Hagerty Vehicle Rating Top 25: Familiar trends and a few surprises

You can now call your old Chevy C10 the hottest vehicle on the collector car market, at least according to the latest Hagerty Vehicle Rating. The 1973–87 Chevy C/K moved up from third to take the highest spot in the Top 25, knocking off the Dodge Power Wagon.

As was the case in the last update, vintage trucks and affordable performance cars are dominating the top spots. About half are trucks, and only two vehicles on the list are valued at $30,000 or more. Most are under $20,000. Prices reflect average values for #3 (or good) condition vehicles.

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.

Some of the vehicles in the last update—like Willys-Jeep Pickups, 1950–57 VW Transporters, Jeep CJ-2As, and Land Rover Defenders—have slipped slightly and out of the Top 25, but they have simply been replaced by other trucks, namely Chevys/GMCs and Internationals. For this update, two GMCs and two Internationals made the list. Last time around, there weren’t any from either make.

Specifically, GMC and Chevrolet trucks of the 1950s have seen an uptick in buyer interest through insurance quote activity, while GMCs have shown particular strength at auction, and the Chevys have been performing well on the private market. The International pickups are new to the Top 25 list thanks to huge surges in quote activity, particularly for the 1969–75 pickups that have also seen a sizable jump in their Hagerty Price Guide values. The more well-known International Scouts, meanwhile, are also outpacing the market with high ratings, but they surprisingly haven’t seen the same kind of growth as the pickups and didn’t make the cut.

Other newcomers to the Top 25 include two Porsches, not of the classic air-cooled variety but instead two underappreciated models that finally seem to be getting their due. The 996, including Turbos, have seen a big growth in quotes, while good low-mileage examples of both the 996 and first-gen Boxster have started showing up at auction and are bringing healthy prices.

Another newer German car to join the top ranks is the 2000–06 BMW E46 M3. With its crisp lines and compact proportions, the E46 was also the last of the classic two-door straight-six M3s, so many view it as the end of an era. Now that the oldest ones are nearly two decades old, the E46 M3 has seen a big surge in buyer interest over the past year. Things also look rosy for Japanese sports cars, with the Mk IV Toyota Supra and FD-generation Mazda RX-7 maintaining high ratings, and first-gen Toyota MR2s sitting just outside the Top 25.

Here’s a full rundown of this month’s Top 25: