Yahoo Autos The Million-Dollar Collectors Car of the Future Will Be a Mercedes Minivan
If you had to pick a fairly affordable car destined to be a highly sought after classic, what would it be? The BMW 1M Coupe? The Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R? The Pontiac G8 GXP? Those are all fine choices, but if you want the most classic of future classics, then you need to invest in something else-a Mercedes minivan. Specifically, you need to buy a Mercedes R63 AMG like the on that recently went up for sale on Bring a Trailer.
In case you're not familiar with the brilliance that was the R63, let me break it down for you. On the surface this totally-not-a-minivan minivan looked about as unassuming as a six-passenger vehicle gets. But AMG somehow managed to shoehorn a naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8 under the hood, turning this all-wheel-drive people mover into an absolute rocket.
Unsurprisingly, even in the United States, the market for a hotrod minivan was not particularly large. The R-Class itself was built for six years before Mercedes gave up on the idea of a luxury minivan, but the R63 was only built for 2007.
In that single year, do you know how many R63s were sold in the States? 104. Not per month. Total. That's not even as many iMiEVs as Mitsubishi sold last year. It's basically nothing.
How many other cars are there only 104 of in the United States? Maybe a few limited edition exotics qualify, as well as some of the more recent hypercars, but that's about it. Suddenly that GT350R doesn't sound so exclusive.
By the time 2057 rolls around, it's also safe to assume quite a few of those won't be around anymore. A mid-2007s AMG is ridiculously expensive to maintain, and owners who don't see the potential future value could be tempted to throw in the towel when costs get too high. Factor in a few that get totaled in wrecks, and I wouldn't be surprised if only half of those R63s still exist by their 50th anniversary.
But you better believe the R63s that do make it will be incredibly collectible. There may only be a small handful still in good condition, but collectors are going to fight over them like they're hens' teeth.
When that happens, the R63 is going to shoot up in value. You'll see news reports of R63s selling for unimaginable sums. Old men will say to each other "remember when those were new and nobody wanted one? Now look at 'em!" And those of you who listened to me and invested wisely will sit there in your mansions, counting your cash, and laughing at all the fools who made fun of them for buying a V8 minivan back in 2016.
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