How the Vintage Truck Market Got So Big

“Special then, special now.” That mantra goes a long way in explaining today’s collector car market. The idea is this: If a car was unique and desirable when it was new due to style, performance, or rarity, it’s a good bet that it will be coveted by collectors later. Enthusiasts tend to chase the dreams that they once had—and still have—and valuations follow. Think 427 Cobra. Jaguar E-Type. Porsche 911S.

There’s another bit of the market filled with cars that somehow still exist despite overwhelming attrition. They became special despite being ubiquitous in their day, simply due to the majority of them vanishing before anybody thought to care. Think Datsun 510. Honda CRX. 1970s American wagons.

Classic trucks don’t really fit in either of these two categories. GM, Ford, and Dodge built way too many pickups in the postwar years for most of them to be considered special. And they were designed to work for a living, not for fun or as status symbols. Old truck attrition isn’t much of a factor, either. GM built nearly 4 million trucks from 1967 to 1972 alone, and Ford just under 3 million. There’s still a strong supply of drivable examples, even after decades of hard use as rust and damage culled the numbers.

Despite all that, classic trucks—particularly those built from that magical 1967–72 era—have been on a tear in the collector vehicle market. This isn’t new, either. It has been happening for several years, with strong prices for survivors and modified examples achieving six-figure results over and over across the auction blocks of America. As one perplexed old school hot rod and street rod builder friend of mine put it after a trip to a recent Arizona auction, “It’s just a bunch of @#$*ing trucks.”

So, how did we get here? How did classic trucks evolve to the spot they’re in now, and why do they seem to have staying power beyond other fads in the marketplace?

High Impact

If you want to understand the recent truck market, you first need to understand the muscle car market’s meteoric rise in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

In those years, enthusiasts who first experienced muscle cars and the scene in the 1960s and 1970s had entered their peak earning years. Muscle car prices rose steadily into the 2000s, with the first million-dollar muscle car at auction (a Hemi ’Cuda convertible) making waves in 2002. LS6 Chevelles, Boss 429 Mustangs, Ram Air GTOs, and A12 Road Runners were always considered special if not valuable, but the market woke to them in a big way in this era, with the best examples setting records at auction for years—right up until the housing crash dropped on top of the collector car market in 2009.

Craig Jackson of Barrett-Jackson saw the muscle revolution developing, and as he took charge of the family business in 1995, he positioned his company to take advantage of shifting demographics by bringing in more muscle cars for sale. “As Tom Barrett said, when we started the auction, they were new cars out in the parking lot,” Jackson told Linkage magazine. “When I started collecting muscle cars … I owned, with my parents, a Figoni et Falaschi Delahaye. And when we sold that car, I took my part of the profits and went out and bought a ZL-1 and a Hemi ’Cuda convertible. My dad told me that I was out of my mind.

“My brother and I—when he was still alive, he died in ’95—we had both talked. And he loved muscle, too. So he took the brunt of telling my dad and Barrett that we need to bring more of these in. When my brother passed, the first year I sent a questionnaire out to all my customers. We tweaked the auction based off listening to all my customers’ input.”

Muscle cars soon became a Barrett-Jackson staple, and Barrett-Jackson became a Speedvision (later Speed Channel) staple, helping to propel that auction’s growth—and the market for American muscle—to a wider audience.

Popularity in the muscle car world spilled over into the truck world in that era, too—both for classic trucks and for then-new examples. It didn’t take enthusiasts long to realize that the same muscle car fundamentals they chased after also lived underneath those relatively cheaper pickup beds and bodies. There was available V-8 power, a live rear axle, and a simple suspension system.

“I blame the class of ’83,” says C10 Talk podcast host and owner Ronnie Wetch. He’s interviewed hundreds of truck buyers, builders, and parts manufacturers over the past decade, with 310 episodes aired to date.

“It’s a generational thing,” says Wetch. “These guys, they wanted the Barracudas, the Plymouths, the Camaros, the Chevelles, the muscle cars—maybe the Mustang—whatever it might have been. They’re like, I can’t afford that. I’m working at Taco John’s, Taco Bell, you know, whatever they’re doing, maybe the local grocery store. Well, they can afford an old truck.

“And so those guys got those trucks, then built those trucks and then made them rad, and that made the younger kids want them, too. So the class of ’83, they’re in. As time evolves, the class of ’89, the class of ’92, the class of ’95. Those generations of kids got involved, too. That’s just the Chevrolet C10 alone, ’60 all the way up to ’87. And then you get into GM’s C/K, you know … the OBS (old body style, 1988–98) and the NBS (new body style, 1999–2007) will come into their day as well.”

The Nostalgia Factor

Muscle car prices are part of the story here, then, but they’re not the only factor. Ask any owner why they own their truck and you’ll hear a story about their family. Hindsight tends to add a rose-colored tint to experiences. Times seem simpler in retrospect, shaped by memories from the passenger’s side of a bench seat, on the way to run errands, get parts, haul equipment, or grab some ice cream. Those days get further away as the years pass—but the trucks are still here.

Josh Molenkamp had a 1972 Chevelle project as a teen in the early 2000s—right at the time that those cars were seeing increased popularity and prices in the market. He took a hard turn from the norm and chose to sell the Chevelle. He instead built a ’70 Chevrolet C10 that had belonged to his father.

“I did it mostly because of the history with the truck,” says Molenkamp. “It was the first thing I had driven. I was 12, and I started driving that truck out to the woods going hunting and whatnot. And I just loved it. We had a ton of memories in it. I think there’s a lot more people who connect with having and being around an old truck. Everybody knows somebody who had one … And so it’s the nostalgic thing that people now are really after.”

Molenkamp still has the ’70, now lowered and often spotted doing burnouts on Instagram (@jmolenkamp) or cruising to events with his son or daughter. He’s added a lowered first-gen Blazer to the mix as well. “The Blazer is a weird vehicle to wrap your head around,” he says. It’s similar to an A-body Chevelle or GTO, but it’s a convertible pickup. It’s smaller than a car. But unlike the truck, the kids all fit and can come, too.”

Six-Figure Enthusiasm

At the high-altitude view, all that works to explain how trucks became popular in the collector space—but over the past few years, we’ve seen surprising and steady growth in the segment at both auctions and events. That can be chalked up to some of the same shifting demographics that powered the muscle car market’s rise.

A new group of buyers, 20-plus years removed from their youth and now in their own buying prime, are looking back. They still love muscle cars, but for many of them, what they had were classic trucks. And they didn’t leave them stock back then, either.

“A key tell on this was something I saw at auction a number of years back,” says Wetch. “There was a ’71 Plymouth ’Cuda and it wasn’t a Hemi or anything. I don’t even think it was a 440. It went for something like $58K. And then an ’84 C10—LS swapped, lowered, rims, tires. It went for about $10,000 more. And at that point I was like, OK, we’ve made a big shift.”

Since the late 2010s, the trend has continued. Pick your location—Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale or Palm Beach, Mecum in Kissimmee or Indy—and you’ll find six-figure sales on custom truck builds, both from the GM and Ford camps, and usually featuring coilover or air suspension, modern fuel-injected V-8 power, and plus-sized wheels and brakes. Events have sprung up and grown all over the country, too—including Dino’s Git Down in Arizona, where more than 10,000 GM trucks came together for a two-day event this past November.

“Much like we experienced with baby boomers collecting classic American muscle cars, Gen Xers and millennials are attracted to the SUVs and trucks of their youth,” says Craig Jackson.

“In 2014, a multiple-award-winning custom 1957 Chevrolet pickup named ‘Quicksilver’ took home top honors at the Barrett-Jackson Cup competition. That win helped change the concept of what can be a collectible vehicle in the hobby and in the industry. The truck crossed our Scottsdale auction block in 2016 and sold for $214,500—an amount unheard of for a custom pickup just a few years prior.

“Over the last several years, trucks and SUVs—like the 1970s Ford Broncos, Toyota Land Cruisers, and Chevy Blazers, as well as third-generation Toyota SR5 trucks—have become as much of a status symbol as they are utilitarian. Much like American muscle cars, resto-mod trucks and SUVs are sophisticated, reliable, and even safer, with modern amenities, comfort, and technology.”

Mecum’s 2023 Kissimmee auction set a high-water mark for C10s with a Roadster Shop–built 1969 C10 that sold for $264,000. It featured a completely new custom chassis, 755-hp Corvette ZR1 LT5 engine, 10-speed automatic, Forgeline wheels, and more.

Barrett-Jackson has sold Hogan-built first-gen Chevrolet Blazers in Scottsdale for $440K in 2022, 2023, and 2024, with another bringing $337,700 in January of 2025. At the same auction this year, Barrett-Jackson consigned 45 Chevrolet and GMC trucks built from 1967 to ’72. Two of them sold for $200K or more, 10 of them made $100K or more, and 26 sold for $60K or more. Ken Block’s ’77 Ford “Hoonitruck” brought $990K, alongside 14 other F-series trucks that each brought over $100K. All of those trucks were modified.

Call it live auction hubris if you want. Bidder’s bar enthusiasm. The power of TV. But it’s not just happening at live auctions. In June 2023, Bring a Trailer offered a supercharged LS3-powered ’68 C10 that had been awarded the Chevrolet Design Award and Goodguys Gold Award at SEMA in 2018. It sold for $250,000. Maybe it’s an outlier—the next highest BaT sale for the model stands at $130K. But this truck had 11 active bidders after the bidding crested $100K, which should tell you something.

Build Your Own

The aftermarket has facilitated this rise in value, and the sheer production numbers of trucks mean that little is sacred when it comes to restoration vs. modification.

Walking the floor at the SEMA show in Las Vegas is a lot like going to a truck show these days, thanks to manufacturers who embrace these vehicles the same way they embraced hot rods and muscle cars.

“In the last five to seven years, classic truck popularity has been off the charts,” says Blane Burnett, brand marketing manager at Ridetech and former senior events manager at Holley Performance Products. “The age-old 30-year rule, nostalgic draw, and the shift in how trucks are viewed in terms of performance events such as LS Fest, Moparty, Ford Festival, Pro Touring Truck Shootout, etc. have boosted the classic truck space. Increases in the quantity, quality, and capability of classic truck builds have resulted.

“I was blessed with the opportunity to curate some of the industry’s most impactful lifestyle enthusiast events at Holley, and over the years, participants began asking for something truck focused. In 2018, the Truck Grand Champion category debuted at LS Fest and became a staple at other Holley events going forward, giving truck owners an arena of their own to be competitive. Factor that along with the prices that some of the high-level truck builds are bringing at auctions like Barrett Jackson and others, and it’s clear to see that classic trucks are going to be hot for some time yet.”

Community and Continuity

All these factors combine in a segment of the market that’s both flashy and everyman approachable. It’s not about “special then, special now” or some now-scarce model. It seems to be about recapturing and reimagining an experience, and accessible nostalgia crossed over modern performance and style, which is proving a powerful mix for those drawn to old trucks. And that blue-collar background seems to transcend some of the traditional boundaries. Even the nicest truck is still a truck.

“You go to a truck show and you could literally have a six-figure truck and then maybe not right next to it, but in close proximity, a young guy with a $20,000, $10,000 truck,” says Wetch. “That guy with that high-price truck will likely come over and be like, ‘Hey, I like what you’re doing … That’s super cool.’ And then that kid might go over and be like, ‘Wow, look at this truck.’ So you bring it all together. The metal brings us there, but the people keep you coming back. And that’s really one thing that we’ve tried to pride the community on.”

That community has proven that it’s willing to spend, and auction houses that have learned how to serve their audiences are bringing in trucks based on that demand, now alongside JDM cars and next-gen classics and sports cars from the 1980s. Time marches on.

“I tell my audience, hey, don’t look back and say we were in a movement, know that we’re in a movement and have a little bit more fun while in that movement,” says Wetch. “The quote that I use is ‘the trucks are cool, but the people are cooler.’ That is hard to beat in the world we live in.”