Re: DMC Prices

["David Swingle" <dswingle@xxxx>]

Some interesting stats based on the currently posted ads at 
www.dmcnews.com:

Currently there are 49 ads posted, all have appeared since January 1.

46 of the ads have an average price of 17,500, with a median of 
16,900. Highest is 25,000, lowest is 11,800. (I left out the one for 
$65K Australian). No way to tell what has sold at what price, 
sometimes the posters tell me, sometimes they don't. It's probably 
safe to assume that the actual selling prices are a few percent lower 
than asking prices. 

The other 3 are for non-running "project or parts" cars, with an 
average price of $7600. 

The thing that interests me is the quantity available, This 
represents 100 cars per year coming onto the market via this forum, a 
pretty small percentage of the cars out there but maybe a large 
number for a relatively limited-interest vehicle. If you look in any 
of the other common ad places (Hemmings, AutoTrader etc) the numbers 
are similar (Some are the same cars!).

In any case, the law of supply and demand is what determines the 
selling price of such things, not any artificial setting of prices. 
It is very difficult for any small group of people to drastically 
influence an entire collector-car (or most any other) market. Maybe 
eBay is the "purest" forum, but I suspect that the low-priced cars on 
ebay are actually overpriced for condition, and often sold to people 
who don't know any better. This is sad, because they end up 
disappointing someone. I've never seen one there that was such a 
fantastic deal that I would go running for my checkbook.

It's also interesting to note that several of the DeLorean vendors 
have told of significant demand for well-restored, warranted cars in 
the upper 20Ks to lower 30Ks, enough to keep them busy. 

At any rate, the most significant issue right now is probably, as 
David T pointed out, the economy. People will definitely defer 
optional luxury items such as this during uncertain times. 

Not sure what else to conclude, I'm sure there will be more 
discussion. 

Dave Swingle