For the average person, the term “collector car” instantly conjures premium high-performance and luxury models, but as anyone who has perused Bring a Trailer, Cars & Bids, Hemmings, etc., will surely attest, the world of collectible automobiles goes far beyond cars of the crème de la crème variety.
Virtually any car that passes a certain threshold of oldness and is still in good condition can be considered a collector car, no matter how commonplace and plebian it may have been in its day. But there are other cars, perhaps equally commonplace and plebian when new, that manage to attain collectible status despite being of much more recent vintage. Did anyone see the Pulsar NX and 240SX becoming collectible when they first appeared? I didn’t.
When I put the question to the gang in Slack, Brian opined that cheap + stick, and final-manual-models in general would be recipes for collectibility. “Manual Versas—last manual Versa, and last five-speed manual from any manufacturer for American markets.”
I wonder what the collectibility of electric vehicles will look like. Firsts like the original Nissan Leaf and Tesla Roadster and early Models S are/will be collectible, but how long will it take for the most common Model Ys to become must-sees at your local cars & coffee?
I’ll leave it to you:
What Will Be The Most Unexpected Collector Cars In The Future?
Top graphic image: Nissan
The Mini Cooper Coupe JCW with the 6-speed manual, 4-piston Brembo brakes, and active aero. A weird creation that drives absolutely awesome! This will definitely become a collector’s car especially since Mini is no longer producing manual cars. As a former Fiat Abarth owner, the mini coupe is a keeper!
Any crossovers with tunable engines. People are already messing with CUVs as tuning platforms since they’re what’s cheap and plentiful right now, and in many cases they’re getting shockingly good results. Younger generations have always looked for whichever cheap used vehicles offer the most go-fast modding potential for your buck, whether those were ’32 Fords in the 50s, old muscle cars in the 80s, or Japanese tuner cars in the 90s and 2000s… and right now, the cheapest cars with the most go-fast potential are crossovers, which means the CUV tuner scene will only grow from here, and in the future there will be nostalgia for it.
Someday, people will be longing for the days when you could still get a CRV for dirt cheap and didn’t care if you blew an engine from pushing the stock internals too hard, and complaining that surviving CRVs sell for hundreds of thousands on whatever the equivalent of Bring A Trailer is in the future.
I’m also going to go out on a limb and say the Kia Soul will be collectible in the future. They’re regular cars now, but they do have character and charm, and I can imagine people reminiscing about their old Kia Soul in the future and lamenting that you never see them on the road anymore since most of them were treated as cheap disposable used cars and driven into the ground and/or stolen and subsequently trashed. The golden combo of not being particularly loved or valued in its day, but with traits that could make it stand out as an appealing little vehicle through future rose-tinted glasses, which leads to something becoming collectible.
Dodge Dynasty. Biggest WTF ever in the history of collectible-cardom.
Non-SUVs with the 3.5/3.6 direct injection motors, such as the Accord Coupe, minivans of the past generation which won’t be preserved, Camry v6s, etc. I think turbo everything will make people value those NA-DI motors more, and they won’t be well presserved
Yep, I think minivans might be the next station wagons of the collector car world. Same cultural significance, same phase of “uncool” stigma, yet also incredibly practical so they do have something to offer. People used to think station wagons would never be worth anything due to their uncoolness, but then people started liking them ironically for their uncoolness, which lead to people loving them unironically for what they are. The same could very well happen for classic minivans, and arguably already is starting to happen with early Dodge Caravans and such. I could see collectors getting excited about all the variety in minivan options which we don’t have anymore, as those obscure discontinued minivans are hard to find now.
Kia Stinger
For future collectability, I nominate the 3rd gen Sienna as the silent workhorse of today. Oodles of kids are growing up in these. They generally get trashed and then sent off to scrap when the kids are grown. They’re not being preserved. 20 years from now, when nostalgia starts to hit, the folks that want one of these won’t be able to find one. And that will make them much more collectable than they are now.
Why the third gen specifically? It sold really well, and it’s the end of the line for Toyota minivans that convert into bulk cargo carriers. With the middle seats no longer removable in the 4th gen Sienna, hauling 4×8 sheets now requires creativity. They used to just naturally fit. Also, the 2GR offers a much torquier driving experience than the new hybrid drivetrain (according to my uncalibrated rear end). That engine will be missed.
Is anyone hoarding Siennas now, expecting a big payout 20 years from now? No. But that’s my point. These vehicles will become unexpected collector cars, because nobody currently collects them.
Most of the suggestions thus far have been for cars that already have some collector value. I don’t consider those to be unexpected collector cars. Of course the Cybertruck is destined to be collectable. Every polarizing car eventually becomes collectable to someone.
IMO the current crop of unexpected collector cars are the nondescript commuter cars from ~30 years ago that nobody thought to save. K-cars, Celebrities, even the Taurus. None of which were stellar. Two of those weren’t even reliable! But nostalgia sells, and a lot of folks grew up in the back seats of these family workhorses. 25-year-old GM cars with 3800 engines are starting to shift into this category, particularly the supercharged ones. Pontiac is becoming an exotic brand, as the existing inventory depletes.
I’m gonna be self serving here and say the Cadillac CTS VSport. No, not the supercharged V, but the next level down, with the TT 3.6.
Assuming my timing chain doesn’t grenade, I predict my 1-of-178 2019 model to be somewhat rare in the future. At least I hope!
I had one of these, excellent car! I’m not sure I see it becoming a classic, it looks like the base car, isn’t near where the full fat V is in terms of performance or specialness. It sits in an interesting middle zone somewhere between the ATS V, the CTS V, and the Chevy SS. I predict it will never be worth more than any of those cars. Definitely enjoy it while you have it!
Late to the game as usual but see plenty of my current/former cars. 1st gen xB, Fiat 500 Abarth, my ex’s Element. My GR Corolla especially if they end after 2026. I should stop selling my cars.
I fully expect a next gen tuner future with 3D printed everything, where rust repelling BMW i3s are running crazy 4WD e-motors with 600bhp+, solid state batteries with twice the capacity and half the weight of the originals and custom drivetrain software+hardware, becoming the chaos gremlins of any modern city at night.
I’m keeping mine even after it dies to wait exactly for this. DM me when you have the tech ready 😉
assuming that these aren’t really current cars of collecting interest: scion xb, 350z/G35 coupes (because dumbass youngins are trashing them doing takeovers and drifts), BMW 135i, Civic Si EP3 because that’s the last real hatchy hatch I can remember honda making with a k-series engine in it.
A completely mint 2013 nissan altima. I saw one today and had to do a double take because the last time ive seen one with a straight body was in 2012.
Nobody said RX8 yet? Unique and fun to drive, they are going to have a low survival rate, eventually (already) their won’t be many left, then prices will start to go up.
The new Fiat 124 Spider, Miata’s better looking cousin that didn’t sell as well.
I sometimes look at my local RX8 ads. I love how it drives in grand turismo.. but they are only good if you intend to become a rotary engine mechanic or are really good friends with one.
I’m more curious as to how the future of 3D printing will transform the long term sustainability of classic cars. Lately metallurgical, ceramics and plastic based processed have been moving forward so much that I fully expect otherwise unobtainable printable cylinder heads within the decade.
I very much wanted to buy one a dozen years ago or so. By then half the cars were on their second or sometimes third motor. Such metrics give one pause.
As a collector car a 30,000 mile engine can last a lifetime, and you can incorporate the tricks that help them run longer, pre-mix, thicker engine oil or whatever.
Pontiac G8 GXP with the 6 speed manual
Any 2015-2017 Hyundai Sonata still on its original engine and unsullied by Kia Boyz. Bonus if it’s an Eco trim which sold by the dozens.
The Nissan Altima. When was the last time you saw a 2005 Altima that wasn’t multiple shades of other Altima’s, dents and all. Shit, when was the last time you saw a 2005 Altima at all, let alone running?! Now think about the “hot” version, a SE-R with a stick. Find one of those that’s not clapped out or rusting in a junk yard.
All of that said I’m not going to seek out an Altima, they’re hammered dog shit. I’ll leave that future bag of money for one of you! You’re welcome
damn i thought i was unique with my train of thought but alas great minds think alike. “and here lads is where Big Altima Energy all started”
Have I got a deal for you! I have a mint 2013 with under 50k miles. Peal white over gray cloth. No screens.
The most unexpected collector options will be that no EVs will ever be in it unless as a sideline to the auto manufacturers industry. No EV WILL last past the first battery change. Everyone says EVs are close to ICE COST. They aren’t I sent an article to DT ABOUT a EV needed a new battery and if it got one it would cost what the vehicle was worth so technically no trade in value. Meaning EVs are worth minus the cost of a new battery. No one is going to buy an EV once they realize they don’t have a trade in value and need the cost of the battery to even give it away.
Cayenne Diesel. Already starting to amass a cult following.
Basically ANY DOC/DPF/SCR light duty diesel with an inducement strategy. So many expensive things to break in so many ways. The value will approach zero and there will be very few survivors as they get mechanically totalled and stripped for parts.
For some reason I’d like to think the car I currently drive (2005 Scion xB release series 4.0 with a manual). It was the last of the 1st gen xB’s and has the maziora color shifting paint. I have an aversion to modifying it since it’s completely stock and in good condition. xB’s were dispensable cars so anytime I see one beat to sh*t I like to think I’m driving a museum piece lol.
Here’s a question mark – the final gen Lincoln sedans – yes or no?
Lincoln’s doing pretty well now at crossovers, becoming a desirable brand again, so will that generate interest in their old cars in the years to come?
Panthers are already quasi-classics – so I’d include the last Town Cars in that.
But the Fusion-based Continental? Perhaps the Coach-Door versions.
Probably collectible, but I can’t imagine the value of them going up much more than MSRP. But I also don’t know anything.
Not sure about their final gen sedans, but I could see the Lincoln LS making the list.
Fiat 500 Abarth. They’re fun, efficient, relatively reliable, and full of character. In our future world of EVs, they will bless our ears with one of the best sounding 4 cylinders of all time.
BMW i3, Jeep Wrangler, Smart ForTwo, Changli
It’ll take like 20 years for history to repeat itself but my pick is the Kia Soul for similar reasons why the xB and Honda Element are sought after now. Boxy, small, practical, available with a manual, comes in neat colors.
I have no idea how the entire “cute little box” segment has disappeared from the market.