At MyStarCollectorCar.com we like to embrace the “average car guy” concept because of simple math-90% of the owners we talk to are average guys with a house, a mortgage, kids and a spouse with many, many questions.
Everything is done under the microscope of a budget and the underlying theme is this-old cars aren’t priorities.
These are all things that work against the hobby but as most guys will tell you-there are worse habits. Crack cocaine springs to mind.
Even in a budget-controlled world like the old car hobby, you find one common theme-four door sedans are treated like poison ivy.
A lot of respectable car guys see these “more” door cars are automotive lepers, fit only for demolition derbies, parts or a future as a victim at a monster truck rally. We don’t…
That attitude is wrong. Criminally wrong.
We found a good example from an auction last year in the spring of 2009.It was a 1964 Pontiac Catalina 4 door sedan and it sold for 4300 bucks.
This was a 389 4-barrel, PS, PB, Hydramatic, dual exhaust, well documented (build sheet and PHS documentation) survivor.
It had original paint, fairly low mileage and showed typical, but not excessive wear and tear.
4300 bucks? Simply because it had two more doors. This old Poncho is a 330 horsepower well maintained sleeper-it will ambush a new Honda like a lion on a young zebra and it was dismissed for just over 4 grand.
Unlike its GTO cousin, this Pontiac wasn’t bagged on from day one by some punk with a minimum down payment-it was most likely bought by an older family guy who wanted a decent passing gear.
The fact that the Catalina had all the documentation proves that the previous owner(s) cared about details on the car-likely maintenance was a priority.
And this 330 horsepower 389 cubic inch vintage Catalina went for 4 grand? Because it had 2 extra doors?
Here’s a car that’s a minimal investment, it’s got room for the kids and it’ll loaf at 75 miles per hour on the highway.
You’ll very likely be the only guy with a 4-door Catalina at most shows and best of all-you enter the old car fraternity for a minimal investment.
Should the old Pontiac become a casualty of economics, no problem-you’ve only got 4 grand in it. If you didn’t treat it like a kid brother and hand it a regular cuff in the head-you’re going to recoup most, if not all of your investment in your ’64 Pontiac.
How’s your real estate done over the last 2 years?
Simple economic lesson-don’t skip by the 4-door sedans-they are far rarer and cost a fraction of of their more glamorous siblings with fewer doors and no roof.
Want proof? Park that “more door” Catalina in the middle of twelve ’64 GTOs at a show and see where the spectators linger the longest.
‘Simple answer-Dad never drove a GTO back in the 60s and old cars are all about nostalgia.’
Jerry Sutherland
