When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

[Ediron]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

Enjoy ,as said try the market and watch your IRA drop 12K in months Now that's a problem.But serious your father sold his Mach for 2500 28 yrs ago.My son had a 69 mach in 82 needed alot of work ,bought it for $125. and was offered $400 for the rims at a Mustang show.

[wtxbird]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

Not in my lifetime. Drive the wheels off of it and enjoy!

[VicRattlehead]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

at 10 years old i see these cars going for 8-10 thousand dollars a few will be more a few will be less. but to get the stickerprice back the car will have to have less then 10k on the clock and be 25 years old.

[Ol'Dave]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

Not my problem. It will by heir's problem, if they choose to look at it that way. Mine aprreciates every day I drive her!!!!

[04birdman]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

those who bought these for an investment...better be under 30 and plan on living a long life...there is one 04 on autotrader 18mi...he is asking 65k..like to get some of what he is smoking.....enjoy the ride....have mine less than a month....the car is just fun...cruzin on a nice friday nite to the drive-in hamburger stand [ we do have one ]....and gettin the thumbs up from everyone...

[DavidA]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

Kokomo is exactly right .. the car should have been appreciated the minute you drove it off the lot. If you bought it as an investment, you bought wrong. It'll be 25 years before it's value starts to appreciate.

On the plus side, most cars lose more than 1/2 their value in the first 5 years. Your car is an '04 so it is now 4 model years old and, according to you it is worth about $25K. That means it has lost only about 1/3 of its value.

My '02 is realistically worth about $15-17K. it has about 72,000 miles on it now and was considered a high mileage car 2 years ago. however, I don't drive it every day any more so in a couple of years it will be an average mileage car, and perhaps in 5 years it might be a low mileage car.

Value? I believe they have just about bottomed out. Perhaps the '02's will drop to $12-15K, but I doubt they'll go any farther. Remember, these cars are now almost 7 model years old. My how time flies. Dropping 2/3's of their value in 7 years is really great value. Look at 7 year old Durangos, F-150's, Crown Vics, Miatas, Toyotas, Lexus' and just about any 7 year old car. They have all depreciated more than 2/3 in 7 years.

You said you have a $31K loan. That loan is probably only 2 years old in a 5 year plan. Anyone is upside down for the first 3 1/2 years in that type of loan, you are only down a few thousand. What about the Escalade owner? He'll be upside down more than that and probably won't recover for over 4 years.

In short, while any "new" car is not good investment, our TBirds are better than most cars. So, stop complaining and appreciate what you have. It's a great car and has brought great people together.

[BirdsAndBugs]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

Don't know and don't care. I'm just grateful and enjoying what I've got. I'm 44 now and I can easily see myself still owning these 2 cars 20-30 years from now.

It will be interesting to see who is still around on TBN in 2011 and 2012 when the oldest of the retro Thunderbirds come up on 10 years old. Maybe we'll be discussing another new Ford Thunderbird by then.

My first Thunderbirds weren't Fords, they were Hot Wheels. 39 years later, I've still got them.

[AZTB]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

Do any of you have an estimated time frame of when the Thunderbirds will begin appreciating in value? ...Any thoughts????

when Congress balances the budget...

[4thTBird]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

when Congress balances the budget...

LOL

[Bill Brown]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

I have to agree with KoKomo. Can anyone give an example(s) of production cars that have appreciated in value the minute they were driven off the new car lot? Prowler? Viper? Reatta? Alliance? Don't think these examples did. There are issues with the T-bird that might distract from being a collector such as over heating, underpower and COPs to name a few. All in all driving it is the best appreciation

[Bradford]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

I bought mine to enjoy and because I like it. I drive it whenever I want and don't think twice about the miles or the resale, because I'm not selling. And if I want to spend a few dollars on a great exhaust system, CAI, different rims, I don't feel guilty or think twice about it. I bought, I drive, I enjoy. All the way to Vegas.

[jack37]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

Do any of you have an estimated time frame of when the Thunderbirds will begin appreciating in value? 5 years from creation? 10 years? I have tracked on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet my car's value from Kelly Blue Book ever since I bought the car. I have seen the retail value drop from $28,500.00 down to $25,100.00 (which is what it is at today for my car - 50K miles, 2004). I'm getting stinkin' depressed! Here I have a $31K+ car loan for this car (because $5K was from my trade in - UGH!) I mean I know cars depreciate but I would think these would retain their value, not keep dropping in value by the thousands. Although, I am putting a good 1K miles on it per month which is average....

Any thoughts????

I just bought an 04 for 19.6K with 16.7K miles.

[TomTabor]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

I Purchased my 1960 convert Bird in Oct of that year. Sticker was $5000. I put it away except for hobby driving in 1970 when it had about 20,000 miles and though it has always looked and driven like a new car it did not really appreciate until a few years ago when it was 40 years old. Today it is probably worth about $40,000 especially since I am original owner and mileage still low. to keep it looking like new I have probably spent $25,000 on it so it certainly was not a good investment but the enjoyment of owning it for 48 years was worth every cent and now my son now has it and continuing to spend money on its upkeep and he loves it too. He has a 2002 yellow bird and I have a 2004 black bird and depreciation seems to have ceased but at 84 I will never live to see any appreciation but once again ITS WORTH IT Tom Tabor Sr.

[VicRattlehead]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

take the lincoln mark viii they were made from 1993-1998 and cost in the 40k range. i was looking for one about 4-5 years ago and they were in the 8-15,000 all depending on the year and condition. i have a feeling the tbirds will go on this same path. the NM, 007, PCR, and the 50th annv cars might have a higher resale because they are documented limited editions for their years.

[Leroy]

Re: When are the 'birds going to start appreciating???

I think there will always be a good market for these cars (02 to 05) becuase of their rarity. The cars that will hold the most value will be the ones with the least miles and that have been kept in imaculate original condition. Another thing to keep the resale value up is the factory warranty, extending the factory warranty I think is a wise investment not only for resale value but also peace of mind.
Leroy