Hagerty Vehicle Rating Bottom 25: Classic American cars, British sports cars, and a few Ferraris lag behind
While vintage trucks and modern performance cars currently sit at the top of the collector car market, at the bottom is a mixed bag of mid-engine Ferraris, British sports cars, and traditional classic American cars, with a handful of Mercedes-Benz SLs and Porsche 911s thrown in. Leading (or losing) in our latest HVR Bottom 25 is the Mercedes-Benz 560SL, which dropped from second place. The MG TD, which occupied the bottom spot for the last update, was able to squeeze out of the Bottom 25 thanks to some strong auction results in the past few months.
The Hagerty Vehicle Rating tracks a vehicle’s performance relative to the rest of the market, based on a 0–100 scale. A 50-point rating indicates that a vehicle is keeping pace with the market overall. Ratings above 50 indicate above-average appreciation, while ratings below 50 indicate vehicles that are lagging.
As is the case with the Top 25, things look similar to how they did at the end of last year but there are some notable changes. Previously hot cars like Mercedes 280SLs and 560SLs as well as Porsche 930s and early 911s are still faltering. British sports cars are also still a common sight in the Bottom 25, with the MG TC and Triumph TR3 both in the bottom 10.
That said, some Mercedes and some English cars have clawed their way out of the Bottom 25. There were five Benzes on the list for the last update, and now there are two. The number of British cars dropped from seven to four. Taking their place are mostly classic American cars and 1970s–90s Ferraris. Once again, the GMC Syclone is the only truck on the list thanks to its heating and cooling cycle that predated the boom in the wider vintage truck market.
First timers in the Bottom 25 include the venerable MGB and Triumph TR3, both of which took a sizable hit with the latest update of the Hagerty Price Guide, as well as two Ferraris. The F355 and 365 Berlinetta Boxer similarly slid in the HPG to join the still-lagging 308 and Testarossa on the list. American luxury cars like the Oldsmobile Toronado and front-drive Cadillacs, specifically the 1985–88 DeVille and 1971–78 Eldorado, are also new additions thanks to recent drops in buyer interest as measured by insurance quote activity.
Predictably, most (17) of the vehicles on this list are American. This is somewhat of a statistical inevitability given the sheer number of American makes and models out there, but it’s worth noting that there were only nine American vehicles on the last update of the Bottom 25. The 1959–60 Chevy Impala, 1958–60 Chevy Biscayne, 1954–56 Oldsmobile 88, 1969 Pontiac Trans Am, 1965–70 Chevy Bel Air, 1966–70 Ford Falcon and 1967–71 Ford Thunderbird are also all new to the list after sizable drops over the past year, and 13 total vehicles on the list are American cars from either the 1950s or 1960s. This corresponds to a general drop in these types of cars, which aren’t seeing much interest from younger buyers.
Here’s a full rundown of this month’s Bottom 25: