1978 Pace car the first speculated collector?

[Bill Pritchard]

Pretty much the same deal as the Eldorado, the last full size Chevy convertible, the Caprice Classic....can't remember if it was 75 or 76. At the time, people were convinced these were solid investments that were going to make them wealthy at whatever point in the future they decided to sell. It was all a sign of the times. Up until the early 70's, auto manufacturers and designers were still relatively unencumbered by regulations. All of a sudden, there were far more stringent emissions regulations and the advent of the ugly 'crash bumpers', and car enthusiasts were very fearful of things getting even worse in the future.