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5 Vehicles Falling the Furthest in a Sluggish Market
As the first three months of the year drew to a close, we witnessed what could be best described as a roller coaster. We observed some enthusiasm returning to the market in January, but by the end of the quarter, we noted buyers showing more restraint and continuing the trend of a softening market. We previously discussed our most noteworthy value gainers, so here we will discuss some of the cars that posted the most significant losses in valuation (measured by average value increase across all four condition ratings) in the latest Hagerty Price Guide update.
As always, if you have questions about how we arrived at these changes, you can read more about the methodology behind the Hagerty Price Guide here.
1962–65 Bentley S3, -22%
Bentley’s flagship S-series entered its third iteration in 1962 with heavy styling updates from its S1 and S2 predecessors. For many Bentley enthusiasts, the change from two to four headlights and the softening of lines is something you either love or hate, but it’s hard to deny that the S3 and upmarket S3 Continental was the most mature and fully developed of the series. In the case of the Continental, these were still coach-built cars, built to order by highly skilled builders in an incredibly hands-on process.
While Crewe’s craftsmanship made for the pinnacle of luxury, it also meant that these were very intricate and time-consuming cars to produce. Fast forward six decades, and all that bespokery means restoring an S3 is a cost-prohibitive endeavor, to put it nicely. As a result, in the classic Bentley market, values for exceptional cars stayed the course while vehicles in poorer conditions experienced a rather drastic drop as buyers became less willing to shell out good money on a car that needed a truckload of cash to make right. This isn’t isolated to just the S3—coachbuilt Rolls-Royces and Bentleys of all models and years experienced a hit this past quarter. The S3, however, saw the largest hit of them all. Perhaps British luxury marques are the perfect embodiment of the market as it sits today; the best still command good money while the rest languish.
1968–71 Mercury Cyclone, -15%
1968 brought a huge update to the Cyclone’s body styling, offering a sleeker body and more performance prowess. As elsewhere in the muscle car world, Mercury’s performance offerings were cooking with gas in the late ’60s: you could order the Spoiler II, a sleeker model meant to homologate the Cyclone for NASCAR, or the powerful Cobra Jet equipped models, ready to do battle at the drag strip.
January auctions at Kissimmee and Scottsdale are, without a doubt, the biggest test for muscle cars. While Cyclones appear less frequently than a comparable Ford Torino, a handful of Cyclones did pop up this time, including a pair of Spoiler II’s. These sales fell far short of expectations, prompting a hefty drop in values across most third- and fourth-generation Cyclones. The muscle car market is currently sitting in a mixed state with big cars such as LS6 Chevelles still gaining ground, but less mainstream models losing steam, as witnessed here. As the year continues, muscle cars will be a spot to focus on as the market continues to seek footing.
1958–60 Ford Thunderbird, -15%
Ford’s second-generation Thunderbird was a huge departure from the preceding “Baby Bird,” moving the model away from a sports car and Corvette competitor to a Personal Luxury model. This move made sales soar, blowing away the previous model and setting the T-Bird on a whole new trajectory. A four-seater using a then-novel unibody construction, “Square Birds” were shorter and sleeker compared to the average full-size coupe at the time and set the tone for the personal luxury coupes of subsequent decades. Despite the innovation and popularity at the time, second-gen T-Birds are seen far less frequently these days.
That said, this model had a healthy amount of market activity this past quarter from which we could draw data. We did note listings on the higher end, but these listings have been sitting on the market, indicating that asking prices are much too high. The sales we have observed have been weaker. As a model, Thunderbirds remain popular, although personal luxury and luxury vehicles of the early ’60s are showing signs of weakening across the board. While it’s too early to draw too many conclusions, the Square Bird market does appear to be softening.
2008–11 Tesla Roadster, -11%
Love ’em or hate ’em, Tesla’s vehicles have been as innovative as they have been divisive (see Cybertruck). In the early days of 21st-century EV exploration, sporty attributes weren’t a consideration for electric vehicles. As a result, the Lotus-based Roadster’s debut was something of a revelation. It wasn’t just novel, it was quick by any standard, a sub-four-second zero-to-60 time in a car with an advertised range of 250 miles. Ever-improving tech has gradually rendered the Roadster’s technology obsolete, but these cars have turned into must-haves for the small cadre of EV collectors.
It’s not terribly common to see these cars come up for sale. However, the Tesla Roadster has positioned itself as a leading indicator of the collectible EV market. We observed a pair of excellent, well-equipped examples transact for notably less than Price Guide recommended values. It’s a small sample size, but like with other cars that rarely come to market, these transactions do influence value and infer buyer sentiment. While interest remains in enthusiast EVs, the market may be losing some charge, even in its niche corner of the hobby.
1991–99 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4, -11%
Better known for its rally-bred Lancer Evolution, Mitsubishi did tend to enthusiasts beyond the ones who loved gravel back roads. In fact, Mitsubishi’s flagship model through the 1990s, the 3000GT (or GTO for the Japanese market), capably did battle against the Supra, the 300ZX, and other big players from the Land of The Rising Sun. This Grand Touring machine would be offered in several configurations, from a front-wheel drive naturally aspirated model to the powerful VR4, sporting all-wheel drive and a 320 horsepower twin-turbo V-6.
Today, Mitsubishi enthusiasts are a minority among Japanese car collectors. The cars are less abundant than those from Honda or Toyota, plus their reputation of being comparatively more fragile and difficult to work on has kept all but the most enthusiastic fans away. However, a number of these came to market over the past few months, with driver-grade vehicles selling for as much as 40% below recommended values—only one sold above its condition-appropriate value. The clear valuation direction is downward for these big Mitsubishis. Less than a year ago (after the pandemic boom had already slowed), they had reached a historic high—this reversal of fortune suggests that the slowing of the market has crept into even hot segments of the market. Last week, we discussed the CRX Si as a large gainer, so as the market continues to evolve, high-riding Japanese cars will be an area to watch closely.
How does the Dodge Stealth match up as far as value to its Mitsubishi sibling?
The Stealth was going for typically less than the 3000GT in the past if you can find one. it’s a bit of a Unicorn on the market. They were quick cars in the day but I remember the Eclipse GSX feeling more roomy and that 4G63 motor had huge aftermarket support. Having said that I remember back in the 90’s friends who had one of these and upgraded the turbos. It was very quick.
I thought you were dead!
I just bought a 1991 Stealth Twin Turbo with 91K miles in January for $8,500. It’s a #3 car. The owner bought it on BAT in 2022 for $12,500. I think it was both a very good deal and indicative of the soft market.
I owned a Dodge Stealth Twin Turbo AWD in the early 90’s. As has been pointed out they were big & very heavy.
Had some interesting features like 4 wheel steering. Looked better than their actual performance. Biggest issue I had was with the manual transmission which lost sync. on two different transmissions. Both were replaced under warranty. Today if you find one I think repairs and parts can be difficult
I can imagine how scarce parts for these cars are now. In the 90’s we had a Plymouth Laser with the hot 4 cyl. DOHC Mitsubishi powertrain. It was a blast to drive, but even then parts were hard to come by and expensive.
Top of the line, most HP versions are most always the most desirable and best value holders. I that vein, the 3000GT VR-4 always trumped the Stealth RT, with the addition of active aero and 4 wheel steering. I would expect the RT to come in about 10% lower in price. I owned my 94 VR-4 for 3 years, before replacing with an NSX, which is still in the collection and covered by Hagerty.
I’m one of the people that would be interested in the Mitsubishi, but I’ve read there’s almost no support for it which really turns me off. I wonder if other people have read the same thing.
Drove one years ago. I wasn’t terribly impressed. Felt heavy and not particularly quick. It wasn’t a very long drive, so maybe it was just that car.
No, it wasn’t just that car. The VR-4 variant of the 3000GT is heavy and it has to overcome the added friction of it’s AWD system. It really is more of a Grand Tourer than a high-performance canyon carver. Leather, dual zone climate control, many-speaker stereo…. and just enough room under that back hatch for some golf clubs… tells you all you need to know. Great car for the retiree wanting a fast looking car. I use to sell them brand new at Carlsbad Mitsubishi/Hyundai in San Diego. They would sit on the lot unsold for months. There was just so much competition at the time with the 300ZX, Supra, RX-7 and the popularity of SUV’s gaining. Less and less people wanted 2-door coupes.
Support is why my driver is a C6 Corvette, I can get parts at Walmart and AutoZone. Complex, later model cars that are rare or niche can be very difficult to source parts and tech.
Yup!
There is and has been historically a lot of support for these cars. The VR4 and its Dodge cousin the twin turbo RT Stealth are the only models to own if fun is the objective. See http://www.3si.org for huge amounts of info and support.
Go with the ASC McLaren Turbo Grand Prix from 89-90 much cooler car and with so few built they’re gonna start to gain some popularity as soon as people realize they built such a thing.
I highly doubt ANYONE is going to recognize the value of that car. For one big kicker, it’s FWD… and the 3000GT/Stealth are significantly better looking/have a actual history to them. That front drive Pontiac will never approach those values or notoriety and it’s just flat out delusional to think so.
You mention Mitsubishi, I worked a Dodge Dealer years ago when the Conquest came out. Great looking car in my opinion but the 2.6 Turbo left a bit to be desired. The engine as a whole I don’t think was not that bad but the intake system and the Turbo size restricted the power especially on the earlier models as the Turbo wads not even water cooled! I did a few Turbo water conversions to them as I guess made them a little more reliable but still no powerhouse or fast car for that matter. I have heard of a balance shaft elimination kit which reduces some dead weight of the rotating mass but sometimes wonder if anybody has really been able to
make the 2.6 make a lot of power!
I had a 1996 Mitsubishi Spyder Hardtop with the twin turbos for 5 years, sold in 2018. Cool car, but keeping the hardtop aligned was a bit of a nightmare. Had to use a special computer program to get it set up correctly. If you live in a big metropolitan area, you can find someone who knows how to do it, otherwise you’ll have to learn it yourself. I sold because I didn’t want to move or drive it 1000 miles away when I moved, and I was worrying about a big system failing – AWD, 4WS, twin turbos, hardtop convertible – any of these things go, you’re looking at $5K easily. Happy I sold it when I did.
TopLink is a fairly easy to run program for alignment calibration and trouble shooting IMHO. Definitely not a lot of people out there that are “expert” as far as working on a Spyder if you have problems beyond that but they are out there. I recently had all the hydraulics reconditioned on mine (in November) all new seals, aging rubber parts replaced, a leak fixed and some other “tweaks” done for just over $1500. Hardly “$5000”. Took him 3 days of labor so very reasonable, It has never worked better and far less stressing than my 57 Skyliner ever was! LOL
Of the cars mentioned, I’ve always admired the “Square Bird.” It has clean, uncluttered styling cues that flow nicely around the entire car. The “grand touring” interior is very attractive. I am doubtful about the build quality and not sure if the chassis was up to FE big block power. The handling is, of course, forgettable. However, as a cruiser, it really makes a statement.
“If there’s a God in heaven He’s got a Silver Thunderbird.” – Marc Cohn
Is it just me, or does that ’58 Ford Thunderbird image look very AI-generated??! I think that’s a crash-test dummy with some odd tan lines sitting in the car, and check out the Edsel in the background with LED headlamps.
The whole story seems written by AI, no mention of average prices on the cars, generic descriptions. Wasted read. Do better.
If it was AI generated, whoever did such also has a time machine to transport the file back to 2016 and upload it to Getty images: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/crash-test-dummy-sits-on-the-drivers-side-of-a-ca-1960-two-news-photo/515180526
Maybe do some research beyond just “the vibes are off” before insulting an author like that. Do better.
OR—- AI was smart enough to put that in the Getty archive?? LOL
Hi Ronald, author here. Thanks for the feedback on more data, sorry it wasn’t found to be engaging. I can say that neither I or any other Hagerty writer uses AI to write our articles. We’re better than that.
I actually love all the Hagerty stories they do. The writing and photos are amazing. I think it’s a compliment to suggest AI wrote this story as AI can outdo many just ok writers.
Mark me as another vote of support. I look forward every Saturday to weekend road trip. Keep up the good work Greg!!
Thanks for replying to the readers’ questions. I also suspected something was “odd” with that Tbird photo. It definitely generated (ha) some buzz of it’s own. I’m glad to read your response addressing AI, my biggest fear with these Hagerty pieces is that AI will infiltrate the ranks. Good to know that hasn’t happened. As for the photo, I had to laugh, or at least half-chuckle/half cringe at that photo. Can some light be shed on what, why, and when this odd PR photo (which does look extremely AI-ish) was shot?
It always makes me shake my head. No matter what, every week, there are always one or two readers who feel the need to criticize the writers/content of the articles.
These are not encyclopedic articles intended to be “the “ authoritative end all be all of information. Can we maybe view them as what they are? Brief overviews on assorted topics of varying interest to varying readers.
Some here seem to take themselves quite seriously.
YUP!
Yes, but I think it’s just for reference.
Well this list makes perfect sense for any buyer who is paying attention. The Bentley, while possessing classic British styling, is a total money pit; the SquareBird, while iconic, is something of a lump to drive around–they corner and brake badly, eat gas, and never seem to run well; the Tesla is, well, a Tesla; the Cyclone just suffers from an also-ran status–nobody cares; the VR4 is heavy, not all that fast, is short on parts, and breaks a lot. Looks cool, though.
That Bentley pictured is epic.
I want to know more about that 1960 Thunderbird Convertible image. The image credit says Ford but why is it wearing what looks like 70s Mopar wheel covers? There was a promo image from the era like this, but it had the correct covers.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/vintage-ads-and-brochures/vintage-advertising-life-by-the-water/
The wheel covers shown on the ‘square bird’ convertible photo above are from a 1960 Ford Galaxie, not a 70s Mopar. Still, the covers shown in the link you posted are the correct ones for this ‘bird’, and not sure why they showed ’60 Galaxie covers on the above picture?
I’m guessing early publicity photo, taken before Ford decided to stick with the ’59 wheel covers?
The photo was uploaded to Getty in 2016. The file info says it was taken in 1900, so the shooter didn’t set the camera when he/she bought it. In any case, it pretty obviously wasn’t taken when the car was new. The shooter was simply trying to create a saleable image; the price shows the he or she was successful at that.
Sorry – wrong photo.
I drove a friend’s relatively new manual transmission Dodge Stealth R/T (or it was a Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4, I don’t remember which). I do know that it was the AWD twin turbo. The car was like a spaceship to me in its era, and I was very excited to get to drive it. The thing that amazed me was how bad/sloppy the shifter was – it was very very difficult to drive because you couldn’t tell what gear you may have selected. And this is coming from a guy that had owned a Dodge Omni GLH which also had a bad shifter – but not as bad as that Mitsubishi. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed.
The Bentley is beautiful, stunning and elegant. Not surprised at the drop as it is a deep but narrow market that will (and can) pay for the top tier ones and lesser ones languish. But, did I mention beautiful?
My “personal popularity” with the Mit’s 3000 GT has slightly diminished. Been driving them since 1991 and have owned over a dozen. I’m down from at one time having 5 of them to just 3 …and one of them is for sale. The one I wouldn’t sell unless somebody offered just stupid money for is a 96 Spyder that is coming up on 30k miles. I’m having way to much fun driving that one. For what I paid for it when it had 12k miles on it I could have had a 2 year old Honda w/ 80k miles. Am I sad I bought a car with a MSRP of $60k (I have the window sticker) for under $20k ? Not at all. 1st retractable hard top convertible since the 1959 Ford Skyliner and only made for 2 years (95-96) My plan is to drive the wheels off of it with a big smile on my face.
Paying attention to Mecum Kissimmee, BJ and the recent mecum- C2 Corvettes seem to be down.
Like have seen ’65 365 hp cars barely breaking the 40’s, ’66-’67 427/390 cars bids slowing at $80k etc.
But is hard to tell if it’d due to paint job that isn’t on par, etc.
What about a 327/300. Would be a survivor except for an old paint job. 4 spd, factory side exhaust. Orig interior, showing some wear. Orig driver train. Owned for 45 years, mostly on a lift for last 30 years. redid cooling system (with $1000 oem style radiator) and after market calipers.
The only ” classic” by definition in this article is the 3000 gt.
What is your definition of “classic”? The 3000 GT is an extreme example of a niche vehicle that had almost zero factory support after five years of going on sale.
I rode in that Bentley in 1966 in England. An English friend of my parents had one. He said all his friends gave him crap for having a Bentley instead of a Roller and added “I just don’t like the bloody grill on the Rolls.”
These are all, or should be, fun cars. To expect long term gains in their value seems a stretch. Buy what you like and forget all the hype from the experts.
Drove a 3000GT as my work(30 mi one way) car for a few years before retirement.
Really enjoyed driving it and thought it fast until I got up against a Corvette.
It was the car in which I learned of “Torque Steer”.
Seems everything became a collector car once mustang Camaro and corvettes got stupid prices. Now that desirable stuff has gone soft, weird wonders of the car world have returned to being oldies but goodies.
An LSD can correct that!