987 owners...no offence

[Burg Boxster]

Originally Posted by Mauiboxster

Exactly. I think Boxsters that were sold new for 40-50k will fetch 100k in 20-30 years for the "good" ones.

LOL - Let me know how that works out for ya.

Until then I'll take either Boxster to drive and enjoy as often as I can and not worry about what it might sell for, for someone else a long time from now.

Or, who knows, maybe some decade from now I'll buy your "good" one to help me re-live memories I'm creating today. Please keep up w/ the maintenance for me will ya?

[davemon]

I think, and certainly hope, that we're now seeing the floor for strong running and mechanically sound 986 Boxsters. They are out of production and replaced by a superior successor, the 987 (at least on paper). The fleet is aging, but not so aged that these are starting to become scarce, so I really think this is the absolute floor for these cars. Any car produced that has a Porsche badge on it will be considering collectible or at least "a nice car" as long as combustion engines are still on the road and not perceived as antiquated junk (think how many horse buggy shows are there?). Anyone picking up a nice, clean, mechanically sound 986 for 10k-14k or less only takes on the risk that they will have to replace the motor. With a brand new motor, you should be able to get most of that money back either with increased car lifespan or by reselling. The prices on the 986s can't go down any more because there is just simply too much fun to be had and too much in the box to watch the price go down any more. Collectible? Probably not in the sense of the other big names, but if you catch one in the sweet spot of the depreciation curve, you have very decent odds of breaking even in the short-term and possibly coming out ahead in the long term. Which is so much more than you can say about 95% of the other cars on the road.

For me, I'll drive and fix it until I get bored. If/when that happens if it's not worth selling, I'll cover it and remember the good times.

[fatmike]

Originally Posted by Burg Boxster

LOL - Let me know how that works out for ya.

Until then I'll take either Boxster to drive and enjoy as often as I can and not worry about what it might sell for, for someone else a long time from now.

Or, who knows, maybe some decade from now I'll buy your "good" one to help me re-live memories I'm creating today. Please keep up w/ the maintenance for me will ya?

It will work out very well. Keep in mind that 40 years ago houses cost $10K. We are living in an age of inflation -- take off the blinders.

There is a nice Karman Ghia (ugly orange) near my house. I see it a lot sitting in a garage all the time hooked up to a battery charger. What do you think that car would sell for these days??? $10K? What do you think it cost new? Maybe $2K?

There is no question that the 986 will be collectible 30 years down the road. No question at all. It has everything that the Karman Ghia has and more. Don't forget 30 years from now, there will be far fewer 986s available. By then most (like mine) will be long gone...

[Pat]

Mike, you failed to take into account time, and have assumed collector car markets today will act the same as they did 30 years ago. There are many variables you have not taken into account that could make them more collectible or less collectible. One cannot always predict the future simply by looking at the past.

[fatmike]

Originally Posted by Pat

Mike, you failed to take into account time, and have assumed collector car markets today will act the same as they did 30 years ago. There are many variables you have not taken into account that could make them more collectible or less collectible. One cannot always predict the future simply by looking at the past.

I think the world may look very very different in 40 years. I wonder if gasoline will be readily available and inexpensive. If it's not -- say because we've moved onto other fuels -- would you choose to keep a 'retro' automobile? Maybe any gasoline car will be prohibitively expensive in time, effort and cost. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if they were "illegal" because of environmental issues (like lead paint).

If you were going to keep a "retro" car in a world like this -- what type of car would you want to keep? Maybe a mid-engine, convertible Porsche? That might be on my list to consider...

[Burg Boxster]

Originally Posted by fatmike

It will work out very well. Keep in mind that 40 years ago houses cost $10K. We are living in an age of inflation -- take off the blinders.

There is a nice Karman Ghia (ugly orange) near my house. I see it a lot sitting in a garage all the time hooked up to a battery charger. What do you think that car would sell for these days??? $10K? What do you think it cost new? Maybe $2K?

There is no question that the 986 will be collectible 30 years down the road. No question at all. It has everything that the Karman Ghia has and more. Don't forget 30 years from now, there will be far fewer 986s available. By then most (like mine) will be long gone...

LOL - My blinders are off Inflation is a completely different animal than what was implied as an increase in "value" all for having a "good" one, which one hopes will reach collectible status and be in demand.

Point was more directed at it being a less than stellar move to have spent $50k ten years ago hoping to turn it into ONLY $100k 20-30 years from now (even if you exclude the other sunk costs of storage, maintenance, insurance, etc. for 20-30 years).

Or to use your example...
Suppose you took your $2k back in the late 1950s and instead invested it. How excited would you be to have $10k from it today (again even excluding sunk costs for storage, maintenance, insurance, etc. for 50+ years). Ready to retire?

In all sincerity, there's one truth and that is 100% of cars are depreciating assets. A very very very very rare few after depreciating in value may end up being be "worth" something, some day, somewhere. However, there are way too many countless outside influences which will cause most everyone who wants to make this bet lose $ in the long haul as opposed to making it. This is especially true if hedging w/ just one model vehicle let alone one with high production #s.

As I said before, until then I'll take either Boxster to drive and enjoy as often as I can and not worry about what it might sell for, for someone else a long time from now.

[fatmike]

Originally Posted by Burg Boxster

LOL - My blinders are off Inflation is a completely different animal than what was implied as an increase in "value" all for having a "good" one, which one hopes will reach collectible status and be in demand.

Point was more directed at it being a less than stellar move to have spent $50k ten years ago hoping to turn it into ONLY $100k 20-30 years from now (even if you exclude the other sunk costs of storage, maintenance, insurance, etc. for 20-30 years).

Or to use your example...
Suppose you took your $2k back in the late 1950s and instead invested it. How excited would you be to have $10k from it today (again even excluding sunk costs for storage, maintenance, insurance, etc. for 50+ years). Ready to retire?

In all sincerity, there's one truth and that is 100% of cars are depreciating assets. A very very very very rare few after depreciating in value may end up being be "worth" something, some day, somewhere. However, there are way too many countless outside influences which will cause most everyone who wants to make this bet lose $ in the long haul as opposed to making it. This is especially true if hedging w/ just one model vehicle let alone one with high production #s.

As I said before, until then I'll take either Boxster to drive and enjoy as often as I can and not worry about what it might sell for, for someone else a long time from now.

We agree Burg. No worries.


Cars are always a depreciating asset (about the only thing worse is a boat!).
Boxster as an investment? Ummmm, no. I didn't mean to imply that. Just that it will take more dollars 40 years from now to buy a car (any car) because of constant inflation.