Last week, both the east and west coasts chimed in with their takes on vintage Japanese cars and their increasing value as classics. Some of our readers expressed dismay at the inevitable price hike that would come with more exposure to our community. To help us out, the Chicago Tribune published their take on the scene today.
Seemingly devoid of any in-depth research (no mention of last week’s JCCS at all), the article says Japanese cars are overlooked by the collector car market, but then in the very next paragraph says, “Most 1950s and 1960s Japanese autos will never be collectibles because they were resolutely ordinary, “disposable” economy models.” Hmm, where have we heard that before? Chevys? Fords? Every muscle car that ever existed?
It then goes on to proclaim “The following Japanese autos are collectible,” a 13-car list that includes the Subaru SVX, Isuzu Impulse and 1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4. Now, we’re not saying that a those cars aren’t worthy – surely they are – but if you’re putting together a list of the 13 top J-classics of all time and opening up the field to a 1999 end-date, surely you can think of better examples than that. We might even have to come up with our own list sometime. Oh well, at least while Midwesterners snap up the 1999 Mazda Miata we’ll have a little more time to amass our collections of true classics.
amen to that!