Have British Sports Cars Had Their Day?
Almost a year ago, The Roadster Factory, a beloved British car parts supplier suffered a tragic fire at its Pennsylvania warehouse. It might have been a metaphor for the classic British sports car world in general. From market data to shifting demographics, this part of the hobby is suffering setbacks.
In the timeline of sports cars (especially affordable ones) British cars had a run comparable to the dinosaurs. From roughly 1945 until 1980 or so, little English roadsters ruled the planet. From beachfront drives to SCCA race grids and autocross runs, they were absolutely everywhere. Then, labor issues, bad management, non-existent R&D budgets, and increased competition from other car-building nations brought things to a sad end. But that wasn’t quite the end of things. A massive subculture and aftermarket ecosystem sprouted up and flourished, keeping these cars on the road long after the demise of the OEMs and ushering them into “classic” status. The baby boomers who remembered British two-seaters when they were new made up the lion’s share of this culture. They loved their MGBs, Austin-Healeys and Triumph TR6s. Millennials and Gen-Zers, not so much. With flat values for the last decade, is the reign of the British sports car finally over? Maybe, maybe not.
From the early 2000s until roughly 2015, British sports cars had a pretty decent run in the collector car market. Excellent TR6s became $25,000+ cars, perfectly restored Austin-Healey 3000 MKIIIs could bring well over $100,000, and good Jaguar E-types more than double that. It was the knock-on effect of people buying the cars that imprinted on them in their youth. It happed with other 1950s-70s cars, too. But with older Boomers lightening their loads, it seems like the market is getting smaller for classic British sports cars.
Strangely, the only millennials that I know who own British sports cars own Spridgets (a portmanteau of Austin-Healey Sprite/MG Midget). I personally know four Spridget owners who are under 40. Some of the appeal for them is a factor of the cars’ simplicity and sheer cheekiness, but mostly, it’s because they’re super affordable. Interestingly, though, these seem to be dead-end acquisitions for millennial enthusiasts. By that I mean they’re not a gateway to other, more sophisticated British cars further up the ladder. Young Spitfire owners don’t move up to a TR6 and young Sprite owners don’t move up to a Big Healey, much less something like an E-Type. Boomers and Gen-Xers thought that was the most beautiful car ever, but it just doesn’t resonate with a lot of younger enthusiasts.
Hagerty’s insurance data backs this up. While first generation (1965-73) Ford Mustangs fit squarely into the baby boomer demographic by model year, they have significant appeal with younger buyers as over 20 percent of insurance quotes come from millennial buyers. For the 1961-67 E-Type, on the other hand, that number is less than 6 percent, and for the Austin-Healey 3000 it’s a little better at slightly above 10 percent. The MG TF, which carries a value low enough to be tempting to younger buyers, nevertheless sees a dismal 4.7 percent of quotes from millennials, and just 1.6 percent from Gen Z. As for values, Hagerty’s British Car Index has been conspicuously quiet even during the pandemic boom of the early 2020s. The index’s average price of $91,760 is basically the same as it was in 2015.
Classic British sports cars also suffer in comparison with the cars from the 1990s roadster revival. NA-generation Mazda Miatas, BMW Z3s, Porsche Boxsters and Mercedes-Benz SLKs are similarly cheap and plentiful, but they’re also significantly faster, more usable, and more reliable. To someone born in the 1990s, they also look plenty vintage and are getting old enough to become “classics” themselves.
Are British cars dead? Not by a longshot. The huge number of classic British cars out there aren’t going to just disappear. While their best days value-wise might be behind them, at least part of another generation will eventually succumb to their tweedy charms, just as any genre of car always gains a following. But it might be smaller, while any serious interest and value growth in British cars will likely be in models from the 1990s and beyond—classic Range Rovers, manual Aston Martin V8 Vantages, Lotus Elises/Exiges, McLarens, and even the odd TVR Cerbera and eventually (when it becomes legal here) the utterly mental TVR Sagaris. Basically, the cars of the Forza and Grand Turismo kids. The generational shift is here. Tastes change. Embrace it.
Where I live, distracted drivers in large trucks/SUV’s usually cruise close to 95 mph… Trying to flow with traffic in an old Brit car will wear you down to a nub really quick. I love the looks of most Brit cars but fear they are useless on many modern local roads. Best to enjoy them doing what they do best: sitting in your driveway.
I love my Triumph Spitfire and TR6 in retrospect, conveniently forgetting the “quirks” and Lucas. They were fun to drive and easy to work on (Lord knows there was plenty of that), with parts readily available and still not costing an arm and a leg. I still tempt myself by paging through the Hemmings pages.
Society has changed. In the 50s and 60s, us guys had no spare change to pay for good used cars or for car repairs. So you picked up a cheap old car and learned how to keep it running (I had a 31 Model A in the beginning and knew where all the junk yards were located). More basic, affordable cars like an MG etc are “luxury/entertainment” purchases that are simple enough for an owner to have fun working on. No special tools needed for the most part and there is good aftermarket support. Wonder how many of those in the younger generations will have the interest?
I have owned the following Vintage Cars over the years. a VW Beetle, 6 cylinder 3 speed. Camaro, MGB Roadster, a Challenger and a Roadrunner. I currently own and am driving a 74 TR6 Mechanically sound and with a 20 foot paint job. Added Sound deadeners, new bushings and seals all around. It has an OEM hardtop and regular plates. I drive it everywhere around Northern Michigan as my SUMMER daily driver. No expressways necessary. Its definitely crude by todays standards. But there is something special about it. I cant stop any ware with out having a conversation with someone about it or about their LBC they owned back in the day. I didn’t buy it as an investment. I bought it to enjoy the experience and not worry and getting the paint scratched. To each his or her own.
I think this may be just a breather in the market. The simplicity and styling of the British sports car is unrivaled. The future digital generations will eventually turn their sights on cars that have a minimal working relationship with electricity to have a nice drive in the country. Those of us who maintain our MG’s ,Triumphs, Jags and the like will pass them on in reasonably good condition to a new generation that will discover the pleasure and pain of pre pollution devices, pre computer driven cars and the occasion shock from grabbing a live distributor wire.
I have owned a bunch of ‘50, ‘60 and ‘70 British (and Italian) sports cars.
My favorite is a ‘64 TR4. So simple, easy to work on and easy available of parts.
Fun to drive and comments for people whenever I stop.
That said, I an age 74 and the TR4 would get squished and me also in a crash. I keep to just driving around town.
I can keep up on the LA freeways but there are so many large/high SUVs with “distracted” drivers.
I do think for a younger audience a Miata is the british roadster they group up with but with the japanese tuning culture that appeals to a younger audience. Having said that I’ve seen honda swapped triumphs and other fun modified ones that also appeal to a younger group. It will find it’s audience.
Had a 1959 TR-3A and a Brand new 1962 Spitfire Mark I. You can disparage them all you want, but they were pure fun to drive. I balanced the carbs and tuned them and they left me with great memories.
Thank you for writing this article that hits right into my wheelhouse. I am now 47, bought my project 1958 Austin Healey Sprite when I was 35. It was a family affair putting that car together (My father, my daughter, and myself). At the time it was quite the financial ask for me and I am fortunate to have such a supportive wife. Most likely not the most financially wise decision I have made. The only way I was able to pull this off is the fact that my parents house has a shop in the back yard with all the tools from my father’s lifetime of racing and hobby car repair. The cost of getting a professional restoration shop to do this job would have been eye watering and no posable for me.
One and a half years later we had the Bugeye on it’s 1st show field! Sprites and the later Midgets are a joy to drive and give you what NO car in the last 25 years can. On the limit driving at speeds that will not send you directly to jail. I am a firm believer in it’s more fun to drive a slow car fast, than a fast car slow!
We still have that car and enjoy it as much as we can, 2 younger children’s activities keep us busy.
Three years ago, I achieved a lifelong dream of Jaguar Series 1 E-type ownership, it’s a great drive as well, but much more like a new car than you would think (4-wheel independent suspension, 4-wheel disc brakes) and it does move along nicely. The downside of the E-Type’s is the fact that a lot of these cars were miss treated in the 70’s and early 80’s. Fixes on fixes and patches that make the cars unreliable, and in some case structurally unsound. They are a rather complicated construction compared with there contemporaries. I would never look at a project car or a car that the history is unknown. I don’t own a money wand.
My message for anyone looking into the classic British car ownership is to attend a few shows, talk or attend some club meetings. Lots of knowable people and in some cases free wrenching as most want you to join the seen.
These guys want to see there cars and passion passed on, if not there off-spring, why no you!
It’s simple. They’re old cars gen Z has no attachment to. The youngest MGB is forty years old, ancient by car standards. Why spend $6000 on an MGB that will always need something when you can buy a twenty year old Miata that can do everything the MG can and then some, while being faster, better built, and more reliable.
Just remember Sam, if it wasn’t for ‘MG’ you would never have been able to buy a Mazda Miata. They would never have been built.
I love driving my 1974 TR6 on the open road
It fits like a glove and while I wouldn’t risk it on a track it’s such a joy to drive and fact that it has an actual trunk I can put a bag in makes it even better
I am a 78 year old boomer who lives in the countryside of the Western PA Appalachians. We have a ’67,’68, and ’69 MGB , the last of which is in repair mode. The ’67 MGB has the original metal dash with overdrive and an original factory hardtop which is being restored. We also have a ’67 Austin Cooper S which was the last year they were legally imported to the USA. The Mini is the most fun to drive on the back roads with millennials in Honda’s trying to keep up with the funny car with ten inch wheels. Now a retiree, I finally have time to start wrenching myself. The MGs will be fine to work on with plenty of room in the engine bay, the Mini, not so much.
As others have said, the attraction of these cars is a vast following of individuals and British Car Clubs, price and availability of parts and wrenching knowledge, and the basic simplicity of the drivetrains. the problem is that we are getting old. We have an annual gathering of many of these cars at our farm, after a run on the back roads; I find younger people getting more interested although they usually look at the E Types first then follow the money down to Spitfires and Spridgets, often stopping at B’s, TR6’s and Big Healeys. I think the market will come back on these cars, but the fun value is always there, so it may be a good time to buy. I certainly wouldn’t sell my ’67 MGB or ’67 Cooper S at this point, but I always liked Big Healeys……….
I grew up with British sports cars including an MG TD, an AH Bugeye Sprite, big Healeys 100-6 and a 3000 Mk2. Then life required a year round all weather vehicle and eventually company cars that dulled the whole driving experience, Upon retirement I reverted to a Suzuki Swift GT followed 10 years later by a VW GT! 1.8T which I retired in 2018. I wanted a summer fine day roadster which would be dependable and reasonably inexpensive to run. The German trio, Porsche Boxster, BMW Z3/4 and Audi TT all cost about the same at 10 years old but the service costs were high like the GTI. Miatas were as common as belly buttons. I remembered the days spent fixing something on the British roadsters including TR3’s and Sunbeam Alpines owned by friends. Then I rediscovered the Honda S2000 which I had first tested in 2001 before I bought the GTI. At that time I thought it would be a fun summer car but totally useless as a daily driver. Well I found a 2002 AP! S2000 with 155000 kms on it in decent shape. There were no service records and it needed new tires but I bought as is for 20 grand, replaced the tires with Michelin Pilot Sport 3s and had a full service done at the Honda dealership around the corner. I put about 2700 kms a summer on it and my wife enjoys a ride in the country on a winding paved road always with the top down. It will get packed away in the garage the end of October and I’ll dream of warm summer days until next May while I drive my wife’s Hyundai. Did I mention I was 82 in August? I’ll enjoy the Honda until I can no longer get in or out of it gracefully and the memories of the English sports cars are faded out. Long live the stick shift!!
Counterpoint. I’ve owned far too many cars in my life – XK120, 140 (3), 150, Mk 7, 8, 9, XKE, 3.4 Mk I, 3.8 Mk II, MGA, bugeye Sprite, Spitfire, new 1969 S-3 Elan, Moke, 356A, 914, countless American cars including 57 Chevvy 2 door, ElCamino, half a dozen vans (VW, Econolines, Dodge (2), Fiat 500, 600, VW bug convertible, 411, Rabbit, the list goes on and on.
Six years ago I bought a 2008 CLK 350 convertible, low miles, properly maintained, $15K. Absolutely the best car I have ever owned. Mechanically simple, bought the diagnostics box for $50 (someone desperate to sell it) so electronics are not a problem, the car is just before the “tech” took off so it is repairable. Parts easily available from multiple aftermarket vendors, strong internet user groups.
Comfortable, reliable, turns heads, definitely fast enough to get into serious legal trouble and no problem AT ALL keeping up with traffic, all in air conditioned comfort and with lots of safety goodies “just in case” (see “automatic pop-up roll bar attitude sensor system”).
And with Hagerty roadside assistance and AAA plus, I don’t ever have to worry “Am I going to make it home?”
I’m happy.
It’s really pretty simple. People are bigger now than they were when the classic British sports cars were designed. My stepson is not going to be happy in a Healey 3000. Neither is his wife. Pete wouldn’t be able to even get into a Triumph TR3 or MG TF. Neither one is overweight or particularly tall for their age group.