The family didn't look to happy after it was sold. I bet they were thinking they should of gotten much more money for it, but the truth is the car had too much patina on it to fetch more money. I believe it was hyped up way too much for what it really is and the shape it was in. The Direct connection Cuda was a sure surprise as I didn't think it would break a million yet alone sell for 2 million. Has too be the highest price for a non hemi Cuda that I can recall.

 

The Direct connection Cuda was a sure surprise as I didn't think it would break a million yet alone sell for 2 million. Has too be the highest price for a non hemi Cuda that I can recall.

I was surprised as well. Pre-auction estimates were in the $500-700K range.

 

Someone with deep pockets had WAY too much alcohol today to pay that ridiculous amount.

 

Honest people knew it wouldn't hit a million. I'd be disappointed too if I were the family.

 

Legendary street racer.....or an unrestored 426 Challenger with a YouTube history?

 

When I made my $800k-$1.2m estimate on this car, I was factoring in the fact that street racing is usually heavily frowned upon with collectors. They don't typically give any special consideration for such things. It's not like a famous race car with a storied racing pedigree. Street racing accomplishments are usually never talked about... mainly because if the car was street raced, it hurts the value of the car. The BG was a special case in that it's iconic... but it's still got no racing pedigree and it was in poor overall condition. It had a 426 Hemi and a rare build. That's what brought the price. The special provenance added a hundred grand or so... but this car's primary value came from the original nature and the combination of the 426 and the gator grain top.

This is also a rare case where a full concourse restoration may turn this car into a $1.5m on a $150k investment. It's one thing to be a survivor car, but this thing was neglected and abused over the years. That abuse can be rolled back to its "pristine street racing condition" as it was the last time he raced down Woodward Ave. I don't think this car is done any good service by leaving it in this poor condition.

 

50 foot car at best, I think the family should be happy for what it sold for...

 

Seen it up closer and personal. 50 foot car at best as said.

 

Yeah if the family was upset at getting 1m for this car in this condition with questionmakrks about the backstory they are delusional. Meanwhile, I love how Gocat has diverted attention to the OG as his beloved #001 "300K+ 23 BG" simultaneously hammered for 155K. lol...

The dude should be in marketing for sure....

 

Yeah if the family was upset at getting 1m for this car in this condition with questionmakrks about the backstory they are delusional. Meanwhile, I love how Gocat has diverted attention to the OG as his beloved #001 "300K+ 23 BG" simultaneously hammered for 155K. lol...

The dude should be in marketing for sure....

Delusional person thinks this car and the sticker cars are the same. Lol

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I saw the car up close and its in really poor shape.

 

I don't understand why the Family would be angry at a getting that much money for a car that was beat to the ground (and still looks like it was beat to the ground and then some) but I guess it's just basic greedy instinct to want more! It's Crazy that it went for this much just because of it's history!

What does a restored Hemi Challenger/Cuda go for? I ask because I'd rather have something that didn't need the amount of work that the OG BG needs to just make it nice and then once you'd restore it, it might lose some value. Who knows in this market?

 

I don't understand why the Family would be angry at a getting that much money for a car that was beat to the ground (and still looks like it was beat to the ground and then some) but I guess it's just basic greedy instinct to want more! It's Crazy that it went for this much just because of it's history!

What does a restored Hemi Challenger/Cuda go for? I ask because I'd rather have something that didn't need the amount of work that the OG BG needs to just make it nice and then once you'd restore it, it might lose some value. Who knows in this market?

I don't know nor have I read up much on them. But I did watch that documentary and a couple interviews with the owner. I get the idea that they are not a family of means. When the car was "rediscovered" back in 2016, they sought to repair it and get it running again. They ended up only doing a minor mechanical repair to get it running and did some basic repairs to make it driveable. It hasn't been touched since.

We all know it's a rotting car at this point. There's a gaping hole in the floor, it leaked for days all over the national mall (oil and coolant). It's got extensive body damage on the driver's side and lots of undercarriage rot and rust. For a car with this kind of history, it needs a concourse restoration. Any other lesser restoration would destroy this car's value. Even a general restoration would cost 60-80k. This family seemingly didn't have the funds to pull off the resto. They held on to it because I don't believe they wanted to sell it... but as time went on, it just kept rotting. The more it rots, the more expensive the repair bill.

I'm pretty certain that Dodge's marketing people had something to do with pushing them to sell it to coincide with the last call editions and their release date. They probably paid them a handsome sum to use the car for promos and to back-channel aid them in marketing it for sale. This way, the car help's Dodge while also freeing up the problem with having a rotten car that's too expensive to fix.

I'm in the same boat with my factory original '67 GT500. I'm fortunate in that it is stored in near pristine condition. However, if something happened and I had to whip out $100,000 to repair or restore it, I wouldn't be able to do that easily. I've said it here before, owning a valuable classic is 1 part blessing, 2 parts curse. If something goes wrong with it, you usually can't take it somewhere to get it fixed. You either have to do it yourself or find a specialist. Like, if I ever get a paint blemish... I can't buff or touch it up. It's factory original lacquer paint. I know how to work with lacquer, but on that car, I don't trust myself. I'd send it off to someone who knows how to blend it properly without adding any new paint. Having any amount of repaint on that car would force a 20% loss in value. The same is true for all the mechanical parts. You can't just put generic parts on it, at all. Everything has to be new old stock, or you have to repair the broken piece itself and reuse it. Anything short of that and half my value goes away. Something as simple as replacing a brake master cylinder becomes a very expensive undertaking when you can't get a NOS part and have to find someone or a company to refurb your existing master cylinder. I had a thermostat bolt break off in the block a few years ago. It cost me almost $1,000 to have that bolt carefully tapped and backed out... then repaired by a blacksmith via forge welding the head back onto the damned bolt.

That's the level of care that the Black Ghost is going to need for it to maintain top value. A resto of this grade is going to cost somewhere in the ballpark of a quarter million dollars. However, it would also spike the likely value well above $1.5 million. Right now it's valued at $975k in original, yet rotten status. Pristine and concourse restored, it wouldn't be original any longer, but it would be a concourse restored major 1 of 1 426 Hemi car. While it loses the original tag, it would better preserved for posterity and would be worth a lot more.

I've heard it said many times over, "Every original car eventually succumbs to time." At some point, that original nature becomes a value killer. When the rot gets too bad as to when it causes more damage than benefit... that's when you restore it. This owner couldn't afford to do the level of restoration this caliber of car demands... so they sold it. I'd do the same thing with my GT500 if push came to shove. I'd rather see it in someone's hands who could keep it alive, versus just rotting away in a dark corner in my garage.

 

When my 1 of 1 Super Stock sells for $1m in 50 years my family will be jumping for joy!

 

With the current trajectory of inflation... that million bucks will get them a box of Kraft Dinner without the cheese packet.

 

What did it cost new? $3,500? Had maybe $20k put into it over its lifetime, a lot of “hard” miles. It’s a collector piece, good for a museum, something someone with a stack of cash can show off to his friends. It wouldn’t have gone for a qtr of what it did If Dodge hadn’t been hyping it. Nice car but not $1,000,000 nice so that family was stoned if they thought that car was worth $1,000,000.

 

Auction price vs dealership price... Spoke to several of my dealership sources today regarding '23 Ghost, zero availability.

The consensus: 170k was an ok price but a single auction has little impact on future Ghosts' values. One dealer also pointed that the '23s hammer price would likely have been higher had it crossed the block after the OG Ghost.

I stick to my projection... 250 plus by the end of the year for legendary Black Ghosts being flipped.

Footnote: conspiracy theories about the authenticity of the Ghost's history are popping up. It just adds to the mystique surrounding the OG Ghost and its '23 spawns. Looking forward to seeing the full, unvarnished story on Netflix!! (translates into added value

 

Are you in sales? If not you absolutely missed your calling!

 

Dude! You are "out there"!

 

The ending is worth it, tells much..

 

The prominence just isn't there to drive up that kind of price IMO. If it weren't for Dodge honoring it then it wouldn't have gone near as high. Remember, too, that many people buy, trade, invest and speculate on cars and have sold them for far less than they paid, including the Mecum cars. I wonder if this will be one of them?

 

As the owner of a 70 Challenger RT SE, that price was just plain silly, but something is worth what someone is willing to pay. Ironically that particular car would actually go down in value if restored. The leniency for 'survivors' is pretty forgiving these days. With that said the whole thing was very well orchestrated if you do enough research. I also think keeping classic cars nice is not as hard nor costly as some proclaim here. There will always be different opinions, but as for me if I needed to sell cars, 68 to 71 B & E bodies would be the last to go over my new ones. There is just something magical about them that will forever drive up their prices, but I totally get why some feel otherwise.

 

For 40 yrs muscle car era king kongs (Hemi, LS6, RA II/IV, L88 etc) were STILL some of the fastest cars around early this century.

That all changed with muscle car era 2 (2005 ~2023). OEM HP doubled to tripled (D170) the previous era. That's what will keep Era 2 at the very top going forward, esp as super HP ICE dies in the next year or so. That and people witnessing era 2 are still very young.

That said, I think nostalgia and great looks will keep the top 60's iron from Era 1 relevant and desirable.

 

Good read. Thank you.

 

I won't disagree with that. But all I'm saying is that it is not a fair market value just because someone's willingness or ability to pay x amount. The "market" is not based on 1 person's value perception. Many folks on the forum state they would never pay over sticker. Does that mean it's only value is sticker? Some will pay double the sticker for a 170 Demon. Again, that sale doesn't mean it's worth double. The cliche was probably coined by an auctioneer lol.

 

Has nothing to do with the sellers. They get what they can get. It's typically the buyers that set value. Sellers may take a low, medium or high price, but they won't be taking the lowest offer. And that's my point. Just because someone is willing or able to pay x amount does not mean it is worth that much to the masses, only to that person. I gave an example that if 5 people bid 1m on a car and another at 2m that does not mean the car is worth 2m, only to that person. Same with real estate. Nothing is worth what 1 person is willing to pay when compared to what the masses are willing to pay. If you're at a party and there's only 1 long neck left and someone tells the host I'll give you 20 bucks for it, do you really think it's "worth" 20 bucks because 1 person wants it so bad they will pay top dollar? It is to THAT person only. It really is an old cliche because it's not true. I'm running out of analogies but you see what I mean.

 

Everything is worth what one guy is willing to pay.
Just because it's not worth it to a majority (or to you) doesn't mean its not worth it to some.

I wouldn't give two bucks for the Mona Lisa but apparently it's worth a little bit more.