Car dealers' hype beaten by internet facts

May 13, 2005 7:46 AM

After an American car company recreates its legendary 1960's Ferrari-beating race car, the first $150,000 2005 production car sells at a charity event for $400,000 over sticker price, (to a Microsoft-enriched individual, of course) and many months later, dealers are still asking up to $200,000 over sticker, or at least $150,000 over sticker. The "experts" at Edmunds say the car is selling for about $100,000 over sticker (seeing their "True Market Value" requires a few clicks from this page), and the widespread belief is that these admittedly amazing cars are virtually impossible to find and all selling for at least $100,000 over sticker. But using publicly available data, including completed eBay auctions and public documents, this non-commercial site shows the truth to be very different than the hype.
posted by escorter (32 comments total)

The people who are going to buy a Ford GT don't check the cost on Edmund's.

This all is just wanking by people who can only afford the poster or the 1:24 model.
posted by smackfu at 7:54 AM on May 13, 2005

A Ford guy at the LA car show told me the same: yeah, there are some available, but the dealers will charge you quite a bit more than the standard price. Still too much, though, While it may be a cool car, I'm waiting and saving up for the GR-1. They claim its price will be around $85k. That's much more realistic than the halo car.
posted by swordfishtrombones at 7:56 AM on May 13, 2005

The people that can afford the car can afford it precisely because they are smart with their money which includes getting the best price for expensive purchases.
posted by zeoslap at 7:57 AM on May 13, 2005

Hell, I'd be happy with a 2005 Mustang GT with the 5-speed manual...

*daydreams* *sigh*
posted by C17H19NO3 at 7:59 AM on May 13, 2005

Cool post, thanks escorter.
posted by jba at 8:11 AM on May 13, 2005

I'm always in favor of coming up with new ways of parting fools from their money.
posted by clevershark at 8:18 AM on May 13, 2005

My sister used to have a Ford GT. It was painted metalflake British Racing Green.

Then it went off the high side of the curve and got wrecked.

Slot-car racing was hell...
posted by warbaby at 8:19 AM on May 13, 2005

Zeoslap: Yeah, because there's never any frivolous consumption amung the well-to-do.
Can I say that I hate frames? I would have spent more time on that site if it weren't such shitty design.
posted by klangklangston at 8:56 AM on May 13, 2005

Don't you know that all wealthy people get that way because they're superior human beings who work harder and are smarter than all the rest of us and none of them have ever gotten rich from inheritance, dumb luck, or shady business ethics, so leave 'em alone, they deserve whatever they wish!
posted by stenseng at 9:04 AM on May 13, 2005

Ooooo got me there klangy, touche.
posted by zeoslap at 9:11 AM on May 13, 2005

Give me an old GT40 over one of these new fangled models anyday. New one's ain't got no soul, they know they're just a marketing campaign.

Though I'd still like one.

stenseng, oooh yeah, rich people work really hard. Paris Hilton is the poster child for workaholics. Hehehe. Nice!
posted by fenriq at 9:29 AM on May 13, 2005

Yes, stenseng. It would be so much better if we had a Wohlstandanstandurteilbüro to make those thorny decisions about deserts.
posted by Kwantsar at 9:30 AM on May 13, 2005

They just want to be seen in the *it* car of the year. Honestly people have no taste these days. For that kind of money you could buy a BMW 507.

I wonder if the redesign fixed the dangerous handling of the old GT40s? I don't see any giant wing--hopefully the car won't somersault like the old ones did.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:30 AM on May 13, 2005

I haven't the slightest interest in cars or the car industry but found this post quite interesting. Thanks, escorter. Nice job!
posted by shoepal at 9:43 AM on May 13, 2005

I wonder if the redesign fixed the dangerous handling of the old GT40s? I don't see any giant wing--hopefully the car won't somersault like the old ones did.

There were several aerodynamic fixes applied to the new car, all black add-ons. There is a spoiler under the nose, side skirts that help keep the airflow under the car, and at the rear there is a small spoiler on the tail, and very unfinished-looking devices under the rear bumper to encourage the airflow to follow the contour of the car.

These parts are very subtle on a dark car, and very noticable on a light-colored car.
posted by escorter at 9:45 AM on May 13, 2005

At least it's not a $3 million Oldsmobile.
posted by singletrack at 9:47 AM on May 13, 2005

Thanks for the info, escorter. I guess the point is mostly moot, since none of these buyers will drive it the way it's intended, anyway.

/gross generalization
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:49 AM on May 13, 2005

I'm getting a "bandwith exceeded" message on that last link...
posted by Daddio at 9:52 AM on May 13, 2005

daddio: here's a mirror of fordgtprices.com.
posted by zsazsa at 10:08 AM on May 13, 2005

I agree with shoepal, despite my complete non-interest in this car, and, in fact, in cars in general, I found the post interesting. The economics of luxury purchases and hype are fascinating.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:10 AM on May 13, 2005

outstanding post escorter. good story supported by well-researched links.
posted by three blind mice at 10:33 AM on May 13, 2005

Site looks like it's back up, probably just got slammed by all you guys!
posted by escorter at 10:50 AM on May 13, 2005

klangklangston: I'm with you on the useless frames and bad design. What is it about people who put stuff on the 'net and seem to forget about the ability to use doc links rather than make me scroll through a huge page of tiny text? For fuck's sake, if you can take the time to make the section headers a different color in the TOC, you can take two seconds more to link the bastards to the actual sections...
posted by caution live frogs at 11:22 AM on May 13, 2005

escorter writes "There is a spoiler under the nose, side skirts that help keep the airflow under the car, and at the rear there is a small spoiler on the tail, and very unfinished-looking devices under the rear bumper to encourage the airflow to follow the contour of the car. "

Don't these things collectively make it quite possible or even likely for the car to "flip" if it hits a bump while going at high speeds? Granted, we're not talking about an ultralight vehicle here, but skirts and "ground effects" implements were banned from F1 racing because they were shown to be extremely dangerous at high speeds.
posted by clevershark at 11:29 AM on May 13, 2005

I think that post needs some more links.
posted by ORthey at 11:56 AM on May 13, 2005

"I wonder if the redesign fixed the dangerous handling of the old GT40s?"

I've seen the originals in operation in current vintage racing events and there is nothing dangerous about them given new tire technology.

but skirts and "ground effects" implements were banned from F1 racing because they were shown to be extremely dangerous at high speeds.

Ground effects were banned along with turbos BECAUSE they created high speeds.
posted by machaus at 6:04 PM on May 13, 2005

Oooooo, I'm so excited I'm saving up my pennies so I can get one as soon as they come out.
posted by mk1gti at 6:27 PM on May 13, 2005

GREAT POST! Interesting.

one day. one day.
posted by tomplus2 at 7:45 PM on May 13, 2005

Yeah, those are cute, the GTs, but if I were spending 6 figures on a car, I'd rather have one of these.
posted by dejah420 at 9:56 PM on May 13, 2005

if I were spending 6 figures on a car, I'd rather have [an Aston-Martin]

I was recently horrified to discover that there's a 1998 DB7 with 40000 miles for sale in Austin for $55K. I mean, shit, that's no more expensive having two normal cars, but it's an ASTON-BY-GOD-MARTIN.

[grapes mode=sour]I'm sure it has many horrible defects.[/grapes]
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:16 PM on May 13, 2005

ROU_Xeny - Astons come out of the factory with many horrible defects, pretty much all luxury cars do. Ask Merc owners about the electrics etc.
posted by longbaugh at 12:14 AM on May 14, 2005

Caution: Yeah, the co-op where I live has an "unofficial" webpage that's trying to become official, and it's all a-twitter with shitty frames and confusing architecture. But the guy making it is on the board, so it's one of those conversational judo things to be like "Yeah, I think we should have a webpage, but not your shitty-ass one," and not alienate his little bald head...
But maybe good design can't be taught...
posted by klangklangston at 9:35 AM on May 14, 2005