The SKY: A Collector Car

[Bogie]

[I don't remember if this was already posted somewhere on the boards, but even if it is, it's worth repeating]

McKeel Hagerty runs an insurance business tailored to limited driven or dedicated showcars or collector cars. A well known entity in the showcar/collector community. Every year he selects from the current crop of vehicles and identifies the ones he sees as future collector cars. Here's the list for 2008:

Cadillac XLR-V Roadster
Lotus Exige S
Audi S5
Mustang Shelby GT 500 KR
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
Smart
Subaru Impreza WRX STi
Honda S2000 CR
Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky <--------
Dodge Charger Super Bee

CarDomain Car Blog: Top 10 Future Collector Cars?

[ParrotHeadNation]

ahh yess, although I'm buying the SKY for myself, it wouldn't be back to be able to turn it around in 15 years for some extra money!

[Bogie]

And when you think about it, with the tooling at Wilmington winding down in a few years, and the current problems GM is having, the rumored move to Bowling Green might not happen. It takes two to three years of up front investment to bring a line up to production levels. Considering the platform is rumored to be changing means a good bit of engineering investment as well. GM might not be capable of investing money in the tooling and engineering necessary for the business case for a low rate niche product in the current market.

This isn't to say the Solstice/SKY are forever gone, but I would not be surprised to see a gap in niche production....several years go by to let GM stabilize revenues on the full rate production vehicles. Then start investing back in the niche market again. This will create a defining break between the first generation Solstice/SKY and the next generation. Not only separated by a gap in production, but separated by a different platform. The "Kappa" will become a collectors car, not just from its styling but from it's rarity as well.

[uranium-238]

as long as i can find parts for it relatively easily, that's OK with me. i sure as heck don't want to get stuck with a classic car that doesn't run/costs too much to keep running.

[SKYtime]

It can't do worse than the stock market right now as an investment....

[ParrotHeadNation]

Originally Posted by Bogie

And when you think about it, with the tooling at Wilmington winding down in a few years, and the current problems GM is having, the rumored move to Bowling Green might not happen. It takes two to three years of up front investment to bring a line up to production levels. Considering the platform is rumored to be changing means a good bit of engineering investment as well. GM might not be capable of investing money in the tooling and engineering necessary for the business case for a low rate niche product in the current market.

This isn't to say the Solstice/SKY are forever gone, but I would not be surprised to see a gap in niche production....several years go by to let GM stabilize revenues on the full rate production vehicles. Then start investing back in the niche market again. This will create a defining break between the first generation Solstice/SKY and the next generation. Not only separated by a gap in production, but separated by a different platform. The "Kappa" will become a collectors car, not just from its styling but from it's rarity as well.

as long as they make them through Feb 09. im happy and then they can stop making them as far as i'm concerned, cause I have seen enough around here, saw a black one the other day, but it was redline, so hopefully i'll have the only black onyx base around here

[Darkwing]

Well if they do become collector cars you'll see a lot fewer around. They'll all be bought by oil sheikhs in Dubai.

[Gerry]

There are only a handful of "instant" collector cars out there and they usually come at a premium well beyond our Skys. It will be at least 10 years out before you can come to any conclusion on whether the Sky/Solstice is or has the potential to become a collector. And in reality, many of us will be dead before the value of the car climbs to any level worth bother over.

[RedSkyMan]

And don't forget the Mallett Sol/Sky's will be even more collectible.

[SKYMAN-CT]

Originally Posted by Bogie

[I don't remember if this was already posted somewhere on the boards, but even if it is, it's worth repeating]
CarDomain Car Blog: Top 10 Future Collector Cars?

Actually Bogie it was, I posted it yesterday in this thread.
Check the link in the thread, same info different channel, however if you read some of the blog replies in your link not to many happy campers with the list but what do they know?
Glad you gave it it's own thread though because I agree it's worth repeating.
Anyone hear this???

[ParrotHeadNation]

Originally Posted by RedSkyMan

And don't forget the Mallett Sol/Sky's will be even more collectible.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but this is the same type of thing yenko did back in the 70s right? because the mallett skys (cause their better looking ) will definitly up in value

[ParrotHeadNation]

Originally Posted by Darkwing

Well if they do become collector cars you'll see a lot fewer around. They'll all be bought by oil sheikhs in Dubai.

i'd make a deal with the devil they can have my SKY for free gas racing fuels for life

[stromo]

in 10 years, will gasoline be available for purchase at all? if a large population of consumers is not willing to pay $10/gallon then the gasoline economy will collapse (and presumably be replaced with electricity or CNG). you may be willing to pay $20 or $30/gallon, but your "classic sky" wont be worth much if it needs to be driven 160 miles to one of 40 "historical" gas stations in the USA just to fill it up.

of course i am playing "chicken little" here, but who could have imagined $4/gallon gasoline and the collapse of the SUV market would happen so suddenly?

on that note... has anyone looked into converting either of the sky engines to CNG? what would be the cost, fuel economy, performance implications? CNG may be the best way to guarantee the future value of your "classic".

[ParrotHeadNation]

gas wont be gone in 10 years, thats too quick, maybe 30 yrs, but all these cars, people cant afford the hybrids and electrics yet, and hybrids use gas too

[uranium-238]

Originally Posted by ParrotHeadNation

gas wont be gone in 10 years, thats too quick, maybe 30 yrs, but all these cars, people cant afford the hybrids and electrics yet, and hybrids use gas too

...and when that battery needs to be replaced they really won't be able to afford one, it'll eat up whatever they saved on gas.

[stromo]

$7 trillian in 10 yrs according to pickens

PickensPlan

$7 trillian = no more gasoline OR no more USA!

[SCVanguard]

Thread is getting off topic...engage re-alignment in 3, 2, 1...

In all honesty, I'd love to consider driving a "collectible" but I doubt this car would start going up in value for quite some time...and when it does, I couldn't see it going for over $50k until there is only a handful left. And it's too bad I took off some stock parts...I wouldn't be able to get the right value up on the Barrett-Jackson block :-(

[xmicro_Redline]

Here Is a thread I posted back in January of 07 stating that I felt that the car is a future collectible and some people (Midnight Blues) accused me of smoking Payote!

Hey MB...I will say I told you so. Read this thread and mine from a while ago, maybe some that are still around may have changed their tune!!

Who Feels the Sky will be worth something down the road?


PS- I hope nobody else is keeping theirs as a collectible, that will make mine worth more!!

And before you guys flame me about a waste, I still use it (7000 Miles in 18 months) just only when I am really in the mood for fun driving and can enjoy the top down. I'm getting the most out of it!

[bronzestarsky]

Once the Skys achieve "collectible" status, it would be interesting to see which one can command a higher selling price at something like Barrett-Jackson: a stock 2.4, Redline, or Mallett V-8 conversion...

[compdoc777]

Originally Posted by bronzestarsky

Once the Skys achieve "collectible" status, it would be interesting to see which one can command a higher selling price at something like Barrett-Jackson: a stock 2.4, Redline, or Mallett V-8 conversion...

I don't know a lot about collector cars, but I do happen to know a little about it.

Whether or not the car becomes collectable will be determined by how many are produced and those who want to collect them.

Take the Miata for example people thought they would be a very collectable car in the late 80’s early 90’s some even selling for twice sticker price. Now you can pick them up between 1-5K, new styles of course increase in price, but the first releases are virtually worthless. The new Miata looks stupid. I did like the version before it that looked like a copperhead that version maybe worth something in the future maybe 10 years from now.

Also it depends on the collectors.

Take for example the Fiat Spyder 1981-1985 these cars in America are not that collectable. I bought seven in the junk yard for $700. In Germany they never got any of these cars and there were so few made Germans had to have them. They would come here and purchase the cars paying 9-15K for the cars restored in the late 89 and early 93 then they would sell them in Germany for upwards of 35K today. So it depends on the collectors and countries that have limited access to these cars.

If they were to stop production today I would say it would be a very collectable car, but there will probably be many made. So it will never be a rare car until almost all are gone crushed and used as paper weights probably 30 years from now. I am sure by then Gasoline powered cars will be in Museums. We probably won’t even have streets and gasoline will be illegal to possess.

We as a society are the verge of a major change in transportation in the next 20 years. The Internet is going become the major market place with virtual areas in which we can basically travel talk with people in multiple environments created through software virtually eliminating the need to physically travel.

Working from home will be the norm and in 40 years. The internet will be the place where all business is done. Now of course there still will be shipping, receiving and other things like that, but they are working on teleportation as we speak and of my last reading on the subject had transported a not just a particle, but a molecule. So who is to say that in 40 years we will need trucks or vehicles we will be able to zap people and goods from place to place instantly. The thought of driving will be unheard of and boring.

Even traveling at the speed of light to destination to destination will probably be outweighed by the sheer magnitude of the online virtual worlds which will have no limit. I imagine a world where I can fly like superman does anything! Heck even with a thought have a long winding hilly road I can run my car virtual Sky RL through its paces to reminisce.

Taking a look back from 1900 to 2000 look at the leaps we made. Since our technology is quantitative breaking new milestones will probably happen in 50 years instead of 100 and the next will be 25 instead of 50 and so on.

[uranium-238]

well, acording to that idea people will then be living a completely