Future Car Icons!? Your Views??

[Alu_ATC]

For instance, 40 years ago, would VW owners EVER have thought that in 40 years time you would pay upwards of £20k for a complete minter Split Screen Camper, or upwards of £10k for a similar aged restored Beetle!?

Remember, the SS Camper (and even bay window) and beetle were 'mass' produced vehilces in their time, not one off sports cars!

Bay's are getting more expensive because people can't afford the Split Screens. Not to mention that early bay's were only produced between 1968 - 1971, with 1972 being a poor 'cross-over' year. This makes them even rarer - just like the barndoor split screens. The VW Bus is a cult icon though, just as the GTi will be (or is already imo).

But cars back then used to rot and, as supply decreases while demand rises, prices rocket.

Lots of cars still rot today, its not all aluminium, and even aluminium corrodes over time. Not only that, but it should be a testament to the vehicles build quality that it is still around today when it was built say 30, 40 or 50 years ago - especially when these vehicles were not treated specially! There are sport cars of this age that have been treated well and are in far worse condition.

VW didn't know that the rust-proofing techniques they were using on their buses in the 60's would last around 25 - 30 years with good maintainance, but they knew by the 80's and then used different method's.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to predict this kind of thing as most new cars are homogenised, bland, shapeless euro-blobs.

Rewind 30 or 40 years and cars had an individual identity.

Furthermore, the modern reliance on electronics and safety-nets, combined with a culture telling us to use, consume and bin means that current cars will not last as long. You can keep a bug going with a handful of spanners. It needs 3 wires and some petrol to run...Not 5 miles of cable and enough electronics to control the space shuttle.

Newer cars are increasingly being engineered for people who are convinced that they need a new or nearly-new car and as a result of this, they're impossible to do any work on yourself and tend to rot or fall apart after 5-8 years.

*n

Hmmm, I think these cars will last longer than 5 - 8 years despite their electronic features. Also, there has always been a trend of 'modern cars are shapeless and boring' even 30 years ago when people were owning late 40's and early 50's car's as classics. Some people move with the times and still can't understand it now, that car's they used to own 10 - 15 years ago are becoming classic. Other stick behind and think that what we have now is boring in comparison. Like all cars, many of the one's we have now will become classics, unless laws are put in place to aid with the disposal of cars.

Think about the Volvo thing, many think it's mad that a bog standard car that was produced in the 70's with very little styling appeal even back then is now being treated as a classic. People do it now and will do in the future too with car's we use now.

 

[Trickle]

£20k for a complete minter Split Screen Camper, or upwards of £10k for a similar aged restored Beetle!?
................
beetle were 'mass' produced vehilces in their time

This came up in a thread a few months back. I posted back then that I thought the cost of maintaining (or storing and not using) any mass produced vehicle would ever give a return worthy of the investment. Even if you could predict what car to go for.

I dont know much about the subject so I was expecting to be told that people have made real money out of this. I'd love to be proved wrong, but I just dont see how restoring a beetle at a typical cost for that sort of job then storing it for 20 years makes a paltry £10K payout make it worth more than the outlay involved into a bank.

Imho I'm not going to get any hard facts on this sort of thing. I'm a pessimist. When I saw the Penski £930 shove thread I immediately started thinking of all the hidden costs in that sort of project. Storage time, food bill for the hobby, all the free parts generated from favours from people he gave free parts too on their jobs. One off parts purchased for the job. Consumables, broken tools, blow torch canisters. Running a 2nd vehicle to get to scrap merchants etc.

A hobby is expensive. A pet project blinds you to facts when profit vs loss isnt your primary goal. Asking a hobby mechanic to price his job is like asking a slot machine player how much he was down that evening.

I love this sort of thread, but there is never an answer.

 

[Alu_ATC]

I dont know much about the subject so I was expecting to be told that people have made real money out of this. I'd love to be proved wrong, but I just dont see how restoring a beetle at a typical cost for that sort of job then storing it for 20 years makes a paltry £10K payout make it worth more than the outlay involved into a bank.

I dont think people do make much money at all in this kind of situation. Just going back to VW's (im a bit of a fan you see), I've seen loads of 'barn-find' VW's over the years which are litterally VW's that have either been left in a garage for 30+ years without a touch on them, or buses that have been looked after by what are now little old ladys. In these kind of situation's, the seller never seems to make anywhere near the money they should and it is often to the buyer's advantage. It's seen as a big achievment to 'barn-find' any VW bus.

 

[MNuTz]

It depends on the car mate, with the VW campers and other VW cars people who buy them do it because they love the car and want to restore it knowing full well that they would never make enough money back to cover the costs. My Corrado G60 will cost me more than i could ever sell it for but does that matter? No!

Some people say it stupid to do such things, to spend so much money on an old car but is it anymore stupid than buying a brand new car and losing £3K just by driving if of the forecourt?

EDIT: Of course you will get some people that buy a "classic" car and then bodge fix it just to sell on at a profit, not nice people!

 

[Alu_ATC]

It depends on the car mate, with the VW campers and other VW cars people who buy them do it because they love the car and want to restore it knowing full well that they would never make enough money back to cover the costs. My Corrado G60 will cost me more than i could ever sell it for but does that matter? No!

Some people say it stupid to do such things, to spend so much money on an old car but is it anymore stupid than buying a brand new car and losing £3K just by driving if of the forecourt?

I agree with you. I would love to build my dream '68 Bay. If restored to a good standard as well and no too customised, you could make quite a bit of the money back - but if it were me, I wouldn't sell! Good luck with the Corrado!

 

[Trickle]

- 200SX

Would need to be something that people know. No one today lusts after a *standard* 200sx and no one ever has in this country.

In 10 years (or 20?) will people pay for the drift icon, or would people want a standard concours model? Maybe in Japan... but not here.

Imho it would have to be a car that was an icon in its own time on its own merits.

My guesses not many. I added loads and removed most

Smart car and Smart coupe.
Monaro
Audi TT
Skyline - 7K for R32 GTR today.
RX7 FD
Supra

Imho they will all be cheap as chips at one point in their life, but do upable and still remembered in future.

 

[Trickle]

It's seen as a big achievment to 'barn-find' any VW bus.

Nice if you have a spare barn for 20 years. Where I live the price of a garage is roughly 1/6th the price of a house. Storage gets cheaper the further out of town you live, but never free.

 

[MNuTz]

Nice if you have a spare barn for 20 years. Where I live the price of a garage is roughly 1/6th the price of a house. Storage gets cheaper the further out of town you live, but never free.

He means to find a car/bus thats been sitting still for a long period of time, such as those classics that can be quite often be found rotting in some farmers barn!

The woman across the road from me has a standard 3 bedroom semi with a garage. She drives some horrible little thing and her house is falling to pieces, however, i know that there is a car in her garage that hasnt been touched in over 9 years now!! Might go over and have a nose to see what it is

EDIT: Alu_ATC - dont suppose you ever saw that video that was released for a new VW bus did you? The one where it all unfolds! Ive been after it for ages now but cant find it!

 

[Trickle]

Some persons loss (storage of a car and not selling it years later at market value) is always someone elses gain.

Thread is about guessing which cars will pay off in future. No point keeping a list of little old lady's garages with Audi TTs in in the hope she will keep it that way for another 10 years

 

[Jonny69]

This thread goes against everything I stand for. Classic cars end at 1972. Period. All modern cars look the same with no exceptions, just that some are red, some are silver etc

 

[cymatty]

Hmm leet me see.

Clio 172/182 cup and clio v6 clio 182 trophy
Lotus exige/ elise
VX220 turbo
Vauzhall Monaro vxr?
Ford Focus RS
All BMW M cars
Nissan skyline r34's

Will think of more.

 

[Trickle]

This thread goes against everything I stand for. Classic cars end at 1972. Period. All modern cars look the same with no exceptions, just that some are red, some are silver etc

In the 70s there were people who though that classics were all pre war era cars and that 70s VW campers were for awful hippies. Roll on 30 years an the pre war classic bufs are all dead and the 'mad fools' paying top mulah for campers are people that share your view point

 

[Axeboy]

Imo these cars will be worth a fair bit more than they are now in years to come:

r32 gtr skyline
s1 106 rallye
405 mi16


Also agree with most of the other posts 172 etc....

 

[Hawk Tuah]

I think the key to being a future classic is a car that has no successor, or its successor is a less desirable replacement.

A prime example is the corrado. VW just dropped it, and they didn't replace it with something better.

This also works for the Escort Cosworth and the Lotus Carlton, both of which are sure fire classics.

 

[Alu_ATC]

I think the key to being a future classic is a car that has no predecessor, or its predecessor is a less desirable replacement.

A prime example is the corrado. VW just dropped it, and they didn't replace it with something better.

This also works for the Escort Cosworth and the Lotus Carlton, both of which are sure fire classics.

Don't you mean successor?

 

[Hawk Tuah]

yes.

 

[HEADRAT]

Fiat Coupe has been tipped by lots of "classic car" magazines as a future classic.

HEADRAT

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Makes sense, as there is no real successor. I suppose FTO, Prelude, Alpha GTA, CTR are all simlar though, but none have a turbo.

 

[Trickle]

That would be the R34GTR instead of the R32 (forget the R33 - thats no classic). The problem with R34 just like the escort cosworth you mention is that it will never be available for 7K in good condition.

Now the VW corrado... Problem with that is that everyone is expecting that to be a future classic. Makes conning those little old grannies with 20 year old ones making hey in their barn harder to scam. 5K for a decent one currently is difficult to stomach being that there are much better cars in the class avaible for less.

 

[[TW]Fox]

It'll be something utterly rubbish with virtually zero redeeming features widely recognised as being rubbish that'll suddenly become retro-cool in 15 years time.

Step forward Perodua Kelisa.

It is virtually impossible to predict which cars will become classics becuase what makes a car a classic is often something irrational and difficult to predict. Nobody would have said the Mk2 Ford Escort would ever become a classic back in 1985 when they were absolutely everywhere, but it did

As for the Clio Cup, no chance. I know Gilly owns one and thus he will never let go of the notion that one day it's a classic, but I can't really see it happening. The V6, perhaps, but nothing else. Even the Clio Williams of old isn't exactly a reknowned classic, everyone knows it was special but it's not a classic in the same way that a 205 GTi is or a mint Mk1 Golf GTi is.