QOTD: Are There Any Collectibles Amongst the Rubble?
Monday’s QOTD post by Matthew Guy inquiring about some of the seriously overpriced metal on today’s collector car market got me thinking. And what it got me thinking about was the present state of cars, and if there’s going to be much worthy of collecting at a later date.
We’re in some dark times, automotively speaking. Allow me to explain.
You see, I could quickly and easily make a list of several desirable and collector-worthy cars for each model year between 1990 and perhaps 2003. After that, things get a bit sketchier, and it’s harder to find collectible metal outside things designed with collectors in mind — like the heated garage-ready Chevrolet SSR, for example. And where things really get dicey is upon the convergence of two distinct and negative forces for those interested in cars, collecting cars, or cars of high quality.
The first negative force was the creation and subsequent Xeroxing of the CUV, as popularized first by the Lexus RX back in the late 1990s. This force continues today, and was compounded by the small economic issue North America experienced in 2008. The Great Recession drove home a point about taking certain risks, and the mostly unnecessary aspects of auto manufacturing like sourcing parts from America and fitting quality interiors to vehicles. I don’t think we’ve climbed out of that hole, especially where automobiles are concerned. Of course, it’s not all bad — just mostly. This brings me to today’s question.
Consider the most recent five model years, 2014 to 2018. Limiting future collectible considerations to these five years only, where do you see the shining stars? In a sea of CUV selections, or where Cadillac tried to act like BMW, BMW went after Lexus, and Lincoln and Acura had their internet shut off, where do you turn?
The headline image is an obvious choice, and I’m taking that one to make the game harder on you. Any HellCarSportHawk variations from FCA with their ridiculous 707 horsepowers are destined to be future collectibles. Eventually people will look at them like they do a Plymouth Superbird; their eyes fixated as the HellVehicle passes. “Remember when they used to make that?”
Off to you all.
[Image: Chris Tonn / TTAC]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
More by Corey Lewis
Comments
Join the conversation
V8 Charger/300s - There's a million of them out there and nobody's collecting them, not to mention they don't last long. Any two door V8 Chrysler product from the '60s and '70s is at least worth its weight in beer, and I think as the LX platform cars disappear everyone will forget how unreliable they are and they'll go up in value. Plus, the platform has been in production long enough that there will be a significant aftermarket for parts.
Land Rover Defender