My theory is this:

I'm 37 and a child of the 80s. Chevelles? GTOs? Camaros? Corvettes? Muscle cars in general - who cares? We didn't have them as our dream cars, we had the Mercedes, the BMWs, and the Porsches as our dream cars. And at this point, even if we wanted a muscle car (market way, way overblown), we couldn't afford them anyway, even though my generation is getting some cash right about now. (Personally, I think we'll see the "tanking" of muscle car values simply because those who own them will flood the market when the babyboomer's healthcare needs get too high, and since my generation doesn't care about muscle cars, who are they going to sell them to?)

So what do car guys of the 80s turn to? Our dream cars are the cars we grew up with and loved. We can afford the MBs and BMWs now because they're not price-overblown - yet. MB is the most popular marque becuase they're still very reliable, are very affordable, have a great feel to them, and fulfill our need for dream cars with which we grew up. The cream-of-the-crop w123s, w126s, r107s, and w124s will go up in price - they're my generation of collectibles. But if you really want a collector car over which my generation will salivate in 15 years, it'll be the SEC AMG - a documented one. As soon as I can personally justify the $20k-30k on one, I'm in, and I'll never let it go.

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600