Y2K_Frenzy

What cars are in question? Anything sporty, foreign or domestic, that was made back when autos were the slower choice STOCK for STOCK. So let’s say from the 80’s until the late 2000’s. Maybe further back than the 80’s but that’s as far back as I can comment on. I’m not really talking about an old used car that someone is going to turn into a race car. I’m talking more along the lines of if someone was buying new or slightly used, say back in ‘00 for example, and they were going to drive it and make payments and such. More of a DD than a toy type situation. You know back when a manual would rip off a 13 some odd 1/4 mile and its auto counterpart would do a 13.5 or worse. Or in the mustang world the manual would do a 14 and the auto might rip off a 15.. Back then a slightly used manual might have brought more for the guy who was looking to have the faster DD. A fella might choose the old manual over the auto today as well if he was looking to go faster for cheaper. But I don’t know if the value would be or should be any higher.
If a guy is looking to have a purpose built drag car yeah they’re going to look for an auto, or more than likely they’ll put a beefier auto in whatever they’re racing. The road course guy is of course going to opt for the manual like you said.

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

Back in 1967 when GM introduced the TH400 in the GTO, sales of M4 cars immediately began to drop. That transmission was so capable and reliable, easy for daily driving and easy to set up for performance at the strip. Sure, the skilled shifter could beat the automatic from time to time, and generally the manual might be "quicker" in magazine tests, but most of the time in the real world the automatic got the win.

Yet the manuals remain more desirable due to relative rarity and for nostalgic reasons. It's no different with our 4th gen cars. My A4 car is still my daily driver, but I mostly just putt around town with it. And although I don't go to the dragstrip like I did 15-20 years ago, I keep my drag radials on in warm weather in case there is a challenge on the street.

But generally, I drive my M6 car much more aggressively on the street than the A4. It's just for the fun of banging gears, I guess, and that's what people who know about these cars are mostly looking for in them.