Thursday, January 26, 2012

Are Trucks The New HOT Classic?

Antiques were sought after, classics from the 1950's were hot, then came the muscle cars, which have dominated the field the last decade or so. Now, with the economy in plunders, and the classic car industry taking a hit with prices and values falling, we get an eye-opening piece of news that was released today.  Old trucks are HOT!

For many years, buying and restoring an old truck was something done primarily only by those who truly love them. It wasn't seen as much of an "investment". Trucks have always tended to be an overlooked commodity, but I invite you to read the story which appeared in PickupTrucks.com. Perhaps you'll change your way of thinking about trucks!

To sum it all up, basically insiders were stunned at the prices that some of the old trucks were fetching at last week’s 2012 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction. A 1932 Ford pickup went for $250,000. The 1958 Chevy Cameo (shown in picture below) sold for $93,500. A total of 25 different trucks sold for more than $50,000 (including commission)! See the complete sale list by clicking the story link above.



“We have been watching classic pickup values steadily go up for a few years now, and this was definitely the year of the pickup in Scottsdale,” said McKeel Hagerty of Hagerty Insurance, which tracks auction sales throughout the country. “Compared to 2011, the average prices are up, and the buzz around pickups was talked about just as much as the multimillion-dollar sales.” (requoted from post by Mark Williams in PickupTrucks.com)

“Classic pickups are currently one of the hottest trends in collecting,” Hagerty said. “For many years, old trucks were primarily used for utility purposes, but collectors are now buying them to restore and show. The great thing about classic pickups is they are affordable, easy to work on, have great style similar to the cars of the era, and appeal to a wide audience.” (requoted from post by Mark Williams in PickupTrucks.com)

Motorheads Performance have always been interested in classic trucks, and Guy and I own four ourselves. Yet we've always heard the same old story, "Why waste your money on that!"  In the eight years we've been repairing, maintaining, upgrading and restoring all types of projects from the 1920's through the 1970's, we've had a great share of old pickup trucks that have been lovingly repaired and/or restored for our customers.  Not every old truck will attain values like those reported, but we're pleased that this may be a boost to the values these great, often overlooked, vehicles.

While the news may be good for those who already own an old truck, news like this certainly will bring about demand for them, and we may soon find ourselves with inflated costs to purchase them, raising prices on parts, as well as difficulty in finding parts. When certain "investors" get involved, they're doing so because they can pick something up cheap, fix it up and turn around to get big profits. We've seen it happen with the classics and the muscle cars. Will it now be the hillbilly hotrods?

Guy Algar and Andrea White are owners of Motorheads Performance, a classic car repair shop located in South Central Texas. They specialize in classic cars and trucks, muscle cars, antiques, hot rods and street rods.

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Thursday, January 19, 2012

1955 Chevy Couch Raffle

Guy and I wanted to share some news about a project with a very worthwhile cause.  Our friends at Central Texas Classic Chevy Club in Austin have been working on a club project, and we're calling on all our friends, customers and vendors to see what they can do to help out.


Lone Star is the club's single largest annual show/event! Every year, one of several Texas based Classic Chevy Clubs hosts the car show in their city. Classic Chevy's from all over Texas and surrounding states participate. This year, the Central Texas Classic Chevy Club is hosting a Statewide Chevy Convention in San Marcos at the Embassy Suites on IH35. The event is called " Lone Star XXX". The event will take place May 4-6, 2012.


The club's project for this event was the construction of a 1955 Chevy Couch, complete with working lights, and stereo. The couch is completed and is currently on display at Dicks Classic Garage in San Marcos. Dick's Classic Garage is part of the Central Texas Museum of Automotive History. This couch was 100% constructed from a real car and was made from contributions for this effort. Check it out:


100 % of the sale of raffle tickets will be turned over to the Laity Lodge Free Camp for Children.  Central Texas Classic Chevy Club will not receive one cent from this raffle. It is our way of giving back to the community. Dan Bowen, President of CTCCC, says, "If you have time, please go see the couch at Dick's Garage in San Marcos and buy a raffle ticket for this well worth cause." The tickets are only $10 each or 5 for $40. All ticket sales are tax deductible.

For more information about the event please visit Central Texas Classic Chevy Club.  Guy Algar and Andrea White of Motorheads Performance are pleased to support the cause, and encourage others to as well.

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

What Defines a "Classic" or "Antique" Vehicle?

Used to be that people would refer to an antique car or truck as one that was at least 45 years old.  A classic was 25-45 years old.  The problem is that as time goes by, these don't mean the same thing.  Can you imagine a 1986 Honda being considered a "classic"?  How about your 1985 minivan!  Is your classic 1956 now an antique?

I prefer to use consistent references to a span of specific years.  For antiques, I would consider anything from the invention of the automobile through the 1930's to be "antique".  The "classics" would cover cars and trucks of the 1940's through the 1960's.  Muscle cars seemed to dominate the 1960's through 1970's.  Mixed in there you have your street rods, hot rods, rat rods etc., but these terms seem to address more of how these vehicles are used.  For instance, you can have a 1930's rat rod, or a 1940 street rod...or just as easy the opposite. You can hot rod just about anything if you're referring to beefing up performance and power.

At Motorheads Performance, we specialize in vehicles from the 1920's through the 1970's. We see a variety of cars and trucks, and love the fact that our customers are so enthusiastic about their rides. I, for one, feel we need new terms for vehicles of the 1980's and 1990's. Many in this range are now over 25 years old, and it's just my opinion that it'd be a shame to lump these in with other true "classics"!

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