Caradise Best of 2023 – The Power of Nostalgia – Would You Buy Your First Car Back Again? At What Price?
Best of The Caradise 2023
Lately, the stupefying high prices that ‘normal’ cars are fetching at places like Bring a Trailer has us debating what exactly is driving this phenomenon? We’ve seen a 1992 Honda Civic reach over $15,000 we have also seen a $87,000 VW GTI So what gives? Money Laundering? Speculation? Too much money still around looking for a place to grow?
Any car clocking less than 20,000 miles seems to inspire an auction frenzy that my regular part of the brain cant reach for. Over $20,000 for a 5,000 mile Chevette? But…why? Surely there are better automotive experiences for the money right? I could get a E39 M5. Is the power of nostalgia and deep pockets combining to create an unholy alliance? Is it a generational shift where the big money is leaving the 1940s-1960s and now moving to 1970s-2000s? That’s very likely happening before our eyes.
I have bought a car that I had before many times for sure. I had 2 VW Phaetons, 5 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4s, I had 4 BMWs 330s E46 (Nearly all BMWs were manual), 2 Saab Viggens, so I do that fairly regularly, but I know enough a well maintained 200K mile car will feel 99% the same as a garage queen with 20K miles and the same age. So, while I would likely buy back nearly every car I’ve ever driven, I don’t believe there is magic in finding a 20K mile car and overpaying 4x for it. I just can’t make the jump. What magic am I missing?
What would make you spend this money on a car from this era? Some of us think these are someone’s first car (or Parents’ car) and the only way to get that experience back is to overpay for 1986 Jetta GLI with 50,000 miles. As Don Draper would famously say: ‘Nostalgia; is delicate, but potent’
I do have trouble understanding how much of the prices we see are just Nostalgia pricing. And if every car is someone’s first car, does that mean any car with low miles can be flipped at 5x its price? Should I start tracking Chevettes, Mustang IIs, Citations and Cadillac Cimarrons? Nissan Sentras and Altimas?
I recently had a chance to buy back the exact same first car I bought at a dealership. Yes, somehow a 1996 Mitsubishi Mirage S Sedan popped up with less than 100,000 miles in 2023, but the asking price was nearly $6,000. I did think about it. Is this a $6,000 car? Of course not. But the Nostalgia Tax doesn’t seem that far off. That car sold within two weeks, so now is just a ‘what could have been’ question. Would you buy a car you owned before? your first car? at what price?
