You’ve been thinking about buying another car, right? Don’t worry, you’re here among friends.
But which one? How can you possibly narrow down that field?
Talk to the experts. So we did. We rounded up a panel of specialists from today’s collector car world and asked them what is currently catching their eye: What’s undervalued, what’s poised for a big …
I think it's too late for many of those (911? 289 Cobra? Ferrari anything? NSX, 356), and I also think that the time for "old" british is past. No hate here, because I'm an enthusiast of all these things.
I think the Elise is slipping through the affordable hands, as is the Alfa 4c. E46 M3's are appreciating rapidly. Probably too late to get an affordable Z06- especially C7. I like the starquest on the list. I like the XKR and XJR as appreciating.
Big Two for major appreciation in the next five years with my money are the Elise/Exige and 4C. I'm just sorry I missed my chance at a 67 Mini S MkI for anything remotely reasonable. I'll have to wait for boomers to start selling.
The Jag XK's with the 4.0 Litre V8 had horrible issuses with timing chains and Nikasil cylinder lining. Why isnt this reported more? Jag did change thousnads of 4.0 Litre engines under warranty and these have a green tag near the firewall. The 4.2 litre version from 2002 was bullet proof. I've owned a 2001 XKR with a warranty changed engine, then a 2007 4.2 litre alloy bodied one and later an F Type. The really good XK's are 2007-2015 alloy models that were better than their Aston cousins.
Haven't driven one, but the 968 looks great on paper. It really is the final evolution of decades of porsche engineering and the examples that I see are usually a lot cleaner than the 944 that came before it.
I have really mixed feelings about the NSX showing up on these lists. I bought mine because the community was pretty humble, had a really high signal-to-noise ratio, and seemed to be mostly enginerds and/or Honda fan boys. And they all drove their cars! It's gonna suck if the vibe changes.
I think the 2 doir Tahoe from the 90's will be a future classic
MGBs and even MGAs are still cheap, available and easy to work on. You forgot Triumph Spitfires, also everywhere and easy to work on.
None of these have gone into the stupid money realm yet.
Yeah I think your experts have missed the boat on most of these already. I mean really, Cobra, 356, 930, NSX, and Ferrari are already well-healed blue chip collector cars and have been for decades. 968's are stupid expensive already, there's not much higher they can go. The British roadsters are all going down in value, the newer monied enthusiast just doesn't connect with them. Corrado and StarQuest are good picks. XJ-S and C3 Corvette are just way too common and really drive like trucks. Neither has aged well.
Here's my hot take on a few to replace on the list, like for like.
Ferrari 456 > Ferrari 365 - Still a V12 Ferrari, the last with a manual gearbox, and the cheapest modern one you can get into. Check out Hoovie's on Car Trek.
Porsche 996 Turbo > Porsche 930 Turbo - Still a turbo 911, and the cheapest one you can get thanks to runny-egg headlights. They go like bananas and are truly analog - manual trans, no electronic aids. A 997 which is nearly identical in driving performance/parts make up is almost double because the headlights are round.
C6 and C7 Corvette > C3 Corvette - The C3's worth owning (68-72 big block) have been stupid pricey for decades. Sure, an 81 crossfire injection t-top leaker is like $1000, but any C3 worth owning is already at the top of it's price. C6's especially, and C7's a little, have been depreciating but will be remembered as the last "real" Corvettes (front engine, manual trans). C6 Z06/ZR1 are already floating back up, but a good LS3 base or Grand Sport is the one to get. Same with C7, find the best spec manual-trans model you can because that's what's going to be sought after when we are all riding around in Wall-E electric egg pods.
Porsche 944 S2 > Porsche 968 - Literally the same chassis, engine, and interior and the S2 has pop-ups which make it infinitely cooler. How a 968 is worth 3 times a rarer S2 is is beyond me.
Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:The British roadsters are all going down in value, the newer monied enthusiast just doesn't connect with them.
I think that is actually a good thing. How about leaving a few cool cars for those of us who aren't hedge fund managers. I don't even bother with lists of cars that cost more than my house.
LOL, how many years ago did that Cobra sell for $500K?
Those things have been a hair under a million for a while now.
In reply to ShawnG :
Do people even drive cars like that anymore? Do they keep them in a glass case somewhere on a secluded estate?
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
They're locked up safe and never seen. They're an investment now, not a car. It's a shame too.
If they do get driven, they don't get driven anywhere but right back home. You can't leave it some place. You drive it out of the garage, drive it around and drive it right back in the garage.
In reply to ShawnG :
So do banks make safety deposit boxes big enough for a car yet?
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
Welcome to the world of asset securitization:
https://rallyrd.com/collections/1955-porsche-356-speedster/
MGB, After you fix the rust, find decent wheels, find an O/D, rebuild the engine, paint and overall invest $20,000, will it ever be worth that 20K? Bought mine for 3K, invested about 8K and the best I could get for it was 5.5K. There are still lots available so from a supply and demand point of veiw, increase in value will be 50 years from now. They all have the same afflictions (rust, bastardized mods, and damaged wire wheels).
Also Cobra, Turbo 911? Too late, they are maxxed out to the top 1% of collectors. Us riff raff won't be allowed to sniff the interior let alone buy one!
Ha! I'm one step into the game. Already own one of the cars listed. Opel GT.
Now may have to work on others on the list but think SWMBO will have something to say about that.
The 944 and all its various iterations are on the increase. The higher spec cars post 85.5 especially. I have been seeing Boxsters now selling for less.
MR2 Spyders have flown up in value lately.
Could find 2 or 3 around $5-7k and now most decent ones are ~$10ish.
Also no love for the E30?
Ford Explorer?
dean1484 said:The 944 and all its various iterations are on the increase. The higher spec cars post 85.5 especially. I have been seeing Boxsters now selling for less.
I paid double for my 944 S2 compared to my 986 S.
Appleseed said:Ford Explorer?
A few years ago I thought about buying up all the white Broncos I could find and releasing an anniversary "The Juice is Loose" edition.
Appleseed said:Ford Explorer?
Putting the Explorer on the list seems rather premature. Possibly in another 10 or 20 years, we might have somebody wanting the car they rode to elementary school in, but right now I suspect most of the people out there who would want an Explorer would buy it for a beater trail rig.
Hmmm.... if you want a Ford engined SUV, how about a LaForza? OK, nobody's heard of that one, so it might not be very collectible either.
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
I think some of our experts are a little richer than some of us. Still, if I hit the lottery, I would have a 289 Cobra in my garage that day. And I have been looking hard at GT3 and turbo 986, 987 and 991's. as soon as I build some more garage space. Right now is not the time to buy though. It is the time to sell. Some of these people who git a little to frisky with PPE or stimulus money are going to have to fire sale skmething eventually.
Please be keeing Ford/Mercury Capri's off this list so nobody thinks about them.
Appleseed said:Ford Explorer?
Even though I'm a fan of the 2nd gen.. I agree that's a stretch
I know I'm a fanboy, but the Mercedes (W201) 190E 16-valve is starting to follow the path of the E30 M3. When I got into the platform about 10 years ago, you could find a dozen examples in the $3-7k range. I was buying parts cars for $1500. Now I'm seeing rough ones going for $15-20k and excellent ones selling for $35k and up. There's a clean, low-mileage 2.5-16 (non-Evo) in Canada right now and they're asking $60k. That was Evo money 15 years ago. Now the Evo I is $150k and the Evo II is $300k and up.
I believe the earliest Mitsubishi (CE9A) Lancer Evolution 1-3 models are about to go the same way, especially for RS versions. Of all the Lancer Evos, these early models are the only ones that were genuine Gr.A homologation specials that actually raced and won under Gr.A rules. They're 25 years old and legal to import. For me, the Evo II RS hits the sweet spot. A handful sold over the last 2-3 years in the $14-16k range. There's a clean, but high mileage, one for sale in Florida now; the the seller won't come down from $28k.
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