Your predictions. What is the next car destined to skyrocket in price?

How far ahead of the curve do you want to be?

Get in on the ground floor. Buy a brand new FRS or BRZ. I am gambling that they wont be made for too many years. Now store it in a climate controlled lock-up for 50 years. Probably be able to sell it for exactly what you paid in inflated dollars. Shame about the cost to store.

In the car world same as real estate, you make the $$$ when you buy. You need to find fast moving models that you can shop for and pounce on cheaply, knowing that you can flip them tomorrow for a profit.

I'll second (or third) '83 and '84 GTIs. A few have broken the 10k mark in recently and I imagine that is only going to become more common.

Metal bumper Sciroccos ('75-'77) are also on the rise, but I'm not expecting any magic to happen there.

I've always thought that the fox body to get would be a late 5.0 notch. Both manual and automatics are going to be pretty sound investments at this point.

105 GTVs are a veritable bargain at the prices they're fetching. I've never quite understood why they don't trade for more money. Since I'm in on the ground floor of that investment, I'm hoping that they rise drastically in the next decade.

In reply to NOHOME:

Better off getting a good one off a 2 year lease.

In reply to Burrito:

Dude- you got a 105 GTV??? I missed that build thread!

I got mine in 1996 this month for $5k. I've put in $2k in a trans, and $5k in an engine, and I'm pretty sure I can get $35k for it. Not going to, as I love the car too much. But I've better ones for sale well over $40k.

Mike wrote: Unmolested, well-kept new millennium retro: PT Cruiser, Prowler, HHR, SSR, Thunderbird, New Beetle, Z8, S-Cargo. Maybe MINI.

While some of these are definitely rather low volume, somewhat rare cars, the problem I have with seeing the values escalate very far is who's buying them?

The whole "retro" craze was basically invented by the industry to capitalize on the nostalgia of the baby boomer generation and the corresponding boom in the classic car market they were creating. The response at the time of their target market was, by my judgement at least, lukewarm at best and by the time these cars are getting to classic age in another 10-15 years, the baby boomers will be getting to the age where their kids are getting ready to yank their driving privileges and financially prep for the inevitable move into the retirement home.

I honestly haven't seen much enthusiasm for these types of "retromobiles" outside of the "I remember when the ORIGINALS first came out..." crowd, so I just don't see the demand ever getting high enough to really drive values into the stratosphere.

I know for me as a Gen Xer with my house to be paid off in a few years and my retirement well funded, I'll have an EVO 4 and a ST205 Celica in my garage in 2021. :)

In reply to alfadriver:

Yep, there's a '72 GTV patiently waiting for me. The short history goes something like: Parked in '85 when the motor let go at 54k miles, drug out of a barn by my father in the mid-90's when they were still super cheap, and moved from shop to shop for the last 20 years.

There will be a build thread eventually, but not until the 128 is done-done, the garage is expanded, the 850 coupe meets whatever fate it's intended to meet, and I find a giant pile of money to throw at proper paint and body work.

Joe Gearin wrote: Another thing to consider is that the buyers who are attracted to the Japanese cars from the 90's and newer also tend to be tech savvy types. I'm not so sure these guys will wax nostalgic for cars without all the tech stuff they've become accustomed to in newer machines. "Hey, where do I plug in my iPod?" Also-- with the growing concern about safety (especially with younger enthusiasts), will they pine for a 80s or 90s car that is "unsafe" to drive? Ohmygawd.....no ABS, or traction control? No airbags? No lane change departure warnings? Cars always go up in value when the folks that want them reach their peak earning years. (40-60) When the Grand Turismo generation reaches this age, the cars they lusted after will go up in price. Will it be a bubble like the musclecar craze was? I don't know---- the muscle car guys aren't concerned about tech, gadgets or safety. The kids (now adults) weaned on video games are.

The safety aspect I doubt will come into play, as the people that would view cars that way probably aren't going to be collectors.

And I think sooner rather than later there will be a bubble for pre '80's cars. The pristine cars will continue to command high prices, but average cars I think will level or drop for most. This will render cars like the TR6 or 240Z irrelevant to most people. Kids today couldn't care less for a LBC, or Alfa, Datsun, etc.

The higher dollars in the years to come I believe may buck the trend and be Japanese. The aforementioned Supra TT, RX7, Skylines, and I believe S2000s in particular, and of course the NSX. American cars like the Viper, the newer Shelbys, Z06 Corvettes, etc for average cars. And the high dollar cars as always of course.

Clean stock Integra Type R and '99-00 Civic Si.

JG Pasterjak wrote: At some point GNs and GNXs will jump from ludicrous to super-ludicrous.

I think GNX is probably past that point. I remember in the late 90s they were going for $30k for a basically unused one. The GN is still pretty cheap, but yeah a low mileage unmolested one is going to be expensive at some point when guys my age start getting the fever. I had one back in 98 that I got with 60k miles or so for $9500 and within a year and a half I sold it for $10500.

In reply to Burrito:

Cool! You may find them easier to work on than the Fiats. So that will be a bonus. And with where you live, I do hope the car still has the SPICA- the country's expert on that is in your area. My set up run so very, very well, and I've had it this way for 15 years or so.

Do you know how the engine let go?

TR-8

TR-6

Because I want one of either.

In reply to Harvey:

you had a GNX that you bought and sold for around 10K....

Not a Grand National, a GNX...

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/buick/gnx/1804695.html

Edit: Reread your note....

I think you are saying you had a GN that you bought and sold for 10K. My bad... Nothing to see here....

Early MR2s

Pretty much any square SUV from the early days of soccer moms. They're all going up.

First Gen Broncos and Full Size Jeep SUVs (Wagoneer...)

I'm on the fence whether or not NA miatas will be highly sought after. The ND may cannibalize the future market.

If you want to be way ahead of the curve. I'd say N/A M3s (e46/e9X). Purists want that N/A sound, feel, and redline. They have a strong enthusiasts following and a fair amount of them will disappear through negligence and motorsports. It'll take awhile though.

Another one: Jeep Comanche.

Buddy of mine has been searching high and low for a clean, sub $5k, 4.0 4x4 for months now and keeps striking out. We watched a nice looking truck, with non-original paint and almost 180k on the original motor, barely clear its reserve at over $8k selling price. Seems like $3k buys you a solid start for a project.

Seems so many of them were beat to hell and/or returned to the earth long ago and the production volume was never huge to begin with. The styling is classic, the brand is iconic, and they can be justified as a somewhat practical vehicle, what with the truck bed, robust mechanicals, and near endless supply of XJ parts to keep them running.

Let the insurance companies do the work for you.

How long do you think we are going to be allowed to live in this golden age of Huge HP? The Mustangs King Cobra and Hellcats are way too crazy to be allowed to survive and even though they are based off of a common mundane platform , they are rare beasts in and of themselves.

I'd be uncomfortable picking a car to invest in long term. I think self-driving cars will be a game changer for automotive enthusiasts. I'm not sure if they'll drive costs of regular vehicles up or down, but I think one of the two will happen and the risk/reward probably goes up significantly whenever that occurs. The picture is probably much clearer for short term (5-10 years) ownership.

Long term is an interesting situation. The younger generation has already shown no interest in driving, let alone older cars. The future is autonomous cars, uber and public transportation.

Collector car bubble?

In the 4-figure market, I'd buy the nicest E24 6-series I could find.

wvumtnbkr wrote: In reply to Harvey: you had a GNX that you bought and sold for around 10K.... Not a Grand National, a GNX... http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/buick/gnx/1804695.html Edit: Reread your note.... I think you are saying you had a GN that you bought and sold for 10K. My bad... Nothing to see here....

Yes, it was an 87 GN that I bought and sold for around $10k, but again this was in 1998 when they were only 11 years old.

Low-tech is going to be desirable as cars become so laden with failing circuit boards that they can't be driven. I predict a future where low-mileage cars in perfect shape will be crushed for want of an NLA printed circuit board. If I am remembering correctly, I think that Subaru XT's have some failure like this that kills them. Cars that spike in value will be the best cars of the pre-electronic era. Nobody wants to drop $50k on a car that is one puff of smoke away from the crusher.

In reply to AaronBalto:

As someone who has owned both an XT Turbo with the crazy digi dash and an XT6, I've never once heard of any kind of weird printed circuit board failure...

In reply to AaronBalto:

But you can already get printed circuit boards either by DIY or by sending out to places that will build you anything you want. I actual don't worry about computers/electronics in cars. Think about the ricer craze, every car had computers in it. Never stopped anyone. Hacking cars will be a past time.