Classic car insurer Hagerty Inc. (HGTY) is out with its highly watched Bull Market List for 2025, outlining the enthusiast vehicles the insurer thinks are undervalued and could appreciate in the near to medium term. The verdict: Cars from the '80s, '90s, and early aughts are now coveted.

Hagerty has the numbers — such as the values of cars bought at recent auctions and the number of insurance quotes searched for on the Hagerty website over the past year — to gauge where the market is headed for certain vehicles.  

The data painted an interesting picture. 

“We watched the data and then saw that something’s happening here,” Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty told Yahoo Finance.

Hagerty

For example, Japanese cars like the Datsun 280ZX along with the Honda Prelude, early 2000s Mini Coopers, and even the '80s legend DeLorean DMC-12 have seen interest spike. Cars like the 280ZX were popular among Americans in the early '80s due to their almost British sports car looks, performance, and modest pricing.

"It's this rising generation of younger collectors coming in and saying, 'Look, I want in. I may not have all the money to be able to buy everything I dream of, but I want in somewhere,'" Hagerty said. "So they're buying cars, and it's surprisingly strong in some of these [segments]." 

Read more: What classic car insurance covers — and doesn’t

The Datsun saw 70% of interest coming from Gen X and younger collectors, per Hagerty data, with prices rising concurrently, up 138% since 2019, to an average of $32,800.

Think of it as a generation shift — from boomers to Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) and older millennials (1981-1996). 

Instead of Corvettes, older muscle cars like Mustangs and Challengers, and priceless vintage Ferraris (that still sell well, incidentally), auction houses and insurers like Hagerty are seeing a big shift. Japanese cars from the '80s and '90s, the old-school Bronco II (prices up 4% since 2021 to $15,600), and even some exclusive cars, like the Lamborghini Gallardo six-speed manual and '80s-era Ferrari 400 (up 51% since 2019 to $59,000 on average), are seeing younger buyer interest. 

Hagerty

Even the trusty manual transmission that automakers have been phasing out for years now is increasing in desirability. “Manual transmissions were definitely at kind of a premium,” Hagerty said. “Those are now the cars that are getting premium treatment in the marketplace at the upper end.”

Take that Gallardo from 2006 to 2013, for instance. It was the first car that came out after Audi bought Lamborghini. It paired German engineering with a V-10 engine, Italian flair, and, of course, that manual transmission, which was a rare option. It’s a combination of exclusivity and a modern enthusiast's car that’s now gaining popularity, especially at the higher end of the market. The Gallardo's value has climbed steadily since 2019, rising 7.4% over that time to an average price of $157,700, according to Hagerty.

Hagerty

Now the broader classic car market, one of the largest alternative asset markets in the world, is still a little soft, Hagerty said. This follows a 3% decline in sales during Monterey Car Week last August.

“The live auction world has been down a little bit from a valuation standpoint, but it reached a peak in 2022 post-COVID, as did so many kinds of pastimes,” Hagerty said. “[But] when people talk about this market going down, it's like it's down, but it's against a really strong high. And even online auctions were kind of a little bit soft this year. But demand is strong and demand is really strong in some of these newer vehicle segments.”

Hagerty

For Hagerty, which now owns its own auction house, classic car shows (including Amelia Island), and even a media company, a dip in the classic car market isn’t impacting business. The insurance business, its bread and butter, is doing quite well, with revenue up 17% in Q3 and written premiums climbing 13%. 

Hagerty's net income for the year is expected to rise as much as 163% compared to a year ago, with the company citing new business in its insurance and car marketplace divisions and cost-cutting efforts. 

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram

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