The Monterey auctions are done, with $395m in total sales this year. And out of all of the high-end events and multi-million dollar cars that sold, one of the trends I noticed was increased interest in later-model supercars, such as the Ferrari Testarossa, Lamborghini Countach and Porsche 930.
I’ve always looked at Monterey as one of several annual market barometer moments, next to Scottsdale in January and Amelia Island in March. We tend to see a trickle-down of trends from the top of the market into other American sales throughout the year. And while none of the cars I listed above are American, I do think this ’80s supercar trend is instructive, at least in terms of later-model cars in the market in general. It seems like a younger set of buyers — the kids who had Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and Corvettes on their walls in the ’80s — are now starting to show some influence over the market, and that’s translating to more interest and higher prices on the cars they always wanted and can finally afford.
So, with that in mind, if the next generation of car collectors are interested in those Italian and German poster cars from the ’80s and ’90s, what American cars will follow suit?
It’s always been tough to predict changes in the market, but I do think we can again look to the Millennials’ poster cars to hint at what’s eventually going to be hot on the American side. I remember having wall posters and school folders covered in ZR-1 Corvettes, First-gen Viper RT/10 roadsters, and even Vectors back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Does that mean that those cars will see boosted prices soon? Conventional collector car wisdom says they built too many ZR-1 Corvettes, Vipers are hot and uncomfortable, and Vectors don’t actually work. But they said that stuff about the Porsche, Testarossa, and Countach, too.
What do you think will be the next big trend in collectible American cars? Share your thoughts below. And look for our complete coverage of the Monterey auctions in the next issues of American Car Collector and Sports Car Market.