The future of American-Made "collectible" cars?

[Buick From Hell]

was talking about buicks & old mopars today, and it made me wonder: out of all the crap cars being built TODAY, how many "family-style" cars are going to be considered "collectible" or even "desirable" 10 or 15 years from now? The old Impala's, Chargers, Chevelle's, Buick GS's, Fairlane XL's, all were basically built from "family" cars...the TR's and Monte SS's (Impala SS's?) seem to be the last of the breed...

Besides Mustangs & F-bodys, what do "car guys" have to look forward to?? Blown hemi SUV's?

[OKTurbo]

Pretty sad isn't it?

But, you have to realize that there is a whole new batch of young guys. The Turbo Buicks came out when I was poor and starving in college. I wanted a GN so bad, but had zero $$$....I put it in the back of my mind...."someday I'll have one of those". At the time I was driving a $400 Pinto (40mpg).

Graduate college.....get a job...get married....have a few kids...life starts to get comfortable and guess what...now I can afford it.

The kids today....the 30 yr olds of tomorrow...will be dreaming about the cars they liked, but couldn't afford when they were younger. These will most likely be imports.

I appreciate the 40's and 50's cars. '34 Ford hot-rod....'56 Chevy 210 BelAire...etc...but I would probably never lay down the cash for one. It's just a different time period for me. I like the early 5.0 Mustangs....LT1 Caprices / Impalas...ANY of the 60's muscle cars....and of course the Turbo Buicks.

John

[d0n_3d]

basically the TR to me is an old forgotton muscle car of an era where it dominated (80's)...i am now 20 and i bought my GN off my dad a few years ago and there's guys at my work that went to high school in the mid to late 80's and they said they have always wanted a GN since the day it came out...

the cars that i would LOVE to have but certainly can't afford right now is a 02' ws6 black trans am, a 03 mustang cobra, and a 02 zo6 corvette...maybe one day i will be able to get one of these...to me these cars the ls1 powered cars including the new GTO coming out and the viper are the american cars of today that kids like me have no chance of owning but maybe one day...just like the GN was back then to alot of older guys on here...it's all about generations

[GN One Day...]

I don't think there will be many collectible cars, for dollar value, only enthusiasts. I also think that domestic manf's realize that and are trying to put a little effort into it. However, they're cutting off the mainstream buyer in that effort. They're making specialized cars with low production numbers and charging a premium to try to compensate. By this I'm referring to the upcoming SSR, the semi-deceased Prowler, the Viper, Vette etc. The Marauder, Cobra, Mach 1, Bullitt etc are similar attempts, but not upper echelon and won't hold value (just look at my SC--no $$ value). How much can you pick up a Cobra R for now? You can buy a Cobra with the same performance for half what those poor guys paid for a Cobra R. Ford screwed the Cobra R owners, but did enthusiasts a favor. Word is that the Camaro will be low production too. Impala SS's have held value pretty well, and obviously TR's do well. Since those cars however, I can't think of many that will be worth much to anyone not an enthusiast. Chrysler & Nissan are trying though, with the Crossfire, Magnum (might have to get that one), PT and 350Z/G35.

[bruce]

Besides Mustangs

Talk to most any Mustang owner, and you'll see they already think they are rare, and collectible.......

[GN One Day...]

Rare and collectible...until it's time to sell, then it's just a Ford.
In my mind, my car has a lot of value, but I know it's not worth many $$$ in trade, despite being a great car.

[GNVAIR]

The 93 and 95 Cobra R models are still $30K+. I think you were referring to the 2000 model that everyone was fast to speculate on. Even those are still $40K +.
The Thunderbird SC was a nice car, but unfortunately it never really caught on as being desirable with the young people. It was aimed more as a middle age persons luxuty performance vehicle. That is a stigma that is very hard to shake. Plus they werent easily modified.
I think most low production performance type domestic car/truck would hold their value well.
Cars on the list IMHO:
82-93 Fox Body 5.0 Mustangs and SVO's (People will someday get big money for these just like the 64 1/2-73 models. Cobra's will always bring more money. Even a nice 93 Model will still go for $10K+)
94-up Mustangs (The specialty models will be much more valuble as the years go by. Cobra's, Mystic colored cars, Bullits, etc. The problem with the SN95's is that they did not gain the notoriety that the Fox did. They were heavier and the 96-up models were not as inexpensively or easily modified as their 5.0 predecessors. Time will tell on these)
82-92 F bodies (especially 5.7 powered models or convertible models or 1LE package equipt cars or unusual models like the TTA)
93-2002 F bodies ( I would say that the specialty variations would bring money as collectibles. Cars such as the SLP Firehawks, Ram Air Trans Ams SS Camaros)
Corvettes as usual (you just cant knock them. most go down in value for a few years and then go back up again. You better believe that the ZR1 and the Z06 will bring big $$)
Ford Lightning pickups (any of the years)
91 GMC Syclone or 92-93 Typhoon
90-93 454 SS Chevrolet Pick ups (yes, they were slow, but they still are hot commodities)
Any 78-88 G body performance model or odd ball (Hurst Olds, 442's TR's, Monte SS, Grand Prix 2+2, Malibu's, EL Caminos, stick shift cars ,etc)
Any Viper
94-96 Impala SS (The 9C1 or other LT1 powered Caprices will probably be up there as well but not as desirable as the SS)
Mercury Marauders (Ford is supposed to discontinue this after the next model year. It has all the makings of a collector car being a performance type car with low production figures. I think popularity will dictate value in the coming years on this)
In conclusion, I think there will still be plenty to pick from.
What I have always wondered though is what will happen with all these high dollar GTO's, Chevelles, Impala's, early Mustangs, 55-57 type cars as the baby boomers start dying off. I dont think the Generation X'ers are anywhere near as successful or will have as much money to throw at collector cars as the baby boomers did. You will probably see prices come down as the markets become flooded with older cars that the young kids of today dont know of or have any interest in. This is all my opinion.