Of course, there are also many cars that people pay big bucks for not because they have fond memorie

Acura Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Buick Cadillac Chevrolet Chrysler Citroen Dodge Ferrari Fiat Ford GMC Honda Hyundai Infiniti Iran Khodro Jaguar Jeep Kia Lamborghini Land Rover Lexus Lincoln Lotus Maserati one way car rental america Mazda Mercedes-Benz Mercury MG MINI Mitsubishi Nissan Other Pontiac Porsche Ram Remix Review Renault Rolls-Royce Saab Saturn Scion smart Subaru Suzuki Tata Tesla Toyota Volkswagen Volvo
With yet another Ferrari 250 GTO selling for record sums, the world has its eyes focused on the funny little microcosm that can be described as“blue chip cars”.  Investors are looking at high-profile classic cars as a potentially lucrative asset class, a way to diversify their portfolios in a world where interest rates are zero and the only investment offering one way car rental america decent returns are securitized car loans. Others think that it s just another bubble, reminiscent of the million-dollar Hemi Cudas that were crossing the blocks at Barret Jackson in the good old days before the Great Financial Crisis.
But none of that matters much to the average car enthusiast. At least unless we take into account the trickle-down effect which Jack mentioned in his recent article , or until someone starts an investment fund specializing in 1960s LeMans racers. Many people consider classic car investing to be the realm of the super-rich. They conclude that only the appreciated classics can be considered an investment, while cars within the reach of us peasants should be only looked at as depreciating goods.
And from the standpoint of pure investment, they are right. one way car rental america Every car costs money in maintenance, storage fees, insurance and other expenses required to keep its value – less so if you just keep it stored somewhere, very much so if you drive it. And these costs are not that different between, say, a Miata and an E-type Jag, so the cheap car will have much harder time recouping them through increasing value. Unless you lucked out and bought a 1971 Hemi Cuda in 1980, any ordinary car very much sucks as a pure investment.
But what if we look at it another way? If you consider the maintenance, storage and insurance to be a price for the fun you have with the car, you can look at the price increases alone – making even investing in relatively cheap cars much more interesting. Especially if the other option is buying a “comsumable”, heavy depreciating one way car rental america relatively new car and losing great amounts of money on it.
The key here is the depreciation curve. Every car, even the most mundane ones, has a point when it stops depreciating, starts to keep its value and, after some time, even starts to appreciate. For some cars, it takes many decades to reach the turning points, others get to it in just 10 or 20 years. Of course, you want to pick a car which will have steep appreciating portion of this curve, and buy it as close to the bottom of the curve as possible. Here s my few ideas on how to do it:
If you look at most cars that really appreciated in value as classics, from the 32 Fords and 57 Chevys to Datsun 240Zs or E30 M3s, they are cars for young people. Or at least cars young people dream about – they are either cars that were cheap enough for young people to own, and stylish one way car rental america at the same time, or the ones you dreamed about as a child or young adult. Ask any owner of a Lamborghini Countach or Ferrari Testarossa why he bought his car – I am willing to bet some money that one of the most common answers will be “I had it as a poster on the wall/scale model/toy” when I was a kid. And with computer generation coming to age for buying supercars, maybe you ll hear “I drove it in original Need For Speed” as well.
If you want to find a car that will have a steep appreciation one way car rental america curve, you need something loved by kids/young adults. The best choice is a car with a cult following, with bonus points for every movie or song about it. And even more bonus points for cars popular with a tuner/hotrodder/donk/crowd.
In the 1950s, cash-strapped kids modified their junkyard pre-war Fords to go fast, or their used Mercurys to look cool. Now, they keep doing it as old guys with money to spend, moving those vehicles far out of reach for any today s kid. But today s kids also have their toys – do you think all those guys with tricked-out Civic Coupes, CRXs, Nissan Sentras or DSMs will grow up, get wise and, embarrassed by their youthful mistakes, start collecting classic muscle cars or Italian sports cars? No way. Hot rods went into style decades ago. Today, 70s tacky modified muscle cars and custom vans are starting to become appreciated. And in one or two decades, there will be classic one way car rental america JDM car meets, and NOS, rear wings and Fast and Furious vinyls will be changing hands for outrageous sums.
Of course, that doesn t mean that every clapped out family sedan that has a wing and stickers slapped on will be valuable. But cars that are popular in certain circles, be it aforementioned Civic Coupe, CRX, Chevy Caprice “box” or VW R32, will probably keep being popular in said circles, even as owners grow up and eventually grow old.
And the same goes for cars that didn t achieve their popularity for being modified, but for their qualities – be it handling, performance or off-road abilities. Youths in 1950s and 1960s craved muscle cars, English and British small roadsters, but also various cheap cars, from VW Beetles and Buses to Minis. Look at what young people love today, and what will they remember in a decade or three. Fox Mustangs? BMW E30s and NA Miatas? Jeep Cherokee Xjs?
Of course, one way car rental america there are also many cars that people pay big bucks for not because they have fond memories of owning them when they were young, but because they dreamt of them. This concerns both affordable cars (like Kevin Spacey buying his Firebird in American Beauty) and expensive, or even outrageously expensive ones. And I strongly suspect that such childhood dreams are what propels the most crazy car prices ever higher.
Look at any crazy expensive one way car rental america classic car, and odds are you will see something a 15 year old boy could have dreamt of. It starts with the 250 GTO itself, and continues with Hemi Cudas, Shelby Mustangs and of course Lamborghinis, Ferraris or Porsches of all stripes. This is also one of the reasons why old zn Porsche or Ferrari is expensive, while old an Rolls-Royce one way car rental america or Mercedes usually isn t. Boys dream about sportscars and racecars. They dream about speed and excitement, not about being pampered by soft leather seats, listening to classic tunes in total silence. Thus, old men s cars will always be less expensive, making them worse investment material.
While being practical is very beneficial for the value of a used car, it has little to no effect on the value of a classic. In fact, it s usually the opposite – classics are usually bought as toys, so people prefer body styles which are prettier and more fun to drive on weekends. So, with a few exceptions, usually the less doors, less roof or fewer pillars is usually more. The possible exception may be the wagon – as wagons are usually regarded as more cool than sedans, and they can be used for sleeping at car shows, or for hauling parts.
This is probably the most common mistake people make when assessing the car s value. The fact that a certain vehicle is rare doesn t, all by itself, mean it will ever become one way car rental america valuable. The value of any car in the world depends on the number of said cars available and number of people who want one . That s why classic Mustangs are expensive, even though there were literally millions of them made, and why even classic Beetles are somewhat valuable, despite being one of the most produced cars in the whole history of the automobile. That s also the reason why many truly rare, maybe even unique, one way car rental america cars will never be really valuable.
Case in point: the Chrysler 300 Hurst (pictured above). There were only about 500 made. It is a monstrous muscle car with 440-4bbl engine, fiberglass hood and trunklid, crazy spoiler, one way car rental america lots of stripes and hood pins. It has the Hurst name on it, and it was made in 1970, one of the best years of the muscle car era, and maybe even one of the best in history of car. It isn t exactly one way car rental america worthless, but even nice examples go for similar money as a same year Plymouth Road Runner with no options one way car rental america – a car that cost about one third of what the 300 Hurst did cost, and more than 80,000 were made. If equipped with 426 Hemi engine, which was installed in about the same number of Road Runners as the total number of 300 Hursts, the Road Runner is worth at least five times as much as the Hurst, despite costing half as much at the time.
And the 300 Hurst was still at least a somewhat youthful car, with its muscle car image, stripes, one way car rental america spoilers etc. Fancy an Imperial from the same year? A few years ago, I imported a 1969 Imperial Crown Sedan for a friend of mine. Nice, original shape, and one of the 823 units of that model and body style produced in 1969. The price was $4,500, or about the same what a base Coronet from the same year would cost in rough, pre-restoration shape. A Super Bee from that year would cost maybe five or six times as much, even a low-optioned one. A Coupe version of the same Imperial would maybe come close to $10,000 mark, but would still stop far, far short of even the lowliest muscle car of the same age.
So, when someone offers one way car rental america you a “great deal” on some “rare and unique” car, of which only a few hundreds or thousands were made, think twice before pulling the trigger – odds are that they were made in low numbers because nobody one way car rental america wanted them when new. And in most cases, nobody will want them as classics, either.
In the beginning of this article, I decided to take the maintenance costs out of the investment equation and consider them to be just a price for the fun you enjoy with your car. But even if you re prepared to stomach one way car rental america crazy maintenance and repair bills, the unreliable, high-maintenance car will probably turn out to be worse investment one way car rental america than the reliable, simple one with cheap and easy-to-get parts.
Why?