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In the News: New Cars Bad, Old Cars Good
This is Collector Car TL;DR: a weekly recap of what happened on Collector Car Feed, plus car auctions, listings, automotive news… Things of interest to someone who might watch Collector Car Feed. You know, you.
And you can get it weekly by giving me your email address.The Videos
This past week in Collector Car Feed videos was Readers’ Rides: the viewer car review segment. Please don’t send your car right now, we’re a little backed up. But if you do send it to the right email address, we will have no choice but to take a look eventually. We’re currently working on Q3 2023.
Unheard of: he said he was going to turbo his car “some day”, and then he did
This episode highlights a young New Zealander’s JZX100. In his email from 2023, he states he plans to turbo the NA motor “soon”. The cohosts universally agree “soon” means “never”, but what happens next will shock you.Got flexed on by a high school kid. Is this the hardest slammed Toyota on earth?
The cover truck here speaks for itself; a Subaru DL owner also builds an engine from a box of scraps.The Subaru WRX you can drive without letting people know you drive a WRX
The Legacy GT is presented. Quoting the owner: “I have had this Subaru for two years. I have honestly learned quite a bit [about] how reliable Subarus really are: they are not.”This video includes my favorite email of the bunch, so, watch this one if you’re only watching one.
The News
If Americans Don’t Want Small Cars, Why Did This Honda Fit Only Depreciate $1,180 In Eleven Years?
The Autopian reports on a Bring A Trailer listingin which a 1600 original mile Fit sells for $18,000. It’s even a CVT. Gross!Yes, It’s Going to Be Much Harder to Get a Nissan Z in 2027
Nissan is switching to a “made to order” system for the Z. Considering I’ve spotted three outside of SEMA since they entered production in 2022, this basically means we’re never going to see another new Z ever again.Stellantis reports first annual loss, no profit-sharing checks to UAW employees from 2025
Year over year sales are down 2% for Stellantis between 2024 and 2025, and if you’re surprised… how? All the leftover Challengers and Chargers are gone and peak Jeep Wrangler was what, a decade ago now? This begs the question: when will the aftermarket start making angry eyes and grilles with cheekbones for the Bronco?The Cars
1988 Nissan 200SX
Already sold, this was an S12: the Cope 240SX. This also wasn’t a turbo model, just a base, and it even has a salvage title. But at 31,000 miles on the clock and a $4500 asking price with the guarantee that it “runs and drives great”, anybody can see how it sold quick. Expect to see this one up for auction soon, probably on Cars and Bids.
1,600-Mile 2015 Honda Fit EX
As mentioned, this CVT dorkmobile sold for eighteen grand, proving there is a market, at least to one guy, for a sub-$20K subcompact.
This was actually proven last summer when a 2019 Fiesta ST sold for $18,250. What a better purchase by every imaginabe metric.
Ongoing Auctions
2016 Ford Fiesta ST
This FiST just looks good on those RPF1s, and it has the optional Recaro seats. I kind of want to buy it and swap those parts over to my black Fiesta ST (also a Cars and Bids purchase). This one is kind of a basket case and I expect the price to stay low, even though it won’t, because Cars and Bids bidders are mentally ill. A statement by the owner: “The car was tuned from 5k miles up until 75k miles when I installed a big turbo; that engine ate cylinder 1 around 93k miles due to a bad tune.” Classic.
2000 Toyota Celica GT
This 7th gen Celica GT auction ends today. At time of writing, it’s at $6850. It has 48,400 miles, somehow wound up on aftermarket wheels, and almost certainly burns tons of oil regardless of its mileage (this is a 1ZZ powered base model, not the desirable GT-S). But you never see 7th gen Celicas with mileage like this. I’m guessing it doesn’t really have legs and will stop around $8500.
2003 Nissan 350Z Coupe
Worst year, worst trim, worst color, timebomb transmission, mediocre mileage (~110,000), accident on record, known flaws include basic work you’d expect to be done before sale at auction. And yet, somehow, this will go over ten grand.
1991 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo
This is a USDM 300ZX TT. It has 6900 miles. It’s at $85,000 at time of writing with 3 days to go. I hope the high bidder is sweating bullets, because low miles or not, this is no Supra. Really nice car, hope you never make your money back.Final Thoughts
It’s been a week of nothing but bad news from automakers, while at the same time prices soar at auction for both late model hoopties and neoclassic halo cars. Is it rose colored glasses, or is the landscape really just that bleak? Let me know at collectorcarfeed@gmail.com.
See you Soon.
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Toyota GR86 Warranty Claim DENIED Over Social Media Photos: Engine Blew Up During AUTOCROSS
Today, it’s another round of our Bring A Trailer auction guessing game, which, due to PC concerns, we refer to in print only as Nice Price or No Dice. No cease and desist from Jalopnik yet, so we must still not be big enough. Fingers crossed their legal team attacks us soon.
In this one, we check out a Honda CRX Si, a Mark 2 Toyota Celica Supra, a 1970 Dodge Charger which leads to a great deal of debate, a low mileage, rear wheel drive variant Toyota 4Runner, and a top-trim Honda Element.
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The Bring A Trailer Guessing Game: Nice Price or No Dice #4
Today, it’s another round of our Bring A Trailer auction guessing game, which, due to PC concerns, we refer to in print only as Nice Price or No Dice. No cease and desist from Jalopnik yet, so we must still not be big enough. Fingers crossed their legal team attacks us soon.
In this one, we check out a Honda CRX Si, a Mark 2 Toyota Celica Supra, a 1970 Dodge Charger which leads to a great deal of debate, a low mileage, rear wheel drive variant Toyota 4Runner, and a top-trim Honda Element.
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Real Boomer Content: Mecum Orlando 2022 Coverage
Today, we try to attract some boomers to the site, to help even out the overwhelming weeaboo population, by watching Mecum Orlando 2022. It’s the final hour of the final day: what will roll across the auction block? Probably some cars from the 1960s and 1970s.
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Would you pay HOW MUCH for this S14 240SX? Nice Price or No Dice #3
It’s another Nice Price or No Dice game where you guess if that’s a NICE PRICE on that Bring A Trailer auction or not. This may be a divisive video as Nice Price or No Dice is subjective and determined by the host. WHO WILL WIN?
In this one, we check out an S14 240SX SE, a low mileage 986 Porsche Boxster, a 2G Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, a 996 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, a Mk3 Toyota Supra Turbo, and a 4th gen Chevrolet Camaro Z28 SS. Something for most everybody in this one.
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Ranking 2G Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX listings on Facebook Marketplace
It’s the baby Evo. It’s the BETTER Evo. It’s the crankwalking nightmare. It’s some weird soap bar from the ’90s. No matter how you look at it, it’s the 2G Eclipse GSX, and it’s an tuner favorite, a cult classic, a drag racing legend.
None of these are stock. An unmodified DSM does not exist in 2022, probably hasn’t existed for decades at this point. Will we find any worth whipping? Click through.
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Skull Shifters, Boy Racers, and Broughams: Reviewing Your Cars
The fourth chapter of reviewing your cars for 5K subs. We’ll do more in the near future, promise! Some great ones in here today, including an S13 hatch, a Caddy Brougham, and a Phoenix Yellow E46 BMW M3 coupe.
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Dodge Magnum SRT8: Recession-Era Racing
Image courtesy of Bring A Trailer Born from a Whipple-supercharged concept unveiled at the 2003 LA auto show, the Dodge Magnum SRT8 hit the street in 2006, becoming the 4th SRT8 product offered by Chrysler, who always referred to it as a “sport tourer” and never as a wagon.
Image courtesy of Bring A Trailer The Magnum SRT8 was powered by the revered 6.1 HEMI, pushing out 425 naturally aspirated horses and 420 pound feet of torque. Like all SRT8 products at the time, no manual was available: just the beefed up 5-speed auto derived from the Mercedes 5G-Tronic, which was deemed sufficiently responsive by the motoring press and dependable by the passage of time.
Image courtesy of Bring A Trailer 14 inch slotted discs and 4 piston Brembo calipers sat on all 4 corners to help tame the big wagon, which delegated its 4200 pound curb weight to the 20 Inch forged aluminum wheels and the Mopar-tuned suspension components underneath it. All this standard equipment resulted in respectable road manners and impressive straight line performance, with a 0-60 in 5.1 seconds and a 13.1 second quarter mile.
Image courtesy of Bring A Trailer Despite the impressive performance figures, only 2970 units left the factory during the first year of production in 2006, followed up by a comparably sad 921 units the next year in 2007, before dropping down further to a fractional 239 in the final year; when the Magnum itself was dropped from the dodge lineup in 2008. In total just over 4000 units left the factory over 3 years of production, with the ultra rare 2008 facelift models being the most coveted by collectors.
Today the SRT8 Magnum holds up as a solid daily for a discriminating buyer, and as the second to last American V8 wagon ever made. With low production numbers, lead footed drivers and 14 long years having passed since the end of production, Expect to pay mid 20s for sub 100,000 mile examples of this HEMI powered family hauler…. That is, if you can find one.
