I’ll probably be in the ground in 30 years (darkest Autopian Asks into ever), but you whipper-snappers will probably still be here, reading about the latest Shitboxes in the Showdown and David’s rebuild of a vintage 2024 Jeep Wrangler and Stephen still trying to keep his busted Jags running. And while you peruse your holo-pads or whatever, you’ll no doubt be thinking about what machines from your past you might acquire from Bring An Atomic Trailer or Cars and Robots and Bids or wherever else you like to spend your freedom credits on old collector cars
But what will be collector cars in 3o years? Time has a way of making a nice-condition anything of a certain age valuable, even if it wasn’t the most desirable model in its day. Or, sometimes even beauties go for a relative song – see the Grand Am SE that The Bishop featured today, which sold for a mere $3,700.
The Bishop answered today’s Q with a quick missive – he’s no doubt busy at his real job – but I agree with him: “Failed electric cars. ID. Buzz. That Charger with the fake engine sounds. Rare collectibles in 30 years.” Indeed, I can definitely see those models trading for decent money.
Thomas was of a similar mind:
This is a controversial pick, but I bet there will be a cohort of collectors in 30 years who covet Tesla Cybertrucks. Yes, it might be appalling to look at and not particularly nice to drive, but it was a cultural moment beyond the world of automobiles. You can’t say that about many cars of the decade so far.
Yep, I agree with that too.
Your turn:
What Regular-ish Cars Will Collectors Eat Up In 30 Years?
I think the second-gen Prius may have a collector following. It may take every second of 30 years to get there though; the ubiquity of the thrifty little appliance induced a lot of casual contempt among non-enthusiasts. They’re the first generation of hybrid that really took hybridization very seriously and launched what I think will come to be recognized as a distinct newt generation of automotive technology.
The ’94 Dodge Ram was when the size wars among full size pickups really went crazy, and kicked the diesel arms race into high gear. Hoo boy.
Those are the ones that really stick out to me. I had some thoughts about Corvettes, but you specified regular-ish.
My daughter has a Gen2 Prius – it is a little space ship. Toyota threw a lot of old thinking out the window, they are also honestly well equipped and trimmed. Toyota did not cut corners on materials and trim – they were actually the flagship.
Keep in mind – we are now over 40 years from BTTF – my childhood. Any urban runabout from that time is now rarer than hen’s teeth. Great Scott!!
I didn’t see this one listed, but the last Accord coupe V6 6 MT will be a collector item if it’s not already.
Along the same lines but maybe not to the same extent will be the last V6 Camries.
The only reason they stopped producing the Accord Coupe V6 is because Honda was tired of making the Pinnacle that all other cars were compared to.
Also, they (and the Accord 2.0T 6M) are holding their value extremely well and won’t need 30 years to establish their reputation. They are going to bottom out in pricing around 10-15 years old. The S2000 is the guide for future pricing of these.
I’m currently using a glorified Accord (Acura TL) 6MT with AWD as a daily in the rust belt winter and it pains me to know I’m destroying a future classic so I can have an enjoyable commute today.
TBH – Gen1 Taurus and Sable, the first honestly modern domestics.
Agreed. And unlike just a few years before with GM’s X-bodies, FoMoCo pushed hard for build quality and reliability on their sea change moment, and did a lot better with it than GM.
I owned an ’88 Buick W body and a ’91 Sable a few years apart. The engineering and build/material quality differences were stark. The Ford was a MUCH better, more refined and executed design. Actually, I wished my ’94 5 Speed SHO driveline was in that Sable. Even by ’94 the Cheapening had begun. The ’91 Sable had an honestly nicer interior than the ’94 SHO.
BTW – I am an Engineer with 25+ years industrial mtc experience.
Ask a 25 year old what they want but can’t afford and you will have the magic answer.
That electric Charger, funnily enough. I’m currently patiently waiting for them to become zombie-cars like the last Vipers (and Dodge Darts, oddly) so that I can go snag one and then mald, seethe, and cope when I get the battery health report and it just reads “four”.
In actual fact though, I like the idea more than the car itself. Dodge used steel construction and NiMH batteries, since they have a better discharge rate, and that’s a 6000lbs car with my fat ass in it. NiMH gives you more instant juice for the horsepower numbers, but waaaay less range (less energy density)
So the Daytona is actually just DoA garbage, I’ll just wait for the Speedkore carbon fiber equivalent in 30 years and DIY it. I like the way it looks.
I’d say do more research, the Charger Daytona uses NMC lithium Ion batteries that use Nickel/Manganese/Cobalt for anode and cathode material, not NiMh Nickel Metal-Hydride where the main component is Nickel. The only new cars using NiMh still for batteries are hybrids, like the AWD RAV4 and Prius regular hybrids, the 2WD hybrids even use lithium.
Apologies for spreading misinformation! I must’ve misread something fully spelled out, reading “nickel” and assuming the rest, hence my later inference that they went with that battery architecture for better discharge rates.
And thanks for the new knowledge, I assumed Toyota still used NiMH for all hybrids, also for the unique charge/discharge behavior. Glad they’ve mostly moved on.
Yeah it’s all alphabet soup, I mainly know because my old Ford Ranger has the NiMh batteries. Toyota still uses them in the AWD as NiMh has better cold weather performance than the lithium so makes you wonder if they’d have stuck with NiMh development from the 90s if we wouldn’t be using that instead of lithium. The not-catching on fire feature of them is also great.
Given that cars historically used steam (boiler explosion danger) and gas (very, very flammable – that’s the point), I think the energy density factor in lithium would have likely won out in the end. It’s still statistically less explosive than gas cars, so by that metric I don’t think any engineer would see it as much of a shift.
Despite my continual bitching probably goddamned K-cars.
Chrysler K-cars are incredible. They’re literally the ideal bank robbery vehicle, because you can forget what it looks like, while still looking at it. The selection of paint colors is the most maximally vapid, staid, meaningless noise and drivel on this barren hellscape we call Earth.
Unless you mean Kei cars?
In 30 years I guarantee you getting away from a bank robbery in a K-car will be noticed.
“The hell whazzat, an Omni? I thought the last one rusted to powder around 2040!”
“Publicly available records indicate there’s only eight operable ones in the state, this shouldn’t take long…”
Oh for sure, but bold of you to assume anyone can tell the five hundred K-twins apart. They all look broadly the same /joke
On that, 30 years from now, what are the genero-boxes that you could slightly hot rod and run with? Corolla Apex on steel wheels comes to mind.
I’m not familiar with hotrodding anything modern. I know you can shove a cheap turbo on an Omni and get away with shenanigans far exceeding what anyone anticipated. I’m not sophisticated with anything much more modern than throttle body injection so trying to hotrod anything built in the last 20 years is going to leave me handing wrenches to someone smarter.
K-cars were the opposite of the ideal bank robbery vehicle. For those, you want a car that will start and run when you need it.
Cybertruck, for sure, if only to get future people to say, “What the hell were they thinking?”. 1st year Model S, Blackhawk, Raptor, 1st gen Leaf all come to mind.
Honestly, yeah, even if its in an ironic sense, like people do now with the Pacer (either one, Edsel or AMC)
Which will we eat up? The ones made up of the most microplastics.
Square back Volvo wagons. I.e. v70 and XC70
Minor key cheap classic, but the few car-like crossovers, like the Trax or Envista.
They’re comparatively uncommon now, they have gas engines, usually turboed, offer a modicum of carlike feel, and are domestic. The rarity alone will draw people.
Nissan Altima. Like the ’57 Chevy, nothing special but any kid could eventually get their hands on one and hack it into their own. Minds clouded by nostalgia soak that up. I’d say Honda Civic too, but that wave already happened a few decades ago.
Outside of that, unfortunately the extensive use of plastics and quickly obsoleted electronics makes the idea of investing in a ‘collectible’ from the last few decades just a bad idea. Unless you want a UV faded brick to look at.
Edit: Made my self chuckle. Plastics only last forever in the ocean, so maybe a Fisker Ocean?
I like your thinking – it’s likely the Altima will be one of the last ICE cars around as they’re cheap to make and sell well, so they’ll be desirable for that alone.
Buick Regal X Wagon
Tesla S. First of it’s kind and arguably the best of it’s kind.
Also who knows what kind of battery tech might be available in 30 years. It might not just be collectors but cheap bastards like myself buying up old BEV/PHEV/EREVs for restomodding for DD service. Or if Tesla ever delivers on FSD as an AV moneymaker.
I’m inclined to agree. And since older ones have depreciated down to genuine bargains for people looking for EV performance and range, they’re affordable enough to slot in at the regular-ish price point.
I’m not sure what the price point is for regular-ish, but a hundred grand ain’t it. Not even now.
A buddy of mine picked up an early, low mile S with lifetime free supercharging for a song just under a year ago when DOGE anger at all things Elon was at its peak. He drives a LOT so as far as energy costs go it was a bargain for him but he didn’t research the other costs involved. Turns out insurance and tires can eat up a lot of those savings. So due diligence is a must.
RX-8s for the rotary.
The new Prelude. There, I said it.
30 years from now, 2056? That’s a long time. My assumptions:
-gasoline/diesel will be either not available, or so expensive that basically no one will want anything that needs it to run
-any current vehicles with touchscreens and lots of software and such will no longer be functional (maybe everything produced today?)
Which pretty much just leaves vehicles from the 1980s to maybe 2010 or so that are simple enough that they can be converted to EV, and maybe something like a 1st gen Leaf. It’ll be a very random scattering of EV converted stick shift Miatas, old VW vans, currently already old Jeeps and 4runners and such that have managed to survive to 50+ years old.
What I’m curious about will be the cars from now that are still used as daily drivers for people. I still see 30 year old trucks and SUVs driving kids to school, first cars, and to some collectibles. Driving around my working class neighborhood I could count 15-30 GMT-800 vehicles all in various conditions, but most relatively rust free and still going. These aren’t quite 30 years old, but the amount of them still out and about around me is crazy. The same applies to 90s-2010s Toyota/Lexus/Honda/Acura products. Hell I’d say 75% of the vehicles in my neighborhood date from 2012 or before. So I ask a question to your question, what vehicles will still be daily driving people in 25-30 years?
Along the lines of failed electrics: the Coda. Only 117 were made, so it doesn’t matter it’s completely anonymous looking and only has 80mi of range.
Limiting to cars available new in 2026, I’d say anything with a manual. Three-pedaled Mustangs, BRZ/FRS’s, and Miatas definitely. But any manual coupe, sedan, and convertible should be a novelty in 2056.
04-07 STI. They can already command more money than the next generation. I expect good condition ones will start really accruing additional value in the next 5-7 years, then become quite collectable.
Last-of-their-kind performance coupes and sedans are already showing it. Look at what Chevy SSs and Blackwings are fetching on auction sites. Lexus LC500, IS500, and GS-F have a shot as well, though I think it will take some more years before they really show it.
The hot hatches mentioned below are good ones as well. Even my cheapo Fiesta ST might be in high demand, though the rate at which its Ford Quality is Job #1 has allowed it to decompose and fray in the elements means my particular unit won’t be worth squat in about 5 more years.
Ssssshhhhh I just need another year or two to get my foot in the door of a blackwing (I basically made no money the last two years, so I’m worse off than my blackwing lust from 2+ years ago)
Oh, it’s way too late for me to ruin it. I don’t know who these people are, but I’m guessing there aren’t too many of them on Autopian given the almost 6-figure selling prices.
https://bringatrailer.com/search/?s=blackwing
Me, it’s me (didn’t buy on BaT though)
I’m a bit biased, but I think the 10th Gen Accord with the 2.0T, and other hotter but under the radar versions of normal cars will as well. I’d also nominate the recently departed Acura TLX because its a gorgeous car that sold in way lower numbers than it should.
“Acura TLX because its a gorgeous car that sold in way lower numbers than it should”
No, I think that one got exactly what it deserved. It was overweight, had the worst interior packaging efficiency I’ve personally ever seen, the interior quality did not live up to the hype, the transmission was meh, and the acceleration and poor fuel economy demonstrated that the Honda 2.0T wasn’t really that amazing and performed in the Accord only because it weighed something like 800 pounds less.
It’s the exact opposite of the Fit we’re talking about in another post today. The Fit showcased Honda’s inventiveness and packaging brilliance. The TLX was an underperforming showcase of style before function.
Genuinely sorry for the rant. I went to test drive a TLX thinking I’d love it and that Acura was finally back to making enviable sedans and left very annoyed. It’s a me thing.
I had one for a couple years and I agree, the interior packaging was awful, which is what led me to get rid of it. I enjoyed driving it though, and when I see one on the road today I still look at it and think that was a damn good looking car. I’d say looking at it 20+ years from now people buying it as a classic probably care a bit less about the practicality of it, and more about the design.
Yes, it might get a following for those reasons. It’s eye catching and I liked the ride/handling balance and it seemed very quiet for a Honda product.
But for a 90s kid like me hoping for a return of the Legend or at least 2000 TL, it made me sad. Then mad.
2dr Wrangler Rubicons manual transmissions will still be wanted.
Clean Honda Civic TypeR or Toyota Corolla/Yaris GR
Current BOF Bronco in the basic trims. Especially the 2 door versions.