Earlier this year I went on a trip to see the cars of Hagerty’s vaunted Bull Market list. The editors went out of their way to establish that this isn’t about finding a cheap investment car that’ll be worth something someday. Instead, the premise is that the cars they listed were relatively undervalued and therefore more approachable for enthusiasts at different price points.
A vintage car’s value, like the value of most non-essential items, is based on what people will pay and not some sort of inherent worth. If the ability to perform the task of moving people, which is a car’s core purpose, was the main arbiter of merit then Bring A Trailer would be overwhelmed with 15-year-old Toyota Sienna minivans and not finicky Alfa Romeos.
The valuableness of a vintage car isn’t entirely arbitrary, of course. Old Alfa Romeos look and sound heavenly, in a way that’s almost objective. A Jaguar E-Type without a roof is more valuable than a Jaguar E-Type with a roof because it’s the iconic version of that particular car. But it does start to get a little random as you get deeper into the hobby.
Another car on that list was the DeLorean DMC-12, a vehicle that’s not great in a lot of ways. It’s a sports car that won’t sports. It’s not that quick, being way heavier than originally conceived. It’s part of a brand that no longer exists, so it doesn’t have the lineage of a Porsche or a Ferrari. It’s got an unloved French-conceived V6 behind the driver, they break all the time, and are best enjoyed at about 35 miles per hour.
And, yet, they’re valuable. Sure, they look cool, but so does a Saab Sonnett, which shares many traits with the DMC-12. A Sonnett is also, in a way, probably more fun to drive. But it wasn’t in a movie and it doesn’t have those doors [Ed note: don’t sleep on the Sonnett’s manual pop-ups, though– Pete]. A more modern example is the BMW i8. This is a car that looks cool, has fun doors, and does almost nothing particularly well. It looks like a supercar and doesn’t really perform like one. This is why they’ve depreciated so quickly.
Will those values ever come back? David tends to think the answer is “no” and he’s crazy for his similar i3 so I’d listen to him. I think the same is true of the Saab Sonnett, which will always be a great deal. They’re not alone. There are plenty of cool classic cars that might never cost that much. Is this a bad thing? Nope. I agree with Hagerty that it’s great that there are still affordable ways to do this hobby.
Image: Curb Your Enthusiasm
Seems like COrvairs are never really valuable, even though engine swaps are a viable thing with V8 FWD cars from the aughts being somewhat cheap to find as well. The 65-67 body style is quite nice as well and the suspension was sorted by then, even though Nader never really acknowledged this. I would consider an EV swap in one even. that would be interesting for sure.
I gave my dad’s unlucky friend’s list. But let me give a modern cool car that isn’t going to be worth as much as people think in 30 years.
Hellcats.
Go back to the 1960s. Mopar had the best race engine ever available if you knew how to order it. The 426 Hemi (elephant) is STILL the best race engine available today, with current race engines making about 10x the power as any modern street car.
But to get a Hemi, you needed to know someone that knew someone in the Factory. They had to know you were going to go racing with it and show the world how Mopar Power was the best. If you were dumb as a stump, you would go street racing with it and get your ass handed to you by a 383 Roadrunner that was lighter weight and wouldn’t stumble at low RPMs on street gas when you tried to show off the legendary power in your car,( that your tires couldn’t handle.)
So, as a result, Mopar only sold a couple hundred cars with factory 426 Hemis.. A significant percentage got destroyed racing or cut up for scrap when they weren’t able to race anymore. So, the current number of actual Mopar Cars from the 60s with factory 426s is vanishingly small. And the value of these things is insane as a result.
Now fast forward 50-60 years. For a several years, you could walk into any dealership in America and pick up a car with an engine that claimed more power than the 426 ever did. With modern electronics and tires, this beast would smoke any factory original 426 without even setting up launch control or the like. Given the history of the 426 Hemi, the values of these Hellcats should be insane in 30 years.
Only, they won’t be. Dodge built more Hellcats than Darts in this era. There are thousands of people that are storing them in perfect condition expecting them to be worth millions someday like the 426 Hemis turned out to be. Only supply and demand says they won’t be worth what people expect. In 30 years, there will be more perfectly preserved time capsule Hellcats than there were ever 426 Hemi cars.
It will likely be the rare manual Hellcats and special editions that people will still try to sell for unobtanium money. They most likely will never get it, but seems likely they will try.
Mopar pricing definitely goes in waves though. depends on what is hot to the masses at the time. I still think the more recent GT500 mustangs are the hot ticket right now as they are all just lightly used cars with only a bit of public focus on them right now. But they were every bit a Hellcat killer before they got axed. And the prices are much better than hellcat anything.
Yeah, look for something impressive that didn’t sell well, but even that is a crap shoot.
Ultimately, buy something you enjoy and enjoy it. If you want an investment, go to Wall Street.
My dad had a good friend when I was a kid that went 0 for 3 on cool cars when it comes to becoming more valuable. His collection was
1962 Avanti R1 with a great history
1964 Rambler Station Wagon with a new innovative rear gate that was copied by others.
1965 Corvair Corsa Convertible
All three were in perfect condition and absolutely factory. Sort of. The Avanti was actually an uber Rare R3 that had been lowered and equipped with a roll cage for a record run on the Salt Flats. As a backup, it was sent back to the factory and the original engine and the cage were removed. It was exactly as it left the factory, but not exactly like originally built as a result.
The Avanti is worth $30k today if you accept it is a R1 and $60k if was accepted as an R3.
The Rambler is worth $10k at best
The Corvair is worth $20k at best
Inflation adjusted from when I was a kid, these things are actually worth less than they were in the 1980s.
(All this dude’s bad luck was offset by another friend that got obsessed with E-types in the 70s when people sold them cheap because they were hard to work on and didn’t like unleaded gas. Dude filled a giant warehouse with them. Had something like 200 of them.)