I Can’t Tell You About The Cars On Hagerty’s Bull Market List Yet, But I Can Tell You About These Two Cars

The extremely generous and hospitable folks at Hagerty invited me out to Lime Rock Park to watch them put together this year’s Bull Market list. If you’re not familiar, this is when the company’s data geeks and journos get together to decide which cars might be a “good buy” right now. The goal isn’t to help you make money, it is, like Hagerty’s Larry Webster explains, to “help people get into the hobby.”

To understand how latitudinarian the editors of Hagerty are in their tastes, just look at last year’s list which somehow included both a 1980s Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler and Bubble Era Mitsubishi Pajer Evo. A post-war Chrysler Town & Country made the list, as well as a, uh, pre-2nd Gulf War Plymouth Prowler.

I think this year’s list is even better and I’m looking forward to telling you about it in… let’s say two months. The media team here has to shoot and edit all the photos and videos as well as write the pieces and layout the magazine spread. There’s still two more days of this:

Thankfully, I have no responsibilities so I can just gawk at the cars and talk about them with the various owners and writers. It’s kinda great. Also, look at what the Hagerty employees drove up here.

The Raddest E34 M5 You’ll Ever See

I keep hearing that this car belongs to a social media person called Aaron, who is never near the car when I want to talk about it. Aaron has amazing taste. It’s almost a backhanded insult to call a car “rad” these days because it implies perhaps too much interest in the cosplay of it all.

Unfortunately, there’s no better descriptor for this E34 BMW M5, which is well and truly rad. Hell, Hagerty owns Radwood now, so perhaps it’s not a slight at all. Just know that I say it with the deepest respect. Even the stickers are kind of perfect. The Alex Roy Team Polizei 144 decal was made for this car. This is to say nothing of the houndstooth-inspired shift boot or the Italvolanti steering wheel.

You’re looking at the wheels, though. That’s what you’re thinking. The wheels are so good that you don’t even notice the slightly modified ride height is ideal as well.

These are Kelleners K-Sports. If you don’t know, Kelleners is a German tuner that never quite broke through like an AC Schnitzer, Hartge or even a bb. The company’s focus was on BMWs and the most memorable fact about Kelleners is that someone there had a brilliant idea for a wheel.

I’m so overwhelmed by how cool these look I can’t even begin to describe them. Just look at them.

A Daily Driven Giulia TI In Brooklyn

One of the benefits of working with someone and knowing them for a very long time is that they’ll let you drive their cars if you ask very nicely. This car belongs to Matt Tucillo and we go back long enough that we’ve variously tormented one another over the years.

His latest tormenting of me is owning this beautiful Alfa Giulia TI that he drives in Brooklyn. Like a damn hero. It’s got a half cage, racing seats (the previous owner enjoyed taking it to Watkins Glen for vintage racing), and ITBs:

It’s nice, but it’s not too nice, which made it easier for me to ask for the keys.

He quickly walked me through the startup procedure (click on the kill switch, wait for the fuel pump to kick in, give it a little gas and plush the clutch ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR).

I tormented him by immediately stalling it twice. Once I got the hang out of it I took off and immediately enjoyed the feeling of a light, small, pre-power steering car. I was so excited that I slowed down to see him and Henry Catchpole (what a gent!) to decry the invention of power steering.

Then I got to torment Matt further by forgetting that bit about putting the clutch ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR and forcing the Giulia’s gearbox to briefly cry uncle. Thankfully, that was the last time I made that mistake and I got a little better at piloting around the FCP Euro Proving Grounds autocross in the center of the track.

I did not drive it fast, for it is not my car, and I did push it to the limit, for that is not my skill, but I know the autocross well enough to get a few spirited moments in. Cruising around the tight track I get why these are so popular. It takes a little work to drive and it’s all the kind of work you want to do. A little extra effort on the wheel at slower speeds, a little more thrust of the foot into the clutch. It’s a car that feels like it rewards timing and spirit more than it does an abundance of testes.

That rigid, angular sedan shape also looks both cheerful and a little serious. It’s like a pug. A pug you can drive.

Again, Matt drives this frequently in Brooklyn. I’m a little jealous. I love my E39 and it’s very forgiving clutch. Compared to what I usually drive around, my BMW is a Lotus Elan. This is one step further in the direction of light, fun, and still relatively cheap.

So, yeah, these are the cars that aren’t on the list. Just imagine what is on there.