Like many hobbies that revolve around a certain fixation on a product, a special breed of car enthusiasts don't like the latest and greatest car brands in the world: they like the classics.
When you think about the type of people who own classic cars, you probably think of your dad, your grandpa, or your cheerful neighbor with a “pride and joy” that they only bring out on nice days, spring or summer Sundays, or strictly on occasions. special.”
Personally, I remember a family friend who, before he passed away, owned a red 1987 Chevrolet Corvette convertible. It was a car that he appreciated and to which he dedicated a lot of love, and it is one of the things with which I remember.
But in today's Internet age, a new generation of car collectors, fans and enthusiasts have emerged looking to own their dream car from the pages of history, and the cars they want may not fit their idea. of “classic car”.
Recently, I spoke with two Hagerty executives. (HGTY) classic car insurance specialists who have expanded into a comprehensive automotive lifestyle brand focused on classic cars.
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The online change
According to Brian Rabold, vice president of Hagerty Automotive Intelligence, the classic and collector car market experienced a huge boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, the effects of which are still influencing the market today.
“Before the pandemic, things were pretty stable but not very active,” Rabold told TheStreet. “With the pandemic, for various reasons, all of a sudden, the collector car market just took off. We saw prices doubling year over year for several cars. That took probably about 18 months and then around 2022, in the In “In the summer of 2022, the market started to contract a little bit and slow down. That's the phase we're in now, it's this adjustment to the post-pandemic boom.”
Ken Ahn, president of Hagerty Marketplace & Radius, said that with people locked inside and advised to stay away from other people, driving cars, working on them and dreaming about the cars they wanted became a pleasurable activity in which some people participated. .
But while some people ordered food, essential goods and other items through digital means during this period, some people who had the means to spend on the car of their dreams bought them in a new and different way.
“What (the pandemic) created was an interesting phenomenon regarding buying and selling cars through digital means,” Ahn said. “Not only were people increasingly comfortable buying five-figure, even six-figure, rarely even seven-figure cars, but a lot of the business is adapting. Instead of having one, two or five photographs, 100 Photos and pictures and sellers putting up a video. We saw that not only did COVID change during that time, valuations changed quite a bit, but also the ways that people buy and sell cars.”
Now that car buying is much easier and possible from the comfort of the buyer's home, a new generation of car enthusiasts is spending their money on classics, but the cars they buy aren't exactly “classics” in the traditional term. .
The 'new classics'
Nissan Motor Co.
According to Rabold and Ann, young Gen Grand Tourism.
Ahn explained that some of these cars that people liked as kids were once considered forbidden fruit for American buyers due to federal regulatory guidelines. However, thanks to the fine print of the regulations, these cars can now be purchased by young people in the United States.
“For those in the US we have strict federalization rules. The way it works is that cars over 25 years old can be imported without having passed the old crash test or having to federalize them,” Ahn explained.
“Those regulatory environments also play a role because now the high-performance German (Mercedes-Benz) SL70 or (Nissan) Skyline GTR from the '80s and '90s that weren't available in the U.S. are now importable. That turns out to be the case.” The perfect demographic of Generation
Identifying a 'future classic'
However, detecting which cars will be “future classics” can be almost impossible. Hagerty publishes a list each year called the “Bull Market List” which, as the name suggests, consists of cars that the company believes will see significant price increases.
Rabold says they take “a very data-driven approach” that looks at price trends, prices compared to other cars in a similar era, and demographic data to see if a particular car will continue to attract younger and younger buyers. .
However, both Rabold and Ann emphasize that cars are emotional purchases and predicting why people buy a car can be challenging.
“A lot of this is emotional,” Ahn said. “As with any collection, if the value goes down, you feel less better, and if the value goes up, you feel even better.”
A market made from compliance with rules
porsche
As strict emissions regulations dictate a shift from traditional gasoline-powered internal combustion engine cars to fully battery-powered hybrids, plug-in and electric vehicles, car enthusiasts, collectors and non-believers alike technology will long for the cars of “the old days.” “, where a particular car did not have to comply with such rules.
However, at the same time, manufacturers are finding impressive new ways to make their cars go even faster every day, making similar cars with older technology more desirable.
Ahn makes this case using manual transmissions as an example. Some manufacturers such as Porsche and Ferrari have avoided offering stick shifts in their sports cars, claiming that the newer paddle-shift dual-clutch automatics shift much faster than someone flipping a stick shift.
It's true, but the decisions of these manufacturers can drive different behavior in buyers. Some people embrace technology, while others crave a more limited amount of “the old stuff,” which drives price disparity for certain cars.
“We took a Ferrari 599, for example, an F1 automatic versus a manual; the price difference is a multiple. Whereas when they sold it new, it was actually at a discount, the automatic was the highest package, an option.”
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Reflection
Jaime Ochoa
It is human to associate tastes, smells, feelings, music, and inanimate objects with memories. It's also exciting to see how human behavior influences the collector car market over time, as a new generation of people with disposable income search for their dream car.
No matter the pace of life or the environment you live in, you become a product of it.
My dad's dream car is not my dream car. We come from different eras, we have different priorities and points of view when it comes to cars, we come from wildly different experiences that we live.
Although each person is different, the idea of your dream car can only come from two places: the mind or the heart.
“I think at the end of the day it's still a means of transportation, but I think most collectors see this as more than just getting them from point A to point B,” Ahn said.
“This is something where they have an emotional attachment to old memories. It could be the same car they used at their first prom in high school, whatever it is. I think that's what will keep the hobby pretty vibrant.” .
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