Fender Broad

A year ago this week I updated this page and I reflected on the shifting of collector car Tectonic Plates relating to changing ownership profiles and preference for more modern ‘Retro Classics’. So a year later where are we? The answer is that the appreciating values of Retro Classics have met with the depreciating values of 50’s and 60’s classic cars to a point where a really nice Sierra Cosworth and a really nice E Type Jaguar are measured in the same price brackets. What impact is that having? The answer in my view is that a percentage of the buyers who would have looked at the Retro Classic are seeing that cars like the 1960 XK150 are really good value and are choosing to buy them. What Percentage? The answer is it depends on the car. That’s a flakey answer but what I mean is that these up and coming young thrusters don’t want lots of work to do on the car. They want something they can enjoy and they also want something we can support. The support infrastructure for 50’s and 60’s British cars is fantastic. Hence we have 2 types of buyer in 2026. Young Thrusters as described and Pension Players. What  is a Pension Player? It’s a 60 to 75 year young person or couple who are just not prepared to wait for the sands of time to take them. They are going ‘fuck that’ and taking some of their savings or a pension lump and buying what are now very sensibly priced non depreciating (usually) classic cars of the type we have always loved and they are using them to ensure they race across the finishing line rather than crawl across.

If you are in doubt I can give you many examples of both types of buyer. Crucially they all love the cars and they all understand that a well built and serviced E Type or XK is perfectly useable and serviceable. Yes I will buy the odd Retro Classic because I can remember the E28 BMW from my first job and I can remember my mate Tony’s dad bringing his 928 company car home in 1978 and thinking it was a space ship. I can also remember a lot of cars from this period were just rubbish and the reason there are non left is because…….they were rubbish and rusted to dust.

So 2026 is going to be fun because the older classic lovers are not going to go down without a fight. And the young thrusters can see a 1950’s & 60’s classic as affordable and much more fun that most of the Retro stuff available today.  We offer advise based on decades of experience and a current ear to the ground sense of the evolution of the collector car market. We shall ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ because the way forward for the car we like is a good one. Enjoy the season old and young alike.