USED SPF's

[Hal Copple]

someone pretty knowledgeable in the replica business told me a year or so ago, that the time would come when the Cobra replica market would begin it's downturn. Not many years ago, there were few cars capaable of high performance, now there are quite a few fast cars, much easier to life with, and to insure, and very "reasonably" priced. Those of us on CC who wanted one of our replica's for many years just can't imagine "cross-shopping" other high performance cars, but for the vast majority of drivers, they most certainly do.

Since SPF sells about one car a day, somewhere in the world, it is natural that a lot of fairly new ones become available, "used." Whereas the ERA and Unique cars, with perhaps as many sold over a much longer time (I don't know for sure), have settled into ownership of folks who tend to keep them.

My guess is that if Jimmy Price shut down his line, in a few years, SPF's would also migrate to those who tend to keep them, and the number for sale would drop.

A Ferrari salesperson once told me his competion was not other cars, but airplanes, beach houses, and mistresses. Surely $50K replicas also compete with things other than cars.