Hooniverse Asks: What’s a good example of they paid how much for that?

Jeff Glucker

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Vintage Ford Broncos are pricey. I expect to see clean, perhaps lightly modified examples selling in the neighborhood of $50,000. That is a ton of cash for a metal box that’s uncomfortable to drive. But an old Bronco is also undeniably cool, especially when there’s a gurgling V8 mounted under the hood. Even then, a Bronco costing around $50k is pricey. So when I see one go for $120,000 on Bring A Trailer, my mind explodes.

This specific 1973 Ford Bronco is certainly well restored and modified. But it’s a sale price is, in a word, insane. It’s like the buyer is Jason Bateman’s character from Ozark and this vehicle is a vehicle for some money that needs a wash. I just cannot fathom the thinking that would see bidders ring the price up this high on an old Bronco. It’s not even an Icon-built truck, which would at least help me begin to wrap my head around the sales price.

Let’s forget about the Bronco for a second though… what are some other notable examples of “they paid how much for that?” that you’re aware of? Share them in the comments below.

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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33 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: What’s a good example of they paid how much for that?”

  1. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    When the Berline de Voyage was auctioned in 1986, it officially became the world’s most expensive car, at $6.5 million. A year later, it got flipped for a $1.6 million profit. A lot of money, but I’m sure it would sell for well above that if it got marketed today. It seems there always tends to be money for the “right” cars, it’s ust that the people with the money get to decide which cars are the right cars.

    Reply
    1. Tiberiuswise Avatar
      Tiberiuswise

      I seem to remember a tv show or movie from the 80’s where they had to tear apart a Royale looking for a hidden clue. I think it turned out to be in the driveshaft or something. Can’t seem to find it. Anyone else remember something like that?

      Reply
      1. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
        SlowJoeCrow

        I think there was a Clive Cussler story involving a Royale but I don’t know if it was ever dramatized. The classic tear apart a car scene was in The French Connection when they disassemble a Lincoln Continental looking for heroin.

        Reply
        1. Tiberiuswise Avatar
          Tiberiuswise

          I feel like I’m going crazy. My memory is a mix between Jack Warden from Used Cars and Andy Griffith from Salvage 1. Totally distraught about having to tear apart the Royale. They didn’t find whatever they were looking for until the 11th hour after nearly giving up and resigning themselves to having destroyed the car for nothing. Then, the next day, the team put the car back together.

          Reply
  2. GTXcellent Avatar
    GTXcellent

    The entire market for regular, mundane cars from the ’80s and ’90s has me scratching my head.
    https://cdn.bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/1984_oldsmobile_eighty-eight_1581531953f853def9bcf3f8e1DSC_9205-940×626.jpg
    https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1984-oldsmobile-eighty-eight/ this hammered for $7100!
    My folks bought this exact car brand-new when I was 8 years old (although theirs did have overdrive). It was not a great car, and was the very definition of appliance transportation. I asked my Dad if he remembered what they paid back when Reagan was in his first term, and he thought somewhere in the $12k range. I hope the new buyer loves it, but in no way, shape or form would I even pay a quarter of that price.

    Reply
    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      But that’s the thing though, people who get nostalgic about them will pay whatever cash they have at hand and think is reasonable from their perspective. I have been lusting after a Volga for decades and have seen prices quadruple; same with a Volvo 264 TE. Or the Korean car I just bought that 11 of 10 car nuts would struggle to recognize as a collectible – I paid 5k$ in Norway when the Korean market seems to think 2k$ would be a hard sell. I have a mundane taste to begin with, not even talking about Bugattis and Ferraris being sold for the price of en entire estate development of houses with roads, electricity and what not included. Value is incredibly subjective, and I would say everything I am not interested in is unashamedly overpriced…while I fall face first into my own alley.

      Reply
      1. Wayne Moyer Avatar
        Wayne Moyer

        I’ve been watching a lot of cars getting pricier over the last fifteen years. I’ve also been trying to figure out which ones will go up in value. I called it correctly on a couple like when I owned a Triumph Spitfire. I’ve been wrong on ones like the Pontiac Fiero. Still haven’t figured out why they haven’t exploded in value.
        I just saw a 78 Olds Delta 88 hit Bring a Trailer. This caught my attention because its one of two $300 cars that I’ve owned in my life. It was a ’79 actually. The other being an ’82 Monte Carlo. Of course when I was in Vo-tech from 89-91 all the monster muscle cars that are $50k and up were cheap cars because they plentiful and used huge amounts of gas. My age group (Gen X) doesn’t really have nostalgia for them because we view them as disposable. Yet I do feel nostalgia for Malaise cars and will pay extra for them.
        Oddly the classic in my garage is neither of these. It isn’t from the seventies to early eighties or a muscle car.

        Reply
        1. crank_case Avatar
          crank_case

          The Fiero is easy to understand – The MR2 exists and Japanese cars are starting to be finally accepted as classics. It will always look like an also-ran. I’ve had at least two bucket money cars that are worth mutiples of what I paid or sold them for now, a 205 GTi and an Alfa 75 T-Spark.

          If I were to make prediction for a get it while it’s at the bottom of the market car, it’d be the Mk3 MR2 Spyder /MR-S – a totally under rated car that more people are slowly beginning to appreciate.

          Reply
      2. Zentropy Avatar
        Zentropy

        Your Volga and Volvo 264 are my Amazon and Volvo 145. Prices have gotten stupid-high compared to what they were 10 years ago.

        Reply
    2. Fuhrman16 Avatar
      Fuhrman16

      Geez, $7100 and it doesn’t even have a straight bumper. I remember a friend of mine bought a two door version of one of these for $150 not a decade ago.

      Reply
    3. Wayne Moyer Avatar
      Wayne Moyer

      By that same idea there are people paying near MSRP for 90’s Toyota Tacoma’s. It seems they all go for $17k. I paid $15k for my 95 1/2 regular cab Tacoma, 4 cylinder, 5 speed, 4×4 with the 31×10.5’s in 96 with 4,000 miles on it. I don’t think I could get one for less than $17k today.

      Reply
      1. danleym Avatar
        danleym

        Tacoma’s are just stupid expensive. I’ve looked for them on and off, and even the “cheap” ones with 300,000 miles go for 10k.

        For that matter, there is no such thing as a cheap beater truck anymore. I paid 4k last year for a beater 79 K10 that I would’ve paid half that for 5 years earlier. And that was the cheapest truck I could find without major mechanical issues.

        Reply
        1. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
          SlowJoeCrow

          Your local market must be crazy I can find 90s F-150 4x4s for $1500-3000 all the time and rust free to boot. That said I went 4X2 to get a lowish mileage 2002 F-150 instead.
          Toyotas and Subarus fetch ridiculous money out here and don’t even start on FJ60 Land Cruiser prices. I can sort of understand a premium for JDM diesels but I see people asking $10-15k for 35 year old trucks with 350,000 miles

          Reply
          1. danleym Avatar
            danleym

            The 2 wheel drives are definitely available cheaper here, but with as much snow as we get a RWD pickup makes no sense.

            Subarus don’t seem to lose much value here, either. We bought a Crosstrek 4 years ago, and bought it new only because the used ones were only 1-2k cheaper, and that seemed like a small price to pay to know there hadn’t been any previous owner abusing it.

    4. crank_case Avatar
      crank_case

      The Rad era x-ers are replacing the winga dinga boomers as the old farts with cash. It helps that a lot of that stuff is pretty useable too, especially Japanese stuff.

      Reply
  3. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
    SlowJoeCrow

    Icon and Singer restomods are stupid money look at this https://youtu.be/2UAnYNaLeL8 and consider that Hagerty values a good condition 6 cylinder 4×4 at $18,000 and this was likely $250,000.
    Let’s not even consider the markups from Gas Monkey for slapping some big wheels and fresh paint on anything.

    Reply
    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      You have to really appreciate attention to detail and quality of materials in order to justify ICON prices. You can replicate 99% of an ICON-built vehicle for about 10% of what they sell for.

      That’s a stupid price, but dayam it’s a gorgeous truck.

      Reply
      1. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
        SlowJoeCrow

        Yeah Icon does great work but 100 point concours level work on something you expect to use in the dirt seems wasteful. I’m also not 100% sure about the Coyote engine, A $50,000 FJ40/FJ45 seems pricey.

        Reply
  4. outback_ute Avatar
    outback_ute

    Last year someone paid AUD$905k for the number plate 22 at an auction in Sydney, and 2 years ago 911 sold for $525k in Melbourne – again just the number plate, not a car.

    Reply
    1. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      Someone should pay $906k for plate 906, and then attach it to a 906 car.

      Reply
      1. outback_ute Avatar
        outback_ute

        That went for $110k – bargain?

        Reply
  5. Wayne Moyer Avatar
    Wayne Moyer

    Now i understand Barrett Jackson auctions are weird and alcohol fueled. I also get the Boomer nostalgia knows no bounds but there was one auction that made me step and go WTH just happened. Which was the Batmobile. Which was between a Boomer and a museum. The Boomer wanted it for his living room and paid $4 million plus a lot of feeds for it. On top of this that fascination lasted about a year before he tried to resell it. The Futurama display trucks are another one of those monster value things that make no sense from Barrett Jackson.

    Reply
  6. Rover 1 Avatar
    Rover 1

    Overpriced Four Wheel Drives are not just confined to the USA. Check out the price of Mk1 Range Rovers. https://www.kingsleycars.co.uk/range-rover-classics-for-sale/
    £175,000 equals about $US 215,000 to $220,000.

    https://www.kingsleycars.co.uk/imager/imageroot/23026/DSC_0224_191030_105220_b65eff296ce5972056d514e2a7a14b7f.jpg

    Reply
  7. I_Borgward Avatar
    I_Borgward

    Another shining example of how big money spoils everything it touches.

    Reply
  8. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    Bring-a-Trailer is NOT the market. It’s unfortunately influencing it, though, because I see many Craigslist ads for beaters that justify their high asking prices by creating very tenuous connections to BaT-auctioned cars.

    You will occasionally see a no-reserve car on BaT go for a reasonable price, but most are ridiculous. I frequent BaT just for the variety and (often) quality photos of interesting cars. I usually try to avoid the comments because they piss me off.

    Reply
    1. danleym Avatar
      danleym

      Fact. It’s fun to look at, and every now and again I have to talk myself out of bidding for something, but I don’t spend any time in the comments section.

      Reply
      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        For a time, I did even save some of the brilliant photography, but then realized I never look at it again and it just clogs my phone. But the comments are where the fun is, to my mind. Lots of fluff, but also a lot of weird insight, some personal stories, and just neat car entertainment.

        Reply
    2. Fuhrman16 Avatar
      Fuhrman16

      The ironic thing about it all is that BaT started out as a place to find cheap project cars. It wasn’t really until they started doing the auctions about 4 years ago that the prices started going bonkers.

      Reply
  9. Lokki Avatar
    Lokki

    Ridiculously over-paying someone for his old car? From your lips wallet to my 71 Alfa Spider, please!

    Reply
  10. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    I’m with Lokki – but more for the Smokey and the Bandit crowd. I figure the cracked patina’d bird decal on the hood is worth a $2k premium.

    Reply
  11. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    The equivalent of 124,000 dollars for a “David Brown” Mini is just mental.

    https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/david-brown/mini-remastered

    Reply
    1. Rover 1 Avatar
      Rover 1

      https://www.autocar.co.uk/sites/autocar.co.uk/files/styles/gallery_slide/public/mini-remastered.jpg?itok=rUf7sYrJ

      Reply
  12. Gurdil_the_Dwarf Avatar
    Gurdil_the_Dwarf

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bf8123fa978ec7d1b592f10374f262ff3f94f0e051e50c2190b2eeca8905061a.jpg

    this one has only 148 certified km, but still, 40 000€ ?

    https://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/1791388480.htm/

    Reply