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An event like the summer's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance might still focus on vehicles from the pre-War golden era of coach building.
By Paul A. Eisenstein
Okay, just maybe a Saab 9-4X might turn out to be something rare a decade from now considering how few rolled off the assembly line before the Swedish automaker went belly-up. But we’re having a hard time believing that something from the final year of the Pontiac Aztek will ever count as having a “collector car” in your garage.
The reality is that there are an awful lot of different products on the market, and plenty more used vehicles you can choose from. So, if you were really interested in starting a hobby as a collector – and didn’t have a seven-figure nest egg to tap – where would you begin.
Luckily, we’ve got some friends in the right places, notably including McKeel Hagerty, the CEO of Hagerty Insurance, to lend some help. Don’t bother to question his bona fides. His firm is one of the largest in the business serving automotive collectors and that means he’s got the data to show what’s trending up.
Haggerty is out in Scottsdale, Arizona this weekend where he and thousands of other collectors and wannabes will be raising their paddles on bidding at a series of classic car events including the annual Barrett-Jackson Auction. It’s an easy time to get auction fever, letting emotions overcome common sense – something auctioneers are counting on as they work a crowd to fever pitch.
“It is easy to get caught up in all the high dollar sales that take place at auctions and wonder what interesting vehicles are still easily attainable,” Haggerty cautioned during a seminar on “Emerging Collectibles.”
Experts caution that it takes some real homework to know when to bid and when to sit on your hands. And one thing that helps is to know what the hot emerging segments are. Here are three Haggerty highlights:
- Classic Pick-Ups. Traditionally, trucks were run til they rusted into the ground, but B. Mitchell Carlson, a panelist in the Emerging Collectibles seminar, asserted that, “From Maine to San Diego, trucks are hot” with collectors;
- Early Japanese Cars. A lot of the original Japanese imports “were used up and thrown away,” said panelist Rob Sass, who laughed that for someone who can now find a well-preserved Honda S800 or early Toyota Celica, “they are bringing tremendous money”;
- If cars aren’t your thing, consider a classic motorcycle, a corner of the collector market that is rapidly heating up, according to motorcycle historian Paul Duchene.
“If you think cars are an emotional purchase, wait until you purchase a vintage bike,” he suggested.
One thing that seems to hold true, year-after-year, decade-after-decade, is that collectors tend to go after the vehicles they either drove or lusted for when they were young. An event like the summer’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance might still focus on vehicles from the pre-War golden era of coach building. But the bulk of collectors have moved on to post-War and now the muscle car era.
If Hagerty is right, we could be in for yet another shift in the coming years.
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Tomorrows top collector cars are going to be something that is of the past two decades that teenagers dreamed about getting when they get older. Just like many of our grand-fathers and great grand-fathers dreamed about. Like the 69 ZL1, 70-71 426 hemi cuda', 69 A12 RR's, 454 chevelle SS's, 67 GT500.
I have what I call a "semi-classic" or "kinda-classic" car. It's a second generation Mazda RX-7. If I am being honest to myself, no it's never going to be worth much, but I love it.
For future classics, I have a short list of candidates:
Acura NSX - Not too many built, exceptional sports car, gorgeous styling.
Acura Integra Type R - Only 1,000/year were sold in the US for 4 years. Arguably the best naturally aspirated front wheel drive sports car built ever. Sorry to other Integra owners, far too many RS/LS/GS-R models were sold to ever be collectible.
Nissan S30 chassis 240Z - Dawn of Japanese sports cars, good unmolested examples are getting hard to find.
Mazda RX-3 - Maybe, good examples are hard to find and it was one of the best looking rotaries ever.
Mazda Cosmo 110S - Actually, already a collector's item. Only about 6 Series II Cosmos made it to the US, and near impossible to find a Series I already.
3rd generation RX-7. Very few were sold from 93 to 95, arguably the most beautiful car to ever come from Japan. In fact I believe that all "1995" RX-7s sold in the US were actually unsold 1994's, but I am not positive on that point.
There are many others, but this is my short list. I am aware that my list is only Japanese cars, but Japanese cars are my hobby. I am sure some European and American cars will soon be collectible, but I am unaware of the market for them.
I'd even through in Skylines and Supra's into the mix.
Just a short list of what came off the top of my head. MkIV Supras definitely. MkIIIs with the 7M engine? not so much. I would say one of the original "Celica Supras" would be more likely to be a collector than a Mark III Supra.
I think the case for Skylines is murkier since they were never officially sold in the US. The fan base is therefore restricted to auto enthusiasts only. The general public at large is still unaware of the existence of the Skyline even though their Infiniti G25/35/37 is really a Skyline. Also hurting things is that legally, you can't import any Skyline newer than 1987, which cuts out the famous R32, R33, and R34 models (but allows the severely underrated R30 model). I guess you could import them under the "show and display" rule, but the paperwork may be difficult.
Now the original Hakosuka Skyline GT-Rs are already collectors. I believe the price for an original Hakosuka with matching numbers is already over $100k in Japan.
TXMX> I completely agree with respect to the Acura NSX. A real sleeper that is still under-appreciated.
Here's a some more:
Toyota MR2 Turbo (any MR2 for that matter), All Trac Celica, and Supra TT. AE86 (already a classic to some)
Mitsu - 98-99 GSX, Galant VR4, 3000GT VR4, EVO
Honda - Del Sol vtech - the one with the doch motor (B16) quite rare a precursor to the EM si. AWS Prelude.
Might get some hate for this - Mazda RX-8, only 4 door rotary sports car ever built and not many (1st gen engines) will survive into the future. 1st Gen looks the best IMHO. Also maybe the Mazdaspeeds: MX5, MSP, MS3 (maybe not so much?), and MS6.
Nissan - 300ZX TT
Subaru - SVX and all STis.
Dodge - SRT4 - because finding a stock one will be a miacle. PT Cruiser GT
Ford - Focus SVT
Chevy - Cobalt SS Sedan 2.0T - if it survives the years. HHR SS
I think you are off on some of your choices, but I will focus on the RX8. I am not giving you hate for this, I just think you are wrong. The RX-8 was an excellent car, but it will never be a collector's item for one simple reason: they made way too many of them. They made thousands of them per year for 8 years. Plus, I think that you are underestimating the durability of the 13B-SEP engine. Some of the engines from the first model year (2003) may have issues, but any of the ones made 2004 and later will probably be ok in future years with proper care.
I have to disagree on the durability. I had an RX-8 and there is a reason Mazda extended the 1st gen warranties to 8 yrs 100K miles for the motors. The 1st gen engines lacked adaquate oiling and thus are prone to gouging and loss of sealing. They revised the number of oil holes for the 2nd gen and the warranty went back to normal as well. Funny thing is they sold way less 2nd gens so maybe those will be collectable.
Not everything is collectable based on production #s but more like how many will survive. In the RX-8's case many owners have no idea how to treat them (like premixing) and will likely blow the motors and junk the cars due to the huge cost of replacing the engine.
Everyone has their own opinion though and only time will tell.
Premixing should NOT be necessary if the oil metering pump is in operating condition. It's counter intuitive, but if your rotary isn't burning oil then you have a problem.
I wish I still had my 70 Ford Torino 500, 351c. I really loved that old hot rod. Now it costs me 15k for an old broken down one. LOL
A lot of Japanese cars listed here, Must be mostly young folks. I think they're fine but I'd prefer an AMX, A Chevy Corvair Corsa coupe, (great car after you fixed the factory shortcomings. A 56 Olds convertible, a Lotus Europa, Any Seven roadster, A Sunbeam Tiger (before Chrysler screwed it up) and just maybe, a Honda 500 roadster.
I just prefer Japanese sports cars. My theory is that as cars are far more complex today a car hobbyist can no longer afford to work on just any car as a hobby, but the hobby is still possible. The key is focus. Instead of just working on cars in general pick one and only one to work on. Learn everything you can about it, and assemble a collection of tools just for that one. Trying to be a specialist who can work on whatever rolls by is best left to someone putting the extensive time in to make money doing it.
I picked Mazda rotaries. I can't explain why I picked them, but it's just the car that "spoke to me" as it were.
Well at least we agree on something...both like rotaries. I fell in love as a teenager when a friend let me drive his FB. Wish I'd hade the money back in the day to buy an FD.
One more for the list...AP1 S2000...a true street legal race car.
Collector cars are for the rich and famous and self indulgent. I love old cars, just plain old cars. Cheap, with buildable potential and pleasing to myself. Make 'em fast, make 'em safe: build 'em, drive 'em, break 'em, build 'em better. Don't dare much for "collector" cars popular for storage, show, trailers and no go. Don't have a lot of "respect" for lack of a better word for those who invest mega bucks in a finished car or paying someone else to finish it for them. I do understand that mentality however, it is owning for the sake of owning. For me it is just more fun to build it, drive it, break it and build it better. Appearance and collectability if secondary to safety and speed.