The 510 Realm

So I watched the end of the auction, $32,000. U.S. of A dollars ( $42,200 CDN if you get some smok'in exchange deal ), if it all clears.

I really think we are now in what happened to the so called "super cars" of the 60's, that went into the moon in price.

Why not, based on how many of those I see just in the lower mainland, there are way less 510's existing and quality ones even lower than that.

Time will tell of course, but, those that are selling quality cars are in new times now. Again, two years ago a friend of mine paid 25,000.ooUSD for her car, which based on todays auction, would easily have sold for heading onto $40,000.00.

This is the car that went for 25,000.00...compare that to todays auction.

So is it only the perfect originals or high level modded ones that are going to see big $s. Will the other 20 footers, unfinished projects, and rust buckets stay where they've been?
That was a fun auction though. I still find $32,000 pretty amazing.

Not really amazing if you've ever built a restored car. As others have noted here, original Datsun 510's are extremely hard to find. The Greg Terry car that I'm building has 15187 miles on the clock, it's never been hit, never had a panel replaced and has never been fixed. Not many cars left that can claim that. The car is so perfect that I don't know what to do with it. And if you add up the value in today's $$$ all the new in the box OEM parts I have on the car, auctions like this just make me feel a little less crazy for having assembled the car as it is.

I hope the new owner of this auction joins us here, it would be good to have him on board.
Congrats to the seller, you picked this one well, hopefully sellers remorse won't set in a year down the road. It's a beatutiful car.

Byron

What I mean by "amazed" is that a 510 can bring enough $ to pay the restorer back. My mind set on working on cars has always been that you don't expect to get it back, you do it for other reasons than profit. I've been into and owned 510s for over 40 years and read articles on the potential collectibility of them for almost that long in Autoweek, Car&Driver, Motor Trend and Road&Track. It's taken this long for that potential to come to fruition. I wonder how many rotted to the ground in that time because they weren't "worth" saving. I wish I could have afforded to hold on to my '72 2 door that I so lovingly restored back in the 80s. I'm sure I had at least $5-7K into it back then but sold it for $2500 back in about 1998. I wonder if the 510 community as it exists will survive the new $ mentality? One of the best things about owning a dime was the motley crew that came with it.

While there may be some that will "invest" in a 510, where the love of the car is secondary,

I really think the "motley crew" aspect will always be there, as most of us are die hard 510 enthusiasts, where we have put heart and soul into building our cars, and would NOT sell them. I will leave that up to my kids!

I think what this does do, is put an INSURANCE value to our cars, it sure has for me, so that IF something happens to mine, I will now get a significant dollar value, that KINDA represents what went into the car, and NOT have to fight ICBC.

You've got a great point there. It's one thing to not expect to make money on a restoration and another to not be able to have it fixed after an accident.

I think people have finally realized that given the massive attrition rate on "cheapo" 510s over the years, the 510 is now much more rare and valuable than the 240z. Just check craigslist. I still can't believe the deal I got -- the car I paid $4k for in December is probably worth $20k now.

This ones rare

http://palmsprings.craigslist.org/cto/5877622312.html

ice D

Friggen cool!!

James