Overhaulin'

will modifying a classic car motor bring the value down?

Public Comments

1. yes as buyers prefer it to be all original.
2. YES! but if you decide to keep all your old stock parts. but don't go modding any ultra rare engines that would really bring the value down
3. If you are selling it as an antique or a show car, probably. Personally though I wouldn't squawk if I was buying a 55 chevy and it had a ZR1 engine in it. Just depends on the buyer and what mods.
4. as far as selling it stock for concourse purposes, yes. you can keep the original parts to sell along with it though. if selling as a restomod, then it could increase the value but most people dont care and will still low ball you. obviously modifying the motor means you wanted it to go faster which means you drove it harder than someone willing to leave it stock would. just common sense really.
5. For most buyers the answer is yes...! But there's a selected group of people that like the new performance of today's vehicles on a classic chassis as well. Considering that you only are going to make modifications on the engine, tranny and rear end and not on the original body of the car. If you tune on the Speed Channel on cable and watch Barrett Jackson auctions, sometime you can see classic cars with today's performance like for example old Vettes with C6 engines with tune port injection and 1970s Hemi Cudas with Viper V-10s sometimes and these vehicles many of them sell for 100 ths of thousands of $$$. it's matter of individual and collectors taste.
6. In most cases NO! Depends on what is modified and how much. By modifying, I'm assuming you are keeping the original engine (drivetrain) and swapping out such things as ignition (to MSD/Accell) adding headers, aluminum intake, 4 barrel etc, custom valve covers, generator to alternator conversion and so on. Under most conditions these are common practices and most hot rodders will do some if not all of these mods. During the fifties and sixties, young hot rodders were always hopping up their cars to make them faster, louder and cooler and this practice still exists today. In just about all cases this will ADD value to your car. About the only time it will hurt the value is if you were to sell your car to a collector who would most likely want a totally original vehicle, but if this were the case then the car would have to be a highly desired make & model in mint condition throughout. The average car enthusiast would most likely welcome most of the mods. I am a professional specialty vehicle appraiser with over 40 years of hot rodding experience.