83-87 Square Body Poised For Growth Says Hagerty

[diesel4me]

I hate to keep remembering this cause it makes me cringe...back in 2010, I had a salvage yard near me that had at least 100 square body trucks of all kinds on their lot. They had been there for years...I had no reason to believe they were going anywhere...but before I could turn around, he had crushed all of them...that steel went to China

I've lamented the exact same scenario here before--the one salvage yard nearby I go to most often had well over 100 of them too,and they were noted for "never scrapping much very often"...but when "Cash for Clunkers" came about,they had to make room for thousands more new arrivals,and steel prices were topping $250 a ton,so all the older heavier vehicles were the first to be squashed..now they have maybe 4 or 5 shells of cannibalized square bodies and a few Suburbans.....hardy any in all the other yards in this area too now..

 

[HP2BSQ]

Imo an LS swapped original truck is worth far less than if it had the original pos 305. Finding a truck that is well kept survivor is where these numbers are coming from and as we all know it costs 50 grand to take a ragged out truck and make it like a 25 grand original.

No worries, if I do it...I'll keep the original POS 305 and parts.

 

[paratrooper307]

Resto-mod trucks will have value when the "fever" hits. You'll always have those people who will want the cool factor of a classic but who don't want to deal with classic drivability, comfort, and performance.

 

[1-ton]

Like with all collector vehicles it will be the rarest trucks that will be worth the most first. Since 1-tons where the most expensive truck those where the least bought truck, thus there is less of them. When it comes to a single cab 1/2-ton 2-wheel drive they were a "dime-a-dozen".

 

[diesel4me]

Around here there is lots of 1 ton trucks,both 2wd and 4x4's..they are bought by utility companies,contractors,town DPW,and other businesses...

There are probably more of the lower tonnage ones around,than 1 tons ,owned "privately",but you stand a better chance of finding a decent 1 ton pickup here than the lower tonnage ones thanks to fleets and better care gets taken of most vehicles used in fleets or owned by contractors (some are very anal about their trucks,and you'll see many older ones still in nice condition,despite being used heavily and to tow,etc..)..
..most of the "homeowner" pickups get beat up,not cared for as well,and allowed to rust more overall in my opinion..

 

[paratrooper307]

Like with all collector vehicles it will be the rarest trucks that will be worth the most first. Since 1-tons where the most expensive truck those where the least bought truck, thus there is less of them. When it comes to a single cab 1/2-ton 2-wheel drive they were a "dime-a-dozen".

Maybe so, although value is tied to both desirability and rarity. Historically, it seems that the most desirable trucks from most generations tend to be single cab, two-wheel drive short beds, whereas heavy duty or utility variants tend to be less sought after. I'm not sure if short bed variants used to be rarer since more people used to by trucks for utility over sport and convenience, or if it's just the cleaner and sportier look of the short bed that makes people want them. It's all about perception-some people talk about the old 5 window Chevys from back in the day like they have something special, but while that model is desirable, it's not particularly rare either. It'd be interesting to see-I'd think in the 70's-80's trucks that you should see a big value jump for 4wd crew cab trucks just due to rarity-but will they be desirable for collectors?