Hey guys, first post!

I've found a really good condition 1968 straight 6, 250 CU, manual transmission. It has matching chassis and engine numbers. The interior is immaculate and the body is in great condition - it has always lived in dry climates and/or has been garaged.

But I have no idea what I should be paying for it. Is there any money in a 250 CU straight 6? Am I going to lose my shirt or will is it still a safe investment in terms of appreciating value?

Thanks for the tips guys!

(Plot-twist: I'm in the UK)

 

IMO, 6 cylinder engines basically only have worth if they are with/in the car they were originally "born with" (numbering-matching).

 

Even a numbers matching 6 cyl. car wont be worth what the same car would be worth with a V8/4 speed swap, unless it's not only numbers matching, but all original and pretty nice.
If it was cheap enough I'd pull the engine and trans and swap in a V8/4 speed, and set the engine trans in a corner if it's original to the car. My neighbor bought a similar '69 Camaro and did the swap. He sold that car last year for $17,500 on Ebay, and although straight, it was a 20' paint job.

 

The car he's looking at is matching numbers. I'd buy the car if I were me, then decide what you want to do with it. And yeah, if you swap in a V8, definitely save the 6 banger.
Can't say what you should be paying for the car without being able to see it. What's the asking price?

 

£12k (English money), so about $18.5k USD

The Engine and Chassis match and (from my limited knowledge) the rest of vehicle seems original.

My gut feeling is that I wouldn't lose too much money as long as I haven't got the price wrong by an order of magnitude. If nothing went wrong with the vehicle and I haven't gone way off target with the buying price then I'd hope to get my money back one day when I came to sell it - the assumption being that it would increase in value over the years since it's a classic.

The dangers are that the price is way too high, or that something expensive eats that margin away - I have a feeling the clutch might go. And it's done 70k miles so who knows what's next...

 

This is only photo (I know I should've got more) I took of the car when I looked at it - the hubs are in the boot and need an acid dip and a rechrome:

 

Car Values are very area dependent. Also banking on the future value is a mistake. Classic cars do not always go up in value. The first Gens it is more nostalgia then rarity, which makes it even more of a risk as the people who want the cars are getting older. If we look at History we see cars like 57 Chevy. These cars value sky rocked in the 80’s and 90’s. They reached their peak by mid 90’s. In the mid 90’s even a straight 6 (4) door was worth some real money. I know guys that have 57 chevys that they have owned for 15+ years. They are worth less now then when they bought them. When you look at older cars 30’s 40’s the price of these cars have been dropping. I have a friend with a 1927 Olds, It is worth about $11,000. That is 1/10 what is has cost to restore/maintain the car over its almost 90 years. Why? the people that “loved” that car as a kid have all died off. All that is left is history buff car guys. Sure they are great to look at but who want to take out a second mortgage and do all the required maintenance? Very few hence the price.

Rarity is the insulator from market fluctuation. A rare car holds or increases it valve. During the recent decline in 1st gen Values the hardest hit cars NON-SS and the least affected are the Yenko type cars. Rarer the car the less short term effect.

The point I am making is buy the car because you love it and if it goes up in Value great, consider it a Bonus! Don’t buy a 1st Gen L6 car as an investment. It may go up but history of other cars does suggest they have peaked. Even my 67 RS/SS rag top was worth more in 2006 than it is today. Will it recover? Maybe. Do I really care? Nope. It not going anywhere either way, my kids will deal with “value” when they sell it.

 

This is a great answer. Thanks for the tips. I hadn't considered the idea that the people who want the car are dying out.

Here in the UK a Camaro is a rare thing anyway, but then I suppose so is the kind of individual who wants to buy it off you when you are done with it. That brings me onto the next question. What is it that makes a '68 Camaro have good value:

- rarity
- condition
- modifications
- originality (i.e. with all the bits it came out of the factory with)

Which will make the biggest difference to the price???

Also where can I find production figures on the 250 CU straight 6 for 1968?

Thanks again you guys!

 

Andy, as far as nostalgia, I can't imagine there were many (if any) over there in the UK who had a 1st gen in high school like we had here. I did, and now have another one. Since statistically (barring any catastrophes) I should be on this earth for another 20-30 years, 1st gen's will still hold and appreciate in value for quite a many years, so I wouldn't put any weight on nostalgia being a deciding factor yet. What I would be more concerned about is, will people still have disposable income to be able to afford to buy a "toy"?
So for you, where you are, I would say even a 6 banger Camaro is a rarity. In solid rust free shape, is even more rare. Would buying that car you're looking at be a bad investment? Absolutely not, as long as you're not paying too much for it right now. I can't speak for the UK market though.
What makes a car like this worth the most? Rarity, originality and overall condition, not always but often in that order. A rare but gutted documented Yenko, for instance, would be worth more than a pristine SS or Z/28.

 

You are going to have to do local research. The cars are not that rare here in the States. In a town the size Philly there is 3000-5000 (just a guess) of them(1st gens that is).

This is Camaro fan web site so please take that into account. If you had bought your L6 in 2000 and sold it in 2006 you would have made a wheel barrel full of money. If you would have bought it in 2006 and sold it in 2012 you would have lost money. No one could predict that. No reason to think anyone can predict the next 6 years.

IMO a good investment should double in value every 8 years, anything less than that can be beaten by the stock market fund over time. There is NO way anyone can predict a cars value over any amount of time. The reason I used the 1957 Chevy as an example is because of guy I use to do work for. He owned (5) 57 chevys and two Duesenbergs. He told me Cars where the best investment. He bought the 57’s for between 80-90K, they were all show ready mint, each and he paid 1.2 Million for one of the duesse and 900K for the other because it needed some work. That was in 1990. He would be lucky if he has seen 20% increase in value in the last 23 years. He was a heck of a businessman and loved his cars.

L6 original cars do not sell well here in the states. Oh sure you will find tons of people that will say they would rather have an original car but when the auction starts the bids just don’t go high. Yet the same car with a crappy V8 in there will draw a lot more bidders. I think with the cherry L6 cars the purist want a V8 and would not think about hurting an all original car, but if it comes through with a 84 305 V8 in guys are all over it.

Buy the car because you love it, not because it is a good investment. If you don’t love it fine one you do. That way you cannot lose.