The great sports car bargains we missed out on over the last decade or so.
The rising prices of some older and not yet true classic cars have been very surprising for many car crazy Malaysians and also car enthusiasts around the world. We are not talking about rare classic cars like the Mercedes SL Pagoda or the Jaguar E-Type convertible.
We are talking about everyday sports cars that many of us took for granted 15 to 20 years ago to continue depreciating over the years and today their values have instead moved upwards, some even by 200 plus percent.
One of the most stylish and missed opportunities had to be the last Toyota Supra, the A80 model which was launched from 1993 onwards. Yes, some two decades ago this muscle car from Toyota was sitting in a used car dealer and asking just RM85,000. Today, its asking price has jumped to RM250,000 or so and even at this price, finding a unit for sale is almost impossible.
Well, even if we could travel in time, finding RM85k twenty years ago would mean having to sell a kidney and we still could not purchase an all original unit that was on sale at the time, so it just means that this rather special Japanese sports car remains a buy for the wealthy and lucky Malaysian.
Once in a while one unit might appear in our online used car classifieds and most often it is unit that has been given a makeover by its owner and had some rather unsavory modifications done to its clean design. Prices will hover between RM250k to RM290k and it will still find a buyer.
Then there are the rare Japan imports that crop up once in a year or so. These cars are mostly clean units with low mileage. Prices can be as high as RM300,000 for a Supra RZ-S and it will eventually be sold (cash only) to collectors and also buyers with plenty of ‘black money’ sitting under the sofa.
Today, even an older Celica Supra 2.8, the A60 model which was launched in 1981 with its slender long nose and ‘American’ influenced cabin design is far from reach. This older Supra was also even cheaper to buy just 15 years ago. RM30-40k will get you an unmolested unit and today the same car will fetch close to RM150k.
Knowing this information above it is time to look at some great sports car that have been ignored by some owners who leave them in their garage to rot over the years and make them an offer (if they are willing to sell).
