The market size estimate may come from defining a rather large range of cars as "classic". The average auction price of a "classic car" is $45,000.[2] Not sure what definition they're using, but we're not talking about what goes to Pebble Beach.
[1] https://www.credenceresearch.com/report/classic-cars-market
[2] https://www.classic.com/insights/hagerty-2025-market-in-4-ch...
me: "that sounds really wonderful and interesting!"
him: "bunch of rusty cars"
Ive restored a couple and I cannot imagine the cost of outsourcing all that work.
Im definitely slower, and I do outsource the paint and any particularly dusty bodywork.
But I know these machines require a bit more electronics work to not become self-destructive due to various aging components (one memorably caught fire during a demo event a few years ago). Work I'm honestly not very good at. So it's better to leave it to those who can do it. The C64 requires little or no work, and they're also not remotely as rare as the Tikis, so even if something should break I wouldn't feel too bad about it.
I think it boils down to the fact that cars represent the pinnacle of engineering for that time period. Engineering only gets better with time.
Much like the McLaren F1 has a cult following, yet no traction control or turbo.
I had a friend who collected and restored very old BMWs. He certainly wasn’t doing it for the ride quality or features vs a modern car. I just picked the F1, because it’s a shining example of a car people love that is impractical compared to modern cars of equivalent specs.
As an example, I owned a W126 S class from the late 80s, and it was fun in its unique way and no modern cars replicate its experience. It had somewhat heavy and very feedback rich steering feel, and Porsche-like firm and tactile pedal feel, while having a super supple ride over the most awful roads with SUV-like ground clearance and tremendous suspension travel. The car was also super simple and reliable; my 300SE had nearly 400k km with all original powertrain when I sold it, it never let me down, and it weighed less than a modern A class or CLA. While not as safe as modern cars, it was exceptionally safe for its era and comparable to normal cars of the early 2000s for crash structure safety.
The W140 (I used to own one too) had a much better powertrain, but it lost the raw tactile scrappy nature of its predecessor, and nor could it handle super awful potholed roads as well as the W126. There are no modern cars that combine the rich raw tactile control feel and super supple ride the W126 had.
Look at cars like the BMW E30, or Mercedes-Benz 190E (W201), or the superbly engineered workhorses that the W123 and W124 were. There are no modern cars that replicate the genuinely delightful driving experience of those.
I agree about the W123 as well. I’ve owned half a dozen of those. For a couple generations there it seemed that Mercedes had cars just about solved.
I feel parent's point still stands.
Sure, you won't be able to go to a random Ford dealership and go home with a small light and simple car, but there are plenty of modern car accessible through a modicum of effort. Even buying something new abroad and bring it back home will probably be less hassle than restoring an old car.
I wonder if buying a kit car would still be simpler, for still better results.
Modern luxury cars from essentially all brands around the world have become huge, heavy, numb, and over-complicated. They’re much faster and quieter than the say the old Benzes and BMWs of the 80s, but they don’t have the fun raw feel, small size, light weight, tossability, and simplicity of the old cars.
A BMW E30 or M-B W201 have a weight somewhere between a Mazda MX-5 and Subaru BRZ, but are far more practical than either for passengers and cargo despite being around the same width and only slightly longer.
The only modern cars with similar size and weight are some European market compact cars and econoboxes like the Mitsubishi Mirage, Nissan Micra, and Chevy Spark (which are also disappearing from North America). For steering feel, handling, general raw and connected driving feel, powertrain responsiveness, and interior quality, these modern economy cars can’t compete. Some of the European market specific B-segment cars come closest to those older compact luxury cars, but they still don’t match them for the qualities I described.
Kit cars generally suck from a practical perspective compared to well engineered 80s/90s cars and aren’t a very practical option either.
Sounds to me like you're looking for a Lotus or a 911 at budget prices. I agree with you that's pretty far from the "simple, simple, light" vehicle, and it's fully in the hobby realm.
If you're that deep into cars, I'd say more power to you, and spending ungodly amount of money time and effort on vintage cars is probably a pleasure as well.
I've got a W140 with the M120 and a W123 with the OM616 and a 4-speed too, and while they have their charms (especially the W123) nothing tops the W126. It truly was not just the finest production sedan Mercedes made, but ever made by anyone. (Other contenders being the W100, the W140, and the Lexus LS.)
I preferred my old beater that I could just thrash around. It's worth having to deal with some sort of mechanical problem every now and then.
The gear, the V6 boxing motors, the massive steal frames, the actual pulling power and that all on 13 litres.
Newer models have 3 thousand sensors I haven't asked for, can't even reach common repair things without special tools, effektive usage hasn't changed or depends on hybrid (which is a joke for pulling), repair parts are 5-10 times as expensive, you loose half of the cars worth first time you visit a forest ...
Oooooor, the pay is crap and the work environment is abusive.
Any time someone trots out the "kids don't have the same work ethic" argument, they can immediately be ignored. People have been literally saying that continuously since people have been around to write the complaint down, and it's been exactly as true then as it is now.
But... I know someone else who did actually restore one of those.
And... I worked with a guy who restored a Porsche including rebuilding the engine, it used to sit in his office! (he was a mechanical engineer) and another guy (another engineer) who restored some old American car (forget the brand, maybe a Ford Crown Victoria?). Both these engineers had access to a fully equipped workshop and spent looong hours every day after work building and fixing parts.
I used to do some work on my own car and motorcycles. It's hard work.
There are a lot of enthusiasts who do this... I see them in old car shows. Not sure how many hire others to work on them...
So the family sold the cars in one auction at one of the big events like the Concours d’Elegance. This was not a sale timed to maximize the return but rather a sale to free the family from the obligations of ownership. Even so, it was 30 or so vehicles and they went for about $70 million.
The cars in this article are more like artwork investments. These may get three miles added to the odometer in the course of a year with multiple event showings or loans to museums. The cars are absolutely drivable but they are not driven.
but Japanese a standard metric kit is about 99% of what you’d need
I've thought that if I ever took a sabbatical, maybe I could try retrofit it with an electric system, but I just know it's going to take me down another money hole.
Classic cars are an expensive interest.
toomuchtodo•3d ago