QOTD: The Price Is Wrong?

Today’s question is brought to you by kitchen-table musing and grumbling by two gearheads at the Guy household on Saturday. As it always does, the conversation turned to cars.

“Nothing’s affordable anymore!” ranted my friend, waving his arms while expressing a desire to own old Alfas and other machinery with the structural integrity of wet tissue paper.

The man may have a point. Do you think the values of certain desirable cars are inflated beyond reason?

I argued that the auction site Bring-a-Trailer is doing to the values of certain oddball cars what Barrett-Jackson did to the values of Hemi ‘Cudas about 10 or 15 years ago. Those machines were always extremely valuable but, in the wake of televised bidding frenzies, those cars soon started changing hands for dizzying amounts, shutting out all but the 1 percent of gearheads.

Their values have cooled, as the demographics of those with car-sized amounts of money burning holes in their bank accounts starts to shift. Gearheads — the sloppy, misty-eyed dates that we are — tend to throw caution and good reason out the window when we find ourselves in a position to finally purchase the machine we coveted as a teenager or young adult.

Me? I’d very much like to have an Integra Type R — painted Phoenix Yellow, please. Not long ago, these little rockets were desired but not wholly unattainable. Now? The two currently on BAT are already trading well into five-figure territory. It’s not like either of them are perfect examples — one has crash history and 182k miles, the other is a ten-owner car with mileage discrepancies and an outstanding lien.

I’m glad for the BAT boffins; they’ve created a great gearhead community and are proving to be one of the premier stops for rare and desirable machinery. It’s great when people start a business and are successful. I am also glad for those who have found a way to put one in their garage.

Doesn’t make it any easier to get my Integra Type R, though. What car do you think is currently trading for nutso values? Are there any others you think will soon rocket into the stratosphere?

[image: Acura]