Is the 850 becoming a classic?

[SomeGuy537]

What do you guys think about this? Will the 850 ever become a cult classic like say the 240 or will it always be cheap? I do realize the T5-R and R-models have been expensive collectibles for a while but i wonder if the basic models will ever become valuable like the basic 240's are. It might differ between countries but in Finland and Sweden 850's are still only worth around 1000 USD in the average beater condition with turbo's and nice ones fetching a little more.

[BlackBart]

Want mine to get in on the ground floor?

[SomeGuy537]

Want mine to get in on the ground floor?

What do you mean?

[scot850]

He is joking! He is suggesting you buy his before they become popular and prices rise!

I don't see why they should not be popular. When I see what older cars are selling for these days, especially back in the UK where I came from, then they should eventually be worth more. But I think they will have to be in good running condition as it will be a while before a cheap car will be worth anything as most need $2-3000 to get to a reasonable stage 1 condition mechanically, but then their value will still only be about what you have into it if the body, paint and interior are excellent.

In some areas there are still to many around to be anything other than a cheap car. Over here in Canada where I live, they are disappearing fast as people don't maintain them. Few are willing to put the money into them unless they can do the work themselves. Because of that even half decent high mileage cars have hopeful owners asking from $3000 CDN and up, even for base spec models.

Neil.

[manovlov]

This car has something special. When i look to others wagons cars from other trades, they seem to me not so well drawn. In Europe, the rules mean that in 2035, petrol and diesel engines will have leave roads. In France the only hope is to get what we call here "Collection car", special plate, special insurance, and no possibility to drive the car as a daily one. Because pollution as they say, which may be a part of the truth.

In 2018, 4 billions of humans have traveled by plane.

Honestly...

As a housekeeper, my flat is placed to 450 meters from the first building i have to clean, and 300 meters from the second one. I mostly take my 850 to get out of town to have a ride with my german shepperd, in the country where stand some small lakes and where she can swim.

Politicians don't want to develop the rail shipping and encourage the road trucks shipping. In France, in 1960, 87 % of the cities (from big ones to small ones) used to have a train station...

[matthew1]

Yes, it's becoming a classic. When will prices go way up? When the people with high nostalgia for 850s hit 45-65 age.

So if you were say 15 in 2000 and your family had an 855, you might want to get one for nostalgia reasons at age 45-65, when you have the most discretionary money to buy and keep such a thing. That would be 2030-2050. That's just an example I cut from whole cloth.

This trend can be seen now with 140 and 240 models, when we Gen X'ers grew up with these Volvos. I'm 50, and I'm actually really thinking about a nice RWD Volvo (945) or an 850 Turbo (again).

dyk-mar2018-discretionary-spending-age-tier.png (17.48 KiB) Viewed 1099 times

Note my thoughts and the above chart are the US market. Chart: https://resources.datadrivenmarketing.e ... y-age-tier

[crlande]

In Pa I believe I can register both my cars for classic plates. Does that count? In any case, I will hate when I have to buy a new car with so much computer stuff on them and they sure as hell don't make like they used to ( I sound and feel old). I will miss being able to fiddle with them.

[BlackBart]

What Matt says is true. It's sometimes about value, but mostly about nostalgia. When did wooden spoke antiques hit their collector market peak? It was based on the age of the people who longed for them and could afford to restore them. Now we see that sort of hot rod "57 Chevy" class of cars fading a bit in price. The 60s muscle car market will follow, although the Great Horsepower War peak keeps them in the collectable category.

Really rare, beautiful, hand-made, fast cars will always be a collectable category, like a rare painting. 50's Jags, Aston Martins, any old Ferrari, etc.

You typically see an arc of a new car's value, depending on if it's special or rare or just a great car -

New - Shiny, attractive to a big market, pay full retail.
5-7 years old - Still a nice car, many are in perfect shape, many have faded and were not maintained. The people who need to be seen in a brand new car have dumped them. Value slides. Many people keep enjoying their perfectly useful car for years after.
10-15 years old - Only a few really nice ones out there, most have moved on. Yesterday's style, not much value.
20-25 years old - You don't see them any more, a lot of them are in salvage yards. A few people have rediscovered them, but they're fairly easy to find cheap. Parts for an ordinary car are harder to find.
30+ years old - They have either disappeared from the enthusiast world, or they gradually attract a small cult following - cheap sports cars, old Beetles, BMW 2002's, stylish vintage cool cars, old trucks...lots of things. This is where Matt's nostalgia formula kicks in.

All of what I said above is highly affected by the numbers built of a specific car. Were there special sport models, or better looking versions? Did they build 2000, or 2 million of them?

An example I have some experience with was the mid-70s Alfa Romeo Spider. The factory was out of money, the Italian govt was propping up the company, there was no R&D budget. They should have replaced that car in 1973. But, no, it limped through the 70s with huge hideous heavy bumpers (like the ruined MGB had), compromised emissions solutions that choked the engine, and declining quality control.

I met a couple of people who bought them new, and keep them in perfect condition. Still fun to drive, but eventually nobody wanted them. Most of them were dirty, faded, not maintained, not that good looking to start with, and the value hit the bottom of the curve. I've been stunned, honestly, in the last five years to see their values climbing back out of the junkyard level. Lately on BaT etc, there are some silly prices being paid for these slow, big bumpered old sports cars.

Around here, I see beat 240s getting snapped up by kids, people who can only afford a very old (but reliable) daily car, and maybe for 400HP drift cars in Finland or Sweden! As great as the 850 was/is, they built so many that I don't know if they'll ever reach the collectible level.

But I have been wrong many times about a great many things!!

[SomeGuy537]

The funny thing is though that there are almost twice as many 240's in sweden as there are 850's and they're still more valuable. Also the 940 is much more sought after than the 850 despite being the same age roughly speaking.

[scot850]

Harder to drift a FWD car? We know how you Finns like to rally cars!!!

Neil.