Plymouth Scamp Rarity Question

[360Scamp]

Hey all,

I'm new to this page but figured this would be the best place to ask my question. I've had a 1974 Plymouth Scamp for a little over a year and a half now. I drove it to school my senior year of high school and now it waits for me at home as I finish up my freshman year at college but I recently started looking at more Scamps for sale and found they're surprisingly high priced. I gave $300 and a Chevy S10 chassis for mine which was running and driving when I got it. Are these cars rare or desirable in any way or are all the people selling them just crazy?

Thanks!

[TerryB]

Hard to tell why prices go up, could be sellers hoping they have the next big discovery or the market is going up based on supply and demand for cars to fix up at a reasonable final cost.  Enjoy the benefits to you if it is indeed real.  Hope school went well this year, it could be the best investment you ever make.

[Pancho's ride]

Do a search on auction prices. This may give you a more realistic gauge of value. For your sake, I hope it does increase in value. There are folks out there who want to show up to the car show with something nobody else has. I would think your car would qualify in that category. 

Enjoy your studies and good luck.

[keiser31]

A body Chrysler products are gaining value.

[Dave Henderson]

We had a '73 Scamp for a number of years and liked everything about it.  It held up well, but over time I did have to do rust repairs on the rear fenders, I welded on  corresponding sections from a junked Chevy. (the Scamp didn't seem to mind it at all)  
At around 100,000 miles it spun a rod insert and scored the crank badly.  For the first time, the much praised slant 6 didn't seem quite so wonderful.  Pulling it and reinstalling that slanting engine after putting in a reground crank was a bit tedious. 
 

[joe_padavano]

Plymouth made about 230,000 Scamps between 1971 and 1975, so not exactly rare. How many survive half a century later is a different question.

[8E45E]

Unfortunately, 1974 is a rather wretched year for almost any car.  The 5-mph bumper law was in place by then, and your particular A-body, which came out in 1967 was clearly NOT designed for them, and look like an ungainly afterthought.  As well, performance really suffered with all the emission controls.   The Scamp and Swinger trimmed Darts and Valiants in their earlier iterations are nice cars, and if your budget allows, look for a 1971 with a 340 under the hood.  Then you'll really have something to show!!

 

Craig

Edited May 6, 2019 by 8E45E (see edit history)

[John_S_in_Penna]

12 hours ago, Pancho's ride said:

Do a search on auction prices. This may give you a more realistic gauge of value.

 

For some reason, in recent years, ASKING prices by dealers

and optimistic owners may be double what a car is worth--

and double what a dealer just paid for it.  Such prices are

almost irrelevant, and the advice above--to look at SELLING

prices--is wise.  On Ebay, you can look at completed auctions

and see what various cars actually brought.

 

Price guides can be found on the internet, and Hagerty,

a well-respected insurer of antique cars, has one at www.hagerty.com.

An excellent book that is issued annually is:

https://www.oldcarsbookstore.com/2019-collector-car-price-guide-r7730

 

May you enjoy your car!  Show us a few pictures.

It's likely worth more than you paid for it.