[Dodgenovice]

I really liked the 3rd generation too. I had a 91 rs miss the t-tops only a 305, but still fun modding it.

The 3rd Gen Firebirds (the "Night Rider" car) were okay, but too sterile for my tastes and the start of the 4th Gen wedge which is my least favorite. It's no coincidence that the market really cooled on muscle cars and GM killed off the Camaro and Firebird in 2002 due to terrible sales. So I'm not the only one who found them unappealingly dull.

Now, GM is having the same problem coming in last place in the muscle car sales because the new Camaro is really ugly. It's a good performer, it's just ugly and without any personality or throwback to the lineage. It looks like a Civic, not a muscle car from the 1960s worthy of the Camaro badge.

Conversely, the Gen 1 and Gen 2 Camaros and TAs sold heavily, are lusted after, and I really do NOT understand why GM execs are so brainless they cannot put simple math and facts together. The public wants muscle cars that throw back to the 1960s and early 1970s. They don't want wedges with slits for lights that look like Hyundias or door stops.

No offense to the 3rd or 4th Gen Firebirds or Camaros others have, I would buy one if it was excellent and low priced, but I would not seek one out or pay a premium b/c they just got too far away from the lineage.

 

[thetalonguy]

And your point is what? Don't save any money, spend everything you earn now, eat and drink with reckless abandon, live totally carefree like it's your last breath all the time every moment of every day? Seems like a recipe for inviting early death/disability, or if you happen to live long you'll have no assets and be a ward of the state.

Maybe, but that costs money. Ruin your engine in your 392, that's a $15,000 bill. And that's not going to "add value" to the car for most buyers. When I see any used car that had a blown engine, trans, etc. I immediately suspect owner neglect and unverifiable replacement parts. Lowered value, not higher.

Woah fella...Not sure where my words dictated spending money like a drunken sailor. More like spending money on a car (most cars) that you never use and expect as a return on investment is a terrible move, financially.

And you really think driving your 392 out to a restaurant once a week is going to ruin your engine? Didn't realize the 392 was made of glass and shouldn't be driven due to all the blown drivetrain issues. Take care of your stuff and it will take care of you. That doesn't mean it can't be driven.

I suggest an investment in bubble wrap.

 

[Rollin’ Along]

At ~10,000 miles annually, your relationship with your car will be about 1-2 decades. By 2035 at 150,000 miles at 15 years, it'll probably be showing real signs of age and to the point where you'll have to do math to justify various fixes. If it's not destroyed first. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Doubt that.A) It’s garage kept. B) I can bust a wrench on it myself. C) Only reason it doesn’t have as many miles is I run a 24 year old Mack across the continental 48. I could probably go on but I’ll stop here.

 

[Dodgenovice]

Woah fella...Not sure where my words dictated spending money like a drunken sailor. More like spending money on a car (most cars) that you never use and expect as a return on investment is a terrible move, financially.

And you really think driving your 392 out to a restaurant once a week is going to ruin your engine? Didn't realize the 392 was made of glass and shouldn't be driven due to all the blown drivetrain issues. Take care of your stuff and it will take care of you. That doesn't mean it can't be driven.

I suggest an investment in bubble wrap.

Seems like you've taken a personal interest in name calling, taking my positions to the extreme, completely misrepresented what I've plainly stated, are being needlessly argumentative and obtuse, and are attempting to bait me into a nonsensical argument where I don't care what YOU do with your car. Drive it. Don't. Wreck it. Don't. I really don't care.

I paid cash for my car. I own it. I'll drive it and care for it as a I see fit. Whether I consider it as a driver or an investment, or both, or neither, why are you losing sleep over my car? Or any of my multiple vehicles I paid cash for and own.

PS Bubble wrap is a great investment. I'm up almost 60,000% since 2017.😂

 

[thetalonguy]

Seems like you've taken a personal interest in name calling, taking my positions to the extreme, completely misrepresented what I've plainly stated, are being needlessly argumentative and obtuse, and are attempting to bait me into a nonsensical argument where I don't care what YOU do with your car. Drive it. Don't. Wreck it. Don't. I really don't care.

I paid cash for my car. I own it. I'll drive it and care for it as a I see fit. Whether I consider it as a driver or an investment, or both, or neither, why are you losing sleep over my car? Or any of my multiple vehicles I paid cash for and own.

PS Bubble wrap is a great investment. I'm up almost 60,000% since 2017.😂

Cool, keep on keeping on.

 

[MommaBetty]

At ~10,000 miles annually, your relationship with your car will be about 1-2 decades. By 2035 at 150,000 miles at 15 years, it'll probably be showing real signs of age and to the point where you'll have to do math to justify various fixes. If it's not destroyed first. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I doubt I will be driving by 2035...... So, for me it is drive it, drive it, and drive it! Enjoy today. Much too negative about all the things that could happen to it. Of course nothing can happen to it in the garage. And certainly nothing fun......lol....
When I think back on the last 10 years of driving challengers, starting at age 62, I don't regret taking long cruises, driving it in the winter months, going out in the middle of nowhere. I am very fortunate that I live in SD! On my 10 year anniversary thread, it really hit me that I didn't waste my 60's sitting home knitting!!

 

[Deckard]

On this and the other forum, it's a near daily posting of someone smashing his Challenger. One of the mechanics I go to for small engine repair, has a smashed SXT in his current lot waiting for parts. People are running these poor cars into early graves with daily driving, bad driving, winter driving, and bad luck. You don't SEE the ones in junkyards unless you go look. But at some point you'll see a lot less of them on the roads, in about a decade.

I don't see them on the road now which was my point, unless it is a sunny, cloudless summer day at which point there is a black Hellcat in my neighbourhood and an orange SRT that will venture out along with a few others that I'm not familiar with out for a cruise. Anyone unlucky enough to get in an accident with one of those is likely fixing it with strict attention to detail unless it were to be totalled in a spectacular manner which would likely make the news (I can recall one such example when the Hellcats first came out and I guess they allowed someone to test drive it, pretty sure that's not happening anymore). Anyway I think my point was in the majority of cases these are already owned by what a retro cars target audience is, they are for the most part looked after correctly and in 20 years there will likely be an abundance of great examples, however with no real defined buyer group driving the price up and no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for people that kept them out of the elements you might as well enjoy your ride. As long as it is your name on the ownership though, you're free to do with it what you want (within reason and for the time being I suppose...)
Hate to go all math teacher on you but I did a search on the word "accident" and it only comes up with 458 examples on this site not all of which are relevant which I presume is also over multiple years, not sure about the other forum...

 

[boyohboy]

You can go on any salvage site and see a number of wrecked Challengers. For being totaled they command a pretty good price. Just look over the years that have gone by since a lot of us Oldsters have been around. What we call vintage today was someone's pride and joy that got wrecked. At one point in our history it was race on Sunday and buy on Monday. Not many examples of pristine originals out there. A lot of clones or modified rebuilds. A lot of Resto's.
We drive our cars, some of us more than others. We wreck them or get wrecked. We fix them or trade them in.
What we do as regards to what others do is a no right answer or wrong answer thing. INMHO!
Enjoy the Journey! Lou.

 

[TheOldGuy]

I know where there is a car for sale that really is worth a lot of money $$$$. Its the last year of the Formula 400 Firebird. It's been sitting for over 20 years and the pictures I saw seems to show a filthy but rust free body. But you see... the owner claims that this is a very special car that wasn't supposed to be released to the public because it has a factory special engine that makes over 1,000 H.P. I really need this car if he wasn't asking $40K for it.

-John 😖

 

[BrownsReds]

I remember reading on this site about a guy buying a new 1320 and keeping just as it was delivered to the dealer. I can't find a link to the thread

Found it..

2022 Challenger 1320 Factory Delivered Detail

Upon taking delivery of my 2022 Challenger 1320 the decision was made to leave the car in as close to assembly-line condition as possible. My car has 50 original miles. The following is documentation on how my 1320 was delivered from the factory. 1320's are delivered from the factory to the...

www.challengerforumz.com

 

[MIDNITE RT]

For those who want to vacuum seal a brand new car and are in the position to do so, good for them. I don’t get it but sageech calzone.
Personally, I want to enjoy mine as much as possible in good weather. Why deprive yourself of the driving feeling of a Challenger ?
Life is short my friends.

 

[Dodgenovice]

For those who want to vacuum seal a brand new car and are in the position to do so, good for them. I don’t get it but sageech calzone.
Personally, I want to enjoy mine as much as possible in good weather. Why deprive yourself of the driving feeling of a Challenger ?
Life is short my friends.

If I had the resources to do it, and not impact my life, I would as something valuable to pass to heirs. Almost certainly that it'll increase in value 10 fold in a few decades. Again, just look at anything top-shelf from the 1960s in similar rare condition. Or one of the few extremely low mileage stored Trans Ams from the 1970s, Grand Nationals, etc. from the 1980s... etc.

Here's a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am with 14 miles that sold recently for $400,000. That's about 50x return from the price. Not a bad return... An old Pontiac Trans Am just sold for $440,000. Here's why

Here's a Grand National with 26 miles, estimated to be worth "six figures." This time-capsule Buick Grand National has 26 precious miles - Hagerty Media
That car is about 35 years old now. It originally sold for about $35,000. If it's worth $100,000, that's a 3x return. If it's worth 900,000, that's a 30x return. It's probably in the 1/4 to 1/2 million valuation at auction, making it a 1-15x return on investment. It's not hard to find "low mileage" pristine GNs selling in the $100-$200,000 range. Not a bad "return on investment," if the owner bought it 35 years ago, drove it for fun in the summers, say putting 1000 miles on it annually, and then selling it for 5x his purchase price with 35,000 miles on it...

Sure, these are possibly poor traditional investments considering garaging, insurance, maintenance, etc. There are better, and worse, investments. I've bought stocks that have gone to nothing, and stocks that have skyrocketed. At least with a car you get 3+ decades of enjoyment, and then a pile of money back on the end...

Using these examples as a rough metric, assuming constant inflation rates and the world doesn't end, the surviving low mileage V8 Challengers will probably be worth about 5x their sticker price in 3-4 decades. So a $50,000, 392 might expect to command $250,000 to interested buyers. Possible it could be 10x the original price, depending on circumstances. It's unlikely to have no demand.

A lot of you will go out, daily yours, drive it into the ground. That's cool, it's awesome it'll give you a quarter million dollars of enjoyment. I'll drive mine and enjoy it in the summers, show it, tour around, be sensible, maintain it, and when I retire enjoy it more, and then when I am done driving it, I'll sell it for a quarter million dollars with under 50,000 miles... FYI, I have a bunch of vehicles I also enjoy driving. My $3000 Ford Crown Victoria is also very enjoyable to drive because there's no stress at all of damaging it, accidentally going double the speed limit, rock chips, door dings, etc. That's a sense of relief not enjoyed driving the Challenger...

 

[MommaBetty]

If I had the resources to do it, and not impact my life, I would as something valuable to pass to heirs. Almost certainly that it'll increase in value 10 fold in a few decades. Again, just look at anything top-shelf from the 1960s in similar rare condition. Or one of the few extremely low mileage stored Trans Ams from the 1970s, Grand Nationals, etc. from the 1980s... etc.

Here's a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am with 14 miles that sold recently for $400,000. That's about 50x return from the price. Not a bad return... An old Pontiac Trans Am just sold for $440,000. Here's why

Here's a Grand National with 26 miles, estimated to be worth "six figures." This time-capsule Buick Grand National has 26 precious miles - Hagerty Media
That car is about 35 years old now. It originally sold for about $35,000. If it's worth $100,000, that's a 3x return. If it's worth 900,000, that's a 30x return. It's probably in the 1/4 to 1/2 million valuation at auction, making it a 1-15x return on investment. It's not hard to find "low mileage" pristine GNs selling in the $100-$200,000 range. Not a bad "return on investment," if the owner bought it 35 years ago, drove it for fun in the summers, say putting 1000 miles on it annually, and then selling it for 5x his purchase price with 35,000 miles on it...

Sure, these are possibly poor traditional investments considering garaging, insurance, maintenance, etc. There are better, and worse, investments. I've bought stocks that have gone to nothing, and stocks that have skyrocketed. At least with a car you get 3+ decades of enjoyment, and then a pile of money back on the end...

Using these examples as a rough metric, assuming constant inflation rates and the world doesn't end, the surviving low mileage V8 Challengers will probably be worth about 5x their sticker price in 3-4 decades. So a $50,000, 392 might expect to command $250,000 to interested buyers. Possible it could be 10x the original price, depending on circumstances. It's unlikely to have no demand.

A lot of you will go out, daily yours, drive it into the ground. That's cool, it's awesome it'll give you a quarter million dollars of enjoyment. I'll drive mine and enjoy it in the summers, show it, tour around, be sensible, maintain it, and when I retire enjoy it more, and then when I am done driving it, I'll sell it for a quarter million dollars with under 50,000 miles... FYI, I have a bunch of vehicles I also enjoy driving. My $3000 Ford Crown Victoria is also very enjoyable to drive because there's no stress at all of damaging it, accidentally going double the speed limit, rock chips, door dings, etc. That's a sense of relief not enjoyed driving the Challenger...

I think what you do with yours is definitely your choice! I think you must be a lot younger than me. My challengers would never make it to the worth a lot of bucks, as I am too old to even consider saving them for an "investment" in the future. I just don't look at a car that way. I love muscle cars, and believe they are meant to be driven and enjoyed. I have already had a great 10 years of driving my challengers, and wouldn't change anything about this experience. Never want to have a garage "queen". Drive mine year round, as we don't get the salt on the roads that many of the forum members have to deal with. Also have lots of cool places to drive without ANY traffic!

 

[boyohboy]

Well, I guess this thread has certainly lived up to its title, Opinions on driving or garage residing your Challenger. We drive our cars, we garage our cars, we let them sit outside because we don't have a garage, or means of storing them out of the weather. We have them as Garage Queens, we have them as DD's. We have them as our only car. We have them as part of a harem of cars. We have them as the car we only drive under certain situations and conditions.
Since this Thread is asking about our opinions, then that's all they are. There is no right way or wrong way to own your Challenger.
I use the word Challenger because there are so many different types of this model. A lot of one's opinion is based probably on their model; when it was bought, how much it cost, what went into getting it. There are probably a lot of reasons, quite possibly many, many reasons.
I believe that a lot of emotion went into getting one's Challenger.
I've seen programs on TV where people have special homes centered around living with their cars in the house. I've seen programs showing people with special underground garages and they drive their treasures one mile a year.
Personally, if I could have a second Challenger I would probably vacuum wrap the one I have so I could DD the other one, but that's just me.
Anyway, when I say, "Enjoy the Journey", that's exactly what I mean, because that's what it is.

Lou.

 

[Slowpoke387]

I'd bet if that 1995 TransAm looked really close to the 1969 TransAm and was pushing 500 HP and 500 Torque, it'd be worth a lot of money.

I've been saying that for years. Why dont they just re-release the old body styles - the same but with modern interior, drive trains, etc.? They would sell a kajillion. Easy money.

 

[Slowpoke387]

There is no right way or wrong way to own your Challenger.

Yes there is. My way dammit

 

[Dodgenovice]

I've been saying that for years. Why dont they just re-release the old body styles - the same but with modern interior, drive trains, etc.? They would sell a kajillion. Easy money.

Agree 100%, and I first thought of this way back in the early 90s. Take the most desired models as you said. They'd have a money printing press in their possession.

It's not at all a surprise that the best selling retro now is the one that most closely resembles the original - Challenger. Beats the hideous modern Camaro and the Mustang.

 

[J33]

I’ve seen this discussion start to happen on other platforms and as well as in real life and on YouTube. Let’s see what all you guys think or are planning on doing. I just got my first scat last week, low miles and amazing condition 2020. Of course , my instinct is I wanna drive it, take it to the city , go to car meets , maybe take it to the strip , and really enjoy it. But on the other hand …. Is that the smart thing to do ?? The fact that this might be the last one that any of us own …… after they are discontinued. Won’t be able to trade in a few years and get a new one, etc. Is this the future classic car that will be a rare find ?? That might be worth tons in the future ? Is the potential return investment in the future worth parking it now ?? I wanna drive it, but also know that it’s gonna have to last forever ……. What do you all think ??

Drive that thing!!!!!!

 

[lukectruitt]

I’ve seen this discussion start to happen on other platforms and as well as in real life and on YouTube. Let’s see what all you guys think or are planning on doing. I just got my first scat last week, low miles and amazing condition 2020. Of course , my instinct is I wanna drive it, take it to the city , go to car meets , maybe take it to the strip , and really enjoy it. But on the other hand …. Is that the smart thing to do ?? The fact that this might be the last one that any of us own …… after they are discontinued. Won’t be able to trade in a few years and get a new one, etc. Is this the future classic car that will be a rare find ?? That might be worth tons in the future ? Is the potential return investment in the future worth parking it now ?? I wanna drive it, but also know that it’s gonna have to last forever ……. What do you all think ??

DRIVE IT. These things weren’t meant to sit in a garage. No modern day challenger is gonna hold value unless it’s a Dodge Demon. Drive it like you stole it and enjoy it. Keep up with general maintenance and you’ll be fine

 

[Rayzaa]

I'm 60 so I'm not worried about it. I don't drive mine a lot because I take my Ram to work most of the time if I'm parking in a parking garage to avoid door dings. I won't be working much longer and then I'll drive it but won't have a lot of places to go lol.

As of today I haven't driven it since new years weekend.