ing a chance

Tony Whitney
Contributing Writer

T suppose that every
auto enthusiast, at some
time or another, dreams
of stumbling on a clas-
sic car at a bargain price
— or maybe ne price at
ali.

The hoped-tor scenario is
tinding a cobweb-covered
Bugatti in some forgotten
uncle’s bara and having him
suggest you take it Off his
hands so he can move another
hayrake in there.

Of course, serious classics
are very expensive indeed,
such is the worldwide interest
in historic vehicles among
wealthy collectors — the peo-
ple who set market prices.

At one recent classic car
auction in the U.S., prices
were up to levels unheard of

tor years and $50,006 would
seemingly ver vou nothing
Too exciting at all,
Thanktully, though, here
is a way for peeple on a bud-
get te get their hands on
something approachini a
“classic” and that's to try and
figure out what the classics of
tomorrow are going to be.

After all, comorraw’s col-
tectibles are, to many cases,
siting on vour local dealer's
fot at bargain prices.

The problem is deciding
which of the vehicles pro-
duced over the past decade or
20 are going to be of interest
to collectors in che future.

It vou do happen on sone:

On tom

thing which qualities, vou'll
wet the added bonus that your
original investnent is ttkely to
be reasonably secure and as
the car's collectability grows,
it will even increase in price.
Not surprstigly, there are
sehicles chat will never be clis-
sies if they sit on the Jot tor
another century, Good that

photo ‘grob’

EARLY Mazda RX7s had great character, went and handled well and were beauti-
tully built. This 1984 RX7 still looks good today.

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they may have been in their
day, Chrysler K-cars, Ford
Granadas and Chevrolet
Berrettas are candidates for
reeveling, rather than tuture
chassis.

Some cars are classies trom
the day they coll off the pro-
duction fine, but most of
them --- the Jayuars, Ferraris
and Mercedes Sis -— never
sink to bargain level.

Sports cars have always
been a good bet tor future
collectability, thanks to their
umeless appeal and relatively
low production runs. Any
Corvette, for example, will
sooner or fater become a cov:
ected classic. Even quite late
Alf Romeo Spiders (convert-

rrow’s Classics

ibles) can be picked up fora
song in Canada and they're
already bey ginning to fetch
quite high prices in Europe.
For less than $10,060 vou can
find a nice, clean ftalian road-
ster that qualifies as a “poor
motorists Ferrari.” Look after
it and Cs ualihe.y chac it will
ver depreciate.

rly Mazda RX7s are also
worth a look. The first ones
had grest character, went and
handled well and were beautt
fully built. Many fans argue
that the styling of this spert-
ster was never bettered by
later models. The car was
technically interesting, dianks

See History page 40

ANNOUNCEMENT

Regeney Nissan is proud te

unce that a new player has

joined their successfal team.
Carl Valentine. the former

y coach of the \

‘ancouver B6er's.

4 has hung up his cleats and put
on at suit to play on a new field.

Carl invites everyone to came by
to talk about the new Nissans or
his old soccer days.

“200 Marine Drive.

: Uwww. regencyauio. com -

choose fro

ys