I just bought a "beige" or "mocha" short bed 301A in a nice cabinet for 100$ and I am delighted. But it all comes down to the intersection of money and value. I don't need another sewing machine, but I negotiated a price that matched my perceived value of the machine. Bingo! I know I will be working on it a bit, cleaning it up, and gifting it to someone who will get a lifetime of use out of it. I really tried to convince the young man who sold it to me to "hang on to it" but thread tension issues convinced him that sewing was not the best creative outlet for him
I think these machines will just keep going up in prices, but they already have very solid value.