Written

For

The

Australian

-

EVs

versus

collectable

cars

and

why

investing

for

monetary

gain

may

not

be

such

a

good

idea

Here's a paradox for you: while cost-of-living pressures are crushing mortgage holders, classic car dealers can't keep stock on the shelves. A car a day is flying out the door at one of Australia's biggest dealers. So who's buying?

Retirees. And they're having the time of their lives.

I spoke with Ben Finnis from Collectable Classic Cars, and his insight was fascinating. Rising interest rates have been a windfall for retirees living off term deposits, and combined with strong super fund returns over the past year, some have never been better off. They're using that extra cash to buy the cars they lusted after as teenagers — the Holden EJ Special, the Triumph Spitfire, the Austin-Healey. Nostalgia is a powerful currency.

But here's where it gets interesting. While 1960s and '70s classics are booming, late-model collectables bought during Covid as "investments" are tanking. The 40–60-year-olds who piled in during lockdown are now offloading them under cost-of-living pressure, dragging resale values down. It's a textbook lesson in why buying anything purely for speculative gain rarely ends well.

Looking ahead, I think the timing question matters more than most collectors realise. Today's hot 1960s Holdens could soften in a decade when their current owners hang up the keys. Meanwhile, cars from the 1990s onwards may boom as the next wave of nostalgic buyers comes of age. Add in the EV and hydrogen transition — with potential new taxes on combustion engines and fuel becoming harder to source — and the outlook gets murky.

My take? If you love cars, buy one and drive it. Enjoy the wind-in-the-hair weekends. But if your only motivation is profit, steer clear. Demand is fickle, tastes shift, and values swing hard. The same logic applies to any "passion" asset — from wine to watches to art. Invest in it because you love it, not because you expect it to fund your retirement.