The Golden era of cars?
If the 1970 240z came out today, would it be the $3500 car it was then? Not talking the techno advances, I'm only discussing it through todays lens. Would such an international sensation like the 240z be only worth ($19,000) in todays money? I hardly think so. The 400z, or whatever its going to be called I would imagine is going to set you back at the very least $50,000.
Maybe its not fair to not judge the tech aspect of the car, but a new car in 1970 was just that, a new car. What can you get for $19,000 today that had the inspiration the 240 had, crickets.
I was really hoping that the Toyota FRS was going to be the car that came to revolutionize like the 240z did, but I dont think is landed. It has all the earmarks the 240 has, cheap, looks, manual, rear wheel drive, cheap to operate. I owned an RX-8 when they first came out, and I was really thinking Mazda hit out of the park, and then......
So where will the new Z fall into, a couple of years of "hey, theres a new Z"!), and the find them on the used market for 50% value in a couple of years? The New Beetle had the same fanfare, then splat, then the New New Beetle the same, then splat, and remember, the Beetle (old) is the most popular car in history, and VW could not capitalize on it.
I guess the point is, the last 2 generations have deemed cars as not what my parents or my generation (I'm 47) has made them out to be. So, when you watch the popular car auctions, and someone pays $185,000 for a really nice Hemi Cuda, is there an investment there, is that money well spent for a future that may not have an audience for such machines?