jesus its a mustang, not a million dollar ferrari...
Low Mileage Cobra- Drive it?
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I was in the same boat as you up until last year. I bought mine in 07 with 2k miles on it. Up until 2010 it only had 5/6k on it so in 2 years i put 3-4k miles on it. In 2010 i said screw it and started enjoying it. It's just a car. I don't give a shit about rock chips or any of that stuff because "perfect" condition cars are not driven. I spent way too much money on this thing to watch it sit in the garage. I drive the car every chance i get now.
Says the guy with a fast, regular production Mustang.
oke: I see your point, but Cobras are not just normal, high production Mustangs, so they have an intrinsic higher value. No one is trying to compare them to a high dollar car like a Ferrari. These cars do however compare to other "special" Mustangs that are collectible these days such as the Boss, Shelby, etc.
I agree with you, I don't know where these guys come off thinking that a 350k mile car will even be in the same ballpark of value as a low mileage example - regardless of what kind of car it is.:rollseyes That is simply an ignorant statement. I would never say not to enjoy the car, but thinking that the value will be the same (if that's your goal) is just silliness.
Just the fact that these cars are almost a decade old, and still fetching prices in the mid $20k range for nicely kept ones proves that they are still desirable even when there are newer cars out there with equivalent hp, like the new GTs as an example.;-)
And a 67 GT500 is just a mustang too right? :shrug: Just saying.
They made over 13,000 Terminators so nobody is going to get rich from these cars guys, it's not like it's a super limited run like the cobra r or Shelby KR. It's limited enough to always be desirable but some people think they are sitting on gold and think they will sell for double their sticker one day and I just can't see that happening. They have been coming down in price recently and I don't think as many people are looking for these cars as compared to 4 years ago just because there are so many more great cars available.
Anabolic
Banned
terminators laid down the law, broke records, and made an impact in 03 when they released it... IT WILL be worth something down the line, no fools
especially the way young kids have been crashin em..
WELL drive safe!!!!
especially the way young kids have been crashin em..
WELL drive safe!!!!
I have put 22K miles on my car in a year and a half. I will continue to drive it daily for atleast another month or so. And even when I do get a something else to daily drive; this car will still see 10K hard miles a year.
My previous Cobra was a 96. I owned it for over 8 yrs and logged 130K miles in that time. I sold the car with 215K on the odometer with all original drive train. I enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed the 03 and it might have made 280 rwhp.
My point is.. drive it.. love it.. sell it for someone else to love.. repeat.
My previous Cobra was a 96. I owned it for over 8 yrs and logged 130K miles in that time. I sold the car with 215K on the odometer with all original drive train. I enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed the 03 and it might have made 280 rwhp.
My point is.. drive it.. love it.. sell it for someone else to love.. repeat.
This. :beer:
remember guys that this is ALL speculation. no one knows what's going to happen, not you, not me, nobody. its all guesswork.
hell, some of us (like me) will probably be dead before these cars possibly become valuable in the way we are discussing.
but my perspective is from my experience with mopars from the first musclecar era, when i was amazed to see that even rusted out clunkers were starting to bring big bux just because they had the right vin and matching numbers.
i would defer to your knowledge about 60's ford musclecars. i am not familiar with the market. are you actually able to find an example of each out there for sale?
my suspicion however, is that you cannot. or, if you were to find one of each, i bet that both of them have already been fully carousel restored.
true "survivors", regardless of mileage, are usually restored before going up for sale, because time is brutal on most automotive components.
unless of course, it's the type where it goes straight from the dealer in bubblewrap to a climate controlled basement for 40 years with 4 miles on it. (we saw a terminator and a cobra r like that on ebay last year, though can't find the thread) in those rare cases, they are never driven, and are bought and sold from collector to collector, like a statue or a piece of art. i don't think that's what we're talking about here however.
i think you may looking at it from a perspective of a normal driveable car you can buy in the classifieds. i don't think that will be the case for the time period we are discussing. there is a HUGE difference between a 5 year old car and a 45 year old car. the attrition rate is very high, so even finding one in the color and mods a person would want is very tough to begin with. and then like i said, so many parts on the car need to be replaced anyway, that is why actual mileage becomes less of a factor than overall condition.
hell, some of us (like me) will probably be dead before these cars possibly become valuable in the way we are discussing.
but my perspective is from my experience with mopars from the first musclecar era, when i was amazed to see that even rusted out clunkers were starting to bring big bux just because they had the right vin and matching numbers.
i would defer to your knowledge about 60's ford musclecars. i am not familiar with the market. are you actually able to find an example of each out there for sale?
my suspicion however, is that you cannot. or, if you were to find one of each, i bet that both of them have already been fully carousel restored.
true "survivors", regardless of mileage, are usually restored before going up for sale, because time is brutal on most automotive components.
unless of course, it's the type where it goes straight from the dealer in bubblewrap to a climate controlled basement for 40 years with 4 miles on it. (we saw a terminator and a cobra r like that on ebay last year, though can't find the thread) in those rare cases, they are never driven, and are bought and sold from collector to collector, like a statue or a piece of art. i don't think that's what we're talking about here however.
i think you may looking at it from a perspective of a normal driveable car you can buy in the classifieds. i don't think that will be the case for the time period we are discussing. there is a HUGE difference between a 5 year old car and a 45 year old car. the attrition rate is very high, so even finding one in the color and mods a person would want is very tough to begin with. and then like i said, so many parts on the car need to be replaced anyway, that is why actual mileage becomes less of a factor than overall condition.
You bring up several good points here, but the principal difference between the muscle cars of yesterday versus these modern equivalents, is that you could never actually verify the mileage on older models because there were no computers to keep track of data (internally), no databases online such as Carfax, and other sources to make a difference between cars. You could manually roll back an odometer in those older cars, and no one would be the wiser. In those cases, condition and matching numbers was the ONLY criteria by which you could assess value. Now we have the ability to accurately tack mileage, so I feel it will be a bigger part of the overall picture than it was in the old days.;-)
these type threads almost become like a "whats the best sounding exhaust?" type thread. you usually answer with what you have...even though there's no "right" answer
poster A with the low mile, no rock chip, spectacular interior car says drive it sparingly, i like staring at it in the garage and hope it appreciates one day
poster B with a high mile daily driver that gets really used rain shine or road condition surface of course will answer drive the hell out of it, i'll get it repainted by maaco... it won't be worth much anyway
;-)
poster A with the low mile, no rock chip, spectacular interior car says drive it sparingly, i like staring at it in the garage and hope it appreciates one day
poster B with a high mile daily driver that gets really used rain shine or road condition surface of course will answer drive the hell out of it, i'll get it repainted by maaco... it won't be worth much anyway
;-)
I used to be worried about that as well. Maybe I spent too much time watching Mecum Auctions and was too worried about mine being an "low original miles classic". But what's the point of spending all that money for that? Might as well stick the money in the bank/invest it. You'll get a better return. Drive it. The main reason I don't drive mine now is this freaking northwest rain. Don't trust it in the rain.
Hey, I appreciate the many good points here. But, let me throw in a couple more factors. From the design and performance standpoint, someone here said that today's 'muscle cars' are built with more power and and better designed, true IMO. Also, these Cobras has one thing that makes them stand out against all other Mustangs, the IRS. But...come 2015 or so, Mustangs will again have IRS, so there goes the uniqueness. My other take is, stock Cobras have enough hp and torque for most people, even today, and the car as a whole can handle, brake, perform other things very well. Most Cobras have been modded, very deliciously, but do fully stock ones command higher prices since they are more rare? True, stock parts can be re-bolted on but when checked out, most could probably see the tell tails of mods. More inputs?
ßlu-N-ßlown
Banned
If you bought the car to drive then drive it, just know the value will go down. If you bought the car as a garage queen well whats the point in owning it at all.... Its a car that should be enjoyed in my opinion!
the key is to drive them when its fun for you to drive them and enjoy them then the miles keep low on their own I have no fun DD'ing my car so I just drive it when its nice out as I hate having to clean it up from rain etc
I have no fun DD'ing my car so I just drive it when its nice out as I hate having to clean it up from rain etc
Nice year+ bump by the newbs. Sorry, had to say it.
I bought my Cobra with 14k miles few months back, I bought it to drive not to stare at. I made that mistake with my last car and I regret it.
Glad you chimed in with that useful info. And yes I asked, because also considering the '15s when they come out with the IRS and 475 hp projected. Planning to NOT put a lot of miles in, I work very close to home. Weighing in the values.
Lighten up Francis! I was being a smart ass, and if I didn't do, somebody else would've.
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