In a Cooling Collector Car Market, Not All Cars Are Equal
If you want an accurate picture of collector car market activity, it pays to zoom in.
While big-picture data is critical to understanding how outside influences—things like interest rates and consumer confidence—impact the car hobby, the picture they paint can only offer a broad perspective. The reality is that although the market as a whole is trending downward, not all vehicle values are dropping at the same rate, and some aren’t losing value at all.
Parsing sales information into clear segments yields a more nuanced picture. Retreating average sales prices depicted in the chart below do add further evidence to the theme of a cooling broader market, but those different trajectories also contextualize where the losses in value are hitting hardest. There’s some surprising resilience in some corners of the market, too.
Before diving in, a quick note about these groupings: they are very inclusive by design, with dozens of models in most categories. They are among many internal designations (others include price point, nation of origin, and era of construction) that help our analysts sort and filter the mountain of data they review.
Back to the chart. The most stark contrast between segments comes from two that weren’t widely considered collector vehicles till the last decade or so—sport utilities and pickups. While the average sale price of SUVs we track has dropped nearly 15 percent since its peak in April of 2022, pickups have fared far better, losing only three percent, or $900, from the height of their values in January ’22.
Muscle cars, perhaps the most significant staple of the collector market in the U.S., have retreated much more slowly than the newcomer SUVs, and to a far lesser extent—they’re only down 5.5 percent since May 2022. Another mainstay, sports cars, saw their values drop quickly in 2022 but have since recovered slightly to sit 6.8 percent below their peak.
Average prices for the Luxury grouping, which includes a spread of models from ’60s Lincoln Continentals to ’80s Rolls-Royce Silver Spurs, peaked earlier than most in July of 2021. Although average sales for this segment are down 12.5 percent since then, value losses are not accelerating.
Land yachts is an admittedly more specialized characterization than our other segments—our analysts might work with numbers all day, but they do have a sense of humor—and includes Cadillacs and Lincolns from the ’60s and ’70s. Their steady rise precedes the pandemic market boom, and has only recently taken a noticeable downturn.
While there’s no sugarcoating the collector car market’s overall downward cascade, it’s important to remember that prices don’t move in universal lockstep. Of course, this chart’s delineations represent about one click in on the microscope—there are plenty of ways to filter data into more granular fashion. If you’re beginning to think about what belongs in your garage next, understanding these value trends can help make sense of potential emerging opportunities in the market.
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Interesting that you refer to “Land Yachts”…Lincolns and Cadillacs for the 60’s and 70’s and I own some… 62 Chrysler Imperial Convertible with those globe headlights, 64 Caddy Convertible, 76 Elvis owned Caddy Eldorado Convertible 79 Mark V Continental..but the more Classics are from the 50’s and The Best Year of Design in America…!! 1957!! How do you not include under that reference my 1957 Continental Mark II (finest car design of the 50″s) and its competitor, the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham with first dual headlights, air suspension, memory seats, stainless steel top over suicide doors, huge rear speaker and fins from which the 57 Chevy copied so well. And not a yacht but the 57’Tbird. And my two 1958 Edsel Convertibles. ( My Dad had an Edsel Dealership in Burlington NC…lost everything.) Now those were Yachts in every sense of the word.
I only have 1 land yacht, a 71 Riviera and for as little as were produced and the VERY VERY FEW I’ve seen over the years I can’t believe there value is as low as it is honestly .
Not that I really care as I just think it was a very unusual design and when I got it , it kinda reminded me of my 63 Vette on steroids. I’ll still love that car weather it ever becomes more valuable or not though .
I’ve been very active in the car show seine ever sense I was in high school in the 60’s and I’ve only ever seen one other one , even at the Nationals, and then that was years and years ago and haven’t seen another sense and I’ve been going to shows all over New England sense 1967 before it was even built .
I know what I have into it $ wise but the hours I have into it far outweighs what I put into it material wise and even though I was a profesional body man for >25+ years and have and still do restore classics I know what it would have cost to restore it for the normal person and that’s far less than the listed values I find out there for such a rare car.
Don’t ask me just why some rarer cars just don’t fetch much even though they are rare as hens teeth and seem to be desirable, my Riviera must fall in that area sense in the probably 55 + years I’ve been going to shows I’ve only ever seen the 1 other one . I do know where there is a 72 and a 73 somewhat locally , but then only 1 of each of those too so you can’t tell me there not just a bit unusual.
I do know where ever I go it draws allot of attention and it always turns into a mini car show having to answer a million questions about it and people wanting to know more about it.
So I just can’t figure out the disparity’s between classic car values sometimes,,,,,
Any input on S-1 Jaguar E-Types?
Like others who have commented in this thread, I have owned a few cars in my lifetime, nothing like 6 an7 figure “collectable cars, but the dollar value of any that I have owned was not reason I had them. I just enjoy the car hobby for the cars themselves.
There has always been some debate as to cars as an investment or cars as a source of fun. I have a collectible car whose value has gone up from $ 2, 750.00 ( $ 45,000 considering inflation) to around $ 175,000.00 ( Today,s monies) . It was not bought as an investment. It was a simple used sport car, my wife and I were 24 year old kids, and we liked it. Today’s value is almost a negative and I will not get paranoid about driving it as it should be driven or be super careful where I park it or where I take it. It was not an investment to make money. At the time it was just a used sport car, not a collectible. I never considered selling it because I still like it and it just doesn’t make sense to me to get rid of something that you still want and enjoy. What category are we? We don’t collect cars, we don’t invest in automobiles to make money. last summer I picked up my wife from the assisted living facility, we put the top down and now at 81 years of age, we went for a ride in the exact same car we bought as 24 year olds. It was just as much fun. Seventy four HP still does it for us.
There will always be this conversation because the cars are seen as investments held to make money by some folks, great toys and hobbies by others, and appliances by almost everyone else. In my opinion (the only opinion I really care about!) Hagerty spends way too much time on the investment view.
I have two cars, I guess they would be called collector car, but neither one did I purchased to make money on. One is a 1971 Lotus 7 S4 which I bought new. It was my daily driver for a number of years and now has 46,125 miles on it. My attitude is, I paid $5,000 for it so if I sell it for more, it’s a gain. (it’s not for sale) I bought a 1990 Lotus Esprit turbo SE last year. Fun car to drive, if it was for sale I’d want what I paid for it plus what I have put in it. Still less what they seem to sell for. For some reason Lotus’ have never been a car brand that has increased in price. I don’t care, I like driving them.
I agree! I had a 1974 Jensen Healey for a few years. At the time, for the same money, I could have had a Dino, but it was not a ragtop! I may have sold it for what I paid, but I don’t remember. My last ragtop was a 450SL that I picked up for about $4,500. cleaned it up, drove it a bit, and after some small repairs sold it for $7,500.
The car I miss? my ’66 442 convertible. Had it for about three years and miss it to this day. But, I was 25, and didn’t have the money to keep it and a commuter car….
This is an interesting subject and one I’ve studied for approaching 50 year both as a new car dealer and a predominately muscle car/sports car seller and collector. I bought my first muscle car in 1975 at the age of nineteen for $1400 and sold it for $2400. I was excited to make a nice profit! The car at the time was only 5 years old at the time with very low mileage. The car was a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda that was in showroom condition. That car now is worth multiples of $100,000. I’ve seen tremendous growth in values over these last 50 years. I’ve made a lot of good decisions and some bad ones also. About 40 years ago I passed on a 1963 Cobra 289 in pristine condition for $46,000. About 35 years ago I passed on a 1955 Mercedes Gullwing. I was at a Kruse International Auction in the 1980’s and James Bond’s original Aston Martins or one of them went thru the sale. It bid to $60,000 and was a no sale. I believe the last one at auction sold for 4 million plus. I can give everyone some advice that you’ve heard before. If your just an enthusiast buy your favorite car that you can afford. Do your homework and make a good buying decision. Enjoy it and have fun! Don’t worry about the future value. If you like the car the value will take care of itself. Either up or down it won’t matter because you still like it! Your never stuck that way. If your a high end collector buying for investment buy the blue chip cars. As a rule of thumb if your well heeled and can hold out for the right buyer you’ll eventually more times than not turn a profit. Remember your first profitable profit many times will be your best. I have some cars in my collection that I can’t duplicate and I don’t overly care what they’ll be worth down the road because I like them. Although I do believe they will increase in value in the future. I also have some cars in my collection that I would sell anytime for the right money. I like those also but I’m not in love. There is a difference. Hagerty is a great company. I personally insure with them and they’re great people. Although they and others try to put market reports together on the health of the classic/musclecar and sports car market it really is an impossibility to actually do correctly Remember that approximately seventy percent of these types of vehicles are sold privately. Each car is different. Almost none the same. Condition, mileage, provenance etc. Most true values of these private transactions are never reported with accuracy. That’s way all these reports of the true market is skewed. Bottom line-Your never stuck if you buy and keep the right car as long as you still like it! The value up or down won’t be as critical. The right cars are like ocean front property. I don’t think they’re making anymore of either!! lol 🙂
To add I passed on that 55 Gullwinh Mercedes at the high price at the time of $55,000. 🙂
I would say that the reason Collector cars are going Down in value is because people Got Greedy & drove up prices to crazy level— That means that buyers gave up & prices had to start dropping–
IMO and many enthusiasts car guys, the true SPORT CAR is a two seater roadster (no fixed roof), manual transmission and performance oriented power and handling.
yeah, but that’s just , like, your opinion. Has the same value as the paper it’s printed on. I can’t find a single reference to “sport car” from a legitimate, or even sketchy, source. Your just tilting at windmills.
I am looking to sell my 70 pontiac grand prix, 400; 4 speed; 12 bolt safety trac with 3:31 gears; AC and AM/FM Stereo; gages and wood wheel,
I can’t find on any valuation sites. Can you help ???
Eric H , from what I’ve heard from better minds hydrogen may not be the future, it is the future and EVs a stepping stone. Unfortunately they’re now saying we won’t see a hydrogen hypercar class at Le Mans until 2027. Hopefully that then happens and can be pointed to as an example of how racing improves the breed.