Hi Guys,

I owned an HK 5.0 liter Monaro back in the 70’s and never lost my interest in the model and recently decided to get another one.

After having kept an eye on the prices over the last 5 or 6 years I was confident in getting a reasonable example for below 20 grand but having done research over the last few weeks I have found that there is a huge interest in these cars and in my opinion are now getting silly prices.

Now I know that we all have to accept economic changes and supply and demand but I believe that there is somewhat of a panic going on at the moment.

In recent weeks I have seen a nice but far from concourse HK GTS 5.0 l sell for 38k, a very rusty, partially damaged totally stripped HT non GTS shell with a pile of worn out parts and no drive line sell for close to 6k and a nice but again not concourse HK GTS 5.0l currently for sale which I expect will sell in excess of 40k.

I have also done a few searches and found a very nice but again not concourse quality HK GTS Bathurst for 95k.

Now I love these cars and would dearly love to again own one but these cars are just not that good to command these prices.

Now I can see a few of you die-hard guys getting your backs up but you have to compare what else can be bought for these prices.

Yes the collectability does contribute to value but consider that for these prices a large number of American classics can be bought for similar money as well as countless imported European classics and these cars have import costs included in the asking prices and in the case of the $95k HK an older Ferrari or E-Type Jag roadster can be bought for these prices and all of these imports can be re-sold overseas should the Aussie market fail.

I have restored a few early Corvettes and Mustangs and I have seen similar explosions of values with those cars but now the guys that paid the big bucks at the peak of the rise are now left with cars that owe them way above what they are now worth.

The down side of this situation is that even when the market comes to it’s senses the guys that have bought at high prices and even the ones that hung onto their cars all believe that their cars are still worth the big bucks so even when the cars are offered for sale they don’t sell and just get put back into the garages in hope of future returns.

I have first hand experience with this chain of events as I have sold 3 first generation Corvettes over the last five years all of which were of around the same standard.
The first one I sold for a friend and achieved a good price in a stable market, the second was my own which I sold at the peak of the market in Australia and got around 20% more and the third I sold recently which sold for around the same as the first but I consider it a very lucky sale as there was not the interest that there was earlier.

It seems that a lot of the guys that were earlier interested in those cars have dropped out of the market as prices just got too high so by the time I advertised the last one there were just not the buyers even though these models continue to increase in price and demand in the USA.

I suspect that the same will happen to the Monaro sales eventually but I just hope it happens soon as it now seems that the ownership of good quality early Monaros will be the privilege of the wealthy few and these great driving fun cars will be destined to a life on the show scene or in museums and few will be enjoyed for what they were designed for.

For the average guy who owns a Monaro these high price sales seems good news but in my case with my Corvette I did make a nice profit on it but the reason for selling it was it’s increased value and in the end the value was just too high for me not to sell it as it wasn’t practical to own a high dollar car whilst the mortgage payments were sinking me so now after 2 years of blood sweat and tears restoring the Vette I now have nothing except a lower mortgage which although good doesn’t really satisfy on a sunny Sunday which is just perfect for a cruise.

Just my humble opinions and observations but I know that I am now priced out of the market for an early HK.

Sorry for the ramble but I’m just frustrated that so many hobbies are being restricted to the wealthy.

I don’t have a problem with anyone being wealthy, hey most have worked bloody hard to get there, but it does wear a bit thin when one by one my interests have to be given up due to spiraling “collector” prices.

Mark

Sour grapes and tough cheese Mark. Ive got mine and thats all I care about.

Supply and demand. Keep looking - bargains do appear from time to time in everything, from rare books to Monaros. Regardless of what happens (and excluding a 1930s style depression) I dont ever see 5.0L HK GTSs in driveable/good condition fetching less th

Mark, your remarks are offensive. If you dont believe what our cars are worth thats your bad luck. These things are harder to source than cookiecutter vettes and camaros. If you dont like it go cry somewhere else.

yes but you are somewhat confused. the musclecar spike of the late eighties in the US was investor driven and subsequently fell flat on its face. The spike here seems to be consumer and enthusiast driven. If you think prices are going to tank significantl

Just looking in a 1986 "Unique Cars" and there is a HG 350 Bathurst Monaro for $8500, an LJ GTR XU-1 Bathurst for $8000 and an EH S-4 for $4500.

Petrol was only about 35c a litre then too. How times have changed.

Mark

I can understand your reasoning behind investors creating an artificially high price. No doubt that happens in a lot of fields with cars being only one of them. I dont think it applies this time though. I think what is happening to Monaros tod

From personal experience after being a former member of an American car club ,There are a lot of US car owners that frown upon our local GM cars particularly Corvette owners who are in a world of there own, I have 5 holdens and one locally built Pontiac P

Hi Mark,

Increasingly higher prices paid for GTS Monaros are a reflection of the current market.

None of these prices could have been demanded before the re-introduction of the CV6 or CV8 Monaros.

From an investors point of view, I would let the

Edited by user Tuesday, 28 February 2006 8:52:09 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I gotta laugh to myself too. To those obvious monaro owners (and rare publication owners who are scared ****less at the thought of a reprint), you are acting like children freaking at the thought that someone may think your perceived "pot of gold" just is