TIME MACHINES

Boomers driving demand for classic sports, muscle cars soar.
Its like buying art…A lot of them are reliving their youth and tend to chase the year or type car they grew up with.
Demand and prices for ‘50s, 60’s and ‘70’s classic muscle and sports cars grew tremendously in recent years.
In the mid ‘80’s, Corvettes sold for $25,000, are now fetching $100,000+. A 1958 retractable hardtop Corvette, the only one of its kind could bring up to $1 million.
Dealers credit baby boomers with finally have enough money to buy cars they dreamed about when they were teens.
Boomers are snatching up other American classics too - Pontiac GTO convertibles, Plymouth Hemi Cudas and Ford Mustangs - at such high prices that buyers some are wondering if the market is inflated.
Classic car sellers agree that the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, changed the market and a lot of people said, 'I'm going to live my life.’
The '70 Dodge Challenger was the last pony car to enter the increasing crowded pony car market. Chevy responded to the Mustang with its legendary Camero in September '66. Many people don’t know that the '74 GTO is among the rarest ever produced. It’s fairly obvious why. The muscle car era was over by '74.
The 1970 Plymouth Barracuda was an instant classic.Only fourteen HEMI ‘Cuda convertibles were produced. Today, they are among the most valuable muscle cars.
The1953 Corvette, with a total of only 300 produced, is the rarest and most sought after Corvette model year.
The Ford Thunderbird entered production for the 1955 model year as a two-seater sporty car but unlike the Chevrolet Corvette, was never sold as a full-blown sports car.


And one of the pioneers who I believe started it all was Preston Tucker, a car-crazy kid, auto speedways junkie who grew up to create --the Tucker-- ahead of its time. His ingenuity and daring, revolutionized Detroit in the ‘40s with his stunning "Car of Tomorrow"; streamlined, futuristic and fast--the car every American dreamed of owning and affordable. Vehicle safety: the cockpit with a padded dashboard, and instrumentation grouped around the steering column, so protruding buttons or gauges won’t harm passengers in a collision, shatterproof safety glass, and the 3rd or, center-mounted steerable headlight.
He publicized his model all over the U.S. with endless enthusiasm and wild acclaim. Sold stock and set up a factory in the now Ford City Shopping Mall, Chicago. Only 51 cars were produced. The Securities and Exchange Commission bulls-eyed the Tucker Corporation with allegations of mail fraud and other violations backed by auto industry lobbyists who launched a devastating anti-Tucker campaign. Only 51 cars were produced, with 47 still in existence. One sold for over $1,017,500 in 2008. So serve up a batch of hot-buttered popcorn and take a peek at “Tucker, A Man and his Dream” starring Jeff Bridges.