Stupid Money

C

capon23@aol.com

Guest
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Mike,

It's hard to believe but It's for real, that car will probably sell for 5-6k maybe more.. the frame is good, has a transmission, and overall a pretty complete car...If I was 3 milesfrom it, I would try to buy it... You knowa good welder in Dave...

Cigarman</font>


<font style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><hr style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's free at AOL.com. </font>
 
M

Mike Israel

Guest
I now believe that the Amphi market has crossed the
line where reason and logic no longer apply. I hope,
as I have seen with some other marques, that this is
not the precursor to a crash in values.

At risk of pooping on someone's dream project, or
dream sale, I am referring to eBay item #250133371287.
Just a few years ago, Amphis in this condition were
being found with signs on them saying, "Free. Just
get it out of my yard". Now this heap of iron oxide
(even the floor is completely rusted out) is selling
for over $2,000. This vehicle is located about 3
miles from me. I have never seen it, but based on the
pics I do not even see it as a decent parts donor.

In any event, when we start seeing people spending
what Keith Martin calls "stupid money", it is often
the prelude to a price crash. I hope not but I gotta
wonder.
 
D

Daniel & Kathy Gibson

Guest
I hope the market crashes. I am not in it for the cash, and I would like
to get another one to keep Das Boot company.

Dan


Mike Israel wrote:
>
> I now believe that the Amphi market has crossed the
> line where reason and logic no longer apply. I hope,
> as I have seen with some other marques, that this is
> not the precursor to a crash in values.
>
> At risk of pooping on someone's dream project, or
> dream sale, I am referring to eBay item #250133371287.
> Just a few years ago, Amphis in this condition were
> being found with signs on them saying, "Free. Just
> get it out of my yard". Now this heap of iron oxide
> (even the floor is completely rusted out) is selling
> for over $2,000. This vehicle is located about 3
> miles from me. I have never seen it, but based on the
> pics I do not even see it as a decent parts donor.
>
> In any event, when we start seeing people spending
> what Keith Martin calls "stupid money", it is often
> the prelude to a price crash. I hope not but I gotta
> wonder.
>
>
 
B

Bill Connelly

Guest
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<font size="2">While </font><font size="2">that Amphi</font><font size="2"> is definitely not for the "novice dreamer", there does seem a lot to work with. Still, you're right about it being in no better shape than others of the very recent past that folks would gratefully have hauled out of their back yards for free. In fact, it closely resembles a freebie Amphi that Billy and I picked over in the late 90's in Scarsdale, NY, which was also a lower Hudson Riversaltwater casualty.I was driving through town top down in my own Amphi, on the way back from one of those NY State Swim-Ins, when the owner pulled alongside in a huge pickup towing a speedboat and simply asked if I wanted "another one." It was a heartbreaker when I saw it, for sure, a true Festival of Oxides, but all the same a lot of Amphis still rolling and swimming around out there have this or that piece from it to thank for that. Nowadays, I expect someone would have likely attempted restoring it (or having it restored), which I think is a fine thing.</font>
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<font size="2">As for those overall Amphi values, where the highest value Amphis are also driving up the prices of less choice ones...a rising tide and all that...thismakes the restoration or at least revivification of such "ultra-crumblies" thinkable, which again, is a fine thing. The more the merrier.My concern is that as Amphicars become less and less the object ofdesire of a "fringe group of wackos" and more an "international investment medium", they'll start disappearing into the garage equivalents of big safety deposit boxes as they become too valuable to actually USE, except, of course, foroccasional forays inenclosed climate-controlled trailers to car shows.Many will hardly ever (if ever) see the water, and that would be sad...</font>
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<font size="2">Last week a very nice lady named Mary contacted me via the old Amphicar.net website, where I still keep the lights on. She'd never even heard of Amphicars until recently, and was intrigued, which is to say "our kind of gal".I wonder...Will we ever have the pleasure of meetingMary at a Swim-In as the proud new owner of an Amphicar, even an ongoing resto project, now that Hugh Gordon's longstanding prophecies ofa future of"hundred thousand dollar Amphicars" has at last come true?...Prophecies that only a couple of years ago we may perhaps have scoffed at, or at least considered as so distant as to be practically irrelevant? Here's what I wrote back to Mary. ~Bilgey:</font>
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<font face="Times New Roman" size="2">Mary,

Best of luck finding your affordable Amphicar. Like you, being
essentially an underpaid librarian, I'm not exactly rolling in green or
agonizing over which Rolex I should wear today. Fact is, I doubt I
could afford an Amphi nowadays. The Internet has really changed
things. What used to be a quirky and even clannish market among oddball
aficionados of the Amphicar on the furthest margins of the collector car
spectrum, is now sadly becoming a mainstream international online asset
investment strategy. A recent auction saw one Amphi get over $125,000.
Sure, it was a very VERY nice Amphicar, but still... Such excesses tend
to make everyone think that their own more or less craptastic ride is
worth more than they would have dreamed of just a couple of years ago.
In, say, 2003 or 2004, when I was still riding herd on the Int'l
Amphicar Owners Club website and its Classifieds (still the best place
to find a car), and had as fair a grasp as anyone of what the Amphi
market generally looked like, I might have told someone like you, who
was interested in getting an Amphicar, that, like motorcycles or jetskis
or boats or any summertime fun item, the best time to buy one is in the
dead of winter, when a decent but perhaps not perfect "swimmer" could
still be had for 10 to 15 thou without too much trouble. I'm afraid
that to be realistic I'd have to probably at least double those figures
now. Also, those lucky easily-restorable "barn finds" of yore are
getting rarer and rarer. When I found mine in '94, neither I nor the
owner had the foggiest notion what it might be worth, and back then it
wasn't like you could just look on eBay or the online Club classifieds
to get a ballpark figure. So, I ended up paying so little that other
owners have asked me to shut up about it. Of course, I had to patch it
up a bit, and it's not the prettiest Amphi out there by any means, but
still...It doesn't leak and I don't think twice about driving it under
its own steam the 600 or so miles to the big annual Owners Club shindig
in Celina, Ohio.

So, best of luck. If you've really got the bug, you'll get your Amphi
eventually. I can assure you that Amphis are highly
"karmically-charged" that way: they'll always find their proper owners.
Assuming you're not just one of that legion of not-really-committed time
wasters and 'chain pullers' who've contacted me over the years, folks
who'll NEVER really commit to their drippy motoring dream, if you're the
serious one out of a hundred, then to start acting on that fact you
should thoroughly check out the Club website at </font><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">www.amphicar.com</font><font size="2"><font face="Times New Roman">, maybe
even join the Club (which I also did before I found mine, and which'll
get you into the useful Members Only Area of the site). You'll
certainly want to memorize Mike Israel's excellent 'Amphicar Buyers FAQ'
found linked in the Classieds, and joining the free Yahoogroups-hosted
'Amphicar-Lovers' List would also be essential, since it's really THE
forum for tech and other discussion amongst our bizarre little webtoed
motoring subculture.

Once you're a Club member, you should be able to use the Members
Directory to find someone in your area who'd be happy to give you a
demonstration cruise, and maybe even provide some moral support or
technical guidance when it comes time to purchase your own.

Best of Luck!
Bilgey</font>
</font></blockquote>
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<font size="2"></font>
<font size="2">----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Israel
To: amphicar-lovers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 9:13 PM
Subject: [amphicar-lovers] Stupid Money

I now believe that the Amphi market has crossed the
line where reason and logic no longer apply. I hope,
as I have seen with some other marques, that this is
not the precursor to a crash in values.

At risk of pooping on someone's dream project, or
dream sale, I am referring to eBay item #250133371287.
Just a few years ago, Amphis in this condition were
being found with signs on them saying, "Free. Just
get it out of my yard". Now this heap of iron oxide
(even the floor is completely rusted out) is selling
for over $2,000. This vehicle is located about 3
miles from me. I have never seen it, but based on the
pics I do not even see it as a decent parts donor.

In any event, when we start seeing people spending
what Keith Martin calls "stupid money", it is often
the prelude to a price crash. I hope not but I gotta
wonder.</font>
 
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