TMCP #611: ASK RICK – Is the New EV Dodge Charge Now a Collectible…Failure? Plus, Interesting Classics for the Collection – ROI Be Damned!

Rick Schmidt – Ask Rick:

It is June and time for summer fun and my birthday! This year is a big one as it has a zero at the end of it. A great way to spend a great summer day is to Ask Rick more heavy hitting questions and get some surprising answers.

Rick’s Take On EV Direction Changes By The OEMs:

The Dodge Charger Daytona has gotten off to a slow start and apparently it has been noticed. Dodge sold just 1947 units of its electric muscle car in the first quarter. While it is currently only offered as a coupe the sales numbers are still a far cry from the 11,371 Challenger coupes Dodge moved in the first quarter of 2023. There were plans to release the four door version soon after the two door but those have been put off. Dodge has also reduced the number of choices of models down to one; the Charger Daytona Scat Pack. There are claims that the reduction in EV models is due to tariffs but their website is showing very deep discounts to move out some of the aging inventory.

Rick pointed out that the Mustang Mach E, while obviously not a two door sports car, does attract Mustang faithful with pony car cues but daily use features and platform that more suits the EV commuter car market. Ford is enjoying better sales of the daily driver version than Dodge is with it’s muscle car high performance version. The Charger is a good looking car, but it’s followers prefer HEMI’s under the hood, not Volts. That’s just how it is. We’ve seen this before with something “weird” though as the Superbird and Daytonas also sat on the dealer lot for years sometimes before selling and a lot of people wished they had not missed buying one back then. There is one that even sat until the 80’s before finally being sold as a “new” car!

I asked Rick if these new Charger Daytona EV’s could be the next big collector car due to the high performance and languishing sales reducing the future population and availability. He was quick to say “no” and it is due to the battery power supply. Gasoline engines have been historically shown to be able to be stored in a barn for many decades and still be started and driven with sometimes very little effort if prepared properly. An EV vehicle depends on a battery and no matter what you do that battery is going bad simply due to chemistry that the batteries are made of. You can store it in an environmentally stable room with a maintenance charger on it and ten years from now it will still be degraded noticeably. If you are going to get into a Charger EV, do it for the right reasons and drive it like you stole it, but as a buy and hold investment it is not the best of ideas.

Rick’s Take On Barn Find Cars:

There is a huge trend and interest in “Barn Find” cars with even large segments of recent car shows dedicated to the high end finds with special one off vehicles having been pulled out of the dirt or from under a tree. Rick says that the barn find exotics trend is basically people watching the ambulance on the highway to see the carnage that has ensued after someone did not take care of something. He would rather find a great survivor car where someone obviously took care of a vehicle and loved on it for its lifetime. If it is a barn find, a garage find, or even a basement find, Rick said he hopes it was found in a condition that it was taken care of and not neglected and destroyed. In other Ask Rick episodes he tells how to easily take care of a car to extend it’s life dramatically and they would help you to take care of your own vehicle so it does not become the next barn find tragedy.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1969-shelby-mustang-gt350-11/

1969 Shelby Mustang GT350 at Bring a Trailer

Rick’s Picks! Forget the ROI – Cars to Pick Because They’re Interesting!

I asked Rick to buy a car that he has never had before, simply because it is intriguing, or because something about it is irresistible. This is NOT a car specifically purchased with the goal of a later ROI, but simply one that is too “interesting” not to have in the NPD collection. He CANNOT purchase it if he has one currently has had the same yr/make/model combination previously. He also CANNOT exceed a purchase price of $40K. He also CANNOT purchase it if he has concerns that it will decrease in value over time.

Car #1: 1981 Ford Durango Fairmont Futura Conversion

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1981-ford-durango/