not mass produced

novelty value

unique

but shat

 

try comparing an a2 to an s3, for example

very different cars from the same manufacturer

one moved the game forward a bit, the other was a performance version of a mundane hatchback

i see your point

but i know where i would put my money

 

S2000, won't be long before they're changing hands for £3k. . . .

 

I would wonder about deterioration in storage.

As the OP says, somewhere dry is essential e.g. the Mojave desert is ideal!

I guess tyres will only last a few years too before starting to go off. I believe used tyre rubber ages more slowly than new unused. Fluid replacement is a relatively obvious thing to do and no fundamental changes for decades and Halfords is your friend.

My feeling would be, anything newer than late '90s you would need some knowledge of computers. The dreaded CANbus and all the joys of software. I am assuming that such systems will have come through the Y2K 'barrier' unscathed.

But even so I wouldn't mind betting some of the software engineers won't have even thought about fifty years down the road and still running ... All well and good if nothing goes wrong, but there's nothing worse than trying to sell an asset with strange inexplicable warning lights showing. You can't always just remove the bulb

 

all my cars are kept on illegal/budget crap tyres

that's an issue that would be addressed if ever they were sold

they are stored in a unit not unlike a small B&Q store - lots of ventilation and giant fan heaters

you are right - complex electrical systems are the Achilles heel of modern motors

none of mine are so encumbered

edit - the Merc has a few gadgets but still probably less than my MINI...

 

It's not so much the gadgets as the myriad of sensors that are behind them, looking at modern cars, most of it seems designed to fail long before the car will ever become a classic.

Mitsubishi FTO, BMW 7 series etc etc are all laden with these things and when they stop working ( which they will) the repair costs will be astronomical even if you can get a computer program to tell the ECU to stop buggering about.

Heck there is even a market for Reliants, Skoda Estelles .... anything older than the mid 90s seems to have either a cult following / nerdy forum supporting it.

 

True...

Modern Escort rally cars (i.e those that run on current National 'A' and 'B' events) are as fast or faster than some of the Group A Subarus and Mitsubishis.

Mind you, in many cases, they are barely escorts any more - they run different engines (GM 2.0 Red Top, F20C etc), different gearboxes, different suspension, brakes etc... the only thing that's really Escort about them is the shell... and even they are highly modified...

But I've heard of unmolested 2-Door Mark 2 Escort 1100 road cars selling for approaching £5K because these cars are still in demand for rallying and are becoming very rare...

 

Not sure where you get that from Roger.

Here's a link to a photo of a "classic" I took in the Mohave in 2007

"Classic in the desert"



To be honest, under the scrubland lies a bit of Route 66, so the car may have been there a while.

 

Give it to Tango for a day and it will be as good as new.

 

Graham,
there is a world class aeroplane mothball yard out there: see Mojave Air and Space Port.

Surprised you and Gary didn't stop by there But I doubt they would have let you in to wander round

I probably drove that bit of Route 66 back to LA from Lake Havasu City (which was just starting then. We went to view the newly rebuilt London Bridge they bought mistakely for Tower Bridge ). I think it is re-badged as I-40 now. On thinking, we turned right after Barstow and went North on 395, stayed over in a memorably one horse town called Lone Pine