The Value of a Collector Car—Determining Its Worth

Old Cars Price Guide Magazine Available by subscription, this bi-monthly print magazine is a very good guide for those interested in a strict code for evaluating collector vehicles. The six categories of a vehicle's condition are spelled out in great detail from "excellent" to "parts car." It covers virtually all American cars and "selected imports." It also covers vehicles all the way back to the early 1900's. Krause Publications offers online access only for subscribers to their print magazines. http://www.collect.com

Standard Catalog of American Cars Another Krause publication, this is a valuable (print only) book for establishing relative prices among model lines within a production year for a specific make of automobile. Although it gives specific prices for each model, the book's value lies not in the specific prices listed, but in their relationship to prices for the other models in the line-up, and to other cars of the same period or specific year. The catalog is tailored to cars within specific age ranges, with a separate catalog for American cars from 1805-1942, another for 1946-1975, and another for 1976-1999. There is also a Standard Catalog of Imported Cars 1946-2002, as well as separate Standard Catalogs for some specific makes. http://www.krause.com/static/cars.htm

Hemmings Motor News This is the most likely place to find the car you are looking for, probably in multiples from which to choose. Hemmings' print publication is a monthly newsprint compendium of thousands of cars in over 650 pages. They are cars offered for sale that month, so the asking prices are current. In some respects the Website is even better, but many buyers are still old school enough to resist the Internet. Unfortunately, Hemmings' newly published price guide goes back only to 1946-a remarkable weakness in an otherwise comprehensive information source. But since there are usually quite a few examples, the range of values for any given model advertised in Hemmings is well worth a look. http://www.hmn.com

Collector Car & Truck Market Recommended for only some collectibles, going back to 1946. Their articles are informative and helpful. The site and their various periodical print publications are put out by Vehicle Market Research. This is a very good source for basic pricing information if you are not concerned with vehicles older than 1946. But their condition guidelines are more lenient than some others (See Old Cars Price Guide Magazine).

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