What car is the next 250 GTO?

"daender" (daender) 05/11/2014 at 12:51 • Filed to: None

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Which car was rare to begin with and keeps increase noticeably in value every few years? The 250 GTO was a street-legal race and championship-winning sportscar and production was limited to only 39 cars.

Is it a muscle car like the '70-'71 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda convertible, only 14 were made in '70 and 7 made in '71, cars that are pulling at least 1 or 2 million at auctions? They're one of the unicorns of the muscle car era, the last of the Hemi at its most powerful iteration tucked into an aggressive and an iconic Mopar body. However, while the performance numbers were impressive the 'Cuda never really won any major races or series and the Hemi was known to be very unreliable on the street.

Or maybe something more Italian like the Ferrari F40? 1,315 officially produced, many raced and/or wrecked yet, some pristine examples are going for over 1.5 million dollars. The F40 was a pinnacle of late-80s supercar performance, even holding the title of fastest production car for a short time at 201 mph (not 200, no, we go 201 ). Like the 'Cuda, the F40 wasn't dominant in the racing world. However, an F40 did win in the BPR Global GT Series at the 4 Hours of Vallelunga in '94 and the 4 Hours of Anderstorp in '95 and '96.

In my opinion, the next 250 GTO is the McLaren F1, and all of its iterations.

Why? Because it dominated, on and off the track. It won LeMans overall in 1995 and taking first in GT1 in 1997 second overall, it dominated the BPR Global GT taking 2 out of 2 championships (the series lasted from '94 to '96 but no champions were crowned in '94), and it earned the special honors of being the only non-Japanese car to win races in the Japanese Grand Touring Championship's top class and to take the overall championship itself!

It was the poster-boy for supercars for nearly ten years starting in 1992 until the Bugatti Veryon and the Koenigsegg CCR/CCX took performance to the next level. It had one of the most powerful naturally-aspirated production engines of its time, the driver sits in the middle like a formula car, it went a record-setting 240 mph, and it had no safety nannies to keep it in check, the driver was the only one who truly had control. Clarkson complained the "normal" F1 was twitchy and all production F1's were limited to 225 for stability reasons but no one cared because they had a car with the potential to hit 240 if they were crazy enough to attempt it.

Finally, it has rarity, only 108 chassis were produced and a good dozen of them were wiped out by crashes on the street and the track. There're 6 LeMans celebration editions, 3 long-tails, and the rest are a mix of normal and racing chassis. F1's originally went for a cool one million dollars new but Michael Andretti's personal F1 fetched ten million dollars at a recent auction. Expect prices to keep rising as more and more people desire to have a piece of Superman's cape.

jkm7680 > daender 05/11/2014 at 12:54

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I agree with you, the prices on the McLaren are probably going to be going up significantly in the next couple of years. For sure it's a future classic if it isn't already one.

But there are a bunch of cars with skyrocketing values....

davlac89 > daender 05/11/2014 at 13:04

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'69 ZL1 Camaro, only 69 made, all aluminium 427. If you happen to see one a those, buy a lottery ticket!

daender > davlac89 05/11/2014 at 13:10

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Oooh, good choice! Despite being a poor seller, the ZL1 was dominant in super-stock drag racing like Grumpy Jenkin's machine and road-racing powering McLarens and Chaparrals 2F to 2J.

davlac89 > daender 05/11/2014 at 13:16

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I could have said the late-model Viper too, they've got a hard time selling those so we'll have to see in 40-50 years how many are still on the road but they might end up being pretty valuable.

saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars > davlac89 05/11/2014 at 13:18

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My uncle's friend had one of these in high school. Jealous, my uncle bought one of these:

Didn't quite compare, although with the way the story goes, I wouldn't be too surprised if his friend's car was either not a ZL1, and was just made to look like one, or if it had a less powerful engine.

davlac89 > saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars 05/11/2014 at 13:25

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Zl1 were just produced in '69. Yours is second gen'.

daender > davlac89 05/11/2014 at 13:27

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It'll depend on whether or not it can win LeMans or TUDOR. It needs more wins to increase desire for it, or set some serious performance/track records that'll be unbeatable for years. Rarity alone won't be enough if it's not desired.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > daender 05/11/2014 at 13:29

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These will be going for well over 2 million in a few years.

As will the 917's

davlac89 > daender 05/11/2014 at 13:30

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I don't think people who can afford these toys really care about wins anymore, the mentality has changed since the 60's. I can't really put my finger on why is it a poor seller, though I know that even if I would be a millionaire, I woudn't get one.

daender > davlac89 05/11/2014 at 13:32

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Yes it'll be worth something in the future but the topic's about cars that will achieve legendary collectibility like the Ferrari 250 GTO. Sadly, I doubt the current-gen Viper won't make it there unless a miracle happens.

davlac89 > daender 05/11/2014 at 13:34

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Yeah, you're right.

saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars > davlac89 05/11/2014 at 13:35

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I know, I know. He didn't get a ZL1. His friend did. Well, his friend said he did.

davlac89 > saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars 05/11/2014 at 13:37

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Well he would be one of the lucky few! I've seen these go for 300k at auctions...

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > daender 05/11/2014 at 13:47

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Durrrrr.

Alternator Fax > daender 05/11/2014 at 14:57

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The fact that it is the only car ever produced by "SRT' as a stand alone brand will presumably give it some value, and the rarity should be boosted by the fact that it has 640hp going to the back wheels.

Stephen Krogmeier > daender 05/11/2014 at 14:59

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This probably isn't a popular opinion but I think muscle cars are as high as they're ever going to go right about now. They're prices are only driven up so high because Baby Boomers (the people with money) want them to relive their glory days. Yes, many of them are beautiful to look at and sometimes special to drive but I don't think you'll ever see them climb as high as a 250 GTO.

On the other hand, I think both the F40, the measure of every supercar released since the 80s, and the F1, the measure of every hypercar since the 90s, will become the next 250GTO. If we want to get more modern than those two, I think the Ford GT is set to only appreciate in the coming years. It won't reach crazy 250GTO prices for many, many years, if it ever does. However, Ford knew what they were doing when they built that thing. They wanted to build a legend and a legacy that the company could point to for decades to come. By cutting off production before demand ever fell off, Ford ensured that they built a legend first and a car second.

CAcoalminer > davlac89 05/11/2014 at 21:45

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I wonder if the SRT ones will be worth more since they're switching back to being Dodges?

davlac89 > CAcoalminer 05/11/2014 at 21:49

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Maybe, but in a few decades.