I have a question for people that understand collectible cars. Let’s say the sc430 became a collectible 5 years from now, but your car has 150k miles. Does that disqualify it as a collectible.

Let’s use a real world example: Let’s say you bought a Ferrari testarossa for 50 k back when they were trading for that. Supposedly they are going for 100k dollars now but your Testarossa has 100k miles because it’s a daily driver.Is it still worth more than the 50 k you paid, or do high miles wipe out most of the collectible value it might have had

 

i love old Lexus... but...

Ain't no one out there collecting old Lexus. Certainly not a Ferrari level. They made a lot. They aren't really that special. If you have a museum quality example with like 20k miles or less. You may get in the 20-30s on bring-a-trailer. In 50 years... who knows? But 5 years they'll be as desirable then as they are now. Only for a few diehard Lexus fans to enjoy. Drive the car, enjoy it and don't worry about the ###'s. Ive got 200k+ on mine and still drives great!

now in 20-30 years the LC500's might be worth the same or more as they are now... so if you want a Lexus to "invest" in that's the one.

 

it’s not that I want to invest in Lexus. I was just curious what high miles does to a car that becomes collectible decades later. You buy a Toyota Supra in the 90s and put 12 k miles a year on it not realizing it will be a collectible decades later. It’s now a collectible in 2025 but it has 200 k miles on it. Is it still worth a lot or with those many miles , not much

 

It sure retains its value though. A 2006 model going for $17k-20k is pretty good.

 

the reason I’m asking is there aren’t a lot of hard top convertibles with a naturally aspired v8 engine out there that are reliable. A Mercedes hard top isn’t reliable 20 years later. Are people missing the value in it like I did the testarosa in 2010 when I could have bought it for 40 k. The maintenance scared me away but I just didn’t realize the value at 40 k even with the maintenance. In the 80s I had a chance to buy a Mantle rookie card for 3k. Boy what a deal that was in hindsight. Could these sc430 in good shape go for 40k in 5 years or even 3 years.

 

The issue is they are not rare. It was a mass produced car with many for sale as of today. 2010 MY, maybe? As there weren't a lot sold and are hard to find.

 

In my opinion, the reasons cars are collectible is because you saw the car when you were young and wanted one. When you were finally rich enough to buy one, the car was 20 years old. Of course you are going to buy the best one you can afford.

Value is equal to what someone is willing to pay.

 

Guys,

Remember a car is not an investment for the most part. Invest in the S&P500 if you want to see your money grow.

That said, I will say this having owned 5 SC430s in the last 15 years.

If you owned one that is beat up with high mileage, multiple owners,
no maintenance record and or a salvage SC, you can definitely buy one for a song.

I have only owned low mileage, clean 1 owner Sc430s and each time when I had to sell ( thinking I want something else but always end up with another one) , I typically sold close to what I paid which was $20,000-$27,000. My last SC430 was a 02 with 52,000 and I sold that one within 3 weeks for full asking for $22,000.

My current SC is an 07 PB with 36,000, 1 owner , dealer maintained, clean Carfax and I don’t think I will ever sell her. Yes it was not cheap ( only 400 made ) but I don’t think I will ever sell this one.

 

BTW

A SC430 just sold for $40,000+ which confirms my point above . These cars will continue to be sought after “IF” they are not beat up, high mileage and or Salvage. If you have one with 170,000+, multiple owners etc , then yea you can get one for a song.