There are different standards in the US and Europe of what is considered restorable and what not I guess, while still losing money in general on any C-body improvement done to a car there is at least a bit more economical thinking involved in the US and I'd also say just in general the European buyer has a better monetary situation, more or less mandatorily as the shipping sets him back already to the extent of a very well maintained 4dr C-body sedan. Exchange rates play a role, too.
Hi Klaus,
I partly disagree. There is the simple fact that fullsize cars from the mid 6os&up are not really loved in the US. Some SFGT, Hurst or Imperial coupes and CVs: Yes. But not the average fullsize which has nothing specail. People want Muscle cars in general, ponycars or intermediates etcetc. Not man people look at fullsize cars at the car shows in the US. When I spoke to some of the full size owners at the Mopar shows they were happy that at least somebody came along how knows what they have and what it is. So there is only a relativly small group of enthusiasts left who really likes them as they are. And for what they are.
At the Florida Mopar Nats with 250 Mopars about 10 fullsize show up
Mopars at the strip in Nevada: 300 Mopars, maybe 15 fullsize cars
Spring fling LA: 800 cars, maybe 30 fullsize cars
This year at the german Mopar Nats we had 282 cars attending and 72 were fullsize cars. The amount of full size cars is about 25% of the participants.
It is not really the moneyfactor. C-Bodys are cheap. You want a running 4-door sedan? It starts at 750$. There aren't any cheaper ways to start a classic car hobby than with a full size. Look at the current ads on craigslist. And for 3800$ ie you can get a cop car Fury with a rebuilt 440. It is cheap. All the guys buying Coronets, Challengers&co are paying way different prices for their cars.
If I would live in the US I would own probably 50+ full size cars. Just to save them from the derby guys.
Looking at europe: People like "huge" american cars. We have way more C-Bodies than "small&ugly" A-Bodies.
And yes, exspecially in countries like sweden there is a lot of enthusiasm. A lot of the rougher cars, which were going to die in the US, will be fixed up there. Slowly but they will be on the road.
The priorietis are often different, too. First comes the family, then the cars, then the house and the holiday. A lot of my swedish friends don't fly into holiday etc as they rather spent all their money on the car instead. Simply enthusiasm.
Carsten