 Last Sunday Liz, The Boy and I attended the Seattle International Auto Show at the Stadium Exhibition Center. For those who are unfamiliar with it, the Stadium Exhibition Center sits in what was the south parking lot of the Kingdome, just north of Safeco Field. It’s a very nice venue for a car show and much posher than the ‘Dome. The Seattle International Auto Show is the new car maker’s annual bash to show off their wares and for aftermarket vendors to display what they have to offer. Since 1978, I have attended all but four SIAS’s that have been held. From year to year I have watched the evolution of automobile technology from carbueration to fuel injection. I have seen the styling evolve from the boxy and overly busy styles of the early 80’s to the futuristic and questionable styling of 2001. But mostly, I have seen the prices escalate from around $5,000 for a new car in 1978 to as high as a half million dollars in the 2001 model year. At this year’s show, an "economy" sedan was difficult to find for under $18,000 and most were right around $20,000. We have a mild interest in a station wagon, one of that vanishing breed of vehicle rapidly being replaced by sports utility vehicles and minivans. Of the few that are still offered, we looked at the Audi first. With a turbocharged four cylinder engine, this vehicle stickered at $39,000! The Saab, while it had the most comfortable seats at the show, had a sticker price of $42,000!!!! Absolutely astounding. As always, Liz wanted to look at the trucks. The "interesting" Chevrolet Avalanche was close to the $50,000 mark. The Ford Excursion was the same. A Dodge Quad-cab: $41,000. These are the vehicles for the "working man?" Pontiac’s new Aztec, while reasonably priced (around $23,000), has got to be the most bizarre styling exercise since the Pacer! It drew quite a crowd, but most of them were laughing at it. In the luxury department, Jaguars, Mercedes Benzes and BMW’s abounded. The Boy was mesmerized by these exotic machines but I found it hard to be interested in vehicles that cost in excess of twice my annual income. I will say though, that the $495,000 Ferrari F550 Maranello is perfection on four wheels. It looks like it’s going 200 mph sitting under the floodlights and made my heart rate climb just looking at it. (sigh)... Back in the real world, Ford brought 2 Mustangs to the show: SVT was represented by the 2000 Cobra R and also shown was the 2001 GT convertible. While the Cobra R is the stuff that Mustang dreams are made of, the GT convertible is a reasonably priced alternative to the high-dollar European and Japanese cars. It has a 260 horsepower overhead cam V8, a five speed transmission and a very nice, well appointed, leather covered interior. It rides on the best looking set of factory wheels I’ve ever seen and the top goes down. All this for the price of under $25,000. All in all, the 2001 Mustang was the best value in a performance car to be seen. Nothing else could approach it in terms of styling, performance and price. After all of that, I come to the point of this essay. We spent four hours looking at all the new cars and trucks that the world’s automotive industry has to offer. As we walked out of hall, I realized that I hadn’t seen anything there that I would be willing to trade for either our Mustang or our truck. Both of our vehicles are low mileage and in showroom condition. The engines are easy to work on and the performance levels of both are significantly higher than 90% of the new cars. Best of all, neither of our vehicles will ever depreciate another dollar if we care for them. Both are highly desirable special interest vehicles. If we went out and bought a $48,000 Mercedes tonight, tomorrow it would be worth about $40,000 and 10 years from now, probably less than $15,000. Right now, for that same $15,000 I can go out and buy a very nice 1969 Mach 1 and in 10 years it will probably be worth $25,000. That makes much more sense to me. Now all I need is that $15,000... Dave  View Previous "2¢" Articles Copyright © 2002 Island Classic Mustang Club. Last modified Monday, 13-Nov-2000 19:09:22 PST. |
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