A few things members need to know if they are planning the attend the TRR on Saturday. 1) There is no parking outside the 4th turn as there usually is. They are parking cars across International Speedway Drive and using the pedestrian crosswalk. Then, because of the construction, they made us walk almost down to the 4th turn to get into the swap meet. That's about a mile of extra walking. They are adding new seats to the grand stands like crazy. You can avoid that by parking outside the 1st turn. Don't go to the 4th turn! 2)The swap meet area inside the first turn is empty because it's too wet to drive vehicles on it. About 75% of the swap meet rows have mud 6" deep in some areas. 3)The vendor count was the worst I've seen in 10 years. 4)The car coral is bigger than I've ever seen it. What does that say for the future of this hobby?
I agree, the car corral was huge! I don't know what that means for the future but a LOT of cars seemed to be selling this year. I think the reason for that is there seemed to be some realistic pricing..
I went to the Zephyrhills auction two weeks ago and one out of 10 cars sold and the ones that did sell went for a half or less of what is costs to build. A nice Model A went for $10K. It would be interesting to see how many of those cars in the car coral actually sells. People tend to collect and restore the cars they grew up with. I'm 61 and I know people my age and younger who say "this is my last car" or "I'm thinning-out my collection". Eventually the market will become saturated. I hope the collector car market comes back, but, with people getting older, passing away and younger people not getting into it, logic tells me it may not come back. Ron Pratt (the guy who buys the million dollar cars at Barret Jackson) is liquidating his collection. This is a guy who made billions building houses and sold his contracting company in 2006 at the peak. If you have valuable cars and you think you may need that money later in your life you may consider unloading them. Otherwise, buy what you enjoy and restore what you enjoy. There's no such thing as an investment grade vehicle anymore.
We had to cancel the TRR this year because of the rain. We could not stay for Friday and Saturday. There is a lot to what you are saying about the market. Other factors at play are the Hellcat, Zo6, GT 500, etc. (125-127 mph in the quarter straight out of the showroom). Even the older end of the buyer demographics are gravitating there. This trend pushes more first generation muscle cars on to the open market.
Our neighbors returned Sunday from Florida. They were lucky enough to tour the event. They were in total awe of the quantity and quality of the cars in attendance.
The car show is great and the car coral is a show in itself. The swap meet isn't what it used to be. A lot of the major vendors weren't there. Maybe it was the weather. I noticed on the map that they had about 1/3 less space allocated to the swap meet and still had empty spots. The construction didn't help any, made for an extra mile and a half of walking. They have "tower seats" from the first turn to the fourth turn and now they're building seats above that! Hopefully they'll eliminate the lower section of seats, it's way too dangerous down there, only about 15 ft from the 200 MPH cars.
I didn't make it, but my brother told me Belair Plaza was insane all weekend. I understand the thoughts about the hobby having a definite shelf life, but I don't think that will hit the muscle car market for many years to come. A warning sign will be when the '32 Fords and '50s cruisers fall off in value. The owners and lovers of those are getting significantly older, and there are not enough young people in line to buy their rides. The musclecar owner sweet spot are people in their 40s and 50s, just about where you want it to be. Kids grown, disposable income, and a love of the past when muscle cars were king. The hobby will slow someday, but not soon.
