Possumblog

Absolute insanity.

Okay, folks--we're seeing another Dutch tulip craze. This is a car-related thing, so if such makes your eyes roll back in your head, skip it. ANYway, I got my weekly e-newsletter from Hemmings this morning, and this article caught my eye--Q-Jet craziness?

So, you're watching one of the televised Barrett-Jackson auctions and you think the prices paid for complete cars is nuts. Well, here's one for the books: Somebody recently paid $3,906 for a rebuilt 1970 Rochester carburetor for a 1969 Ram Air IV GTO.

The seller, Chad Brousseau, sold the rare item on the Internet, and after 24 bids, somebody bought the carb with GM number 7029273 on it. Brousseau said in his ad that the carb was great for that concours restoration and had an NOS choke pull-off included. We don't doubt that. But used Rochesters are a dime a dozen and at most cost $50 in any junkyard.

Brousseau is no dummy, but we question the sanity of the buyer of this carburetor. After all, unless he owns the long-lost car this carb came on from Pontiac way back when, this carb will never be matching numbers correct, will it? In 1969, you could buy a brand new GTO, albeit without options, for about $3,400.

- By George Mattar

Just incredible. But people do crazy stuff for funny colored flowers, too, so I suppose it's to be expected. However, I can tell you this right now--this market is going to bottom faster and harder than the '90s boom for Italian exotics did. Despite there being some rare cars out there due to their top notch condition or rare combination of options (several million-buck Hemi 'Cuda convertibles come to mind) in the end, most of the muclecars everyone is salivating over are much more ubiquitous than their inflated values would tend to indicate. Remember when everyone had to have a Series I E-Type? Prices neared the seven digit mark, and then collapsed when everyone who wanted one got one. There are a lot of potential buyers for these '60s and '70s Detroit cars, because there is a lot of spare change floating around and a lot of guys who want one to relive their second adolescence. But trust me, there are a LOT more cars than buyers out there. And no one should pay nearly 4 grand for a Quadrajet.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at February 9, 2006 09:22 AM