Selling Muscle Cars in the 60's, What was it like?

[Tom Bosilevac]

An interview with Terry Mummer of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania by Backyard Barn Finds.

[Grumpy]

Parts were easier to sell.  Cars would come up really cheap when guys got married . Got a lot of good deals back then.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

..... Cars would come up really cheap when guys got married.....

Or when they were broken. I didn't have the 3 grand to buy a Boss 429 that the guy had bent a couple pushrods on. The one head intake etc was in the trunk. This was about 1974 and the car had less than 1,000 miles on it.
Bought my 70 Road Runner new in Nov 69 for under 3 grand.
New car dealers in this area all seemed to have a high performance specialist.
Clippenger Chevy had Bob Wingate - http://67fso.com/  https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c1-and-c2-corvettes/4324148-rip-bob-wingate.html
Russ Davis Ford had Gas Ronda. He was at Downtown Motors as their hipo salesman and Russ Davis lured him away. He brought his Maroon Tbolt along and painted it orange. He destroyed the first A/FX Mustang but since the axle broke and it wasn't his fault ford gave him another one.
Even our Buick dealer was in on the act. Pop Kennedy was there in the early 60s. He and his engine guy Jim Bell formed Kenne Bell.
The Olds dealer half heartedly tried to get some race ink when the 442 came out but being late to the game everyone had already chosen sides.

[roddster]

  I recall a few Boss 429's For Sale that had 302's in them as the owner blew the motor.
    I saw my 67 GT 350 in the local newspaper.  The fellow was selling it because he wanted to add money for his future homebuying.
   Due to my qualifying for my High School "Plymouth Troubleshooting team" I got my first job at south Chicago Chrysler pre-delivery center. I was 18-19-20.  Added up numerous cool Mopar vehicles.  Which one would I buy?  None, I bought that Shelby (above)
You name it, Duster & Dart 340's, Road Runner Superbee's, Chargers. Challenger T/A's were my favorite. Wow new cars were cheap.

[shelbydoug]

No one knew too much about the Cobras details then.

We just basically knew the small block and big block.

Many of us who visioned ourselves as buyers were largely College aged. Either just finished, still in or just starting.

I do remember scouring the classifieds around 1970 and there were more then a few 289's in the $2,500 vicinity. Lots of Comp cars coming up at around $5,000.


My tastes leaned towards 427's. It still wasn't understood how the power plant varied according to CSX series. 428's were seriously bad mouthed.

What I found concerning was that seemingly every 427 that was for sale, had less then 10,000 miles and not an original engine. 427's were in the $5,000 range.


I personally could only afford to own one car. I needed a car that could be locked up, with locking doors and windows. So Cobras were out of the question.


It was a long time ago both in years and in so many other ways. Sometimes now getting difficult to differentiate between memory and fantasy?

[ricur2]

he is my cousin. i worked for him washing cars while in high school.   he owned 2 289 cobras one Britch racing green the other was silver with red seats. i think that Ned still owns it. there was always some year of Shelby's on the lot to be washed. i wish i new how many i wash though the years.   he is the one that took me a ride in in one of them i can't remember which one after that ride i told him i was going to own a cobra before i got married. so in 1975 i bought csx2148. though the years we have stayed close. he is in his 80s an me in the 70s

[98SVT - was 06GT]

I personally could only afford to own one car. I needed a car that could be locked up, with locking doors and windows. So Cobras were out of the question.

They were not "cheap" they were used cars that were being offered at market value for the time - our money was worth more and we were making much less of it. A guy in COCOA wanted a Cobra. He always complained that once he'd saved enough money the car had taken it's next leap in price. He then took the money and bought some more investment property. He finally bought a FG one from Shelby Las Vegas and was happy.
In college I was driving a 54 Corvette I bought for $600. When the trans died I needed a car and swapped it for a 2 year old 1966 VW Bug. Today a #4 54 Vette is worth about 3 times what a #2 Bug is but at the time they were equal.