Insights: Indulgences—Driving Passions

Which of today's new cars will one day be collector items?

Matt Kramer
From the Print Edition:
Bo Derek, Jul/Aug 00

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I look at the auction records on Jackson's Web site. Sure enough, you can pick up a Ferrari 308 (that's the one Tom Selleck drove on "Magnum P.I.") for as little as $25,000. Not a collector Ferrari. And that Ferrari 275 Jackson mentioned? A 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB-4 recently sold for $233,000.

I call a Ferrari dealer to inquire about the price for a new 550 Maranello. "Well, first you put down $15,000 for a deposit to get on the list. Then you wait one and one-half to two years for the Maranello. It'll cost you $213,000, before any options like fitted luggage [$5,200]. I can tell you this much," he adds, "I just sold a used Maranello for $240,000."

Sounds like a collector's car to me. But will it appreciate as much in value as its original inspiration, the 275 GTB-4? Probably not. After all, that car originally cost just $20,000. To get to that appreciation value, the Maranello will have to fetch a cool $2.5 million three decades from now. A bit steep, but then again, who ever imagined that a gallon of gas would cost $1.75 in the year 2000?

Oregon-based Matt Kramer is a columnist for Wine Spectator, Cigar Aficionado's sister publication.

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