Got the Hemi Pneumonia and the Big Block Flu

Figure a slide of 10%–20% from late 2006 prices across the board and you’re not far off; the better the car, the less the correction

by Colin Comer

The drag chutes are out for the Mopar Hemi muscle car market. Unquestionably the most visible and talked-about phenomenon in the last five years of stratospheric price increases, the Hemi ’Cuda and its corporate cousins gained value at an incredible rate.

Almost overnight, anything with a 426 Hemi literally doubled or tripled in price. The cars became poster children for the muscle car boom, and led the way for many others, including an entire industry that popped up to build Hemi car “continuations,” “tributes,” “resto-mods,” and “clones.”

Now what? Hemi car values are adjusting to a more intelligent level—much higher than where they started, but down from their peak value, which I feel was reached late in 2006.

Case studies: In 2000, I sold one of the best original, unrestored ’70 Hemi ’Cuda hard tops for a world record $75,000 at a time...