Best prediction of a sports car's value? The dorm room poster

One of the most visible signs of the generational shift in car collecting is the fact that the cars that were the subjects of the most popular dorm room wall posters of the 1980s are rapidly rising in value. For example, in 2012, Gooding and Company auctioned at its Pebble Beach sale, a beautifully restored 1976 Lamborghini Countach LP400 for the then unheard of price of $600,000. In 2014 at the same sale, Gooding sold another early Countach (in need of a full restoration) for a cool $1.6 million. Here are five of our favorite dorm room poster cars that are surging in value now:

1. 1974- 89 Lamborghini Countach
2010 Price: $409,000
2015 Price: $1,250,000

Perhaps the most iconic automotive dorm room wall poster — the red Lamborghini Countach poster that reads: “Body by Lamborghini. High fidelity by Alpine.” — recently turned 30, which means that the 18-year-old punks who Scotch-Taped it to their dorm room walls freshman year are now closing in on 50 and flush with disposable income. This could explain the recent vertical rise in Countach prices; they’ve roughly tripled in value over the last three years. The earliest carsare the priciest.

2.1978-83 Porsche 911SC
2010 Price: $23,000
2015 Price: $37,000

One of my personal favorites (and one that I own) was a photographed by Steve Steigman, whose best-known previous work was titled “Blown Away.” It depicts a guy who looks like one of The Eagles in sunglasses, sitting in a stylish chair while being buffeted by Category Five-level sound waves from his giant 1980s-era stereo speakers. His next work showed the same guy in his Porsche 911SC Targa with an angelic light — emanating presumably from the killer 4.5 Watts per channelcar stereo — levitating the Targa roof off of the car. Maxell, the high-end cassette tape-maker, incorporated both images in its advertising. Good examples of the 911SC are up over 50% in value over the last five years.