Yahoo Finance I’m a Car Collector: These Are the 8 Classic Luxury Cars I’d Buy
Collectors are an odd bunch, as the psychology behind collecting things is multifold and distinctly personal.
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You’d be surprised at what kinds of cars get collectors excited. A quick Reddit scroll shows serious love for the typical classics, but also for cars as disparate as the AMC Eagle, the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, the Volkswagen Scirocco and the Honda Prelude. For example, Reddit user “spearman792” longs for a Shelby GT350, but also loves his current dream car: a Volkswagen GTI.
Every collector is different. However, there are some historically or aesthetically significant luxury car models that many collectors all agree they would love to buy. Here are eight such examples.
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1. Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Let’s start with a bang…or a sting. The Corvette Stingray has evolved from a lightweight 6-cylinder convertible to a powerful V8 supercar and is considered Chevy’s halo car. According to HotCars, Stingrays are always on a collector’s radar, but some models — the 1963 Corvette Stingray Split Window Coupe, the 1967 Corvette Stingray L88 and 1970 Corvette Stingray LT-1, for example — are particularly rare and consistently sought-after in the classic collector market.
2. Aston Martin DB5
Here’s a good example of large-screen exposure breeding desire. Depending on your age, the DB5 will be instantly recognizable as “the James Bond car,” and it’s among the world’s most iconic, and expensive, cars. According to Classic.com sales data, the average price of a mid-1960s Aston Martin DB5 is $1,391,932.
3. Ford Model T
Nostalgia is one of the biggest reasons people collect objects. But there’s not a person alive that would have childhood memories of Henry Ford’s 1908 breakthrough vehicle. No car is more “old school” than the first affordable, mass-produced vehicle in the U.S. Surprisingly, many Model Ts still exist and they can be bought generally for under $30,000. However, getting one road-ready (residential streets only) might prove to be an expensive challenge.
4. Ferrari 250 GTO
In 2019, the iconic Ferrari 250 GTO was officially recognized by an Italian court as a work of art, to protect it from reproductions and imitations. Unlike the stock market, art as an investment tends to appreciate over time and the GTO is no exception. Pristine condition GTOs fetch tens of millions of dollars, like this 1962 model, that sold for $51,705,000 at an auction
5. Volkswagen Beetle
The once-inexpensive, readily available Beetle isn’t considered much of a luxury ride, but one in good shape will cost you a pretty penny. While it’s been updated a couple of times since its original 1950-1979 U.S. run and was eventually retired in 2019, the Beetle is a beloved, iconic auto that many people still covet. Drivers are hoping for an EV reboot, but collectors are mostly seeking Type 1s from yesteryear.
6. Shelby Cobra 427
Another absolutely gorgeous car, the Shelby Cobra 427 is one of the most desired sports cars of all time. While Car and Driver notes that the handling of the original Cobra was “considerably less than optimum,” the almost 60-year-old 427 performs unbelievably well (14.5 seconds to accelerate to 100 miles an hour and then stop again). The 427 base model was sold from 1965 to 1967 and, according to Classic.com, its average price is $1,783,125.
7. Jaguar E Type
Full disclosure: The Jaguar E Type happens to be the dream car of the person who strung this here sentence together. I’m not alone. Declared “the most beautiful car ever made’ by Enzo Ferrari himself, the E Type “featured many industry firsts, including front and rear independent suspension, disc brakes, and monocoque construction,” according to Luxurylaunches.com.
8. Porsche 356/911
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Porsche mass-produced around 76,000 of the 356 distinctive sports car, the forerunner to the more well known 911. Although the 911 eclipsed the 356 in popularity during the mid-1960s, collectors are still smitten with Porsche’s original rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car.
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