Anybody know how much $ they were asking in these ancient classifieds?
 

Hey guys, wow it's been awhile.

Anyhoo I'm compiling a list of historical ask/sell prices for original Daytona Coupes, and had no idea it would be this difficult. I'll upload the ads later when I get home and have access to them.

I'm focused on one in particular right now.

In the Classifieds section for Autoweek, dated June 28th 1975, a man by the name of Edd Mullen, based in Cheyenne Wyoming, was advertising coupe #2286. I have one dubious but plausible claim that he was asking around $30,000, but this isn't even remotely confirmed.

I do know of another coupe advertised in Autoweek on April 1st 1972 for $12,500, the same price the Brock car was offered at in R&T 12/66.

$30k sounds appropriate for 75, as street 289's ranged from $7500 to $13000 that year, and 427's of all types (street, s/c and comp were close in price at the time) were between $11,000 and $20,000.

Anybody got a somewhat confident price on that one?

Greg

I also have ads that do list an asking price that I'll post later as well, but I want to focus on these two for now.

I recall a Daytona in Autoweek being offered at $25k around 1973 or 4. BTW, I got $23k for CSX 3121 in September 1975, and it was just a plain old street 427.

And you smiled all the way to the bank. What's it worth now? Hindsight is always 20-20.

$23k in 1975 is roughly equivalent to $100k now. Obviously Cobra values have beat inflation, but $23k was nothing to sneeze at in 1975. That happens to be the year I started work as an engineer and I didn't make that much in a year. Wish I had

I paid 25,000 for CSX 3183 in 1976, sold my Pantera for 11,500, borrowed some money from my father and got a car loan from a bank that was working with a dealership in Ft. Laud, that was selling Lambo's and Maseratti's.

The Fla. title said Shelby 2dr.

If I still had 3121 today it would represent a major chunk of my net worth, and I'd probably drive it like a Prius. Back in the 1970s, I used the car for its intended purpose. We had a family rule that it was not to be fired up unless we hit 100 mph at least once during the drive.

At one point I owned the entire 1973 set of Autoweek, and though there were some interesting offerings in there, no Daytona. There were gems like an as new GT-40 offered for $15,000, a nice original 427 at $8,000 and even a good 289 with marginal original paint at $4,700. These were all from June 73. Also a GT350R in show condition for $3500 and a BMW 507 for $5500 in May. Cobras would jump dramatically in value in 1974, and again to an even greater extent around 1977-78. For instance, 289's were commonly advertised below $20k in 1977, and one in need of cosmetics was even available at $11k in February. There would never be another 289 advertised below $20k after 1977, yet I have an ad as late as 1984 offering a good driveable one for $29k (though they were usually in the $35k to $45k range then).

Back to the point, I was always good about scrutinizing every inch of an issue to find ads, and unfortunately a Daytona coupe was never advertised in Autoweek at any time in 1973. I do have a tip that one of the coupes sold privately that summer for $18,000. Notably an example of it's direct competitor, the 250GTO, sold for $17,500 that July. Bear in mind that these figures were a dramatic jump from 1972 prices, and the jump between 73 and 74 would be even more dramatic.

I know of several GTO sales in 1975, all ranging in price from the low-to-mid 30s up to exactly 50k. Would it be safe to use the GTO in this context to get an idea of Daytona values?

I do have A-week ads from Nov. '74 where the one 427 coupe, in partially restored condition, was being offered at $20k. Most of you know, however, that this is an entirely different creature. I sold my A-weeks after I finished scanning the ads from them in 2010, but I do remember that my 1974 set was only half-complete. My 75 and 76 sets were complete, and the un-priced ad for #2286 was the only offering.

Maybe the car offered for $25k was in one of the 1974 issues I was missing... Would anyone happen to know the chassis no?

Please stay tuned by the way, I'll upload a few ads you may enjoy. Keep an eye on my user gallery, and of course I'll also be sure to announce any new uploads here.

So would $30k be too low for 75? If anybody had correspondence with Mr. Mullen, or heard through other means what the owner was wanting, please share!!!

#2602 was being offered at $425,000 at some point in 1985.

There was also another Daytona coupe being offered in late 79/ early 80 by Motor Classics Corp. (the Gurney car). Does anybody know the price in that instance? I'd wager for sure it was 6 figures, but probably under $200k.

Regarding the prices of 289s and 427s that year, I have several ads from 1975.
You sure this was 9/75 and not 9/76? I'm not doubting you, I'm only going from what I have in my ad library. $23k seems kinda high, there is one ad from that November though, I believe in the NYT, where a 427 that was asserted to be the "best in the world", was being offered for $22500 firm. At least in the first half of 75, and obviously there were a few exceptions, 427's were almost always in the $15k range.

CSX3350 was being offered, albeit in need of cosmetics but in "strong mechanical condition", for $13,000 in AWK 7/12/75.

Again, I'll upload some examples later today :D

Ok, decided to upload some ads for the 427, have a look!

Club Cobra - bannishg's Album: Vintage Classifieds Offering Vintage Cars

I remember seeing ads from this dealer I think his name was Jim Southard from the 70's and early 80's he always had Cobra's for super cheap and laughable prices by what they sell for today. I will look and see if I still have some of those ads.

Jim Southard
 

I actually have nearly all of Southards ads. He seemed to have placed nearly all his focus on Cobras between 77 and 80. He also handled some of the most valuable classics of the time, like Duesenbergs, which were always at least double the price of a 250GTO during that era. I'll be sure to post some later.

If I felt like going back through my old bank statements, I could probably nail down the exact date. The buyer was a Mr. Dave Ruocco, the owner of Rockland Medilabs. Dave already owned a (slightly scruffy) 427 Cobra, and after seeing ours at a Cobra Club meet at our home in New Jersey in the summer of 1975, informed me that he had to have it. Not being too motivated to sell, I threw a figure at him that I thought would make him barf. I added insult to injury by telling him that I wanted an additional $2k for my spares, which consisted of a 3.31 rear, an extra 9-1/2" Halibrand, and a new 427 bare block. He showed up with $25k in hundreds in an attache case. My wife was crying as the car rolled out of our driveway for the last time.

Definitely September 1975.

BTW, Dave sold the car in 1989 to a Mr. Petkus of Chicago for $395k.

ATTN! Taking requests for old classifieds!
 

You always could have done better lol, I think you could have bled another $1k out of him for those spares! :) You'd need to have some amazing foresight to turn down $25k in cash in 75. Though your wife was crying you must have been grinning for weeks, for sure your smile must have faded since, certainly by 1989, but at least you didn't put an ad in the Chicago Tribune back in March 1951, advertising your Duesenberg J Convertible for $750.

ATTENTION:

I've decided that I will upload a good cross-section of my cobra ads, which go all the way back to the 60s. Any specific requests? Just try me! I have 20 old ads for 260's, over 650 for 289's, over 400 for 427's and 8 for the Daytona. I think 2 for the Lonestar. Included among these are King Cobra, Dragonsnakes, Team cars, S/C and full comp 427s and yes, even the controversial Mercer 289!

Also have countless ads for Shelby mustangs, among them 65's (including a good number for the GT350R), 66 GT350 CONV, etc. Plus over 90 GT40 ads. BTW no replicas, repros, kits or tributes are included in these numbers!
Also have ads for just about every other classic car you can name!

Post requests here, and once I get a decent amount I'll upload them to a new gallery. Be sure to include which point in time your interested in as well as the car.

Greg

Any ads that include CSX2321 ;-)

I love reading these adds and wonder what was I thinking back then!

I should also mention that Ned Scudder, who was living in NJ at the time, bore witness to the sale. He was thinking about selling his pretty 289 Cobra about the same time, and if I wasn't in the throes of restoring a Ferrari 330 GTC might have considered buying it. In any case, the Ferrari resto ended badly (long story), we ended up buying a Pantera, which I never really cared for, and we entered a decade-plus of having nothing of interest in the garage.

In order to get a decent amount of content to start this with, I'll wait until I get a few more requests before I post any ads. If you are looking for a specific chassis number, please be sure to provide any possible info you may know (when the car was up for sale, the publication the ad appeared in, who was offering it and where the owner lived, etc...). This is because the chassis number was only mentioned in the ads about 30% of the time, and even less so in the earlier ones.

Should I create a new topic/thread for this in order to get more traffic? What would be the best way to upload the ads since you cannot directly upload them into the thread?

Greg

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...HMN_4-86_I.jpg

You can upload photos directly from your gallery. Click "insert" to the right of the text box and select the images you want.
BTW the ad I attached from your gallery is for CSX2321 when it was last for sale.
May be ads from 1970 R&T and perhaps 1975 Autoweek.

According to the Shelby Registry:

In late 1979, "2286 was bought by Nick Soprano's Motor Classic Corporation and immediately offered for sale for $150K, or not quite double it's purchase price." It also says that George Stauffer bought the car in '82.

Cheers

It's worth noting that in the time period we're discussing, very few people paid attention to chassis numbers. This may surprise a few, but when I bought 3121 in November 1969, I did not even know the difference between a "regular" 427 and an SC. Doug Carlsen, the previous owner of my car also had an SC sitting next to it in his garage, and I do recall him pointing out the larger brakes, but the other, obvious features just didn't register.