Such beautiful trucks. It kinda makes you wonder how much the newbies will be worth two to five decades down the road.

That 71 Chevrolet is just a work of art. The new ones in no way compare. The last model they had that came even close to looking that good were the gmt400's. Even those didn't look this good. Chevy needs to go back to looking like this again. That 55 Chevy 4x4 and 54 blue Chevy on top are awesome as well.

ill take a modern version of the 52' chevy 3600.

Great trucks.

I like the 55 Chev Napco 4x4 and the 1961 Willys FC-150.

The colour scheme on the 55 Chev with the black and green is nice.

"The minute you drive a new pickup away from the dealership it is worth at least 10 percent less than you paid for it." -Richard Truesdell

And the minute you drive off the auction block don't foget to add 10% buyer's premium and take a loss unless you bought it right and know for a fact that you have a buyer that will pay your price and will never lose money.

______________

"And unless you were going to treat it like a truck, which would you rather drive? A brand-new Silverado or a classic, fully restored, indestructible K-10? I think you know what my answer would be." - Richard Truesdell

If you're going to drive it, the more miles that you put on this truck (even if you don't "treat it like a truck") for your personal driving pleasure, the faster it drops in condition and worth a lot less money. Get a few road dings on it and it rapidly drops, trading for far far far less money than what you paid.

That's the reality of the classic/collectable marketplace. If you want show Condition 1 dough for your truck, it will be a garage queen showpiece, not a driver.

If you just want a truck to drive, get a comparable 2014 Chevy RC Silverado. If you want a classic pickup and don't mind paying top dollar at auction for a 1971 Chevy pickup, get one but don't expect it to be an "investment" and never worth less than you paid. Few, if any, of the trucks of the 1970's that you've chosen are appreciating "classics".

OP, in addition to not treating it like a truck, people who follow your advice of driving an old truck and don't live in California will have to keep their old truck off winter roads without fail or you will lose whatever you paid for the car as it rusts away over 10 years.

Also, if you can't do almost all your own repairs and maintenance, the old truck game will be expensive for you at best, assuming you can find a good shop that works on old iron, and knows what they are doing. You can forget about such a shop being cheap. More likely you will find a hack shop that will do poor quality work and over-charge for it. You can forget about getting good old truck service at chain garages (well, you can forget about getting good services at a chain garage in general, except by the lucky accident that you visit one where a good tech is working, temporarily, till he/she can get a better job)

If you do DIY, you will over time spend a lot on tools, although the tool money is closer to an investment than the car money is. You will spend a lot of your free time working on old cars. If you are not OK with that, if your SO is not OK with that, well, that's going to be a problem.

And driving a fully restored truck is the surest way to turn it into an unrestored truck. You may be the most careful driver in the world, but there's risk of rock chips, door dings, and just plain wear and tear on the vehicle that will require replacement parts that will not always maintain the value as the OE parts when assembled can do. At risk, too ... is accident damage ... if for no other reason than somebody else's negligence or stupidity; even a fender bender will seriously lower the value of your truck.

These are truly beautiful. Unfortunately, the attraction and high prices paid at auction is all about the crappy condition of the US dollar.

Every time the dollar's crapped out during the last 45 years, the prices paid for art collections, Rolex watches, old Winchester rifles and Colt pistols goes through the roof.

It's a symptom of a sad condition. A manufacturing index released this week lists about 12 different indices--every single one is down for the month of September.

Katie bar the door.

An old truck is beautiful but a terrible investment. You never know what the "market" is going to do. Whats hot today, could change tomorrow. You buy a truck to drive and enjoy, not sit around and "collect dust".

Also, the younger people coming up that didn't grow up then don't care as much about even 70's cars or 80's trucks, hence the value will most likely drop in 10 years.

Also there is a problem with a garage/trailer queen. If you don't drive it, it falters. Rubber pieces need to be lubed (inside or outside) oil/grease circulated.....if not dry rot will eventually come visiting....not a easy chore for a person not mechanically inclined.

If you want the old truck to be a driver, instead of a newer truck, what shops/mechanics are around that could make any repairs if the parts are available? They are diminishing rapidly on the old carb models.

@papa jim,

The Classic Vehicle market is one of the best valued markets for investors, keeping up with Gold. It's a great investment! You would be wise to buy a classic truck at auction than buying a new truck at a dealer!

@papa jim,

Let me hlep you cut through the fog of misinformation that can sometimes cloud the classic car market.

In 2008, when the worldwide economy was rocked by rapid devaluations in paper backed assets, we calmly and patiently pointed out to our customers that:

The collector car market has historically been an “all cash” market and has never been directly subject to the inflationary forces of cheap and easy credit.
High grade collector cars are typically rare, limited production hard assets. For example, Chevrolet isn’t making any more 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS6 convertibles.
The cost to properly restore a vintage collector car, in most cases, exceeds its market value.
Like any hard asset, the value of most classic cars tend to rise with the debasement of national currencies and keep pace with inflation. As the labor and parts cost to restore a car increase, so does the value of the existing pool of cars.

And, just as we predicted, the classic car market stayed stable and, over the past year, has seen a noticeable rise in values as investors worldwide look for secure places to store their hard-earned wealth.

In reality, when viewed over a 15-20 year time horizon, there is only one asset class that has outperformed classic cars: gold.

Does that mean you should cash out your retirement plan and buy up a bunch of collector cars? No! You can’t afford to go into this hobby unarmed or you risk blowing your money quickly. Classic cars have the characteristics of many collectibles, but are unique in many ways. A vast array of varying factors can significantly affect the value of any collector car at any time including:

Original components or lack thereof.
Production number of a particular model.
Color combination.
Presence or lack of historical documents.
Generational demand.
Survivor versus restored.
Quality of restoration.

Look in a price guide or the latest issue of a magazine and you will see a wide disparity between the numbers, or, it’s one guy’s opinion.

We bring value to our customers because of the sheer volume of transactions we handle in a true retail environment (versus wholesale auctions). Want to know what your non-numbers matching, triple black 1969 Camaro Pro Touring with a ZZ502 and a 5 speed is worth? We can tell you-and the number will be pretty accurate. Best of all, we can back it up with a check or sale on your behalf.

What are the best cars to invest in? We tell all of our customers the same thing: the cars that bring the biggest smile to your face. The reality is that after you purchase a classic car and transport, service, store and maintain it, a realistic goal would be to have the car appreciate enough to cover your cost of ownership. Your bonus is enjoying the car for free!

Or, if you are like a lot of our customers and trade in and out of cars frequently, our accurate pricing platform and stable retail platform assures that we will give you a very favorable trade number when it comes time to swap your classic for something new that’s caught your eye.

An adage we use often is that it’s easy to overpay for a bargain but it’s difficult to overpay for the best. As classic car veterans knows, the difference between a #1 grade car and a #3 grade car can be $20,000.00 in purchase price and $80,000.00 in parts and labor. The #3 car will rarely appreciate it in value, while the #1 has a much better likelihood of bringing that “enjoy me for free bonus” that comes with a prudent purchase.

In summary, our commitment to our customers is to offer high grade collector cars, properly sorted out and accurately represented, meaning a great ownership experience for the customer. We certainly aren’t investment advisors at RK Motors Charlotte, but we do know a thing or two about which cars to put your money into. You tell us what would bring a smile to your face and we will do our best to put you in the driver’s seat of the right car!!!!!!

Invest in classic cars and trucks.

It's the right thing to do!

great investment?

@classic car auctioneer

I won't argue that a LOT of people have made big money buying/selling old cars like these trucks.

I prefer to call art collections, old Colt pistols and museum quality car collections as a great place to park your wealth during inflationary times when the dollar falls.

Sadly it's very hard to gauge the value of something when the currency we use to measure changes in value is constantly changing in its own value.

Like the old riff about the yardstick--if it's 36 inches today and 40 inches tomorrow...WTF???

Some people lose big money in this game too.

"What are the best cars to invest in?"

@auctioneer,

None according to the guide by Rich Truesdale who just gives enough advice to be dangerous at the autions. I hate these kinds of buyers. He thinks he knows enough by looking at previous auction prices to buy something, but he only knows enough to make him feel confident enough to try it when he is sure to fail, probably disastrously.

For anyone who wants a classic car or truck,my advice would be to buy a "driver quality" vehicle,not one that has been completely restored,unless money is no object and you don't plan to drive said vehicle.

Good investment? If you had $27K to invest, would you invest in a $27k old car or truck that you weren't sure what its worth? If you were to reauction it you would have to get $34k just to break even.

babyboomers with money that want to re-live their childhood

@Tom#3 - didn't you say you restored old bikes?

I doubt that most of today's cars and trucks will be not be sought after collector items. For one thing trucks are a number one seller, years ago trucks were not major sellers. Also today's vehicles have too many expensive electronics which make them harder to maintain as they get older. Today's trucks are plentiful and not as unique as the trucks in the past. For most of us it is better to buy what we like drive it and if we keep it long enough maybe it will be worth something but most of the time it will just be an older well maintained vehicle that we enjoy using. Having to keep up a older vehicle that is collectible is not a cheap hobby and as others have said driving it on a regular basis will cause it to depreciate.

I put a double negative in I meant I doubt these vehicles will be sought after collector items.

Lou BC
My last comment wasn't a cut down or intended to be an insult, its simply a fact.
Maybe you need some mellow out pills.
If you must know the reason I restore old bikes is because I can do that better than everyone else and it would be a waste of my talent if I didn't do it.
I have no guff about old men spending big money for old trucks the same way I buy a new truck just to impress my friends, not because I need one, but I have a reason cause I am popular and good looking so a new truck keeps my image up.
Maybe you should try that success breeds success, even if you are a failure you can fake it and make it look you are successful. Yea I admit I am a dummy but with my good looks and charming personality being seen driving around in a new truck it makes me look good and intelligent and successful.

Thank you for all comments. I do appreciate the feedback.

Now a few notes.

First, to @paul, if you're going to call me out, at least have the courtesy to spell my name right, OK? The feature was about finding a classic vehicle that doesn't cost more than a house in Beverly Hills, a vehicle that the average enthusiast can afford and enjoy. If you didn't see that from reading the article, I think you missed the point.

Thanks to @classic car auctioneer for a well-thought out post. I believe that enthusiasts buying trucks on the high end of the scale either are very knowledgeable about prices or often use services like yours to determine value. Rarely do these people over pay for a vehicle. That is unless there are two bidders involved who are highly motivated for whatever the reason, to add the vehicle to their collection. And I've come out and gone on the record, identified several examples that I believe still represent great value within the context of the larger collector-vehicle world. You want a good example, just look at the . I believe that a year from now that truck, if would reappear at auction would sell for at least 20% more than it did this year. And if it was my truck, I'd go out and find a period-correct truck camper. I'm thinking that if I showed up at a local car show, such a combination would garner many appreciative comments and reactions.

As to the many comments about driving a classic vehicle that will drive down its value, I will make these points. While the suggestion was somewhat rhetorical on my part, if you own a condition 1 trailer queen with zero post-restoration mileage, yes driving it at all might have a downside effect on your investment. But being pretty well dialed-in to the collector car world, in talking with many owners, after they show a car for a year or two, they tend to start driving them and enjoying them being less concerned if it picks up a stone chip or two. You see these people all the time, they are the ones with the ear-to-ear grin as they are driving down the freeway in their pride and joy. My hat is off to them.

The other side of this article was to point out that there are great buys found every day on your local Craigslist and to a lesser extent on eBay. Use the auction values as a guide when considering the purchase of a local barn find or a dusty or a low-mileage vehicle found in a storage unit that hasn't seen daylight in 25 years. I venture to say that if you buy wisely you won't get hurt financially so long as you properly maintain your acquisition.

Over the past 20 years I have photographed more than 1,000 vehicles and written a line number of magazine features. Recently I've been surprised at the number of vehicles that I've photographed that I thought were fresh restorations only to find out that they were restored 10, 15, 20 or even 25 years ago. And while they aren't daily drivers by any stretch of the imagination, many of these exceptional vehicles are driven on a regular basis. In fact driving such vehicles on a regular basis is one of the best ways to maintain them.

There's an adage that has been stated many times in the collector car world. Buy what you want and will enjoy, not because of its appreciation potential down the road. If you do, you will almost never get hurt.

Sorry about the previous post. I was composing it in my word processor and pasted in the incomplete version. Here's the full-length, edited draft.

Thank you for all comments. I do appreciate the feedback.

Now a few notes.

First, to @paul, if you're going to call me out, at least have the courtesy to spell my name right, OK? The feature was about finding a classic vehicle that doesn't cost more than a house in Beverly Hills, a vehicle that the average enthusiast can afford and enjoy. If you didn't see that from reading the article, I think you missed the point.

Thanks to @classic car auctioneer for a well-thought out post. I believe that enthusiasts buying trucks on the high end of the scale either are very knowledgeable about prices or often use services like yours to determine value. Rarely do these people over pay for a vehicle. That is unless there are two bidders involved who are highly motivated for whatever the reason, to add the vehicle to their collection. And I've come out and gone on the record, identified several examples that I believe still represent great value within the context of the larger collector-vehicle world.

Take the 1955 Chevrolet Napco 4x4 conversion. I believe that a year from now that truck, if would reappear at auction would sell for at least 20% more than it did this year. And if it was my truck, I'd go out and find a period-correct truck camper. I'm thinking that if I showed up at a local car show, such a combination would garner many appreciative comments and reactions.

Here's such an example of such a scenario, the 37,000-mile 1969 Chevrolet Longhorn Custom with the Silver Streak slide-in Camper (http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2012/07/22/) that I wrote about back in 2012.

As to the many comments about driving a classic vehicle that will drive down its value, I will make these points. While the suggestion was somewhat rhetorical on my part, if you own a condition 1 trailer queen with zero post-restoration mileage, yes driving it at all might have a downside effect on your investment. But being pretty well dialed-in to the collector car world, in talking with many owners, after they show a car for a year or two, they tend to start driving them and enjoying them being less concerned if it picks up a stone chip or two. You see these people all the time, they are the ones with the ear-to-ear grin as they are driving down the freeway in their pride and joy. My hat is off to them.

The other side of this article was to point out that there are great buys found every day on your local Craigslist and to a lesser extent on eBay. Use the auction values as a guide when considering the purchase of a local barn find or a dusty or a low-mileage vehicle found in a storage unit that hasn't seen daylight in 25 years. I venture to say that if you buy wisely you won't get hurt financially so long as you properly maintain your acquisition.

And for @ron, I say this. Over the past 20 years I have photographed more than 1,000 vehicles and written a like number of magazine features. Recently I've been surprised at the number of vehicles that I've photographed that I thought were fresh restorations only to find out that they were restored 10, 15, 20 or even 25 years ago. And while they aren't daily drivers by any stretch of the imagination, many of these exceptional vehicles are driven on a regular basis. In fact driving such vehicles on a regular basis is one of the best ways to maintain them.

There's an adage that has been stated many times in the collector car world. Buy what you want and will enjoy, not because of its appreciation potential down the road. If you do, you will almost never get hurt.

I owned a 1977 Chevy K-10 Silverado from 2011 till 2014. I bought the truck to drive in on weekends and to car shows. i did not drive it in the winter. It was not a fully restored truck but one that was in great condition. I bought it for $9000 in 2011 and sold it earlier this year for $9000. A money maker no but not a money loser. And three wonderful years of smiling from ear to ear when I drove it. That is my hope for all of these trucks. Drive them, don't hide them.

Love them all. I am glad, however, that I bought our '68 C-10 when I did. These are indeed indestructible and easily repaired old trucks. Parts are plentiful, too. Don't know as I could afford one now!