Crawling From The Wreckage

Crawling From The Wreckage

I found this Haggerty Insurance article on yahoo and weighed in with my opinion on each of them. The original article is posted below. If you haven鈥檛 noticed, the classic car market is hot right now. The formerly quiet entry level of the market is fully awake, and cars that formerly sailed under the radar are now commanding attention. 1. 1987 Buick Regal Grand National: Darth Vader鈥檚 official car (most were black), the turbo V-6 Regal was one of the few non-V-8 cars that the primarily baby-boomer muscle-car crowd took an immediate shine to. They鈥檝e never been cheap, but that鈥檚 how current prices will seem in a few years when the Gen-Xers who wanted them new start pumping money into the collector car world. Sorry. These cars are expensive to maintain and original parts are hard to come by. If you spend top dollar on an '80s' Buick, you need to keep it original. It's not like parts for these turbo V-6's are available in a mail order catalog. Save your money and buy a mint condition Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS or Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 of the same 1983-1987 vintage instead.

Less money up front and less headaches in the long run too. IF you found one of these in pristine, original condition, it would be for north of 25G. You can find these for under 25 but most likely they've been beat to death or modified. 2. 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am: Black-and-gold Malaise Era Trans Ams, particularly those from the 鈥淪mokey and the Bandit鈥?years, are among the hottest things in American collector cars right now. Barrett-Jackson had about 15 of them on sale this past January in Scottsdale, Ariz., and all brought good money. 25,000 for a nice one may seem like a gift. Maybe鈥ut鈥s cool as these are some will only see these cars as the Smokey and The Bandit. You really want to drive a car that's famous for being in a movie? Same problem with the Dukes of Hazard's "General Lee". My money would be on a 1974-1976 SD-455 Trans Am instead. 3. 1978-83 Porsche 911SC: The window on affordable classic (read air-cooled) 911s is closing fast.

350,000 range, and the dirty little secret is that while they may have more vintage charm, they鈥檙e not nearly as good as the later 1978-83 cars. Who wrote this article? Certainly not a hard core car person. Stay away from this car. Far, far away. These cars are crazy expensive to fix and are difficult to drive. 4. 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SL: The R107 series SL (in the U.S. 45,000. Lesser examples were everywhere at the Scottsdale sales. Care for something a bit edgier? The 1988 BMW M6 is equally hot. Same deal as with the Porsche 911鈥檚. No. No way. Spend similar money on the infinitely superior 1990 (R129) or newer SL. 25,000 is simply amazing. With the spotlight on collectible Corvettes at Barrett-Jackson this past Scottsdale, we sense that this is another rapidly closing window. Your only hope is probably a 1968, which was the first model year for the C3 and had a reputation back in the day of being a bit troublesome.

Those issues however, were relatively minor and have long since been sorted out. Do it now or settle for a small block later. Craptacularly awesome cars but the author makes it seem as though they're a dime a dozen. They're not. Good luck finding one. 6. 1988-91 BMW M3: The E30 M3 as it鈥檚 known to Bimmerphiles is smoking hot right now and is only likely to get hotter as more younger collectors enter the market. The first of the officially badged M-cars (along with the four-door M5) to hit the U.S. 40,000 at the Russo and Steele sale in Monterey, Calif., last August. In just seven months, the perception of that sale has gone from 鈥減ricey鈥?to 鈥渁 steal,鈥?a sure sign that this car has hit the collectors鈥?radar. 25,000 or less are going to dry up any second now. See my comments on the Porsche and Mercedes Benz. 20,000. These are supercars that you can live with. Honda quality and execution are everywhere (including the interior which detractors compare to a nice Accord). Only the car鈥檚 voracious appetite for rear tires detracts from the ownership experience. 100,000 mark in the near future, and they鈥檒l likely pull up the earlier cars. To each his or her own. 25,000 to spend on collectible it wouldn鈥檛 be on one of these. Perhaps that's the North Easterner in me talking.