Remember the saying- "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I've talked a lot recently about the huge discrepancy in prices of musclecars. One thing that is probably confusing to the neophyte buyer is the difference between "good condition", "original" and "fully restored."  "Good Condition" or "Driver Quality", are about the same as a well-maintained original. "Good Condition / "Original" means the car has never been wrecked and has the numbers-matching engine and transmission and may even have the original paint. However this well-maintained "original" car may have 100,000 or more miles on it. Don't get me wrong, it may run and drive like a champ-because the owner(s) maintained it over the years-i.e. if the fuel pump went bad, they replaced it, if the brakes squeaked they replaced the pads and turned the rotors, if the radiator leaked, they had it patched or replaced it etc. These cars can be great bargains and fun drivers. These are the cars that you see for sale for $10,000-30,000. The fully restored category is where you find cars where every nut and bolt has been replaced whether it needed it or not. These are the cars that are generally priced between $40K-100K. If you want a Concours show car or just a brand-new old car to drive and you have the money, there's nothing wrong with these. However, don't fall into the trap that many of these sellers did. Just because you have 50 grand invested in a car, doesn't mean you'll be able to sell it for 50 grand. Especially if its a base model-in other words-no matter how pristine it is, a 351W 1969 Mustang Mach 1 is never going to bring the money that a Boss 302 will, even if the Boss isn't as nice. A friend fell into this trap, and I tried to warn him. I remember going to look at the car with him when he bought it. It was a 1971 Road Runner. It was originally a 340 car, but someone had yanked that and replaced it with a garden-variety 360. Otherwise, it was a pretty solid car-no rust issues, it ran good, stopped good, had no weird noises, and the body was pretty straight other than usual parking-lot dings and stuff. He bought it and as we drove it home we talked about maybe buying a Mopar Performance 360 crate engine that would bolt right in, and probably be cheaper than buying and building a 340, or maybe going hog-wild and installing a 440 or a Hemi Crate engine. I go to see him the next weekend and he's doing the brakes on it. "Why?" I asked. "It stopped fine, and when we pulled the wheels to look at the brakes, they were good." "The pads and shoes were thick, the wheel cylinders weren't leaking, the pedal was solid, and it stopped fine." "I want everything new." he said. "Then why did you buy this nice, drivable car?" I asked. "You could have bought a basket-case for $500 if you wanted to replace everything." "Just throw a motor in it and paint it." I said. "You'll be a lot happier, and if you ever want to sell it, you'll be able to get your money back." Well, not only did he not take my good advice, he went crazy-and replaced everything whether it needed it or not. I mean he replaced the alternator even though it was charging fine. He replaced the starter, even though it bench-tested and worked fine. He replaced the radiator even though it wasn't leaking and the car wasn't overheating. He replaced the power steering pump even though it wasn't leaking or making noise and worked fine. Unable to find a 340 for any price, He rebuilt the 360 he had with the best of everything. I could go on, but you get the picture. He spent a lot of money unnecessarily replacing things that didn't need to be replaced, which drove his restoration cost way up. When he was done, the car was absolutely beautiful. He had $35,000 invested in it by then. Then his wife had twins, and they decided to buy a bigger house, and the Road Runner had to go for a down payment on the house. He ended up selling it for $21,000, ( a loss of $14,000 ) and he's still paying off credit cards he charged up building it. Now if he'd listened to me-and just put a crate engine in it and a paint job-he'd have made money when he sold it-even if he'd sold for only 15 grand-instead of 21-and he'd be a lot happier and less in debt. He's crying the blues-but 21 grand was ALL THE MONEY for a small-block Road Runner without a numbers-matching engine. And you still lose on a premium car-I saw a frame-off resto done on a one of 295 Ram Air III, 4-speed, with factory air, for-real 1970 GTO Judge. The car was flawless-every hose, nut and bolt had been replaced. But the asking price was $75,000!!!  That the price of a house anywhere except New York or California. On the same website I saw a numbers-matching 1973 455 Trans-Am for 35k, a 400, 4-speed '79 T/A in great condition for $18,900, and a 24,000 mile original 403 Olds / TH350 powered '79 T/A for $21,000. You could buy ALL 3 of those cars for what the guy wanted for the Judge. I mean-think about it- you could keep the '73 as a show car, hot rod the 4-speed '79 model and use the 403 automatic as a daily driver!! For what this guy wants for one car??!!   I saw a great Carousel Red RAIV '69 model for 45K, and a low-mileage, 455HO, 4-speed, WW5 1972 GTO for 32K. You could buy BOTH of those rare birds for what the guy was asking for the '70 model. See the problem? I'm not saying the frame-off pristine Judge-isn't worth the money-If I hit the lottery I'd own it in a heartbeat. But since I'm not Donald Trump-I'd be more likely to buy the Trans-Am for 18K or the other GTO for 32. If your building your dream car by all means do it any way you want even if that means gold-plating everything. But don't expect to make money when you sell it. If your a mechanic and want to make a living buying and selling old musclecars you'll have to do it the way car dealers sell used cars. Buy something decent, fix a couple of things, maybe do a little bodywork and paint, maybe tires and wheels-and that's it. Your not going to make a profit doing frame-off, every nut and bolt restos unless you have a TON of venture capital and are looking to fill a very-specific niche-i.e. only do Shelby Mustangs or 55-57 Chevys. Otherwise, whether it's for a driver or one for sale-follow that rule-"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"  Mastermind