Hagerty Names Its Winners And Losers In The Collector Car Market

The first five on this list are all vehicles that lost pretty significant value during the course of Q2 2024. It’s telling that three (and a half) of the cars on this list are British sports cars. Are the Austin-Healey and Jaguar names losing their cachet? The other two on the list, I’m not at all surprised to see there.

Not as well revered as its older XK 120 sibling, the XK 140 is kind of like the Datsun 260Z of its era. The original is the icon for a reason, and the later cars will never be as valuable. Hagerty says these are down 12 percent over where they were in March. They’re still a ton of fun, and will catch eyeballs while you’re out motoring with the hood dropped. Buy one and have fun, values be damned.

Like the Jag, the Mk2, Mk3, and Mk4 Austin-Healey Sprite falls victim to the original being so iconic. After 1961 Austin-Healey removed the twee-as-fuck “Bugeye” headlights from the bonnet and put them on the fenders where its MG Midget sibling had them. This reduced costs, but at the expense of the car’s iconic design. According to Hagerty these are down 11 percent.

Jaguar’s XJ 220 came from the same school of thought as the Porsche 959, Ferrari F40 and Bugatti EB 110, but while those three are worth well over a million dollars, the Jag continues to fail to gain value. They’re topping out around $600,000, and if you’re looking for a 1990s supercar icon, this is your bargain buy. Hagerty says the XJ is down 10 percent.

The original (and only, because the second-generation is never coming) Tesla Roadster was a real jolt to the EV industry’s system. Based on a stretched Lotus Elise, this little sports car was a total upset from this tiny upstart company that nobody had ever heard of. For a long time these were gaining steam almost as fast as Tesla stock, but now it’s losing value like Tesla stock. The Roadster is down nine percent since Q1.

There are a number of reasons the Roadster values might be faltering among collectors. For one thing, maintaining an aging EV is hardly an easy thing. There are a few companies out there rebuilding and refurbishing battery packs and drive units, but Tesla stopped supporting these cars a long time ago.

Brand new Teslas are hardly luxury cars anymore, and the brand doesn’t have as much weight behind it as it did even a year ago. It’s relying on price cuts to drive sales instead of innovative product and a strong early-to-market advantage.

The biggest reason things have changed in recent months, however, has got to be related to company CEO and lone spokesperson Elon Musk. The guy is just fucking weird, and fewer people want to be tied to his image. There aren’t many people out there interested in collecting 15-year-0ld six-figure electric sports cars, but the ones who are seem less likely to share Mr. Musk’s politics. When he went mask off as a hard right dingus, I’m sure some of the owners put their cars up for sale. If you don’t mind getting the Tesla stink on you, maybe you can score a deal on one!

In today’s market a good Hummer H1 is a six-figure rolling statement about the driver. You can’t drive one of these if you’re an introvert, because you’ll get attention, and not all of it will be good. This is the poster vehicle for overconsumption. They’re too big for most roads, too thirsty for most wallets, and too over-the-top for most sensibilities. It’s easy to see why these are dipping, and according to Hagerty that dip is seven percent.

So those were the losers in today’s market, but what about the winners?

Here’s a quintet of cars that have risen dramatically in recent months. Some of those highs might be temporary, so be wary of anyone saying they’ll continue to go up. If you already have one of these, and you’re thinking about getting out, now might be the time. Let’s see what they are!

These Willys-era WWII Jeeps are one of the most American vehicles of all time, and it makes sense that people would want to collect them. They’re simple and easy to run, parts are cheap as hell because they made so damn many of them, and they’re actually kind of fun to drive around. These are up 12 percent over Q1.

Q2 of 2024 included a couple of events that might have inflated the values of military Jeeps. First was the 80th anniversary celebrations and memorial remembrances of the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy. Thousands of Jeeps were present for the festivities, and this may have sparked some collectors to be bullish on them. Another major part of Q2 was the run up to July 4th. If you were feeling particularly patriotic and wanted a Jeep to run in your local parades, you might have paid a premium for it.

Nobody makes a big luxurious convertible anymore. You can’t go out into the current new car market and pick anything that will give you a similar experience to the Eldo. These are up an astonishing 16 percent.

The Ferrari Mondial has been the butt of Ferrari Owners Club jokes for decades, but it’s finally getting the recognition it deserves. These are still some of the most affordable cars to wear the prancing horse, but they’re retro cool now. And not even ironically. Hagerty says they’ve risen 17 percent!

Americans love trucks, that’s just a given. It’s getting harder and harder to find nice examples of these once-workaday machines. If any of these ups are going to stay up and continue rising, it’s this one. Hagerty says these pickups are up 19 percent.

Okay, so you probably can’t afford a Miura whether it’s up or down anyway. A recent SV sold for nearly five million dollars. These are style icons, possibly the prettiest car ever built. Miuras are art so they’re going to sell for art prices. The original V12 supercar is up a whopping 22 percent this quarter.