's database of collector car auction results and verified private transactions is the largest in the world. Its editors and auction reporters attend or monitor over 100 collector car auctions and private-owner sales venues in the U.S. and Western Europe each year. The Gold Book staff are members of numerous collector car clubs that monitor trends in the car-collecting hobby. The Gold Book is owned by Manheim Auctions, a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. Manheim Auctions has set the standard in the wholesale automobile auction industry for 56 years. With more than 34,000 employees at its 126 auctions and related businesses, Manheim is a global remarketing organization with 80+ auctions in North America and additional operations in Puerto Rico, France, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand." Since 1970, here are their Mustang values(they only go up to 1983). I will just post the Excellent/Show condition prices. Tell me there have been "crap" Stangs since... 1971 Mustang Sedan......................$16,000/$22,000 1971 Mustang Fastback..................$19,000/$25,000 1971 Mustang Vert.........................$28,000/$34,000 1971 Mach 1...................................$30,000/$43,000 1971 Boss 351................................$60,000/$70,200 1971 Mach 1 429 Super Cobra Jet...$65,000/$75,000 1972 Mach 1 Cobra Jet...................$30,000/$36,000 1973 Mach 1...................................$27,000/$35,000 1973 Mach 1 Q Code.......................$43,200/$56,000 1973 Mach 1 R Code.......................$54,000/$70,000 1976-78 Mustang II Cobra II..........$8,700/$12,200 1978 Mustang II King Cobra...........$9,000/$13,000 1979 Mustang Pace Car..................$9,500/$14,000 Every single one of those is worth many times more than new. To put that in prespective with the original Mustangs... 1965 Mustang GT Sedan..................$29,000/$35,000 1965 Mustang GT Fastback..............$39,000/$45,000 1965 Mustang GT Vert......................$37,000/$43,000 1965 Shelby GT350..........................$190,000/$270,100 1965 Shelby GT350R(36 made)........$500,000/$990,100
Worthless ehh ? now I suppose that your also an expert on Fox bodied Mustangs as well right ? well I really hate to disappoint you there Vinny, but the 93 SVT Cobra was produced as a limited edition in 1993 with only 4993 total units built, plus if you factor in the Cobra R edition ? out of those 4993 units, only a total of just 107 were ever built..Therefore your argument concerning the 90-93 notchback, as being the only modern day Mustang that's collectable ? is complete nonsense as the Fox bodied notchbacks were never limited editions, to begin with..
Thanks for showing us what horrible "investements" cars are, including Mustangs. For example, let's take a 1971 Mach 1, Sports Roof with 351CJ engine. Reasonalby equipped that car with sales tax would have cost about $4,000 in 1971. To have it worth $30,000 today (excellent condition) you would have had to have done either: 1. Keep it garaged, drive it occassionally keeping mileage under 40K and keep it perfectly maintained. 2. Used that 1971 Mustang as your daily driver , worn it out and then spend big $$ in the last few years to restore it. Using option #1, we have to take your original $4,000 investment (In 1971 $$), add the cost of garaging it, insuring it, maintaining it, paying property taxes on it, registration fees etc. over 36 years. In 1971 $$ those costs could have easily come to $500 / year in 1971 $$ making your total investment for an occasionally driven toy car $22,000 in 1971 $$ (I'm sure my total cost estimate is low). Now if you had taken $22,000 in 1971 and put it in a S&P 500 index fund, your $22K investment would be worth around $450,000 today. Moral of story, never buy a new car, even a Mustang, as an "investment".
It's apparent though that there are many people out there with fun money who are just buying old collectibles, riding market inflation craze for a few months, then cashing in. Old cars are just commodities to many non-car people. Just like a stock, you gotta pick the right one.
