Here's the actual listing which will expire so here's a screen shot of it. I love how cranky and off-putting the guy is; it's like he's doing us a favor by listing this car he doesn't need to sell.
Here's the thing - a NADA guide snap shot reveals that it's not that over priced. Well, for the record it is overpriced, honestly from the looks of it should be listed south of ten grand, but with an average retail price of $15,000 for Plymouth Duster's and a mint condition Demon 340 GS going recently at Barret Jackson in Las Vegas for $39,500, holy smokes, this might be had at a relative bargain.
Might be fun but expensive to restore it and hop into being a "Demon 340 clone" but then what would you have? You'd still have a 1971 Dodge Demon that, sorry, on a muscle car scale of one to ten, in my book, it would barely register. So, seriously, what the (pun intended) hell is going on here?
Incidentally, a "clone" in muscle car vernacular is a lesser model that's been dressed up and/or modified to resemble a more desirable one.
Well, it would appear that anything even loosely construed as a muscle car these days is going for extreme money. Rusted out 1970-1974 Dodge Challengers and Plymouth Barracuda's that can't even roll are going for north of five grand (if not more) so, on paper at least, this guy asking twenty grand for this is not that unreasonable. I mean, it is unreasonable but not crazy so. y'know? I guess there's hope for my wife and I that our beloved and beleaguered 1977 Corvette will actually be worth something one day.
Chrysler labeled their Plymouth Duster as a "Dodge Demon" for 1971 and 1972 changing only the rear tail lights, front grill and some ancillary badges. Chrysler was so cheap back then that they didn't even make actual metal name plates for these cars instead relying on decals to help distinguish them from Duster's. Would a Duster by any other name still smell as mediocre?
They sold well enough those two years but Chrysler nixed the "Demon" nomenclature and started calling these things "Dart Sport" for the rest of the model run that lasted through model year 1976. Chrysler replacing it with the craptacular "Aspen". Plymouth replaced the Duster with the Volare. Oh. the pain. The pain.
Perhaps knowing that many people don't appreciate anything even loosely related to the occult, even a car with a cartoon like demon festooned to it, Chrysler thought better of it. Coincidentally or not, values of 1973-1976 "Dodge Dart Sports" is not anywhere near what 1971-1972 Demon's is. In fairness there's a host of reasons for that - most "classic cars" made after 1972 are less valuable than those made before then. The reasons and opinions for that are as myriad as the collector car market is.
As with any collector car the higher up the model is on the ladder the better. A '71 "Demon 340" will command far more than this car would in pristine condition. Even today clones are still clones - you can't beat authenticity. Still can't blame the guy for thinking he's sitting on a lump of gold here.
By the way, if you don't know, in collector car vernacular a "clone" is a lesser model dressed up to look like a more desirable model. Even if the clone is in showroom condition compared to one in less good shape, it's still going to be worth less because it's not what it pretends to be.
Just like when the neighbor across the street puts their house up for sale for a hundred grand more than they paid for it years ago, you burn a little with jealousy but you know that if they get anywhere near what their listing it for it's good for the whole neighborhood.
Thing is, if you sell what you have at an extreme profit, if you wanted to, what would you replace it with that would make dollars and sense?
Very poorly written story. Also, comparing an old car on Craigslist to sale prices on NADA and Barrett Jackson is just off the wall. This author is an example of degrading internet content.
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