Interesting read, but will never apply to my car. Mine started out as a lowly 3.8 v6 GL and has been heavily modified from stock. Its a hodgepodge of different years and aftermarket parts. Those type of cars never have a lot of market worth, or at least lag far behind the "collector status" examples Their only real value is to the owner who modified them.
Cars that bring big bucks to collectors are bone stock originals or rare option models. Mine is neither. I'm perfectly happy with that too.
But you've also hit on a "pet peeve" of mine, so please dont take this as a personal commentary.
Truth be known, i actually dont like the collector market much, bordering on contempt for a it. All they do is drive up the prices on cars that otherwise should be driven and enjoyed (which includes alterations). They make it impossible for a young lad to buy something and get started in the hobby, unless they want to build a Honda civic, chevy cavalier or ((shudder)) a Scion. I mean really; 100's of thousands for early mustangs? Shameful in my opinion and that sort of thing is choking the bottom end of the car hobby to death.
Same as those assholes like on gas monkey garage where they buy something for a thousand bucks, do nothing to it and sell it for 8 grand. A guys gotta make a living for sure, but that sort of thing is just sucking all the juice out of the orange and throwing the rest away. You're not a "car guy" at that point, youre a shyster and a greasy, slimy profiteer.
People are free to enjoy them as they want, even if that means spending stupid money on buying them. But that kind of money on something that was built to have fun with and appeal to low income earners (at the time) like secretaries is ridiculous in my personal opinion. Its a lot of the reason why i typically dont watch things like barrett Jackson nor go to them. Just makes me more and more disappointed or bitter about where my favorite hobby has gone and how people with more money than brains have pretty much ruined it for people like me (Ie: greasy paws).
Personally, i hope the fox chassis is never worth anything of any real value. That way, they can be enjoyed as summer drivers and "hot rods", modified without concern for "collector value"...
