Tuning classics are still controversial (question of the month)
04/08/2024
In the seventies and eighties, hot-rodded sports cars and limousines caused quite a stir. The tuning industry was booming, and performance-enhanced vehicles and individualized styling were the trend. Unique vehicles such as the König-Ferrari, AMG-Mercedes or Rinspeed, bb and Gemballa-Porsche, to name just a few examples, were created. Even everyday cars such as a VW Golf or an Opel Kadett were adapted to personal taste by means of tuning.
How have these cars developed as classics? How do we judge their appearance and technology today, 30 or 40 years later, especially in comparison to surviving original vehicles?
We wanted to find out from our readers and posed a " question of the month": Does contemporary tuning result in a higher classic car value?
The answers (over 300 readers took part) were only partially surprising. 45% of those who took a stance do indeed attribute a higher value to tuning classics in the market.
On the other hand, 55% of those who took a stance said that tuning and originality go hand in hand, meaning that customized classics must perform worse than originals.
It should also be noted that 11% did not want to say a clear yes or no, perhaps also because tuning was and is a very broad field and you cannot compare almost independent vehicles such as a Rinspeed Aliporta with a Golf with a Kamei front spoiler. Which would certainly be a good point.
However, this question of the month is also interesting because we asked it almost identically 10 years ago . Back then, 44% were in favor and 56% against a better performance of tuning classics. So the percentages have hardly changed, even though surprisingly high prices have been paid for RUF, AMG and König vehicles at auctions recently.
Here is the graphical analysis of the current survey (including the percentage of "No answer is right for me"):
We have already posed the next "question of the month " , on our "own behalf" so to speak. We are interested in whether Zwischengas readers consider captions to be added value or unnecessary ballast.
And of course you can still read the evaluations of all previous questions of the week and month in the corresponding topic channel. And we are always happy to receive suggestions as to what else might interest our readers!
