Japanese classics are the hottest bet

WHEN a classic red 1994 Toyota Supra sold online for US$121,000(RM492 530) last month, it shocked not only the usual car-related Instagram junkies, but also close followers of the tiny Japanese sports car.

The going rate for one in good condition tends to hover around US$59,000 (RM240,159). Credit the high price to its low mileage and the fact that it was so well-preserved, it might as well have been vacuumpacked back in 1994.

The record for the most expensive Supra sold at auction is US$199,800 (RM813,286) — the sum paid for the orange Supra that appeared in The Fast and the Furious.

But this was the highest price ever paid for one in an online auction. Most of them dimly approach the US$100,000 (RM407,050) mark.

The sale came a few weeks before the first-production 2020 Toyota Supra took US$2.1 million (RM8.55m) at a Barrett-Jackson charity auction during the famous annual sales in Scottsdale, Arizona.

That’s twice as much as the firstproduction Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 fetched at the same event.

And it’s just the beginning of what experts predict will be a spate of modern collectible Japanese-branded cars gaining value in the near future, with some already climbing.

Rarities like the Toyota 2000GT and the Mazda Cosmo have long commanded six- and seven-figure prices at auctions worldwide. But lately, more mundane cars from Asia have also started to gain value, according to the 2019 Hagerty Bull Market List, an annual report that identifies trends and value potential for collectible and classic cars.

The biggest push has come from millennials, who have finally made enough money to afford their own era’s hero cars. Their attraction is the thrill of actually owning the car they had in a poster on the wall or raced in early video games.

For Japanese vehicles in the Hagerty price guide, the value of a car in “fine” condition with minimal wear has increased an average of 18.1 per cent in the past three years and 38.8 per cent in the past five

years (The market, in gen- eral, rose 13.1 per cent over the past three years and 23.6 per cent over the past five).

Another from Toyota Motor Corp, the 1988 MR2, bolsters the trend. Beloved in its day for a lightweight body and quick-shift five-speed gearbox, the car retains original fans who are nostalgic for its plucky demeanour.

Millennials make up 45 per cent of the quotes requested for the MR2, an unusual portion.

“These are people just getting into the hobby, so there’s room to grow,” the report said.

Throw the Toyota Supra Turbo into this group, too. Examples in good condition from model years 1994 to 1998 increased more than six per cent in value from 2017 to last year.

The rise beat gains from such iconic models as a 2000s-era Porsche 911 Turbo and 2010 Ford Raptor.

Then there’s the Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The first legal version of the WRX turbo came to the United States in 2002, buoyed by its notoriety in vid-