People are willing to pay a large amount of money for old cars
Find here a selection of vintage cars whose value is currently exorbitant despite their relative unpopularity when they were new.
Among the vintage cars that buyers are scrambling to get today and are willing to shell out are ten sports cars, as Carscoops reports.
The list includes models such as the BMW Z8, early 50s Chevrolet Corvette, McLaren F1, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Jaguar D-Type, Lexus LFA, 1970 Plymouth Superbird, Tucker 48 and the 1970s BMW M1.
Now a few words about each.
BMW Z8
The first Z8 was essentially a retro-tuned 1950s BMW 507 roadster with a 395hp M5 V8 engine and a 6-speed manual gearbox. It drove like a sedan and seemed pretty quiet.
The car was in production in 2000-2003 and cost over $134,000. Its current price is over $350,000. By the way, the exterior design of the BMW Z8 was developed by Henrik Fisker.
1953-55 Chevrolet Corvette
The first-year Corvette C1 featured a six-cylinder engine with no manual transmission option (it appeared later) and came in Polo White color only. At that time, it cost like a Cadillac coupe, that is, it was quite expensive.
The 1953 Corvette is a rarity now and you’ll have to shell out $166,000+, while a “younger” 1955 model powered by a V8 engine will cost around $100,000+. After 1956, the Corvette takes on its full meaning. The current price of a base 1956 Corvette with its standard V8 engine could be close to $51,000, half the price of its predecessor.
McLaren F1
The McLaren F1 is a modern classic. When the automaker launched it in 1992, the car was a breakthrough, but with its own weak points: lousy acceleration times and an insufficiently high price.
When McLaren ceased production in 1998, it was making 106 units, including only 64 road cars, of the 300 vehicles planned to be built. It is because of such a small production that the car is now worth a fortune – 17 million dollars.
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
The 1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 road car received the brand’s first all-aluminum V8 engine with a displacement of 427 cubic inches (7.0 liters) producing over 430 hp. The engine alone cost $4,160 – more expensive than the Camaro itself.
So people didn’t see the point of paying that much when there were more affordable alternatives, like the faster and cheaper 396 Camaro SS, or a 427 iron-block L72 engine at just $490.
Chevrolet made 69 examples of the ZL1. 50 ZL1s were delivered to customers, but at least 30 of them remained unsold and redistributed through dealerships. Currently, the price of the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is 10 times higher than that of an SS 396 variant and ranges from $600,000 for a decent car to $1 million for a show winner.
Lexus LFA
Toyota launched the front mid-engine Lexus LFA supercar in 2010 when it was a bad time of economic recession. Despite an incredible 552bhp carbon fiber naturally aspirated engine and other “goodies”, the LFA couldn’t compete with a capable and much cheaper Nissan GT-R. Only 500 vehicles have been sold in almost 10 years.
Nevertheless, if in 2011 it cost $375,000, its current price is between $700,000 and $1 million, and even more with the Nürburgring package.
Jaguar D-Type
At one time, the model was not in demand and its production stopped at the end of 1956. Under the effect of three consecutive victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1955, the value of the car exploded to 5 million dollars, or even more: this is the real price of type D now.
Jaguar converted the remaining D-type racer to a road car and named it XKSS. 9 of the 25 cars built were destroyed in 1957 due to fire, but the company produced 9 XKSS continuation models in 2016 based on the original chassis.
Jaguar XJ220
Originally promised all-wheel drive and a V12 engine, the supercar in its final version received a turbocharged V6 and rear-wheel drive. This fact, along with a global recession and rising prices disappointed customers, and model production ceased in 1994. Jaguar made 281 XJ220 cars out of the planned 350, but could not sell even this small amount.
Today, the car is desirable and costs up to $650,000.
Plymouth Superbird
The 1970 Plymouth Superbird was a sister to the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. The Superbird’s controversial appearance scared off buyers, and the car was left on dealer lots until the mid-1970s.
The world is changing, and today Superbirds are all the rage: sellers are asking between $175,000 and $338,000 for a car.
BMW M1
BMW wanted to have a mid-engined sports car but did not have the production capacity to build one and asked Lamborghini to make an M1. Lamborghini missed a deadline for delivery of the first batch, so BMW terminated the deal and hired Bauer instead.
Before the BMW M1 could race in Group 5 at Le Mans, 400 M1 cars had to be built. M1 racing was allowed in a single-make Procar series at every F1 event.
The BMW M1 received high profile publicity, but this did not help sales, in part because the M1 with a 3.5-litre straight-six engine was too expensive, more than the Ferrari 512 BB powered by a 12-cylinder 355 hp. engine. After 454 cars rolled off the assembly line, BMW ended production in 1981.
Despite unsuccessful sales in the past, the current price of an original M1 is as high as $440,000 (quoted by Hagerty).
Tucker 48
The Tucker 48 looked like something out of science fiction. It featured fully independent suspension, disc brakes, a flat-six engine designed for a Bell helicopter, an integrated roll bar, a padded dashboard, and a pivoting center headlight.
The car suffered from an unsuccessful press launch and reckless decisions by Preston Tucker. Only 50 Tucker 48s were made before Tucker’s assets were liquidated.
Those who want to buy one of the first 50 cars will have to pay 1.25 to 1.8 million dollars in 2022. The price of the original car was around 4,000 dollars: it was the level of a Lincoln or a mid-range Cadillac.
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