Collectible and Historic Vehicles

**3 Minute Read**

Once again, this blog on the history of cars is brought to you by Carnections, one of the top-rated vehicle transport companies in the country! Today we take a look at collectible and historic vehicles, their value, the costs of ownership, and how to safely transport collectible, vintage, and valuable cars, anywhere in the country.

If ever you are having a conversation about the history of cars, it’s hard to glaze over the absolute classics that have become collectible to the point of bringing several millions of dollars on popular online and in person auctions. Barrett Jackson and RM Sotheby’s have both created monumentally successful businesses off of the collectability of well-taken care of classics. While specific model years are more collectible than others oftentimes a movie car, a vehicle featured on an iconic poster or limited-edition car will change a generation and define the market twenty or thirty years later. A great example of this is the original, 32,000-mile 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing that sold online in mid 2019 for over $1.2M.

The 300SL Gullwing is a car that was only owned by celebrities or successful business executives in the 1950’s and 1960’s and is now beyond collectible. Once a historically desired car such as the 300SL Gullwing, Ferrari Testarossa or Lamborghini Countach moves through its collectible process and comes out on the other side of “affordable, used car: maintenance required” it becomes coveted by the children who owned the posters. Individuals who are now grown up, have some spending money and are looking to relive some memories from their childhood, car ownership experiences that were out of their reach until recently. Experiences that they had only ever read about in magazines or in newspaper classifieds.

The ownership responsibilities of owning any collectible car, whether it be an SL Gullwing or an American Muscle car can be complex. Finding storage to preserve the paint, an experienced mechanic to perform necessary maintenance and arranging transport to and from shows or racetracks are just a few responsibilities you should be prepared to inherit. The value of a collectible or historic vehicle, whether it be a Model T, vintage Ferrari and old Porsche lies in the number of cars produced, quality of the example in question and the overall desirability of the brand. But what does quality of the example entail? The answer is details such as original paint quality, electronic functionality, miles, engine displacement, historic provenance and more! Provenance, defined as “the place of origin or earliest known history of something” in relation to historic cars could mean celebrity ownership, race history or other similar accomplishments.

While there may not be a lot of vehicle transport companies you can count on to move your valuable car, Carnections is one of the top-rated auto transport companies in the nation. Whether your collectible car needs to be towed a few miles to a car show or across the country to a new storage hanger Carnections can make it happen. The Carnections team understands what makes a collectible car or truck valuable and goes out of their way to preserve a vehicle’s quality throughout the transport process. If moving a car from one place to another is the last piece in your historic vehicle ownership puzzle, there’s a chance that Carnections can help you solve it. Our specialty is transporting your vehicle to anywhere in the United States!