The hottest collector vehicles are still affordable vintage trucks

Different verse, same as the first. Well, same as the last verse anyway. That’s the refrain of the latest Hagerty Vehicle Rating—the thermometer to determine what collector cars are hot and which are chilling out.

Once again, pickup trucks are coming on strong, with every generation of Chevrolet full-size truck/SUV represented, from the first new post-war design in 1947 to the end of the aquare bodies. This time, the 1960–66 C/K Series has taken the top spot, swapping positions with 1973–87 Square-Body C/Ks, which are now in second place. Chevy’s GMC counterparts also made up three of the top 25 spots, with International Harvester, Dodge, Jeep, and Ford trucks and utilities also holding their own and filling in about half of the list in total.

The remainder of the list is filled with Japanese and European sports coupes and sedans, with the only American car models coming from Pontiacs, Lincoln, and Chevy.

So why trucks? Their high production numbers (Chevrolet alone has built more than 85 million) means that used parts can be easy to find, and there’s also quite an aftermarket for reproduction parts. That’s not to mention the truck-only events and publications that cater to classic trucks. They are also capable of towing and hauling things that are outside the realm of even the biggest family truckster wagon. Their workhorse nature is what led pickup trucks to become arguably the most quintessentially American vehicle and might make them easy to justify as a second, third, or fourth vehicle. You know, just in case.

To establish the Hagerty Vehicle Rating we note the insurance activity, auction results, and private sales activity of hundreds of models of classic and modern vehicles, and we weigh those results to determine which vehicles are outperforming the collector car market as a whole.