Classic Car Critique

via Gooding and Co.

A few months ago there was an exchange in the letters to the editor section of Sports Car Market. Essentially, it boiled down to Keith Martin saying that great future collectible cars have not been produced, aside from the McLaren F1 (and after Pebble Beach he has about 3.5 million reasons to think he is right) since the early 70′s. That really struck me. The gall! The insult to all the great cars of my youth in the 1980′s! Then I came out of my pastel/Miami Vice induced haze and realized that, especially in the US, the 80s really sucked for cars. Strangled by emissions, changing safety regulations, and the European belief that American’s could not possibly go faster than 55 mph, the 80s produced abominations like the Iron Duke Camero and the Maserati Biturbo. Was it true? Were they all that bad? How did I ever become a car nut? Should I have become a high school english teacher and drive a Prius?

Then I felt vindicated as I read a thoughtful response to editor Martin. Someone from the UK penal colony of Austrailia countered, what about the BMW E30 M3? Martin’s response. Not collectible. Interesting. Fun. Appealing. But not a classic, they made too many.

They did make 17,000 M3s, but their prices are now approaching the original purchase price of a car and in some cases, a clean original example may fetch more than the $32k that the car was new. This is my definition of collectible. When a car is selling for more than its original purchase price it has crossed over from being viewed as a depreciating asset with limited utility to something that has significant value beyond its intended use.

Martin claims that (aside from the McLaren F1) there have been no true gentlemen race cars that can go straight from street to track. However, I would wager that certainly the M3 could easily go from street to track with the same slight modifications that the F1 had to race at LeMans. Porsche 911 GT3s can be ordered with roll bars and track ready ceramic brakes.

One of Martin’s other points is that modern cars are made to conform to regulations, so they can never be as pure as the cars of old which did not have to deal with bumper heights, airbags, emissions, etc. True.

Yet, I feel that Martin was perhaps suffering from the same nostalgic haze that I was. Sure the greatest classics of the 50′s and 60′s were not subject to governmental regulation, but they were subject to racing regulation! Big time. Mercedes actually had to check the rule book to see if the gullwing doors would be legal for racing before a single gullwing rolled off the line. If the doors did not meet racing regulation, then the car would not have even been made. Ferrari was always working within (and often around) the rules to make some of their best cars. The 250 GTO was born from a change in regulation.

Some of the world’s most passionate and innovative designs are born out of overcoming obstacles.

Martin is correct that modern cars are often made in too great numbers and without the direct racing heritage of previous sports cars. But there are still classics that have been made since the 60′s. Its just these classics will probably come not from racing at LeMans (although look at Porsche 911 RSR prices…) but from racing in DTM (E30 M3 and Mercedes 190e 16V) and certainly from Group B. Does anyone really think that the Ferrari 288GTO is not going to be a classic, or that an F40 will not be considered at the same level as a Daytona?

Great car designs (like art) are still being made and certainly will continue.

By the way, the best part about the BMW e30 M3, they were never driven hard….oh wait…nevermind.