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Buy These Future Classic Investment Cars Before It’s Too Late

For decades, the classic car market concentrated on models from the ’50s and ’60s and even pre-war cars. These are glorious machines, but they are out of place in modern traffic. Most of those models are also very expensive, with no or little aftermarket support in terms of spare parts. However, these days, cars from the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s are getting attention from collectors as investment cars.

People are looking for the cars they wanted in adolescence. Also, intelligent collectors are looking for the next desirable models that will fetch big prices in the future. So we broke down 40 cars you should pay attention to and buy while they are still relatively affordable.

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Ford Mustang SVT Cobra

Inspired by the wild SVT Cobra R from the ’90s, the 2003 model was not named R since it wasn’t such limited production. It was also available to the general public rather than just racing drivers and private teams. This SVT Cobra was an essential model for Mustang mythology since it featured two firsts. One was the first factory supercharged engine and the other was an independent rear suspension. SVT took the standard 4.6-liter block and mounted different heads and superchargers to get 390 HP and 390 lb.-ft of torque (via Car and Driver).

Photo Credit: Ford

The car’s 0 to 60 mph time took only 4.7 seconds, making the SVT Cobra a drag strip terror. Ford offered this model in 2003 and 2004, producing around 20,000 in both coupe and convertible forms. Despite being almost 20 years old, those cars are still desirable and will only increase in value as time goes on.

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These Legendary Muscle Cars Give Boomers Something To Rant About

Sports cars have long been one of the most popular automotive segments. The focus on muscle cars reached its peak during the ’60s and ’70s era of the auto industry. But some sports cars have not been all that exciting regardless of their intentions. Cars like the Ford Mustang II were absolute failures on the heels of the highly popular models, giving drivers something to rant about.

The second-generation Camaro and Firebird were another group of sports cars that could have been better because of their hype. We looked back at all-time great sports cars that will spark any conversation. Whether these sports cars were truly that great is up for debate. Some of these sports cars were well-known in their time while others were highly criticized.

Photo Credit: Mecum

Pontiac Trans Am Turbo

Every baby boomer remembers the Pontiac Trans Am Turbo because of its appearance in the movie Smokey and the Bandit. Who could forget Sally Fields’ hair flowing in the wind as she and Burt Reynolds zoomed down the highways? The car truly was an iconic-looking vehicle with many unique aspects. From the gold honeycomb wheels to the dazzling black and gold pinstripe, the Trans Am Turbo was unlike any other muscle car on the road (via Driving Line).

Photo Credit: Mecum

The strikingly beautiful paint job is still popular to this day. There has been a completely new generation of enthusiasts who have found solace in the design of the Firebird. It is a shame that the Pontiac brand no longer sees the light of day.

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The Strangest Production Cars Ever Sold In The United States

For the better part of the last century, the United States has been the world’s biggest car market, producing and selling more vehicles than any other country. The car business was the most significant industry here. Not surprisingly, every car manufacturer in the world wanted a piece of the action. During that period, carmakers from Europe, Japan, and Korea, tried selling cars to American buyers. This resulted in some of the strangest vehicles sold on American soil.

There were thousands of mainstream models. But a small number of vehicles didn’t actually follow the conventional design, engineering, or marketing laws. These strange vehicles created exciting moments in the car industry. Some were flops while others were successes. But all were non-mainstream machines offered to the general public. Check out the 50 strangest production cars ever sold in the US below.

Photo Credit: Auto WP

Campagna T-Rex

The T-Rex is the brainchild of Daniel Campagna, a Canadian former race car driver. His company has been active in producing three-wheel vehicles and sidecars for motorcycles since the late 1980s. This car has a motorcycle engine from BMW, Suzuki, Kawasaki, or Harley Davidson. This engine sits behind behind the driver and powers the rear wheel (via Campagna Motors).

Photo Credit: Auto WP

Currently, the T-Rex has a 160 HP engine from the BMW K1600 motorcycle. The driver and passenger sit in the front and two front wheels do the steering. In contrast to vehicles with a single front wheel, the T-Rex is much more stable. It can also achieve high cornering speeds. The owners describe driving T-Rex as driving an overpowered go-cart with a crazy soundtrack. We can only imagine how it is to drive this ludicrous machine under full throttle.

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Cheap Cars With Price Tags That Make Fools Out Of Drivers

Cheap used cars were once a major focal point of the auto industry. That was true until new cars became more affordable. Automotive styling came a long way in the 1990s and even further in the 2000s. Cars and trucks were more aerodynamic and attractive to look at. The boxy, heavy vehicles of previous decades were a thing of the past. But the problem with cars that looked great was often in their reliability.

The build quality of otherwise good-looking cars such as the Oldsmobile Aurora was not good at all. These cars were often recalled. There were many cars from the past few decades that were cheap to buy, but the ownership experience was less than satisfactory. We looked at cheap cars that fooled drivers in the past and why they should be avoided at all costs.

Photo Credit: City Cars

Chrysler Pacifica

The Pacifica was one of the first crossover SUVs. It was released to the public long before the crossover was even a popular segment. The Pacifica was a gamble for Chrysler and seemingly paid off. The car had good sales numbers for the first couple of years until the lackluster reliability crept up on owners (via Hot Cars).

Photo Credit: City Cars

The most notable problem with the Pacifica was transmission failure. Chrysler transmissions from that period weren’t the best. Coupled with the fact that the Pacifica shared engineering with Daimler models, the cost of diagnosis and repairs was high. The Pacifica was an attractive, well-appointed car for the price, but it should be avoided nonetheless.

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Best Of The Best: The Greatest Sports Cars Of All Time

It’s unclear who built the first sports car, and when. The need for speed has been around since the dawn of cars. People soon started to recognize performance machines and the passion behind their engineering. During the 1950s and ’60s, the sports car market exploded, eventually giving birth to the greatest sports cars of all time.

Today, after so many sports cars have graced race circuits and streets, we can safely say that those machines created the automotive community. They inspired and excited so many drivers around the world. The sports car scene consists of expensive and affordable machines. Below are the most influential sports cars that will go down as the best in automotive history. These are the true greats, so remember them fondly right here.

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Ford GT

The early 2000s supercar boost motivated many manufacturers to offer exotic cars, introduce new models, and revive old legendary names. Ford jumped on the bandwagon with a new retro-styled supercar simply called the GT, It was a clear and obvious successor to the fantastic Le Mans-winning GT40 from the late ’60s (via Auto Evolution).

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The heart of the Ford GT is Ford’s fabulous 5.4-liter supercharged V8 with 550 HP. The GT was capable of achieving a 0 to 60 mph time of just 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 205 mph. Although the Ford GT wasn’t constructed or designed with racing in mind, the car proved quite capable on the track in the hands of private teams.

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These Classic Cars Will Make You Want To Remortgage Your House

The classic car market has continued to explode in popularity and value over the past decade. What used to be an affordable project car will now cost much more. Why are classic cars becoming so pricey? First, more people who grew up wanting these cars now have the disposable income to purchase one. So the car that you might have wanted as a kid is going to set you back a pretty penny, and the car that you’ve held onto since high school might be your future retirement fund.

Collecting classic cars is a rewarding hobby and driving them is just as fun. Nothing beats the feeling of tearing down the open road in a powerful muscle car, especially if it’s a car that you built yourself. While the thought of purchasing a muscle car can be quite daunting, there are a few that are priced out of this world. We looked at classic cars that will make you want to remortgage your house. While they are great rides, the prices on these muscle cars are insane. Check them out here.

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1965 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS Convertible – $74,000.00

The Malibu was the quintessential mid-range muscle car in the ’60s and ’70s. The Malibu had a powerful V8 engine and a lightweight design that was attractive to enthusiasts. The V8 engine was one of the best that GM had put into a muscle car at the time. The Malibu boasted some of the best 0-60 times in the automotive industry. It was undoubtedly one of the most popular car models with young affluent consumers at the time (via Motor Trend).

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A 1965 Chevelle Malibu SS Convertible fetched a pretty penny at the Barrett Jackson auction. The minimum price of these muscle cars will only rise as time goes on. When it comes to the quintessential Chevy muscle car from the 1960s, the Malibu SS was it. There were quite a few special editions of the Malibu SS built, but the 1965 Chevelle Malibu SS Convertible is by far one of the most desirable options from this era.

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Everyday Cars From The ’90s & 2000s Sure To Become Classics

The 1990s and 2000s were two of the best decades for the automotive industry. Cars’ designs went from the boxy-looking vehicles of the 1980s to modern and aerodynamic designs. Engine design also advanced quite a bit and cars became more smooth and efficient. Reliability also increased as the carbureted engines were phased out in favor of fuel injection. Consumer tastes were shifting towards SUVs during these decades, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some great cars designed.

The 2000s also brought many muscle cars back into the fold, including the GTO and the Charger. Both of these models were groundbreaking in terms of performance, and one is still in production today. The decade also brought many advances in hybrid and electric vehicle technology. We looked back at everyday cars from the 1990s and 2000s that will eventually become full-fledged classics as time marches on.

Photo Credit: GM

GM EV1

The EV1 sparked a whole lot of controversy and praise at the same time. The car was the very first mass-produced electric car that was sold by a domestic automaker. The design was pulled largely from the GM parts bin but the product was capable and comfortable to drive. There were even a few celebrity owners of the car including Jay Leno and Danny DeVito (via Car & Driver).

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The EV1 hit the market on a lease program that was direct to the consumers. The problem is that there was no option to buy. At the end of the lease, GM destroyed the EV1 cars, and there was a massive public outcry over it. This event spurred the creation of the popular documentary “Who Killed The Electric Car”.

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Blue Oval Blunders: Cars & Trucks That Nearly Put Ford Out of Business

The Ford Motor Company is the oldest automaker in the world and has achieved astounding success. When the company was on a tremendous growth spur for decades, part of the reason for that success was the unique automotive designs. Cars like the Model T and the Mustang defined generations of drivers. Ford understood what it took to be a dominant force in the automotive industry. Other companies like AMC have come and gone but the ‘blue oval’ is still here.

Yet there have also been quite a few failures at the Blue Oval. These were cars that didn’t quite cut the mustard, but Ford tried to push them onto consumers anyway. The Ford Pinto comes to mind. The second-generation Ford Explorer was also marred in controversy. That controversy alone cost the company over a billion dollars in settlements and tarnished the reputation of the Explorer brand. Some of these failures were extremely costly and damaging, so we looked back at the less-than-successful cars and trucks that could have potentially put the blue oval out of business for good.

1955 Ford Thunderbird
Photo Credit: Hot Rod

Ford Thunderbird (1955-1957)

Where do we begin with the Thunderbird? It wasn’t necessarily a bad car, but it was a huge gamble for Ford. The company spent millions of dollars developing a car to compete against the Corvette. The problem with the first generation of the Thunderbird is that it wasn’t a direct competitor to the Corvette. The Corvette was built for speed while the Thunderbird was built for comfort and luxury (via The Motor Digest).

1955 Ford Thunderbird
Photo Credit: Ford

Still, the Thunderbird would be one of the most popular cars at Ford. The styling resonated with a new generation of buyers who wanted something different. The Thunderbird did gain the following in the automotive world, but the car was a major gamble for Ford. Whenever an automaker embarks on a completely new product, there are a lot of risks involved to follow.

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These Discontinued Cars Will Stun True Auto Fans If They See Them

Many older drivers remember it fondly. American roads were simply much more interesting back in the day than they are today. Many different brands, models, nameplates, and shapes roamed the streets and interstates. Unfortunately, remarkably few major companies survived because of several reasons. This left true car connoisseurs to miss the old times and discontinued names as a result.

So we compiled a list of the most remembered car models and brands that once were common in the USA. These cars are now discontinued. But at the end of the day, people miss these cars due to the sheer nostalgia and good times they had. From economy cars to high-performance exotics, some are from way back and some are from the recent past. Take a ride down memory lane right here.

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DeLorean DMC12

For a short time, it looked that America got a sports car brand that could rival Europe’s finest companies. DeLorean presented an exciting concept of a sports car with those famous Gullwing doors, modern design, and a stainless steel body but a slow V6 engine (via Autozine).

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The importance of the DeLorean brand was that this was the first global sports car company. The design came from Italy. But the engines were from France and Sweden and the cars were assembled in the UK. The owner was American. The DMC-12 had a lot of potential despite its problems with power and reliability. It’s a shame the lifespan of this sports car was cut short.

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The Best & Worst Cars That Forgotten Brand Pontiac Ever Made

The Pontiac brand was, at one time, one of the most well-known automotive brands in the world. Part of this was the success of the GTO and the Firebird in the 1960s and 70s. But despite that constant run of success, the brand steadily declined until it was ultimately discontinued in 2010. There was a special place in the hearts of automotive enthusiasts for the Pontiac brand. Pontiac was once known as the “excitement” division at GM. There were good reasons for that as their cars offered great performance and a unique sense of style.

But there have also been many blunders at the Pontiac division. Still, there have been far more successes for Pontiac than failures. The brand had endured decades of change at GM to ultimately become the victim of a poor management structure and a global recession. We looked at the best and worst cars Pontiac has ever made. Strap in, because some of these cars are as good or as bad as you remember.

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1960 Pontiac Bonneville (Best)

The 1960 Pontiac Bonneville was a work of art when it hit the market. The styling of the car was all-American with big fins off the rear end and an adequately-appointed interior. Pontiac was doing things differently, and there was not another car on the road that looked as unique as the big and bold Bonneville did (via Fifties Web).

Photo Credit: Mecum

Under the hood of the Bonneville, the excellence in design continued as the car had a powerful 389 CI/303 HP V-8 engine. Motivating this car was the technologically advanced 4-speed Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. The Bonneville’s design was groundbreaking at the time, and it ushered consumers into a new era of automotive design in the 1960s.

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