Top 10 Future Green Collector Cars
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Nov 25th 2008 at 8:08PM 
There will always be a market for older cars, After all, people tend to look back on vehicles that were available during their youth with rose-colored glasses. Evidence of such can be seen every day as hundreds of classic muscle cars change hands, oftentimes at prices over a hundred-times the car's original asking price. In many cases, the legend of the vehicle easily surpasses its reality, and we'd expect nothing less from the diehard green segment. Instead of fondly recalling completely unreachable quarter-mile times and dusting competitors from stoplight to stoplight, perhaps we'll think back on (totally unreachable) 100 mile per gallon hybrids from the early 2000s.
In fact, the trend has already begun, with our tenth spot taken by a car that was often derided by the media but beloved by a small but vocal group of fans when it was new. Values for this particular machine have already skyrocketed in just the last year, so its place as a future collectible is all but a given. What car are we talking about? Click here to begin the journey.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
stevejust 9:08PM (11/25/2008)
You guys left off the Solectrias. No matter how many times I bring up that company... aside from the Impact concept car, I do believe it was the second electric vehicle I ever laid eyes on. I saw a Solectria Force before I ever saw an EV Plus, Rav 4 EV or EV-1 on the road.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solectria_Force
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GoodCheer 9:12AM (11/26/2008)
The thing I like best about the Force is that in the area around where they were made (outskirts of Boston) you can still see them on the road every now and then.
I don't know if this is also the case with RAV4s in California, or any of the other vehicles on this list, but I always get excited with I see one.
slk23 12:00PM (11/26/2008)
GoodCheer:
I saw a RAV4 EV in Palo Alto last week. There may be a few of them running around that city, or just one that is used frequently, since I see them/it every few weeks.
Palo Alto appears to be a hotbed of EV activity. I've seen several other EVs there (a Solectra truck, IIRC, an EV Ducati motorcycle, and a converted Porsche 914). There's also a Tesla dealership just down the road.
Max 12:47AM (11/26/2008)
If GM had kept the EV1s instead of crushing them.....they could pay for the company's survival today, lol
How ironic.
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Mirko 5:27AM (11/26/2008)
May I suggest a couple of Audis:
1) The Audi Duo - it was available at Audi dealers in Europe as a regular model in the mid-90s, looked like a regular A4 wagon but featured a diesel-plug-in-hybrid drivetrain
2) The Audi A2 1.2 TDI - 80 mpg rating, seating for 4 adults. Need I say more?
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Mike!!ekiM 7:26AM (11/26/2008)
EV1 still a beauty!
The specs still competitive.
Shows you what short-term management will do.
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nagmashot 11:11AM (11/26/2008)
this list completely ignore europen cars...
like mention befor
Audi 80 Duo (first ever commercial sold Hybrid)
Audi A4 duo (first diesel hybrid commercial sold)
Audi A2 1.4 TDI (first mass production all aluminium small car it´s average mpg put shame to Prius and Co)
VW Lupo 3L (still holds the production car mpg world record... 100mpg plus)
Citroen C1, Toyota Aygo, Peugeot 107 the cooperation vehicle between PSA and Toyota... better mpg and emission rating as the Prius and much cheaper
smart (diesel) the lowest emission vehicle world wide on market.. over 20% lower emission as the Prius..
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Serge 11:14AM (11/26/2008)
Never heard of Nissan Altra EV. It is a great car! Would love to learn more about it (as in why only 200 made for fleet-use only).
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dothackRAVE 3:05AM (11/28/2008)
It's a nice list, except it doesn't ask the question, WHY WOULD ANYONE COLLECT THESE?
A collector's car never ends up being practical. No one collects minivans. No one collects SUVs. People collect Ferraris and Lamborghinis because they have a special thrill about them, and that is pure unadulterated speed from its days.
What about these cars? They are all so practical, but few will serve up the kind of performance that makes them worth collecting. In the future when we don't use gas at all to power our cars, these cars will be worth little more than junk. There's just no more reason to put any value on them.
Their worth is based on how economical they are. When we no longer run gas, their gas savings are no longer valid, hence making them worthless and irrelevent.
Speed on the other hand, will always be relevent as long as speed nuts like me exist.
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JamesWB 8:03AM (11/28/2008)
Not all collections have to be Ferraris and the like -http://trabant.moleville.co.uk/2008/01/11/graham-goodall-appeal-dismissed/ - the world would be quite dull if everyone thought the same as you.
dothackRAVE 11:01AM (11/28/2008)
The Trabant is a poor example, as that is a historical car. I wasn't saying that only supercars get collected. Collector cars need some sort of quality about them that makes them special.
Being green does not make them special, as we have had green diesel cars that get 75 MPG since the dawn of fricking time (not in America). Yes, the cars in the list are rare, but really there is no reason a private collector will want one in his garage, unless said collector owns a museum.
Even then, one has to ask the question, what makes any of these cars so historically significant to deserve a spot in a museum? Some of them certainly do, such as the Prius, as its the first hybrid. But the EVs? Sorry, we have had EVs for a very long time, a lot of which predate any of the cars listed above by over 40 years.
JamesWB 11:34AM (11/29/2008)
A few points:
Which clean 75mpg diesels have we had in Europe since the dawn of time (I know you were exagerating with that so I'll give you say, 20 years)?
The Prius wasn't the first hybrid.
Bill 7:18PM (12/10/2008)
Hello my name is Bill I love to paint have a website called www.snapshottooils.com. I am sending you a picture of a car I have painted. I am trying to get some ideas I think someone who owns a beautiful car would love it on canvas.
please let me know what you think thank you Bill
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