How Badly We Don’t Know The Price Of Cars: ’63 Chrysler 300 Pace Car

This 1963 Indianapolis 500 pace cars is one of only 1,861 produced and is a part of automotive history. Surely it would sell for a lot of money in this day of over-inflated car prices? Photo from www.barrett-jackson.com.

Every auction that comes along brings a host of unique and pretty neat cars. Granted, auctions have helped inflate the prices of cars on the market, which makes is difficult to know what these vehicles real worth would have been if auctions, Craigslist, and eBay Motors had never happened.

This 1967 Nova SS sold for almost fifty-thousand dollars at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale Auction in 2017. We remember when you could pick up a used Nova with a 327 for five-hundred bucks. Photo from www.barrett-jackson.com.

As teens in the mid to late 1970s, we can remember some of the best muscles cars of the 60s era that were still affordable for a high school student that had $5oo in his pocket. Maybe $700 if it was a Chevelle or GTO. Novas were a dime a dozen then. So we are always surprised when a 1967 Nova SS with a 327 sells for $49,500.00 at a Barrett-Jackson auction. Granted this was a full restoration car and probably cost 50K to go through the car but…

After we see a days worth of cars cross the block at Barrett-Jackson’s 2017 Scottsdale auction, it’s pretty clear that we have no idea what the going prices on cars is. We talked to many of our friends in the industry that responded with the same statement. “Jesus! I don’t know what cars cost anymore.”

We did a quick internet search to find out what the asking price for similar cars being sold was.

Case in point, and remember the 1967 Nova SS price mentioned earlier, there was a pretty special, fully restored, 1963 Chrysler 300 Indianapolis 500 Pace Car Convertible (Lot 693) that showed up on the block with no reserve. Indy pace cars are always a limited edition, and automakers fought hard for their cars to be chosen for the coveted title as the Official Pace Car. For 1963, there were only 1,861 of these cars produced, making it a pretty rare piece of automotive history.

Photos from www.barrett-jackson.com.

A fast search on the interwebs shows three of these pace car currently available for purchase. One was ten dollars away from 50 thousand, another was offered at $42,900, and the third was $31,950. All decent cars that were presented in nice cosmetic appearance. This gives us an average of 41,616 U.S. dollars as an expected price range for a pretty decent specimen of this car.

The one that was a full nut and bolt restoration crossed the trading block at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale, and sold for $19,800.  We don’t have a problem with that price at all, but is sure looks out of line when compared to similar cars in the market. Is really looks out of line when you compare it to the normal price-inflated cars at an auction (remember the 1967 Nova SS we mentioned earlier).

Twenty-thousand dollars sounds right based on our uninflected pricing but who gets to decide what is right and what is too much? Ultimately it is the buyer and seller that get to decide. A car is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Photo from www.barrett-jackson.com.

 

This dear readers, is whey we don’t have a clue what the price of cars is today. If you agree or disagree, please leave us a comment below. We’d love to figure this whole topic out, or we’d love you to tell us that we are just old and clueless and will never understand.

About the author

Bobby Kimbrough

Bobby grew up in the heart of Illinois, becoming an avid dirt track race fan which has developed into a life long passion. Taking a break from the Midwest dirt tracks to fight evil doers in the world, he completed a full 21 year career in the Marine Corps.
Read My Articles

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