If you can maintain one without it falling apart or rusting for 30 years; yes it will be.

The Fiero, especially top spec ones will be collectible if rust doesn't win out first.

 

Just my 2 cents.
Modern cars' won't be collectible anywhere near 1950's-70's cars are because they can't do **** without an electronic control module, sensor, etc. It's fun to work on or restore a pre '80s car because you can easily identify and literally fix any problem it has because it's all mechanical. I think the bane of the dependence of computer control will be the demise of the collectable car.

 

But I still have my Commodore 64. I think I can figure a way to plug it into the CAN, no? Just looking back 40 years, the tech is so obsolete it's laughable. VCM's will be collectables maybe

A couple will end up in a museum. It's even possible they're banned in some parts of the world as they burn fossil fuels. I know the world governments are already planning for it. Who knows what the world brings 40 years from now, few of us will be around to speak of them?

Classic - always, even today. Collectible - never.

 

Why is "Too commonplace to make it collectible." a truism?

Model T's are collectible. Over 15 million were produced.
VW bugs are collectible. Over 22 million were produced.

 

Many mass produced cars have appreciated in value.
Doesnt even have to be a vintage. Or part of someone's childhood memories. Example FJ Cruiser. A 2012 is still worth 90% at trade in.

You can absolutely tell which cars will be sought after.

The formula is actually simple- but difficult to grasp. If a car can be hip to drive- there will be people lining up to buy it. For instance a Z4 is not hip to drive and it's value is near nothing. A Z8 from the same year has appreciated like you wont believe. A 2000 XKR for instance is not hip to drive and also plummeted. A 2000 Land Rover is incredibly hip to drive, and has gone up in value. A 2000 range rover with the same engine and better interior, not cool, and prices are reflect it.

The question is, will our car be in vogue 15 years from now. With near certainty. The style is as ageless as an Eames Chair, which is still produced. There will be a lul, but there will be another generation that discovers it. Frankly its one of the biggest sleepers because it was predominantly a qtip's car- which works in its favor.

 

before the candiens start crying foul.
https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/...-insane-259615

 

Any car that's 50-100 years old becomes "collectible"...

 

X100 model is where it is at CLASSIC

 

What I notice, two years ago when I was looking at the market, an eight year old XKR was asking about $6,000 less than what an eight year old XKR is going for today. A 2007 XKR in 2015 was low 30's, a 2010 XKR today is high 30's.

 

Jay Leno- the guy who knows a thing or two about making money and cars.
Says he lost money in the stock market an real estate but never cars.

There is one thing I can add to his brilliant article, that can help you pick some real winners- if you buy a car that you find attractive, and you have good taste, chances are someone else will too down the road.
Jay Leno Predicts Future Collectible and Classic Cars

 

retrospectively reading this thread a few years later, I do find it interesting how things have changed.
growing up, I fell in love with the e-type as a small child, (and, volkswagen beetles respectively). the design was just so special and exaggerated and full of character, that appreciation I had has lasted my entire life up to this point, I would categorize as the younger generation, being 19. You would be surprised at the newfound appreciation of cars among younger people, a few years ago I felt relatively alone being a younger into cars, felt like a dying interest in general,
today, just about everyone my age is "into" cars

This is not just anecdotal, it is visible through the market change on these cars which have become "trendy" now. When I was initially looking for a first car, I thought an x100 would be well out of my range, at that point you could get a decent miata for 2.5-3k$, within a year, the miata prices had jumped up to decent xk8 prices, many miatas were easily close to $10k, all because of this new influx of internet car kids,
miatas were obviously not the only victims to this change, almost all older japanese import cars became "classics", a clean ls400 sedan became a respectable car for the new car community. even those prices have risen exorbitantly as more people discovered/appreciate the intrinsic values of a lot of these cars,
now, lately, the trend seems to be focused german cars, leaving the inflated jdm prices in its wake, older bmws, porsches especially, and audis,

overnight the values on these cars can rise, likewise inflating values on anything around them that can also be seen as enthusiast cars, to get in on the trend.
while of course, car prices have dropped over the last few months, this new generation of car enthusiasts (as annoying as I see them sometimes) is not going to leave, they can be insufferable, and I have seen them that way for a while, but I have also realized that they are the key to this lasting in the future, the key to combustion engines surviving, even if new ones are banned.
I feel relatively in touch on the general mood, here are some common views:

they are typically against electric cars and the electric takeover, have no respect for people with electric cars that beat ICE cars in races, appreciate the value and driving experience of ICE cars, etc.
some still have the common view of jaguar as a marque being an "old mans' car", some still regurgitate the jaguar excessive unreliability myths while elevating german cars with often worse reliability and complications, usually to cope and feel better about their own car.

but for the most part, Jaguar is just forgotten compared to most other brands, but I feel like that could change anytime, it doesn't have to change much for the community to grow, I have seen it enough times with all sorts of conventionally worthless cars even.
occasionally, someone will post a jaguar video on tiktok, where most of these people are, and the videos will get a surprising amount of traction, lots of comments talking about how beautiful they find the car, asking more about it,
it really is something new to them when they are usually oversaturated with porsches and japanese cars,

I live in Jacksonville, Florida, regularly drive my old 1999 xk8, and dads x150, (motivated to get it by having his eyes opened to how good these cars are, through my xk8, we may even trade)
every day I see dozens of porsches, bmws, JDM cars, etc. all enthusiast cars, the car scene is big here, it is a spread out car oriented city with a large population,
and I can say on average I probably see a solid ONE x150 a year here, x100s more often, maybe because there was almost twice as many made.

in our driveway, I can become used to the sight of our cars, but in a parking lot, it really stands out how unique they are, the x150 is so striking contrasted by all these other cars you see all the time every day,
someone always comments asking about our cars, they get smiles, thumbs up, and lots of looks. from normal people of all ages and backgrounds, not even the "car enthusiast" crowd so much. I would say normal people almost see ferrari, porsches and exotics as common tryhard cars here, douchey.

I do feel like our cars have the potential to be appreciated more, I do think they have a future at this point, especially with combustion engines being killed off and the car scene continuing to grow, they just have all the right classic attributes, carbon fiber sticker riddled interiors and ricer culture will get old for some, burl wood, leather, and the intoxicating sound of even the 4,2 NA engine will always have organic value. I think the old legends and sayings about jaguar will die off with time.

even if our cars don't blow up in popularity the way these other cars have, (which is something I do appreciate) I think this generation will be motivated to find solutions to keep their older cars on the road, electronics and all, in turn giving us more options to keep ours.

I am sorry about your son, to me just seeing an e-type every once in a while is like a dream, so special, but perhaps if I had grown up with an e-type around on a regular basis, it would not be as special to me and I would like priuses lol, hard to imagine, but I do see that with a lot of things, faith, parents' hobbies, etc.