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Rick Schmidt – Ask Rick:
It is February and Love is in the air! It is also time for another Ask Rick segment where I ask him the tough questions and it is time to find out what Rick loves about cars and chocolate!
Rick’s Take On The Lifting of the EV Mandate:
With a new administration in the Presidential office there are always big changes. Especially when there is a change in party affiliation there is always an undoing of what the previous administration did. Recently the execute order of President Trump has removed the labeled “Electrical Vehicle Mandate,” a name-tag given by opponents of the previous administration’s emissions requirement targets that were (effectively) impossible without forcing an adoption to EV vehicles. The executive action removes allowing automotive manufacturers to more closely build vehicles according to customer demand instead of government demands. Rick said that this will not signify the instant return to wild high horsepower vehicles but the manufacturers will utilize the recent influx of research funding to make more efficient and technological vehicles so customers can save money on fuel and travel.
Rick’s Take On Sports Car Racing:
Shelby American recently announced a return to Sports Car style racing. It would be great to see a return to road style racing with close to production built vehicles and become more mainstream. Rick said that it would require a big celebrity crossover to the sport to make it exciting to a lot of people that would not have watched otherwise to get the viewership numbers needed to make a go of it. It takes a lot to break into live TV and a superstar getting into sports car racing would put make it happen. Who wouldn’t tune in to watch Taylor Swift race against Brad Pitt?
Rick’s Take On Auction Cars:
Recent Mecum Kissimmee and Barrett Jackson auctions are over and now is the time to review some of the results, Rick said he did not get to sit and watch the whole auction but did get to review some of the interesting offerings as they crossed the auction block. Well restored vehicles were showing good numbers and very nice Shelby cars garnered a lot of attention, but the average or maybe poorly restored vehicles did not do as well and showed a downturn in dollars. Speculators point at that and say the huge auction numbers are over, but Rick thinks people are doing more research and looking into the actual build of the car before laying down mountains of cash. A lot of people have been decrying the end of the high value fifties era vehicles as the people that would be interested in them are dying off. Rick actually noticed a resurgence in those and early sixties vehicles apparently by a younger crowd than would normally be associated with that era vehicle. You can check out the cars that sold here Mecum Auction 2025 in Kissimmee Florida. In the end, the high dollar inflated values on average to below average cars, and the best of the best are bringing even more.
Rick’s Take On Cars People May Love:
It’s February and you are going to do some planning to get a car that will have the highest ROI at next year’s January auctions. These three cars have nothing in common with each other. Just factor in the ROI to purchase, do what you want over the year, and sell in January 2026.
Car #1:
While Rick would love a 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator, this is not the car for him. Just from a brief look at the images he can tell it is not a high end restoration but could be a good starter car for someone either wanting a nice driver or a starter car to work a complete restoration.
https://www.hemmings.com/
Car #2:
Back in the eighties the CRx was a very eye catching and sporty which made it very popular. This example was actually a magazine project in association with Honda where they installed two identical engines front and rear and it has a very interesting history to it. Rick said this could be a wildcard and if people knew what it was it could gain big money but it could also fall flat on its face by 2026.
https://bringatrailer.com/
Car #3:
This 1967 Shelby GT500 could be a great way to get into a Shelby and have a car that is a future complete restoration worthy vehicle. Rick has seen the Shelby vehicle market exploding and thinks that even with all of the discrepancies such as wrong paint and hot rodded engine you could ride the wave and make some money in a year without changing a thing.
https://www.hemmings.com/
***BONUS***
Bonus #1:
This is a 1992 Mustang 5.0L, five speed Coupe “Police Car” that recently sold for $50K at auction. Rick believes this sold for that kind of money cause it is the whole package for a novelty car and not because of any special history or high end restoration. It definitely is NOT something you want to see in your rear view mirror though.
https://bringatrailer.com/
This interview sponsored by our pals at National Parts Depot – your premier source for muscle car restoration parts!
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