7 Oddball Cars That Got More Expensive This Summer

There are thousands of vehicles in the Hagerty Price Guide. Most of them fit into nice, neat segments—trucks, muscle cars, luxury cars, British classics, Ferraris, etc. But there are plenty of others that either don’t quite fit into standard buckets or are just rare and obscure. Since prices fluctuate for weird and wonderful classics, too, we track them. Below are some of the oddballs that gained more of a following and got more expensive with this summer’s release of the Hagerty Price Guide.

1967–75 Fiat 124 Coupe

Average increase in #2 value: 29 percent

Built over three generations (called “AC,” “BC,” and “CC”) and powered by Aurelio Lampredi–designed twin-cam four-cylinder engines ranging from 1438cc to 1756cc, the Fiat 124 Sport Coupe is mechanically nearly identical to its more popular and longer-lasting Spider cousin. Fiat revised the styling over its relatively short production run, but all are understatedly handsome three-box designs. The engine, five-speed gearbox, and four-wheel disc brakes also made them pretty advanced for their time.

The coupe version of the 124 wasn’t nearly as popular in America as the Spider was, so while the drop-tops are rather easy to find in any place where classic cars are sold, the coupes take a bit more searching. But people have found them, and they paid up for them this year.

Perhaps the tired old “Fix It Again Tony” jokes don’t carry as much weight as they used to, or maybe it’s a result of almost all interesting old cars getting more expensive lately, but the 124 coupe is one of the biggest gainers of any classic car this year, and 124 Spiders are up by 10 percent, too. We’re still talking budget fun, though, as the average condition #2 (excellent) value for a coupe is still just $12,000.

1958–60 Edsel Convertible

Average increase in #2 value: 15 percent

Bad timing, inadequate market research, quality issues, shaky dealer organization, goofy looks, and a goofier name combined to make Ford’s Edsel brand a flop for the ages. Not even a 60-minute TV special promoting the car with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, and Bob Hope could keep Edsel from becoming a four-wheeled punchline.

But does a 15 percent surge in value suggest that Edsels are having the last laugh? Not necessarily. There will probably always be stigma surrounding these 1950s failures, but strong sales for drop-top versions in recent months have lifted convertible Edsels across the range. That includes all models (Citation, Pacer, Corsair, and Ranger) and engines (410cid/345hp, 361cid/303hp, 352cid/300hp, 332cid/225hp, and 292cid/185hp). Meanwhile, prices of their roofed counterparts have been much quieter. Current #2 values for Edsel convertibles range from $34,700 for a 1959 332cid/225hp Corsair to $55,300 for a 410cid/345hp Citation. Not cheap, then, but still fairly affordable for a large, chrome-laden 1950s American convertible.

1975–80 AMC Pacer

Average increase in #2 value: 15 percent

There are so many things you can say about the AMC Pacer, and it’s been a “love-to-hate-it” favorite for nearly 50 years. But you could never call it boring. With jellybean styling and more glass than a cathedral, it was unlike anything else on the road in the 1970s. Or today, for that matter.

American Motors went all-in on promoting the Pacer as a small car with the dimensions of a big car. They played up the Pacer’s width in particular, with taglines like “the first wide small car” and “you only ride like a Pacer if you’re wide like a Pacer.” It didn’t quite catch on, though. The looks were too outside the box for many, build quality was an issue, and the Pacer was both hefty and underpowered, with only low-output 3.8- or 4.2-liter six-cylinders available. A 5.0-liter V-8 did at least arrive in 1978, and a popular “X” sport package added bucket seats, a floor shift, a sway bar, and modest trim accents.

Pacers have rarely been taken seriously, but they’ve really surged in value since 2022 (#2 values up 66 percent). With an average #2 value of $17K, they’re not exactly expensive, but you wouldn’t call them cheap anymore, either. Which is surprising for such an unloved automobile. Then again, maybe it’s only the older buyers who heap the hate on this AMC compact, because nearly 70 percent of Hagerty insurance quotes for Pacers come from buyers Gen X or younger. A shocking 37 percent comes from millennials, which may be spurring demand for an affordable but interesting old car.

2000–01 Qvale Mangusta

Average increase in #2 value: 10 percent

The history of this Italian-built, American-powered, Norwegian-named sports car is a bit, well, convoluted.

The idea for it came about in the early 1990s when Maserati’s technical director Giordano Casarini visited the U.K. and was rather impressed by TVR’s latest V-8 Griffith. After mentioning the idea of a sort of Italian TVR to carmaker Alejandro De Tomaso, Casarini moved from Maserati (which De Tomaso owned until 1993) to lead the project under the De Tomaso brand. They called it the Mangusta, after a De Tomaso sports car from the 1960s. Casarini contracted with Ford to supply the Mustang’s 4.6-liter Modular V-8, and brought in designer Marcello Gandini to shape the body, complete with a TVR-inspired three-position “roto-top,” which is essentially a power-retractable hardtop that also has a removable center section, so the car can be driven as a hardtop, a targa, or a fully open convertible. And although the Mangusta was screwed together in Modena, one look at the interior reveals plenty of bits from Dearborn, specifically from the Mustang SVT Cobra.

Funds were short at De Tomaso, so additional backing came from the family of Norwegian-American serial automotive entrepreneur Kjell Qvale (pronounced like “Shell Cavalli”). After introducing the Mangusta in 2000 with a $78,900 price tag, though, relations between Qvale and De Tomaso soured, resulting in the car wearing a Qvale badge instead of a more recognizable De Tomaso one. Just 284 cars were sold, and then the platform was soon further developed in Britain to become the also ill-fated MG XPower SV. See? Told you the whole thing was convoluted.

It’s an obscure car with looks that certainly don’t go on the list of Gandini’s greatest hits, but it’s an interesting, rare, and fairly fast 320-hp sports car that combines exotic lines with affordable Ford parts. They historically haven’t traded for much. While some high sales in recent months have pushed up the numbers in our price guide, the #2 value is still just $35,200, less than half of what the car cost new (not adjusted for inflation) and not even that much more than the equivalent SVT Mustang ($26,500 for a coupe, $23,500 for a convertible) from which the Mangusta borrows its drivetrain.

1978–81 Volvo 262C Bertone

Average increase in #2 value: 5 percent

When we hear “Bertone” we usually think of Lambos, Alfa Romeos, Lancias, or wild, wedge-y concept cars. But let’s not forget about boxy Volvos. For a few short years in the late 1970s and early ’80s, Volvo sold an oddball coupe with a chopped, vinyl-covered roof and a badge from the Italian design firm. The 262C, though, was actually designed in-house at Volvo. Bertone just provided assembly of the roof, windshield surround, cowl, and upper doors. Based on the 264 (200 Series, 6-cylinder, 4 doors) sedan, the 262C also came with the PRV (Peugeot-Renault-Volvo) V-6 engine and either a three-speed automatic or four-speed manual. Volvo aimed the 262C largely at the U.S. market, where it competed against the likes of the Cadillac Eldorado and Mercedes-Benz W123 coupes, but only a little more than 6600 sold worldwide.

Brick-era Volvos of almost all types have gotten more expensive in the past couple of years, and these strange two-door models have seen a modest bump, but it’s enough to put their values at an all-time high. They’re still cheap, though, with a #2 value of just $11,600 for the 1978–79 models with the 2664cc engine, $16,900 for the 1980 model with the larger 2849cc engine, and $18,200 for the final 1981 model.

1990–94 Plymouth Laser

Average increase in #2 value: 8 percent

The sometimes forgotten member of the Diamond-Star Motors trio that included the Mitsubishi Eclipse and Eagle Talon, the Laser was touted as “the first Plymouth of the ’90s” and, like its siblings, offered sporty coupe styling and speed at a competitive price. Base cars got a poky 92-hp engine, but buyers who ticked the box for the Laser RS Turbo got a twin-cam 2.0-liter turbo with 195 hp and, starting in 1992, all-wheel drive (AWD).

Unfortunately, not even Tina Turner’s legs could turn the Laser into a sales success. Chrysler put more marketing behind its Eagle-branded Talon while the Plymouth brand, which was otherwise still just economy cars and minivans, had no cachet. The Eclipse and Talon soldiered on into a second generation for 1995, but Diamond-Star pulled the plug on the Plymouth.

Recent sales have put Laser prices at an all-time high. Finding a clean one would be hard, but #2 values are currently $13,900 for an RS Turbo and $17,000 for one with AWD. This is still cheaper than the more common first-gen Eagle Talon, which is $15,800 for a TSi and $21,600 for a TSi AWD. The equivalent Mitsubishi Eclipse, meanwhile, costs $20,600 for a GST and $27,000 for a GSX.

1967–72 Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato

Average increase in #2 value: 17 percent

Lancia built the V-4, front-drive Fulvia family of cars from 1963 to ’76. The in-house–designed sedan and coupe are both handsome cars, and the coupe version set the company down the path to great success in international rallying. But Lancia also sold a Fulvia with a funky-looking fastback body by the masters of weird at Carrozzeria Zagato. Early cars had quirks like a side-hinged hood, and engines ranged from 1.3 to 1.6 liters, but all featured the Ercole Spada–designed body that looks quite elegant from some angles (the side) and downright odd from others (the front). Despite the coachbuilt implications of the name, Lancia sold about 7000 examples of the Fulvia Sport Zagato.

Although some versions of the Fulvia dipped in value recently, the Sport Zagato is at an all-time high with an average #2 value of $74,600.