benyl
12-05-2005, 05:36 PM
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051124.wxwhclassic24/BNStory/specialGlobeAuto/
I dont' know if this guy knows what he is talking about. I haven't seen any Mitsu 3000GTs going for a high price yet.
$80K Supras???
I should go out and buy an SRT-4 for cheap and park it... hahaha
By DAVID GRAINGER
Thursday, November 24, 2005 Posted at 11:19 AM EST
Globe and Mail Update
Having spent hours peering into the misty depths of my crystal ball, I am prepared to render my Nostradamus-like prognostications on which cars the future will bless. These are the cars that one day may make their owners very happy by selling for huge sums at auctions or to future collectors.
I'll try not to favour one above the others, despite personal bias.
My first picks are no-brainers. They are the Plymouth Prowler, special edition Vipers and Viper GTS-Rs, Corvette Z06, and Ford Thunderbird.
The Prowlers are a dramatic car rendered by enthusiasts when Chrysler was feeling its oats. They were hand built, very limited in production numbers and manufactured for only a short period of time and they have as much cool power as any exotic car ever built.
Vipers are another great choice. Fairly rare, enthusiastically pretentious and, of course, incredibly successful race cars. Special editions will be good investments; GTS-R Vipers, the race version of the breed, will reach huge heights if accompanied by a significant provenance. While they are expensive now, you'll really wish you had bought one later.
The Corvette has always been collectible, even some of the seventies cars which really were junk, but now that Corvette is producing significant race-bred sports cars, they finally deserve their place in Valhalla. Any special edition based on engineering, not stickers or fancy seat covers, will be the ones to put away.
Chrysler's new and rather outrageous line of SRT cars, ranging from the SRT 4 Neon to the SRT Viper and including the Magnum, Charger, Chrysler 300, SRT 10 pickup and SRT Crossfire, will all remain desirable and a decent bet for the future. These cars feature significant performance over their mundane base cars and have huge cool appeal.
The poor old new Ford Thunderbird. First in a lineup of new cars that prove that Ford ran out of good ideas in 1971. Limited in production because few wanted it, it shares that distinction with the original two-passenger Thunderbirds. They were only made for three years, '55 to '57 because no one wanted them. This same problem cropped up again, surprisingly enough, with the new Thunderbird, and it will surely be a collectible as a result.
The new Mustang has broader appeal and the Mustang Shelby GT 500 version, which should be in showrooms in 2006, will be an instant collectible. If they don't make too many of them and if they rack up significant success on the track, I would certainly add one to my portfolio.
Next are several cars from Japan. Japanese cars have never really reached collector status. About the most collectible is the Datsun 240Z, and even a really good example is still not much money.
The younger generation's obvious enthusiasm for Japanese cars will, however, no doubt change all that in the next 30 years.
My call on these ranks the Mitsubishi 3000 GT and sister car, the Dodge Stealth RT (yes, Dodge, but firmly Japanese) as collectible. They are all-wheel-drive, twin-turbo, all-wheel-steer exotics that were born into the early nineties, a rough time for expensive performance cars. I think smart money would look for a really good example, pay the twelve grand they are currently going for, and sit back. The cars that are on the road now are hugely popular with younger people, but the cost of maintaining them is so high (example: transmission rebuild, $6,000) that most are no doubt salvage-bound after a couple of years of abuse. Survivors will appreciate, as this current generation ages and goes after the car they used to have or wished they had when they were young.
The Toyota Supra twin Turbo sold from 1993 to '96 is already appreciating at a ridiculous rate. Hard to find one for less than $40,000; look for that to at least double in the coming years. The Subaru WRX STi, based on their rally car, a great example of Japanese muscle, is another good bet to go up astronomically.
I find very few European entrants to this list, aside from, of course, the exotics. I do not hesitate to include however, two cars from Mercedes' in-house performance group, AMG. While I don't think a four-door AMG sedan will remain much more than a curiosity, the 612-horsepower V-12 SL 65 AMG Roadster is likely a sure bet for immortality. Its stable mate, the CLK DTM AMG coupe, with only 100 produced, will also be a winner despite being rather underpowered, with only 582 hp. I just wish they would give them a real name that wasn't forgotten in about five seconds.
I have no doubt offended all kinds of people with this list, and if I missed your Honda CRX, sorry, it was intentional. Future collectible cars must exhibit the same qualities as the great collectibles of the past. They will feature high performance and limited production, have features not found on standard issue cars and will, in the best cases, have been bred on the race track. They will be the cars that your 18-year-old will salivate over and which common sense will tell you are extravagant and perhaps even a little silly. The mark of all true investment cars.
I dont' know if this guy knows what he is talking about. I haven't seen any Mitsu 3000GTs going for a high price yet.
$80K Supras???
I should go out and buy an SRT-4 for cheap and park it... hahaha
By DAVID GRAINGER
Thursday, November 24, 2005 Posted at 11:19 AM EST
Globe and Mail Update
Having spent hours peering into the misty depths of my crystal ball, I am prepared to render my Nostradamus-like prognostications on which cars the future will bless. These are the cars that one day may make their owners very happy by selling for huge sums at auctions or to future collectors.
I'll try not to favour one above the others, despite personal bias.
My first picks are no-brainers. They are the Plymouth Prowler, special edition Vipers and Viper GTS-Rs, Corvette Z06, and Ford Thunderbird.
The Prowlers are a dramatic car rendered by enthusiasts when Chrysler was feeling its oats. They were hand built, very limited in production numbers and manufactured for only a short period of time and they have as much cool power as any exotic car ever built.
Vipers are another great choice. Fairly rare, enthusiastically pretentious and, of course, incredibly successful race cars. Special editions will be good investments; GTS-R Vipers, the race version of the breed, will reach huge heights if accompanied by a significant provenance. While they are expensive now, you'll really wish you had bought one later.
The Corvette has always been collectible, even some of the seventies cars which really were junk, but now that Corvette is producing significant race-bred sports cars, they finally deserve their place in Valhalla. Any special edition based on engineering, not stickers or fancy seat covers, will be the ones to put away.
Chrysler's new and rather outrageous line of SRT cars, ranging from the SRT 4 Neon to the SRT Viper and including the Magnum, Charger, Chrysler 300, SRT 10 pickup and SRT Crossfire, will all remain desirable and a decent bet for the future. These cars feature significant performance over their mundane base cars and have huge cool appeal.
The poor old new Ford Thunderbird. First in a lineup of new cars that prove that Ford ran out of good ideas in 1971. Limited in production because few wanted it, it shares that distinction with the original two-passenger Thunderbirds. They were only made for three years, '55 to '57 because no one wanted them. This same problem cropped up again, surprisingly enough, with the new Thunderbird, and it will surely be a collectible as a result.
The new Mustang has broader appeal and the Mustang Shelby GT 500 version, which should be in showrooms in 2006, will be an instant collectible. If they don't make too many of them and if they rack up significant success on the track, I would certainly add one to my portfolio.
Next are several cars from Japan. Japanese cars have never really reached collector status. About the most collectible is the Datsun 240Z, and even a really good example is still not much money.
The younger generation's obvious enthusiasm for Japanese cars will, however, no doubt change all that in the next 30 years.
My call on these ranks the Mitsubishi 3000 GT and sister car, the Dodge Stealth RT (yes, Dodge, but firmly Japanese) as collectible. They are all-wheel-drive, twin-turbo, all-wheel-steer exotics that were born into the early nineties, a rough time for expensive performance cars. I think smart money would look for a really good example, pay the twelve grand they are currently going for, and sit back. The cars that are on the road now are hugely popular with younger people, but the cost of maintaining them is so high (example: transmission rebuild, $6,000) that most are no doubt salvage-bound after a couple of years of abuse. Survivors will appreciate, as this current generation ages and goes after the car they used to have or wished they had when they were young.
The Toyota Supra twin Turbo sold from 1993 to '96 is already appreciating at a ridiculous rate. Hard to find one for less than $40,000; look for that to at least double in the coming years. The Subaru WRX STi, based on their rally car, a great example of Japanese muscle, is another good bet to go up astronomically.
I find very few European entrants to this list, aside from, of course, the exotics. I do not hesitate to include however, two cars from Mercedes' in-house performance group, AMG. While I don't think a four-door AMG sedan will remain much more than a curiosity, the 612-horsepower V-12 SL 65 AMG Roadster is likely a sure bet for immortality. Its stable mate, the CLK DTM AMG coupe, with only 100 produced, will also be a winner despite being rather underpowered, with only 582 hp. I just wish they would give them a real name that wasn't forgotten in about five seconds.
I have no doubt offended all kinds of people with this list, and if I missed your Honda CRX, sorry, it was intentional. Future collectible cars must exhibit the same qualities as the great collectibles of the past. They will feature high performance and limited production, have features not found on standard issue cars and will, in the best cases, have been bred on the race track. They will be the cars that your 18-year-old will salivate over and which common sense will tell you are extravagant and perhaps even a little silly. The mark of all true investment cars.