Bull Market Report Card: Checking In on Our 2024 Picks

Each December, we put together the Hagerty Bull Market List, our annual selection of the collector-car hobby’s movers and shakers. Basically, it’s a group of 10 or so cars (with the occasional truck and motorcycle thrown in) that the data tell us are poised to grow in value over the next 12 months. This isn’t investment advice per se—rather, an opportunity to point out that, with some due diligence and a smidge of luck, you can experience the joys of the collector-car hobby and maybe get your money back or a bit more when it’s time to sell.

It has been 10 months since we introduced Hagerty’s 2024 Bull Market list, and that’s plenty of time to see how our predictive powers panned out. In short, we had a few hits, a couple of duds, and two that stayed parked. Broader conversation about the collector car market so far in 2024 has included terms like “picky” and “mixed,” so the ups and downs in this year’s Bull Market picks aren’t a huge surprise, even if we missed the mark on a few of them.

Biggest hit:

1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary (+13 percent since December 2023)

In many ways, the 25th Anniversary edition of Lamborghini’s original wedge-y supercar is peak Countach. Scoops, ducts and fins were taken to their most extreme with this end-of-the-line model, making an already outrageous car just a little bit wilder. It’s also faster and more developed than earlier Countaches, thanks in large part to Chrysler’s purchase of Lamborghini in 1987 and the cash flow that followed. Despite the fact that an “Anniversary” badge typically suggests a limited production number, this was also the most produced version of the Countach, with about 650 built in 1988-89. But their better built quality and performance as well as “last of” status makes them among the more valuable members of the Countach family that goes all the way back to 1974.

Countach values in general have been on a steep upward trajectory since 2021-22, and the line kept going up in 2024. The #2 (“excellent”) value for this poster car currently sits at $700,000.

Biggest miss:

1997-2002 Plymouth Prowler (-5 percent since December 2023)

Riding high on the recent success of the Viper, Chrysler debuted the original Prowler concept at the 1993 Detroit Auto Show, and it was a sensation. Even more amazing was Chrysler’s decision to put it into production, first as a Plymouth, and then with a Chrysler badge for 2001-02.

The hot rod inspiration is about as obvious as can be, with the Prowler looking like a 1932-34 Ford brought forward into the computer age. Extensive use of aluminum in the chassis and body, bonded with adhesive in many places, also made it a sophisticated car underneath the throwback shape. Unfortunately, though, one of the biggest parts of the Prowler’s legacy is that the wild looks wrote a check that the 3.5-liter V-6 and automatic transmission couldn’t cash. The powertrain, and a fairly high production number (11,702), have kept prices cool for much the Prowler’s existence. Its fortunes didn’t reverse this year, and the condition #2 value currently sits at $31,200. Add a few grand more for the bizarrely cool optional matching trailer.

Honorable mentions:

1964-66 Ford Thunderbird (+13 percent since December 2023)

Known as the “Flair Bird” in T-Bird talk, the fourth generation 1964-66 Thunderbird is a comfortable cruiser that oozes style, and its interior is a midcentury design study. Available with three different engine outputs (390/300hp, 390/315hp, 428/345hp) and four body styles (Convertible, Hardtop Coupe, Town Coupe, and Convertible) over its three model years, Flair Birds carry different values and experience different trends. So while some models are up 13 percent, others are up only two percent.

1981-86 Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler (-3 percent since December 2023)

Take the venerable Jeep CJ-7 and give it the longer wheelbase and bed of a pickup truck, and you get the CJ-8. Born during American Motors’ ownership of Jeep, it wasn’t a big seller—fewer than 30,000 were built from 1981-86—though President Reagan was one particularly famous Scrambler owner.

The relatively low production of the CJ-8, combined with its Tonka Toy looks, growing interest in vintage trucks, and the widespread love for the Jeep brand as a whole helped boost CJ-8 values starting in the second half of the 2010s. And they kept on consistently growing right through the early years of this decade. The music had to stop some time, though, and CJ-8 prices at the end of last year turned out to be the model’s peak. The median condition #2 value is currently $39,400.