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I have owned muscle cars since I was 16 my first car was a 1967 Chevelle SS 396 4 spd car I bought for 600.00 it was mint. It didnt take me long to blow the original motor and have to replace it. That started my addiction replace cams, headers, carbs etc. My parents always were telling how crazy I was spending my entire check on my cars, they just didnt understand I was addicted and there was no stopping now. After that Chevelle I went to a Ford a 67 Mustang I would put a 351 4 speed and 4:62 rear end in for the summer and then every winter I would put the stock 289 and open back in since I could only afford one car since I spent all my extra money on that car. After many more cars and many more paychecks going into my cars my parents finally gave up until one day in 1985 when I asked my dad if I could borrow 9K dollars to go by a 69 Camaro with a blown motor, he really thought I was crazy but lent me the money any ways I sold everything I owned and paid them back in less than a year. The car I bought was a 69 hugger orange Yenko Camaro to this day my dad cant believe what has happened to the value of theese cars. The point of the story is I paid my dues and spent a lot of hard earned money on theese cars before they were worth anything thats what makes them special its a feeling only a car guy understands and its not really about money. On the other hand the money does matter because we are spending alot of money to buy them now, and alot of us are reaching a retirement age and it helps us feel a little more secure. I still drive every one of mine no matter what they are worth because weather its worth 600 or 150k its just another muscle car and the feeling is priceless.
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I can really appreciate this post because I can slightly relate to this experience. In 1990 when I got my first good paying job I dumped nearly every penny I was making into the frame on resto of my Z. Weeknights and weekends spend working on it. I remember the hot summer days that my wife (then girlfriend) would bring me gallons of Gatorade. Not sure how thrilled she was that there was no money going into us getting married
. My Mom thought I was nuts. But Dad knew I was doing something right and I think he was pretty proud to see me out there following in his footsteps. You can't put a dollar amount on these kinds of experiences.
Here is what the car looked like when I started. But throw in rusted lower doors, quarters and rear window.
John.