[DML] Re: DMC to Diamonds

[Gavin Haslett <thumper_svx@xxxx>]

> <snippity, snippity, snip>

I'm not going to quote your article because (a) it makes many good points and (b) I'm not replying to any one part of the article, but the article as a whole.

I think a point you are missing here though is that the BUYER is also dictating market price, at least subtly. If you want to push the price of the D up, then you've got to make sure that EVERY D owner selling a D is going to raise their prices at the same time. Of course, although the Internet is a strong tool, it's not all-powerful... and I can gather by the ratio of owners/enthusiasts on this list that this list maybe only goes out to a small
percentage of current D owners, many (like myself) are enthusiasts who can't buy right now but probably will in the next few years.

Now, the problem is that if you force all the D owners on this list to sell their D's for above the current market price, all you've done is put a handful of high-priced D's on the market... if the buyer doesn't like the price he/she will find another lower-priced D... thereby forcing anyone wanting to sell a D to drop the price. I agree with your point about how you could boost the price of the D... but the problem is it's an impractical
solution.

As of right now, realistically the only hope you have of raising the price of a D is to wait... as more and more of them become un-roadworthy the market will dry up. Now, making a horrible generalization here, 99.9% of the owners on this list take VERY good care of their D's... and a good percentage are daily drivers. In maybe 10 years time, the chances are that the main source for good D's that are roadworthy, pampered etc. is going to be from
LIST MEMBERS. At this point, it becomes a lot more practical to artificially increase the price of the D to a reasonable level. Personally I consider list membership an almost necessary step in keeping up any performance vehicle... I own a Pontiac GTP and subscribe to a (busy) GTP list... am a member of a local chapter of the GTP club etc. etc. and if I hadn't had such damned good access to information when I made modifications to my car, then I
probably either (a) wouldn't have modified or (b) messed up! Actually, without that list I probably would've bought a different car... that's how important I think lists like this are!

Anyway, my point is that I think prices of the D are going to be static for at least another 10 years. Mark that as a testimony to how damned well built they were in the first place, that so many are still roadworthy after 20 years. How many other cars from 1981 can you say THAT about? That's a good thing because it shows an incredible longevity (which tells me JZD succeeded in what he was trying to accomplish), but it's a bad thing because
unless there's a sudden rush of owners onto this list (HIGHLY unlikely), then there's no practical way to increase the market price for the D until more of them are off the road. Right now, the market's ripe! Its has been for years and will probably remain so for years to come. There's now a slightly higher percentage of "marginally roadworthy" D's for sale that will be off the market permanently before long... but it's going to take time to
whittle away at the current market.

FYI, I think the market will spike by about $3K in 2005/2006 when we hit the 25th anniversary of the D... so long as enough of a big deal is made of it. However, a sudden flood of people selling their 25-year-old car will just drive the price lower again as buyers start shopping around and haggling. Beyond that I don't see a significant price-rise for at least 10 years.

Also, those people who think the car's worth $50K are ill-informed... people who see my GTP at the track pull mid-13's (it's a Sedan too... with a car seat in the back!) swear blind that I've pumped $20K-$30K into the car... in reality I could be pulling that with only $2K in mods on a stock GTP... which is just a little less than I've actually put into it. So, you could say there are people out there who think I have a $50K GTP... I have a GTP
I've spent the total of $26K on... ill-informed.

All this is my opinion of course... but hey, I think I have a point!

--
Gavin Haslett
thumper_svx@xxxx
"The early bird gets the worm...
But the second mouse gets the cheese!"