There’s no doubt about it, the skyrocketing value of older vehicles – especially modern classics from the ’80s and ’90s – has been a strong talking point within our post-Covid automotive social circles.
Invariably, once the complaining about the prices of cars ‘that got away’ or the hypothetical garage valuation gloating has run its natural course, and assuming you’re still awake, it’s time to draw a line in the sand and duke it out.
If you didn’t guess, I’m referring to the debate over whether our hyper-inflated assets (I mean cars) should be driven as intended, or preserved for maximum financial return some day down the track. Sorry, did I mention money as a motivating factor? Oops, what I meant to say was ‘preserved for the appreciation of future generations.’ Terribly sorry.
Both sides of the fence can spin a compelling argument about why those who oppose their views are either short-sighted heathens or superficial sellouts, but for a change of pace I’m going to try my best not to take sides.
Besides, the ‘get out and drive’ side of the argument had very little competition while I was surrounded by more retro Skylines than I’d ever seen in one place at one time.
I’m sure you’ll agree that nothing can beat blasting off into the sunset surrounded by motoring legends. But are moments like these coming to an end?
Enjoying The Moment
Sure, fast cars may eventually fade into ‘the good old days.’ Perhaps our grandchildren will roll their eyes while we relive tales of frosty Sunday morning drives for the umpteenth time. But doesn’t that just make you want to get out there even more?
We can choose to take everything for granted or to use each day to create the memories we’d later like to reflect upon. Living in the moment and trying to appreciate the small things does mean extra work, but it’s unwise to assume that opportunity knocks twice. Make sure your bags are packed when adventure next calls, because you never know where you will end up or who you’ll meet.
That’s exactly the same sharp, focused mentality that allowed me to only hit snooze on my alarm clock twice before rising with the sun to join a group of mates for a very special Sunday morning run.
Not only had our hosts done their homework by organizing an exceptional route, our group of mostly Japanese cars would potentially set a record for the most C10 Hakosuka and C110 Kenmeri Skylines to assemble for a cruise outside of their Japanese homeland.
Invitations weren’t limited to boxy Princes, Datsuns and Nissans, though a few Mitsubishi Evolutions and later-model cars also made the trip. We even brought along a token Ford Mustang, but that was mainly for crowd control if things got busy. I heard a 13B rotary buzzing, too.
After a relaxed (and delicious) bacon and egg roll and my second coffee for the morning, we toured through the quieter roads of the iconic Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
Evidence of last year’s devastating NSW bushfires still scarred the surroundings. Although most of the homes and business premises that were affected have since been rebuilt, the lack of foliage transformed parts of a familiar drive into a new experience.
Green growth brought a sense of renewal as we turned off and found new un-driven roads. Some of it almost felt like miniature valley rainforests.
The roads we travelled suited ours cars perfectly. While on one hand the scenery was very Australian (read: brown and dark green), there were patches where it all felt very similar to racing across rural Japan.
Not even five minutes after a quick pitstop outside of a historic pub, it felt like we were speeding across the mountain roads of Hakone.
Cool cars, great rides, friendly people. It was nothing too far from an ordinary day, yet there wasn’t anything ordinary about the day at all. It was brilliant. But given the exploding costs and difficulties of keeping these classics on the road, I really can’t help but think these brilliant days are numbered.
The End Is Nigh!(?)
Romantically, the first reaction to that statement is ‘shut up Matt, of course, we want to keep driving these things.’ Sure, me too; I can’t ever imagine not being an advocate for enjoying what we have or making the most of every day.
But there’s a dark side to the parabolic prices of the cars we enjoy and take for granted. Because while your friends are high-fiving their ever-growing profits, the cost and scarcity of parts are also quietly increasing.
With fewer parts available and fewer cars to work on, it’s safe to assume that those who’ve specialized within a niche may find themselves with a much lighter workload. Eventually, these companies may be forced to turn their focus elsewhere or potentially close their doors for good.
As the cycle continues with less readily available parts and fewer trusted hands to employ, it’s not unthinkable that, eventually, owners will feel reluctant to push their cars as close to the limits as they used to.
I’m not saying it’s all over or nice cars belong in museums, because there’ll always be a place for Sunday drives, but don’t be surprised when those outings are planned further and further apart or when fewer cars turn up.
I’ll admit that’s a pretty dark and harsh view of what could potentially happen. Hell, It might even upset a few of you out there. But if we can’t imagine it we certainly can’t plan for it.
Sadly, my crystal ball went out for servicing this week so I’m not able to confirm if the current price trajectory is going to stay constant, ramp up or decline tomorrow. But surely if prices were to chill out a little it wouldn’t be the worst thing, right?
Nothing is set in stone, prices could slide and fall of a cliff and explode into a fiery wreck tomorrow, buying us all some extra time to make the very most of our awesome machinery.
If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that nobody knows what the future holds with any certainty. The main thing I’ve taken from this whole Covid experience is to actively seek out and be more appreciative of the good times we have.
Often we don’t know how good we had it until after the fact. So go on, get out there and make today count. Oh, and don’t be so upset if your S-chassis isn’t worth six figures by this fall.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Damn the wealthy people who spend 40K in a battered AE86. Please keep your money away from people's cars and go back to Jaguars, Rolls and rare italian unicorns from 60s and older. Thank you
Yeah, nah.
Work harder and smarter and maybe you wont be stuck with your substandard cars.
Drive them. Maybe not flat out - especially not all the time. They aren't made for it. Unless it's a race car, of course. Cars need to run otherwise their seals dry-rot and fail. All seals fail eventually, so you may as well enjoy the drive and keep in touch with your mechanic and/or parts suppliers to ensure you can fix it. I have an R32. I drive her. She needs it just as much as I do. Simple as that.
To hell with the opinions of the non-enthusiast collectors at Barrett-Jackson in 2086.
Go out and drive.
Cheers Matthew,
the easy answer is: drive it - the more, the better. Memories are made during drives, not while looking at a chart that shows increasing prices.
The not-so-easy answer is: make sure you can afford to drive it. If a scratch, dent, engine failure or even a crash would ruin your "investment" and leave you broke, it may be better to leave it in the shed and drive something else. Few people can afford to risk ruining and subsequently fixing high-value cars and I'd wager that most Speedhunters readers (and writers) are within the majority who simply can't afford that.
This puts a (not-so-well off) owner of a classic, who bought it when it still was affordable, in a precarious position. Rising prices for parts, body panels and trim pieces will prevent many from enjoying the drive. If the worry is bigger than the joy - one has to make a decision eventually to either keep or sell the vehicle. A vehicle that isn't driven is not kept as it should be.
You mentioned the old Magnus Walker quote "get out and drive". After long Covid lockdowns and travel restrictions in many countries, this is exactly what drivers will do, once it's legal and safe again. I'm looking forward to meeting other car enthusiasts again on remote Alpine pass parking spots, chatting about automotive stuff while the drivetrains are cooling down.
Best regards from Germany
Sebastian
Thanks Seb!
The question is... Will selling the car "for a profit" later bring you greater joy than the time spent driving the car now? Drive them. Use them. Don't abuse them (ahem.. sliding into guardrails). However enjoy them. I suppose you could flip this around. Would you spend the money on something else that you'd enjoy more? If so... then why do you have the car in the first place? It's like having a rare bottle of whisky and never opening it. Beyond being able to say "Oh I have that"... what's the point? You aren't actually enjoying it. Enthusiasts and collectors/investors are two different mindsets. If you just wanna make money play the market or buy real estate. If you want to drive. DRIVE!
I believe those owners are doing exactly what they should be doing, driving them, enjoying the time out with friends as who knows what's in store tomorrow. I remember those fires and how devastating they were, so, seize the day. We have no control over most things, so spend time with friends, raise a pint and laugh.
Fires, Floods, and Covid. It's been a fun year or two. :p
I think we can learn a lot about what is going on in the Tuner car market by looking at our classic American car predecessors. Take a 1957 Chevrolet for instance - no one would argue that prices on those cars have gone up precipitously since 1991, but is parts avaliability now worse for 1957 Chevys than it was in 1991? The answer is obviously no - heck, you can basically build one out of a Summit catalog if you have a vin tag and a lot of money to spend. I wouldn't write the possibility of one day being able to build an R32 Skyline or an S14 out of a catalog completely out of the equation, I even think that it is kind of likely.
You'll hear a lot of bemoaning of money entering the automotive hobby on this page, and rightfully so, there are a LOT of negatives associated with the prices of once affordable enthusiast cars going up. However, a lack of parts support typically isn't one of them. People who spend astronomical sums to buy a classic car don't want that purchase price to suddenly be made mute because a part that is pure unobtanium ceased to function. Like I alluded to above, eventually reproduction parts will start coming around for these cars, and the acceleration of those businesses will actually be assisted by the price that people are willing to pay for the cars going up.
Of course, then there is the case of who it is that is spending the money. A lot of us decry the automotive investor, and yes, those people do exist, but they are a small minority in the rise of prices on these cars. The truth is, the people who idolized Skylines and Supras and RX-7s as kids have grown up. Now they have a steady paycheck, they're not that college kid who can only afford the salvage title RSX anymore. As the crowd for any given car gets older, they tend to spend more money. That's why first gen Camaros went from being $300 used beaters to $3,000 project cars to $30,000 show cars. The once $1,500 240SX is about to be $15,000, and that's because the average buyer is looking a lot less "boy racer" and a lot more "midlife crisis". Then, we'll see the prices really skyrocket when this age group of enthusiasts pack up their cubicle for the last time and cash that first retirement check. All of a sudden they will have all the time in the world to rebuild an old car and take it to shows across the country, and they'll have a relatively large nest egg of cash to do it with. That was the final upward thrust of the '50s and '60s American cars a decade or so ago, and the same thing will happen in the Tuner scene in about 20 years.
So, does that rapid increase in value mean that the days of seeing these cars on the road are coming to an end? Let's look at our boomer friends over in the classic American car scene again. Did they stop driving their '58 Impalas and "71 Chargers? Have you ever heard of Power Tour, or Cruisin' the Coast, or Back to the '50s, or the Woodward Dream Cruise, or the Race of Gentlemen? The guys who are in their 70s now never stopped enjoying the cars they dreamt of when they were teenagers and 20-somethings. Sure, for some of them the dream changed - there are a lot of C5 Corvettes and Challenger SRTs at the classic car events that allow them, but you'll be hard pressed to find a guy who is driving one of those cars that really regretted that choice, even if it wasn't their first love. If S-Chassis prices hadn't went up, would there have been any following for the Infiniti G35? If Challenger and Charger prices hadn't went up, would the Plymouth Duster be lost to history? Furthermore, is it really going to bother us if we have to settle for a Mark X because the Mark II we wanted got too rich for our tastes?
I think not. I think this is a natural cycle of car enthusiasm. I think as soon as the prices of Skylines and MK 4s come back down a tad (in 40-ish years) the WRXs and Evos will be hitting their precipice. It's just the way of the world. We'll adapt to it, too - well be building cars that are in more basketcase conditions or we'll be building cars that a few years ago were just parts cars or boring commuters. A few years ago, 3rd Gen Camaros were embarassingly outdated mulltemobiles that occasionally were used as parts donors for 1st and 2nd gen restorations. Now, they are classic cars worthy of restorations in their own right. You may laugh now, but someday somebody is going to spend real money to restore an NC Miata. That doesn't mean that the future is worse than the present, just different.
And through it all, people will keep diriving and enjoying. Sure, the days of the wilder events like H2Oi might be numbered (which, in my opinion, is kind of a blessing in disguise), but the more tame import shows like EVO and Stancewars will live on for decades. The cruises and the autocrossing and the drag racing, that will never stop, not even after all of us have long died of old age. Next weekend, I am going to the NSRA Midamerica Nationals, a show for street rods, which are basically hot rodded and gussied up '30s and '40s cars. When I first went in 2002, most of the owners were guys in their 50s and 60s, hauling around their grade school grandsons and 20-something sons. Now, a lot of those street rod enthusiasts are in their 80s, if they are even still around. And yet, after the show next Saturday, hundreds of street rods will crowd the main drag of Springfield, Missouri, cruising until well past midnight. Some of those cars will be driven by the octogenarians who have been bringing their car to the show for 20+ years, some of them will be the 40-something sons and 20-something grandsons of the street rod enthusiasts who have passed on. Either way, there will still be a cruise, and it will be as big as it has ever been. It doesn't matter that the average car attending is now worth $40k, and it doesn't matter that many of the first generation that built these cars have already gone on to their final reward. The same thing will happen to our generation and the tuner car scene. Barring the banning of combustion engines in the coming years, if you hopped in a time machine right now and set it 40 years in the future, I would be willing to bet that you could find a car show still packed with '90s JDM stuff.
Trends come and go, but the passion for cars lives on.
That's a pretty well thought out and articulated point of view. Not a lot to argue with here.
MidAmerica nats sounds like a blast. Will have to do some homework.
This this this.
Eventually, it may come to pass that our tuner cars are mostly in museums, but even then you have events like Historic rallies that see classics normally stored in museums get driven in anger. Such is the way of things.
As for parts drying up, consider that 3d printing and other new tech is only just getting started, and is getting more and more capable and affordable every year. If a part is needed, one day it will be relatively easy to have a new one made on demand. Maybe the tuner of the future needs some 3d modelling skills, but that's fine.
It's weird to speculate what will eventually happen, but here goes my take on it:
If the support/parts will dry up, most people driving them will sell them, unless they are a good enough fabricator/mechanic to do it themselves. I drive a car which isn't supported at all by any means by aftermarket products for at least 20 years know. It wasn't all that supported to begin with, allthough they've sold a couple of million cars. It's just dried up. So maintaining it is a hassle, but I still put up with it. You just have to be resourcefull and skilled. For anybody who is not at least those two, but is rich, it's no biggie. For anybody who isn't skilled and resourcefull and isn't rich, it will probably suck to be them. But they can probably still make some money sell their project on.
That is: If values don't plumet. Cars that are really expensive to begin with, most likely won't have that problem. regular production cars most likely will have that problem though. Porsche where never that affordable to begin with, untill they where seen as a collector car. Cars like lets say a starlet won't reach that succes and high demand. Unobtanium will most likely be unobtanium for ever more. For the more regular classic cars that won't be a problem. It'll more likely be problem of parts availability and enviromental laws.
Starlet parts are already unobtainium here. I remember how hard sourcing parts for my Wife's old EP92 was.
Hopefully 3D printing will help the crafty owners going forward.
I won't see that happening for a long time: Sure, you can 3d print stuff like grommets, knobs, etc. But that won't be very likely for stuff like suspension components. Not to mention high tensile strength stuff.
BTW: an EP92 isn't old, just slightly used. Thats end of the '90's stuff. I'm talking about '70's and before stuff from car companies that didn't sell worldwide to begin with.... Way harder to obtain then Toyota stuff.
Going out for a drive is just a satisfying thing to do
After all cars are made to be driven
Some harder than others.
Why was the car invented...*gasp* to drive!
You are slapping human progress in the face when you don't do with it what it was meant for. Like marrying a super model and never taking her to the bedroom
I elect to drive the car, but not like in racing-car-mode. I drive the car for enjoyment and get things outta my head.
When driven, a little scratch here and there on the car is fine. It's reality and expected. Things can happen. I just have to be careful and cautious when driving. Just have to be mindful especially when the car is old like mine.
Anyway for the scratches here and there, a re-spray of paint would solve the problem.
This is my mindset. I get critised for using my car the way I do, but there's nothing that is irreplaceable on it just yet.
I see a lot of well thought out comments regarding the subject, but I don’t see anyone bringing up the possibility of doing both. Personally, I buy the 80’s and 90’s car I like, fix em up, drive them how I want, and still sell them for solid prices. As long as you don’t wreck your investment, I think you can have the classic car you want, do what you please to it, and have it still be worth something when the time does come to sell it. If you have the car you’ve been dreaming about, do what you want to it, take good care of it, and drive it hard. Don’t let the resell value stop you from enjoying it. If you got the car as an investment to sell later, well then you may have bought it for the wrong reason. But to each there own. The appreciation of cars is still the driving factor at the end of the day. I can’t hate on anyone that buys a car to look at it. As long as they’re getting what they want out of it, that’s what it’s all about. I recently picked up one of my dream cars (91’ 325i), and I could care less what the resell value is. With that being said, I got the car for $2600, and now they’re going for about 8-12k. Does it make a difference to me..not really. It’s still kinda cool to think about though.
Not a terrible game plan. More fun than Pokemon cars for sure.
In this whole story, I am frustrated by the fact that I have not yet "grown" financially - I do not have one of those cars of the 80s and 90s in which I fall in love. And as long as I grow up, they will be worth like real estate on the coast(((
Hey man, we all went through the same thing. The funny part is that the cars that are valuable today weren't really coveted or cared about back when we could have had them.
Maybe in another 15 years people will be lamenting their missed opportunities of owning a Kia or a Hyundai. :p
That red Kenmeri fake GT-R is pretty neat!
Wont be worth anything to you when you're in the ground, get out and go for a drive.