My thought is interesting options- that most of the general public do not want, and only the real gear heads order- and there are not many of us- tend to command a premium down the road once they reach collectible status. Proportionally, there is a very small % of the overall production run with this option. Think about the rare option codes for corvettes and mustangs and camaros and Grand nationals/GNX's. Think about more modern collectibles like the integra- the TypeR option which commands a premium over the GS-R.

When will a modern car become collectible- its going to be at least 25-30 years down the road so you gotta keep the car for a very long time, and not drive it much. Think final gen supra turbo- its now a valuable collectible after nearly 25 yrs. The Nissan GTR (now 25 yrs old) is commanding higher prices than it did 15 yrs ago (we've been importing GTR's to Canada for 10 years for "cheap"). There will always be exceptions to the rule, but that is unpredictable.

5 things- rare option code, manual transmission, low miles, originality (no irreversible mods), not winter driven = the recipe for potential collectibility. Or not.

darcy

 

25-30 years from now it won't matter. People will be using autonomous vehicles, the collector generation will be mostly deceased, new generation can care less about cars. Then the insurance companies will charge you a fortune for the right to actually "drive" you car.

 

ok, time traveler....I guess there is no reason to keep my viper then, time to fire sale it.

i think you guys underestimate the length of time cars spend in service in developing countries. They won't have autonomous cars as a majority for a long, long time.

 

I hear ya, and I generally agree, but all the models you mentioned usually came with the top of the line motor and were the king of the hill. The zl1 1le I can see, but the 1ss 1le I doubt. Like corvettes had z51, fe5, etc packages and while they made them a bit more collectible, it didn't make them as collectible as getting the big blocks for instance.

 

Porsche maintains parts availability for all their sports cars, and will, best I can tell, for as long as the company exists.

I believe Mercedes Benz does this as well. I'd expect more high end brands to start doing this in the near future as well (if they aren't already).

 

You would think some of the big Detroit guys would do this too... Nope. C5 Corvettes are already being hit by this. Try and buy a ECBM (traction control/ABS module) or Steering wheel postion sensor for a 97-00 C5. Can't get them. Have to source used at $1500! The sucky part is there is no incentive from GM to even allow 3rd party vendors to produce the parts, as they own the patents and blueprints.

Bottom line is the owners suffer. I can't imagine what the current Vetts will be like 20 years from now.

 

Why don't they license the patent rights to 3rd parties? Free money.

 

A contact of mine within the oem who built our cars said that the drive and driving enjoyment will still be a critical component of their future autonomous cars- right from the president of the company's mouth. They will be autonomous by 2030 apparently but that will be for boring driving times.

Collector cars will always be so- how many cars from the 50's, 60's, 70's+ are still plying our roads today? lots. They ain't going anywhere. Us enthusiasts have nothing to worry about. I am instilling in my kids a passion for cars and driving a manual transmission- likely the GTX will be Carter's DD in 2 years (he's 14 now).

darcy
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What is a GTX?

 

Plymouth GTX. My dad had one way back in the day (early 1970s).



There are multiple models - this is the type he had.