5 hot cars to jump on before prices rise

26 June 2018

Doesn’t it always seem like by the time you’ve gotten wind of a cool collector car, the secret’s out and prices have already escalated out of your price range? Fear not, because we’re here to clue you in on our latest list of car that, maybe, people haven’t caught on to yet. Two strong indicators that a car is heating up: How many are being added to our insurance policies and insurance quote activity.

We’ve picked five such cars that have solid potential for upward mobility, and whose prices have been steady and might be due for an uptick soon.

Vehicle
1993–96 Cadillac Fleetwood	82
1995 Cadillac Fleetwood Mecum Median #3 (Good) condition value: $2900 Cadillac switched the Fleetwood back to rear-wheel drive in 1993, a move which—along with its immense 225-inch length—helped cement the car’s reputation as an anachronism of Cadillac’s golden years. Nowadays, however, people are starting to especially appreciate the 1994–96 cars’ 350-cubic-inch, 260-horsepower iron-head version of the Corvette’s LT1 V-8. These cars are already about as cheap as they’re going to get and (given the increased attention we’ve tracked for the related Buick Roadmaster and Chevy Impala SS) the Fleetwood might be on the verge of having a moment.
1987–1991 Ford Bronco	76
1989 Ford Bronco Mecum Median #3 (Good) condition value: $8600 Broncos are all the rage right now, and enthusiasm is already building for the new, still-boxy version that Ford has been teasing. But as more and more people get priced out of earlier and more valuable Broncos, these once-discarded examples from 1987–91 stand a good chance of filling a market demand.
1993–1995 Ford SVT Lightning pickup	79
1993 Ford SVT Lightning Pickup Mecum Median #3 (Good) condition value: $9000 When it comes to early modern performance trucks, the GMC Syclone and its Typhoon SUV twin are the first things that come to mind. But those two have already had their time in the sun, and there is another option in the SVT Lightning, which is likely due for an upward market correction. Consider this the earliest ancestor of today’s much-adored Raptor, albeit aimed solely at tarmac performance. While we’ve seen a few nice examples command higher-than-expected prices, what we’re really waiting on is for a super-clean, showroom-fresh example to come to auction and light the fuse on the market.
2000–06 Jaguar XKR	76
2001 Jaguar XKR Mecum Median #3 (Good) condition value: $15,450 Developed during Jaguar’s time under Ford ownership, this sleek-looking sports car has aged remarkably well since the high-performance R version of the XK8 launched nearly two decades ago. Its 370-hp supercharged 4.0-liter V-8 and its later 4.2-liter 400-hp V-8 provide plenty of grunt, and both engines sound flipping fantastic at full tilt. Prices appear to have just about bottomed out; it’s a heck of a lot of car for the money. Pretty soon people might come around to this forgotten Brit.
2003–2006 Chevrolet SSR	76
2005 Chevrolet SSR Mecum Median #3 (Good) condition value: $21,000 Amidst the retro craze beginning with the Volkswagen New Beetle in 1997 and continuing with the Ford Thunderbird in 2002, the funky-looking Chevrolet SSR convertible pickup was one of the few with any real performance street-cred. That LS2 Corvette V-8 in the 2005–06 models is no joke, and you could even get it with a six-speed stick. More and more have been coming to auction in the past year, which is usually a decent indicator that more collectors are starting to pay attention. Love it or hate it, there isn’t really anything else on the road like the SSR, and uniqueness always counts for something.