| Re: Unloved Cars Of The 80s: Buick Somerset Regal |
Subject: Re: Unloved Cars Of The 80s: Buick Somerset Regal by bogus on 2014/3/3 15:00:19 the first rule of collector cars: Rarity does not beget collectibility. The second rule of collector cars: Almost all the time, it had to be popular when new. Final rule of collector cars: They speak to the collector. Either through personal taste/habit/interest (say, they like 1930s movies, or were into gangsters of the era); or through personal experience/life/growing up. The final rule is why muscle cars saw such a run up a few years ago, all the baby boomers aged up to the point where they could afford to live out their teenaged fantasies. It is also why the classic iron of the 30s sagged for so long, it took a while for that stuff to kindle interest in modern collectors. One of the hottest cars of interest today is the 90s Mercedes Benz 500SL convertible. They are selling for about $12k for a sweet one, 70k miles, 94-98 model years. They are bullet proof and all parts are available. These are being eyed as affordable collectibles as we speak. Why is the C4 not popular? The C3 is why! It replaced an icon and many of the Corvette purists always viewed the C4 as a boring bastard stepchild. Personally, I think those people are stupid mofos, but that's just me. The C4, tho, was reasonably popular during the 80s and 90s. the sales numbers were always strong (30k per year, average). But those numbers mean they are not rare, except for the special editions and such. The ZR1 has scared off collectors due to the perception of cost for maintenance and parts availability. Both are wrong perceptions. The C4, I think, is slowly gaining in popularity. And with more NCRS functions, it will start to gain traction as a car of its time. That will help. John, keep your 85 in good shape, save OEM parts where you can, and in 5 years, I think you will be fine, $$ wise. |
