Well said Chris and interesting comments from all. This subject is very relevant to me and I have lots of parallels with other commentators. I’m 65 and have owned what is now a classic since 82. That was a low mileage 1975 2000 GTV Bertone and it was only 7 years old so really just a second hand car...but it was certainly an emerging classic (after all the basic model had been around since 1963) and I sold it not many years later for what was then a reasonable profit as it was a cosseted low milage example. I had bought it from Richard Banks long before he and sons started Alfaholics and tbh I think Richard was responsible at least in the UK for the (what was for a long time very slow) increase in financial value of 105 coupes. Even back in the 80s there was good supply of parts and body panels for those cars and as values improved more were saved and later fully restored. Interestingly back in the 80s as I recall the older Alfas like the 2600 were not that valuable...who had even seen one to covet it? Contrast that with Lancia where the values of Aurelias and Flaminias were I imagine always high at least for the desirable body shapes.
I still have a 2000 GTV as I bought another before I sold the first one but I’m more interested in Lancias now so I think I’ll sell the Alfa. It’s worth a bit anyway so would be nice to get the money in the bank.
I had/have always loved the Fulvia coupe but for me in those days with a smaller engine the Lancia fell short of the Alfa in power...of course I had never driven a Fulvia....
Another aspect to this is the contrast in values between the Berline and the coupes of Fulvias and Giulias.
It took a long time for 105/Giulia saloons to show any strength in value but they are clearly strong now and that applies right across Europe and North America and certainly in Italy. So a while back I looked at the comparable values of Fulvia Saloons and saw that they were much cheaper, very characterful, lots of space (cabin and boot) for what is quite a small car, loads of them for sale in Italy with what seems in some cases like ridiculously low mileage, and nobody cares any more about whether a car is LHD or RHD. So I now own two very nice condition Series 1 GTEs bought in Italy and I think they were a bargain. I never really bought as an investment....I just liked them but if they do increase in value then great.
And to finish off...I also am a fan of the Mercedes W124 E class. I have a convertible (which is also going to be sold soon) and an Estate...I’ve had two other Estates, a coupe and a Saloon...great cars. And to really finish off... someone mentioned the Audi Quattro...the car I should never have sold was a 1984 Audi 80 Quattro. The so called KK engined non-turbo saloon. Almost impossible to find now and what a stonking
http:// car to drive.