Another Patrick Callahan Post:

Lately I’ve been watching the classic car marketplace with great interest. Prices of cars that were made on simple Detroit assembly lines 50 years ago have appreciated in value incredibly and prices seem to be holding relatively steady despite problems in much of the economy. Some records are even being set. The car above just became the most expensive car to ever ell at auction. It seems people truly want these cars to the point that they are willing to make sacrifices to afford them even when money is tight.

Short of a time machine, there’s no way of knowing what cars from today will be classics tomorrow, but some cars of today have almost uncanny similarities to classics. One example is the Penske Trans-Am Camaros and the Realtime Racing Speed Touring Car Integras. Both cars dominated the SCCA’s pro racing class for cars that were very closely based on street cars that were popular with young people at the time, have distinctive paint schemes and were campaigned extremely well. There are many others and it’s very interesting to spend some time thinking about what outdated cars of today will be lighting the collector car world on fire tomorrow.