Automobile Enthusiasts

Even in the most practical sense one would think that an old car would plateau, sure. But man, have you checked out the price of a Model A, Cord or a Marmon recently? Or the price on a DeLorean DMC-12, which is kind of a crappy car?

I've read plenty of articles about the values of collector cars and the cars go up and down with external trends. But when pristine cars keeps breaking record prices, the lesser condition cars all go up. There is no denying that.

"Only the pristine will increase much in value." A greater increase for sure, but from my personal experience and other vintage car collectors that I know, even daily drivers are increasing in value a lot. I have seen a 100% increase in 10 years, 400% 20 years, 800% in 30 years. I'd say that's a pretty good investment and that is what myself and others that I know have experienced - on part-time daily drivers.

Examples:
A current neighbor paid 30k for a 1970 Porsche 911T nice driver 15 years ago, he recently turned down a 100k offer.
An old roommate bought a Jag XK120 for 6k in 1989, today it's worth 70k as-is and a lot more if he painted the thing.

Insurance? - No. Classic car insurance is so cheap!

Storage? Certainly that would be am off-setting cost be but not if you already own enough garage space for the vehicles.

""Drivers are nicer to have, and you get to use them, but are worth a lot less."" Yes, but mostly still worth more than what they were purchased for. The investment is pretty solid.


"" I doubt that the market for the cars you mentioned is strong in the sub 30 year-old set."" - Young people are still getting into the Beatles and Stones.

Aesthetics (an old Jag) stand the test of time, semantics (a Ford Focus) generally do not.


""Yearly inflation takes a cut. "" Like any tangible good, the monetary value goes up against a weaker dollar.


""Buy one that you will enjoy driving and can afford to maintain. Just don't buy for the hopes of a huge profit.""

To expect a "huge profit" on any investment isn't reality, but even money market accounts won't double your money in 10 years, or even 20 years.


I'd say the main problem with long term ownership is that young people aren't as much into collecting or owning a bunch of stuff - so that will affect even showroom quality vehicles. The other major problem is the overall future of the planet / global economy. You can't eat a car, but you can't eat gold or a Monet, either.

It also help to be at least a little bit of a mechanic to save money and / or as a hobby. Parts for old collectors aren't outrageous except for German and Italian stuff.

One of the nicest things about driving them aside from the fun and handling, is the friendly waves and conversations they start, meeting other collectors, group drives, etc.

Have fun!