[Hal Copple]

i have enjoyed reading the sale adds in the back of Autoweek for many years. It is my impression that the first owner does take some depreciation on an "exotic", but that after that, the car pretty much retains a stable value. Unlike an ordinary car, whose value decreases with each new year's model, exotics don't tend to change much, one year often looks pretty much like the next. Unless it is a big change, like in the Lotus cars, going from turbo to V8 engine, or a Ferrari model number change, the sale price of most high end cars only slowly drift down. I think this applies very well to Superformance cars, as the changes are not very visible, things like dropped floors, and such. So one SPF pretty much looks like another.

Unless you are bidding at Barrett-Jackson on a true collector car, i would not consider any car an "investment", wherin the purchaser hopes to have the value increase.

On the other hand, life is short and unpredictable. I happen to drive my SPF every day, now about 60,000 miles. I am slowly wearing the "moving parts" out, but my car looks like i bought it yesterday. If i were to offer it for sale, with my miles, it would not very desirable to anyone, and would not return a really high percentage of my original cost.

I don't care. I don't intend to ever sell it, and i have had many hundreds of hours of enjoyment sitting in the seats. I could not care less what my SPF is worth. I only know that it is priceless to me.

A friend of mine several years ago bought a 1966 Mustang. It had something like 4K miles on it, it was just like it was built the day before. Perfect. He was in a quandry. He told me if he drove it, it would greatly decrease in value. I told him to decide if he wanted money in the bank, or wind in his hair. He couldn't have both. I told him that since he had always wanted a new Mustang, and now had one, then he should live his dream, and drive that sucker. So he did, and never regretted his decision.

In short, SPF's retain a high percentage of their value, and are great cars to own and drive. Get one, and head on out.

What price is your pride and happiness? My son and i have spent countless hours in our car, sharing life's experiences. I can't put a cost on that.