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?
The last compact 2-doors, especially the last 2-door Civic Si’s.
* Lexus LC500
* Fisker Ocean
* Dodge Hornet
* Lucid Air
All for different reasons, and all rare.
The Genesis 70/80/90 will be the future equivalent of Mercedes and BMW super sedans from the 1980s.
I could see electric cars being desirable if or when replacement batteries become more affordable. Also, I doubt a phone in 30 years would be compatible with the phone key used today. Electric cars are like computers and become outdated fairly quickly
I dunno… I find it hard to imagine that a VW ID Buzz will be a collector’s item. I could see a few of them selling for some money if in perfect shape, but (IMO) they’ve got so little appeal NOW as actual cars, and that is likely to limit their appreciation. Also, there’s the problems associated with trying to USE a 2026 EV thirty or fifty years from now, though I assume some of those will be resolved by then: drop some kind of platform agnostic solid state battery pack into your retro ride and be done with it. Dealing with software will be harder I expect.
That stock blobeye Subaru WRX STI discussed recently… the one that sold for six figures… it was a good and desirable car, most of them get (over) modded and/or beat on, it’s appealingly analog in an increasingly digital world, etc… Lots of reasons it’ll be changing hands for a quarter million dollars a few decades from now. The ID Buzz? Not so much IMO.
Same with the EV Charger Daytona with the fake exhaust sounds (the BMW i8 has a remarkably weird fake exhaust sound system too as it happens). Sure, a FEW pristine examples will sell for big bucks… but I don’t think ALL of them that remain intact decades from now will appreciate significantly such as, say, Mercedes Benz W123 vehicles do today.
JMHO all of this of course. I’m an expert in nothing. And I’ll likely be dead before I get to find out if a 40-year-old ID Buzz is worth anything or not.
Somewhere, some kid will want to drive a bricked EV and will get it working. But it won’t be as fun as any old manual vehicle.
Anything with a manual. They are rare today. They won’t all be saved. Enthusiasts of the future will want to try one and it will be increasingly hard to do.
I suspect the 2025-2026 Z4 final edition with the manual will get a little more love in the future.
Hopefully the FP700 F150s, I absolutely adore mine (bought the Ford even though I work for CJDR)! I think the TRX, Raptor R, FP700, Yenko Silverado etc. will become collectible as they are some of the last of the big muscle supercharged V8s from the Big 3.
Putting aside the halo cars and range toppers. Those are easy pulls.
Id say the 2017-2023 E400 and E450 Mercedes. Wagon for certain but even the sedan as long as you find a luxury trim.
Reason being that it’s the last E class you can get with a hood star, and the biggest engine that package can be had.
No crazy hybrid system, limited phoning home to work on it. The last old school E we got.
All EVs will be bricked in 30 years time.
Maybe that’s even better for those collectors that won’t drive their cars anyways.
I imagine if there is still a car market around that there will EV update kits eventually made to remedy this.
I don’t think that’s true. I occasionally see someone driving the Tesla Roadster out near me. Those things are nearly 20 years old. Also there are plenty of youtube videos of people driving the terrible EV experiments of the 70s and 80s and those were poorly built even for the time.
I mean the original Tesla Roadster btw. Like the Lotus Elise based one