by Wallace Wyss –
There are financial pundits who predict which stock will go up and which will go down. But in the old car field, it’s a shakier proposition. For instance, the featuring of a car in a movie can make a car be more popular (the Speedster in Harper; the Ferrari NART Spyder in Thomas Crown Affair, etc.).
But intrepid warrior of the classic car field, I will go out on a limb and say. if I had to pick a future appreciator right now, I’d pick the Pontiac Solstice Coupe as a “buy” at under $35,000.
Why do I say that?
Because the Solstice (and the Sky from Saturn, same car with different styling) was a brave new move for Pontiac at the time. As a convertible it was a sporty little car and when it came with a turbocharger it was even more desirable.
As far as valuing the convertible, I have to say that there are too many to count on them going up in price in the near future. When we are talking cars that are decades old, cars disappear due to crashes, rust, etc. but the Solstices are “relatively new” so most of the 60,000 plus convertibles are still around.
Even the GXP with its 2.0 liter direct injected and turbo charged engine rated at 260 hp does not tempt me because of the high production number.
THE NUMBERS
Between 2006 and 2010 there were around 62,000 Solstice Convertibles and around 1,200 Solstice Coupes produced. Now I happen to love the magic number of 1,000. There were, for instance, 1,400 Mercedes Gullwing coupes produced. If there were 62,000 they wouldn’t be so valuable.
There were 400 De Tomaso Mangustas made, under 1,000 Miuras made by Lamborghini, you get the idea. Now among the Solstice coupes made, 781 were GXP turbocharged cars, so there’s where GXP will made a positive difference in value. That compared to 13,000 convertible Solstices with the GXP option.
The reason this topic came up is an ad I saw on the net for a Solstice coupe for under $35,000. I think the price new was close to $30,000 so it’s not that much more than it cost new. But think of the rarity, wherever you go it’ll be a car that attracts attention.
Where would you find one? I’d join a Saturn club or Solstice Club and advertise that you are in the market. Somebody somewhere might have to give theirs up to buy a house, and speaking practically there is no room in the car if you have three in the family. As babies come along, the strictly two seaters have to go. Plus there was one impractical aspect that you may not know about – the hardtop that was removable had no place to store it, so you have to leave it home if you go on a trip and hope the former owner sprung for the optional soft top roof section.
In sum, I don’t make many recommendations on what one should buy but figuring 200 have either been smashed, rusted, burned, flooded out, or are in cold storage forever, that leaves 1,000 left.
Go for it!
If you have a favorite modern car that is a future collector car then let us know in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss is also a fine artist. His artwork can be seen on wallacewyssfineart.com.
If you want to invest in a really rare version of these cars, try the Opel GT variant (2007, 2008, 2009, & only 2 made in 2010), with about 5500 total made. it was produced on the same Wilmington, Delaware plant as the Solstice/Sky, in LHD only, with only the turbo-four, for export to Europe, and not for the American domestic market. While I may have seen one or two Solstice coupes in my life (I have seen a significant number of the convertibles), I have never seen the new Opel GT, and only just found out about its existence recently. The entire Solstice/Sky program was initiated by GM CEO at the time Bob Lutz, and came out nearly 20 years too late, as the Mazda Miata had pretty much conquered and dominated that segment already for that length of time.
I hope someone sends a picture of the Opel version to post but wouldn’t there be a hurdle bringing it into customs, as far as not meeting US standards. I was thinking of recommending in one of my Incredible Barn Finds books that searchers buy a non US model of a car, say like a Renault Turbo 2 but I have run across so much playing with the SN on these non-conforming cars I wouldn’t want my readers to run afoul of the FBI which frowns on SN switches.
Another way might just be to switch the body panels…for that total Euro look.