Lethe200
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Those Mundane Old Hondas and Toyotas Have Suddenly Become Collectible
NY Times 01July2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/automobiles/collectibles/honda-toyota-cars.html
(excerpt)
Great examples of somewhat mundane cars, the ones that were owned by the parents and grandparents of Gen Xers and millennials, have suddenly become collectible and are selling for thousands of dollars more than they did about two years ago.
Just as online searches for comfort food recipes surged during the pandemic, the popularity of the automotive equivalent, vintage Toyota pickups, Honda Accords, Acura Legends and Volvo wagons, vehicles that used to be everywhere, are the newest fad in car collecting.
“During the height of the pandemic, people couldn’t eat out or travel and asked the question, ‘What can I put money in that I can enjoy?’” said Doug DeMuro, owner of the auction site Cars and Bids.
Apparently, one answer was cars from the 1980s and 1990s. For example, a 40-year-old, four-door, Honda Accord had a furious auction on the Bring a Trailer auction site last year. The opening bid was $2,100, but that was just the start for the nicely preserved, first-generation 1981 Accord Special Edition.
By the second day of the seven-day auction, the bids had already exceeded $10,000. On the last day, three people placed multiple bids and didn’t stop until the price had reached $21,000 (and a 5 percent buyer’s premium to the auction company).
To put that into context, a four-door Accord was priced at around $8,000 in 1981. The high bids for the Accord were far from an anomaly. “They’ve become hotter than ever before, just for the nostalgia factor,” Mr. DeMuro said.
“It’s actually easier to find a nice Ferrari from the ’80s or ’90s than a Honda Civic or a Dodge Caravan of the same vintage,” he continued. “Almost everyone took good care of their Ferrari, but nobody bothered to preserve the ‘disposable’ cars.”
NY Times 01July2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/automobiles/collectibles/honda-toyota-cars.html
(excerpt)
Great examples of somewhat mundane cars, the ones that were owned by the parents and grandparents of Gen Xers and millennials, have suddenly become collectible and are selling for thousands of dollars more than they did about two years ago.
Just as online searches for comfort food recipes surged during the pandemic, the popularity of the automotive equivalent, vintage Toyota pickups, Honda Accords, Acura Legends and Volvo wagons, vehicles that used to be everywhere, are the newest fad in car collecting.
“During the height of the pandemic, people couldn’t eat out or travel and asked the question, ‘What can I put money in that I can enjoy?’” said Doug DeMuro, owner of the auction site Cars and Bids.
Apparently, one answer was cars from the 1980s and 1990s. For example, a 40-year-old, four-door, Honda Accord had a furious auction on the Bring a Trailer auction site last year. The opening bid was $2,100, but that was just the start for the nicely preserved, first-generation 1981 Accord Special Edition.
By the second day of the seven-day auction, the bids had already exceeded $10,000. On the last day, three people placed multiple bids and didn’t stop until the price had reached $21,000 (and a 5 percent buyer’s premium to the auction company).
To put that into context, a four-door Accord was priced at around $8,000 in 1981. The high bids for the Accord were far from an anomaly. “They’ve become hotter than ever before, just for the nostalgia factor,” Mr. DeMuro said.
“It’s actually easier to find a nice Ferrari from the ’80s or ’90s than a Honda Civic or a Dodge Caravan of the same vintage,” he continued. “Almost everyone took good care of their Ferrari, but nobody bothered to preserve the ‘disposable’ cars.”
