Another two years later: the Porsche 930 Turbo finally loses out to the VW Beetle
It was four years ago when we asked our readers which of five classic cars would probably perform best in terms of value. At the time, 40% of readers voted for the Porsche 930 Turbo (3.3 liter) from 1977 as the guarantor of the strongest price increase, followed by the VW Beetle 1200 from 1961, which shared second place with the Ferrari 328 GTS from 1988 with 15% each. The Jaguar E-Type 4.2 Litre Convertible from 1964 came in fourth place (14%), followed by the Maserati Khamsin in fifth place with 13% of the votes.
Two years ago, we compared how the cars had developed in value. The Beetle came out on top, followed by the Jaguar E-Type and the Ferrari 328 GTS.
Now that another two years have passed, it is worth taking another look at the development.
And the situation has indeed changed again. The VW Beetle remains the undisputed leader with 27% compared to 2017, but the Ferrari 328 GTS has moved up to second place, gaining 15% over the four years.
The other three cars - the Porsche, the Maserati and the Jaguar - lost between seven and nine percent in value.
Here is the comparison over four years:
| March 2017 | March 2019 | March 2021 | Diff 17-19 | Diff 17-21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VW Beetle 1200 Standard from 1961 | 15400 | 17600 | 19500 | 14% | 27% |
| Ferrari 328 GTS from 1988 | 80000 | 82000 | 92000 | 3% | 15% |
| Porsche 911/930 Turbo 3.3 from 1977 | 115000 | 116000 | 107000 | 1% | -7% |
| Jaguar E-Type Series 1 4.2 Litre Convertible from 1964 | 122100 | 134000 | 111000 | 10% | -9% |
| Maserati Khamsin 4900 from 1976 | 145000 | 140000 | 134000 | -3% | -8% |
So if you had bought a Beetle in 2017, you would have fared best financially in relative terms, while the more exotic cars were probably more responsible for pride of ownership than value appreciation.
In absolute terms, the Ferrari buyer would of course have "earned" more money than the Beetle owner, EUR 12,000 against 4,100. And the Maserati owner would probably have been more annoyed by the maintenance costs than the manageable loss in value.
And, of course, this is only true to the extent that the Classic Data valuations (according to condition 2) can be taken as a yardstick.
We'll get back to you on this in two years' time ...
