What was with this Mustang? 2F05H for $88,000?

[tpj71mach]

So given your example, assuming you paid $5k for your car to start, your $45k in parts, an average rate of $65 per hour for shop hours (and that is cheap these days), and 500 hours of your time (you probably spent more), your car can be reproduced for $82,500. $88k is not out of line.

The fair market price is whatever a buyer agrees to pay a seller for anything - a car, a house, an oil painting, a share of stock, a bag of cashews. Every auction I have attended did not have someone holding a gun to a bidder's head to get them to bid. I think we can safely assume that was the case here. Sellers want high prices, buyers want low prices. I'm willing to bet that if someone walked up to you and offered you $88,000 for your car, you would not try to talk them down.

I agree, people pay what they feel it is worth. I had someone offer and pay me way more than what I believed my 72 Chevelle SS454 was worth. He was a collector and broker of many vehicles, who approached me at a car show, the car was not for sale. Trying to be straight with him, I explained that it was not a numbers match car and honestly was not worth what he offered . His response was the restoration quality would cost 90k or more so the car was worth what he offered and he was confident he could sell it for a profit if he ever wanted to. I had performed a frame-off restoration on the vehicle and was scored 998 out of a 1000 points on judging at Chevy/Vette fest where this guy first saw the car. I declined his offer and told him it wasn't for sale and he continued to up his offer a few times over the next couple months. Eventually, I took the money because it was well over twice what I had in it and I had four sons to put through college. I must admit I miss that 670 HP 454 4 speed though. I have had three cars I have restored and were happily enjoying get bought out from under me the same way over the last ten years. Most collectors I have encountered are not that interested in numbers matching, or originality. The people who have tried to buy my cars seem to be more interested in restoration quality and color and option combination as they are today, not as much as they were when built. I understand there are purists that would never want that non numbers match, color change, added option car and I totally respect that. Those cars are always going to be worth more and they deserve to be. There are also a lot of collectors who want the color or options they want whether they were original or not. I just don't believe anyone should ever try to present it as original or legitimate. If it is a Mach 1 clone make sure you tell everyone that, don't try to scam people. Whether you are selling or just showing the car, call a clone a clone, a color change a color change, a spoiler add a spoiler add. I can say that I am restoring my 71 Mach the way I would have ordered it in 71 if I wasn't 6 years old at the time. It doesn't matter to me if it helps or hurts the value. My car was just an H code Mach 1 nothing special to start with. My car is also not a numbers match car as the original Cleveland is long gone. I would never alter a 429, numbers match, all original highly collectable car. I am not going to sell this car for any price, I have always wanted to do one of these since I sold My Mach in college. So if it has value when I'm done or not that's something my wife and kids will worry about if they try and sell it after I am gone.