Nope I figured that out some time ago but felt it was a good time to re-iterate it.

 

Rav4's are destined to be the most desirable collectable car of all time. After all they smoke MCS' left and right.

 

And so few of them were produced that even now they are hard to come by.

 

Well, you talk about oranges in an Orange factory and only oranges are the best fruit of all time

Original MINI, I guess that becomes ... do you collect to have a collection like of stamps? or to invest money. Like I said in the other thread, lots of ppl collect $10K cars. Nothing wrong with that. I've always been talking BJ type collecting.

So I'll say it and hope I'm proved wrong. In 30 years that $4500 427 Vette selling for $200K today. 40x OEM price. So will a 2005 MCS selling for $25K ever be worth $1M ... all things being relative.

IMO no. I guess we wait and see

And as to mods, just watch BJ and see how they diss any car that is NOT OEM

 

The Original Mini would probably be a collector's car in THIS country, they're actually pretty rare here.

As far as Barrett jackson? BJ is BS. It has no more bearing on what car is collectable than the man in the moon. A valuable car does not equate collectable car.

 

ROFL. Besides Pebble Beach, BJ drives the market. You might not like it but thats life. I guess all those ppl buying them must be fools then too.

 

The article seems to imply that the list is comprised of cars that will hold their value over a long stretch of time, if not increase in value. I must admit, when I think of a collector car, I think of a car that would sell for more than it did when it was new, even if it is not a huge amount more.

 

My offering...

I think there is a difference between a true collector car and what I call a special interest car.

A collector car fits more what Chow is describing. Low production volume, high desirability, etc. Cars like Dusenberg's, Cords, gull wing Mercedes... A collector car is one that is more often than not driven little and spends its life either in storage or at a show. Originality is a big plus. Having original build sheets, window stickers, original parts, ownership history...

Then there are special interest cars. These I define as a car that has an enthusiastic following. Cars such as '60's Mustangs, Chevelle SS's, GTO's, old Thunderbirds, TR-6, MG-B, etc. These are the cars people keep in their garages and drive on nice days.

The line is getting blurred somewhat. I saw a Chevelle go on BJ a couple weeks ago for $1MM. That's a lot of money for a Chevy, but I guess they really wanted it. E-types used to be more of a special interest car, but I think they have crossed the line over to collector.

In my opinion, (for whatever you think it's worth), both the Mini and the MINI are more special interest cars than collectors.

 

Dansmini and you both have a point. To maintain its value, the price over OEM has to RISE with inflation. So ... a $5K Vette in 67 has to be worth maybe $40K today (whatever the cpi says) to remain even.

Several ppl stashed away Indy Pace cars 20 years ago and got NADA for the cars. They sold for OEM price which meant after insurancing them and housing them and inflation, they lost money.

Your point is also true. MINI might be a special interest car but again, just to maintain value its going to have to rise in price with inflation. I just dont see that happening. You can "collect" anything you want. 427 Vettes and 426 Hemis sat in many ppls garages along with Shelbys and whatever.

 

Chows, those people are buying investments, and in very few cases, adding or collecting.

 

Yes, they are buying investments. And the people buying the $1M Hemi Cudas at BJ are buying for private museums ... collections. And some ppl buy a beatup 65 VW bug making 32 HP and is collecting Bugs ... I have no problem with that whatsoever ...

To that end ... listen up C4, all MINIs are collectibles. In fact, Every car ever made ... is collectible. Hey ... some ppl collect string.

Whether or they will ever be investment grade or make money ... another issue

Good Point Gromit

I hereby declare that ANY car ever made ... is collectible
(especially those pintos with the bad gas tanks since there are so few left!)
hey, thats cool!

 

Chows, I get your point. Just like all baseball cards are "collectibles", but some are worth pennies and some are worth thousands of dollars.

 

Exactly

 

That definition makes sense and I can accept the logic. Personally I hope the GP sells at original value non adjusted for inflation so I can afford one in 15-20 years.

 

I think a sleeper car that will be worth money in the future is the current Pontiac GTO. It has honest-to-goodness performance, seems to have lackluster sales (meaning it won't be around long and owners will most like abuse/destroy them in quantity) and is relatively affordable. I think that once it's discontinued and most of them are destroyed, the remainder will start to rise in value.

I could be completely wrong, but there are alot of cars out there that were considered undesirable when they were produced (think Super Bird - they were considered ugly in 1970/71).

-- mike

 

Well, your a day late and a dollar short. GTO sales were killed LAST year because nobody bought any. In fact, there was a show on Discovery Channel, or something like that, in 2004? where they showed old GTO users the "new" GTO. Consensus. Shoot it .... and so they did

 

Hehehehe and the GTO was designed by Holden (GM subsidary) in Australia. While it sold well there as the redesigned Monaro it never got traction over here.

 

I heard a story from a former GM exec of the '60s, that the GTO was tooled wrong. The rear wheelbase was off, so they marketed it as the "wide track". I never had cause to doubt him.

 

Actually the GTO was a very, very nice car. It was a 4 seater Corvette for under $30K. The interior was very nicely laid out and perhaps with much better quality materials and fit/finish than most US made Cadillacs of the time.

The car died because 1)GM failed to market it and raise awareness among its target audience 2) old GTO "purists" boycotted the new car "en-masse" 3)While the design is pleasing it in the eyes of many people still looked like a bloated Grand AM.

But I never heard/read anything bad about it in terms of reliability or fit/finish. The last GTO's were fitted with a 400HP Corvette sourced V8 engine. You could have grabbed one for around $25K after all discounts, etc.

Great car, vastly underrrated and mechanically more desirable than the new Ford Mustang, at least to me.

But, GM is poised to replace the aging and mediocre Grand Prix sedan with this next year:

The Holden Commodore VE sedan (a.k.a the 2008 Pontiac G8 sedan):












V8 power, RWD, 6-speed manual all for $25K to start.

More info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_G8

 

You hit the nail right on the head. I looked at one last fall and was impressed. Not to knock the General, but the interior was so well put together I forgot I was in a GM........

Or Cavalier on steroids. The later rear fascia and hood vent redesign helped a bit. The exterior has also grown a bit on me - it's a sleeper (exterior-wise) and I think the purists failed to realize that this was well in line with the original GTO - a family car with a monster engine bolted into it.

Actually the reliability was generally considered excellent. Resale values are not so hot. You can still grab a new one......

To me also. I wonder how popular the new Mustang would be if it did not have the retro styling cues.........

 

I think that the Scions are collectible just because they're unique and there's not many of them out there. I think the xB's and xA's are definately collectible since they've stopped making them. And I guess I'm a little biased since I have an xB.

 

I think that eventually the MINI will become somewhat collectable even though there have been quite a large number of them made. What the future holds for the model line will play a large role in just how collectable the MINI becomes. Certain turning points in the model line will obviously be more collectable that others, like the introductory model years... quite possibly the 2006's MCS... last of the supercharged. Possibly the 2007's... first of the turbocharged etc.

Sheer number of vehicles produced don't detract that much from the collectablity of a model... just look at the market for 65-68 Mustangs. Even though large numbers of these were produced, you will be hard pressed to purchase one in very good condition these days for less than 10-15k (low mileage, near pristine, original numbers, original paint, etc).

If you follow the collector car scene today, you will find that the market really determines price. If someone wants something bad enough they will pay. Because cars often hold sentimental value a potential owner might overlook an inflated price. Step ahead 30 years and you will not see that changing much. The collector market of today is nothing like it was in the 60's-80's. Back then people wouldn't pay 10's of thousands to get a cool car, excluding the ultra high end collector of course.

Will the MINI be collectable? I certainly hope so. In 30 years even if I still dont have mine, I will be proud to say I had one of them. Besides... in 30 years all the running MINI's will be modded anyhow since they will run on hydrogen or something. Gasoline is headed down a dead end street :impatient

Just my 2 pesos.
Scott

 

Mustangs will always sell. Iconic American Pony Car. There would be no American Muscle cars w/o the Mustang. The big three couldn't wait to produce knockoffs ... Camaro, Cuda, Javelin

Exactly, and that is why the MINI will NOT be collectible in a BJ sense.

The muscle cars are HOT simply because the Baby Boomers can finally afford the car of their dreams that they couldnt when a teenager.

Not true for MINIs ... cheap, entry level car ... a range of prices for new owners that is affordable. A Z28 or Boss 302 was hardly "affordable" for teenagers in 1968 (I know).

The Baby Boomer market is ENORMOUS. The MINI market is a clique thing. far smaller... To make this happen, there will have to be a LARGE amount of Gen Ys with a pent up demand for MINIs which, IMHO, will never happen. WHY? SImple ... they can afford to buy a new one now ... Baby Boomers could NOT afford a 427/435 Vette ...

 

I think so. Let's compare it to something similar. In the late 60's through 1976, BMW made a series called the 2002 and 2002 Tii. I had 3 of those cars. I drove all 3 for about 4 to 5 years each and sold each one for more than I had invested in it. They were similar in many ways to the MC and MCS. I'm sure the MINI's of today will never fetch BJ prices, but there will always be a market for clean original examples. Besides maintenance issues on the old 02's, most of the money I spent on them was returning them to original. The last one I sold (to buy my MCS) fetched $6250. About $2000 more than it sold for new. I bought a 1st year demo MCS built on 1/16/02, serial # 168. I believe if I keep this car in great condition, in 20 years it may be worth the $26,600 out the door price I paid for it. It only has 58k miles on it now and I hope to take it out of service in the next couple of years. I'm not saying don't mod, I'm just saying don't throw away the original parts. OEM cars ALWAYS fetch more than modded ones. At least that has been MY experience.

Motor On
MB

 

Good list I must say, except for the Scion as others have said. They did however forget a car that I think will become good collectible in the later years: MKIV VW R32

Even after almost three years they are still at around 28-32k which is around the MSRP. Makes me think that it will become quite the collectible in the later years.