Bad decisions based strictly on dollar amount.....or "Equipment"......

There's a show on one of the cable channels like "House Hunters"-except the people are looking for classic muscle cars. Like "House Hunters" they follow as the people look at several cars and then make a decision. I watched a couple episodes and wanted to kick out the TV screen at the bonehead decisions these people made because they were cheap. The first guy wanted a classic '60's musclecar with a big-block V8 and a 4-speed. His budget was $35,000. They don't say if their paying cash or financing it or getting a home equity loan or how their coming by the money-they just say that's the dollar amount.  The first car this guy looks at is a gorgeous 1967 Mustang Fastback with the 390 / 4-speed powertrain. It had Torq-Thrust mags and a beautiful bronze paint job and saddle interior. And it ran like a scalded cat and sounded like the soundtrack from "Bullitt". It was priced at $35,000-a screaming deal in my opinion.  The 2nd car he looks at is a 1979 Trans-Am, with the 403 Olds / TH350 powertrain, that's priced at $29,000-which I think is way overpriced-if it was a WS6, 400, 4-speed model-that would be a different story-but a 403 / automatic?  There the proverbial dime a dozen.  Then he looks at a beautiful 1967 4-speed, SS396 Chevelle. That's priced at $45,000, but the seller said he'd negoriate a little on the price. Which car does he buy?  The '79 Trans-Am!!  Huh?  You want a big-block '60's musclecar with a 4-speed, and you buy a 79 Firebird with the most anemic engine they offered and a slushbox!!  Because it's cheaper than the other two!!  Personally I'd have bought the Mustang, but the Chevelle was a deal too. The other episode had a guy who wanted a classic musclecar-but since he lived in Arizona-it had to have factory A/C.  His budget was $45,000.  The first car he looks at is a pretty blue 1971 Road Runner. It was nicely restored, but it was a 383 / Torqueflite model with bench seats and a column shifter, and no A/C-your base model. It was priced at $40,000.   The 2nd car is a gorgeous 1969 Firebird Convertible that had the 400 / TH400 powertrain, the hood tach, power windows, factory A/C, bucket seats and console, tilt wheel, power driver's seat, everything. It was priced at $45,000.  The third one-I cringed at-it was a 1970 Dodge Coronet Wagon that some clown had done up like a Super Bee. It did have a strong 440 in it. But it was priced at $40,000. If he bought that, I would have kicked out the screen. The guy buys the Road Runner, because it was $5,000 less than the Firebird!! I'd have tried to negotiate with the owner on the price of the Firebird. And even if he wouldn't budge-if you've got 40K, you can get 45. Or if your financing it-the difference on the monthly payment is about $8!!!  So even though he said he liked the Firebird better-and it had Factory Air which was a major factor-he buys the Road Runner which DOESN'T have A/C- because it was priced a little less!!!  You spent $40,000 on a car you didn't really want because it was 5 grand cheaper than the one you did??  Who does that?  I look at a lot of websites and classic dealers and auctions to stay up on things. Here's a perfect example of buyer beware and really interpret the terminology. I saw two gorgeous 1969 Z/28 Camaros for sale. One had the JL8 rear disc brakes and the Cross-Ram intake with dual Holleys. It was priced at $97,000. The other one had front disc/ rear drums, and the standard 780 Holley on an LT-1 intake. It was priced at $69,000. But-and it's a HUGE "But" in my opinion-the one priced at $69,000 was MacNeish certified, and had the numbers-matching 302, an M21 4-speed, and the numbers-matching 12-bolt 3.73:1 posi rear end. And the seller had reciepts for thousands of dollars showing the professional rebuild of the engine and transmission, and restoration. The one with the Cross-ram intake had a "Date Correct" 302-which means it's not the original engine. It had an M20 Muncie 4-speed-which is incorrect-Z/28's only had M21's or M22's. It had a "Correct"-but not original 12-bolt rear with the JL8 4-wheel discs retrofitted.  So cool options nothwitstanding-one guy wants $100K for a car with a non-original engine, the wrong transmission, a non original rear axle-and cool options that aren't on the cars original window sticker or build sheet. The other guy wants $70K for a car with numbers-matching everything, that's certified by the "Camaro" guru-just like a Marti report on a Ford. Which one is the better deal?  Obviously the MacNeish certified one for $30K less than the very well done, but cobbled up one for $100k!!.  Another seller wanted $73,000 for an SS396 / 4-speed RS / SS '69 Camaro. It was beautiful. But again-the terminology-it had a "Date Correct" 396, a "Correct" M20 4-speed, and a "Correct" 12 bolt rear. Which means not number-matching.  A guy selling a nice 1970 Boss 302 Mustang wanted $79,000. Reasonable for a Boss 302. However it's "Service Replacement Block" was rebuilt by Holman-Moody. That means sometime in the past someone blew the original engine all to hell,like rods out the side of the block grenaded-and it was replaced under warranty or even customer pay by a dealer if the car was out of warranty. This happened a lot, and Concours organizations will recognize a service replacement block if you have the paperwork. But I've seen other Bosses-for the same price-with the original numbers-matching motor. You really have to watch terminology. A guy was selling a GTO built to Ram Air IV specs. It wasn't a real RAIV-and it didn't have RAIV / 455HO iron heads-it had aluminum Edelbrock heads, an NPD replica RAIV intake, round port Hooker Headers, and a Crane Blueprint RAIV cam. It was blisteringly fast-and very well done. But he was asking what people get for a "Real" RAIV for  basically a clone. Like Smokey Robinson said-"You better shop around".  Mastermind