From Hagerty, the authors list the most underrated vehicle on the market.

[SteveSS]

Our Two Cents: The most underrated vehicle on the market? - Hagerty Media


I'm glad the 4th gen F-Bodies are in there. Mine is a red 1997 Camaro SS 6-speed. I'd like to get a black 2002 Trans Am WS6.

 

[demonram]

Our Two Cents: The most underrated vehicle on the market? - Hagerty Media


I'm glad the 4th gen F-Bodies are in there. Mine is a red 1997 Camaro SS 6-speed. I'd like to get a black 2002 Trans Am WS6.

I did a kitchen and bath for a guy 15 years ago who bought one new. He only had about 3,000 miles on it. He said he’d never sell it. It was a gorgeous car. I always liked Pontiacs over the other GM‘s.

 

[70ChargerRT]

I always like the look of the WS6 but the F-Bodies were the biggest rattle can ever made. I’ve never seen a vehicle fall apart like they do especially when you start putting a few miles on them. My brother n law put a built 6.0 in a SS 6-speed and it was a absolute beast.

 

[rumblefish360]

This last year Firebirds are bad *** looking.
The Camaro…. LMAO! What a joke!

 

[YY1]

I really like the looks of that generation firebird.
Part of the return of styling to the automotive world.
That said, there's no way I could ever own one as I'd need 3 or more inches of headroom added.
That's not as bad as the previous generation where I'd need that additional headroom plus 6 inches of leg room.
Or the current generation where I'd need about six inches of additional headroom.

 

[WileE]

< " I need head room"

 

[VANDAN]

The Only one of those listed, with a chance of ending up in My garage, would be the XR650L. Wouldn't give a 2nd glance to any of the others...

 

[YY1]

Shelby, lexus, and bently as undervalued.

Fa, fa, fa.....I'd love to live in your world.

 

[Runcharger]

Who hasn't always wanted a Honda Element? FMG.

 

[hacksaw]

the green one is a 71 hornet H code SST (saved the original paint)
the purple one is a 71 S/C 360 go pack (not even going to try and save that paint)
only under rated by a lil bit ....lol
ya both my cars.

 

[YY1]

Cool.....a ScHornet, as we used to call them.

 

[DeltaV]

The most underrated on the market? Why, it's the Rodney Dangerfield of B Bodies!

 

[biomedtechguy]

The most underrated on the market? Why, it's the Rodney Dangerfield of B Bodies!


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I considered buying one of those new, or I should say "choosing" one because at 17 graduating from High School, my dear grandmother offered to buy me a new car (within reason).
I liked the E58 option "police" 360 4bbl, but the car just seemed "too big" for what I wanted.
I actually ordered, off of the options list, a 1979 Aspen R/T (I had a 71 Charger R/T at the time, or I would have ordered the Roadrunner version, and I liked the Dodge grille better).
Black with gold strobe stripes, E58 360 4bbl, Sure Grip, but a crappy 2.7X rear gear was all I could get.
The Lean Burn computer was a "strand your *** anywhere, anytime, for 2 minutes or 20 minutes" Pandora's Box of Misery, so once the crappy 1 year warranty ran out, I started modding it.
Holley square bore 600 CFM with an adapter plate (spread bore intake). Chrysler Performance electronic ignition. A while later, I put a Crane Fireball cam in, and I didn't have to change anything else. THAT really woke it up, and then I swapped it a 1973 340 4 speed Dart 8¾ rear axle. It was literally a direct swap for the 8¼, even the alignment pins on the leaf spring perches lined up with my leaf spring holes. I got a "small/big" U-Joint combo from a local Dana/Spicer company called "U-Joint Specialties".
That was it! Had a 3.23 in it, but I swapped in a 3.55 chunk.
That took the performance up another notch.
I had bought a used 78 R/T with T-Tops as a driver, so I could do some mods to my 79 in my "spare time". I put in the pedals and an aluminum 4 speed OD manual transmission from a 76 Aspen V8 car, and I had a set of 2.02 340 heads with Purple Stripe springs that were next, but I had an opportunity to buy my dad's 82 Collector Edition Corvette in 1985 with about 6k miles on it, so everything went out the window and I moved on to the Vette.
My life was pretty crazy in the 80s, focused heavily on one incredibly fine looking woman I dated and was engaged to, and when that fell through I became a "party animal" basically working and "playing" for a couple of decades (no kids). I survived by the Grace of God, but seeing that Chrysler 300 kicked off that whole train of thought.

 

[DeltaV]

but I had an opportunity to buy my dad's 82 Collector Edition Corvette in 1985 with about 6k miles on it, so everything went out the window and I moved on to the Vette.

_____________________________________
My Electronic Spark Control System never failed.

 

[Detective D]

Ahh the F body.
Here in WI, when those hit the scene, they were so hyped by local dealers and treated as the be all end all that they successfully marked them up to over $30k.
A few of the "OMG LAST FIREBIRD EVER" in 2001ish went for well past $50k.

Those people are insane. The people that love them around here are still insane and think their car with 150k miles on it should still sell for $25k.
Meanwhile, I saw (2) C4 ZR1's sell for under $25k last year, one had 60k miles on it.

Some of the other stuff on the list? I dunno.... Lincoln mark 8? I owned (2) of Ford's mod motor vehicles, a 94 Cougar and a 98 Expedition. Cougar was quick for what it was, Expy was NOT, both motors reliable and also not modifiable. I mean you can if you have throw away money but otherwise you are stuck with 1990's performance levels. mark 8 has those nice expensive air ride to fix also. mark 7 is a much better platform to invest in. And trust me, I owned that Cougar for a decade, it is the same platform and basically same interior and almost the same car as that mark 8. They are not fun to work on and parts cost ooga booga money for Ford mod motors because they all require new computers to work. If you are going to try, might as well fork out the money for a factory coyote swap.

 

[SteveSS]

I think 3rd Gen Corvettes are underrated. 1968 to 1982. Take out the boat anchor and put in a really hot SBC or LS and have fun. I've owned a few and they are rattletraps but they look cool on the outside. You can still get a nice one (1974 to 1982) for under $10K.

 

[WileE]

The most underrated on the market? Why, it's the Rodney Dangerfield of B Bodies!


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I could not agree more. One of the best cars I've ever had. No, not a tire-shredder like my other cars. But, a Great ride comfortable stylish car. This, and a comparable Magnum.

 

[biomedtechguy]

My Electronic Spark Control System never failed.

Mine gave me so much trouble that my friends and I had a 1/2 day long ceremony to mark its destruction when I replaced the carburetor and ignition system.
I took it out of the plastic box in the air cleaner (which I replaced with a Moroso gold anodized aluminum air cleaner). The circuit boards were encased in a gel, and I took metal cutting shears and cut it in half. One half went into a 55 gallon drum at my friend's muffler shop and we set it on fire. A few beers and tales of being stranded later and we took a road trip to the point on Lake Pontchartrain. A few words of final disgust and condemnation, and I hurled the remaining half of the Lean Burn circuitry into the Lake, happy that I'd NEVER be stranded who knows when or where EVER again!

 

[XS22J8R]

I really enjoy my Magnum, and it gets a lot of looks at car shows, so I'd concur that the 300 along with with its other late B body siblings, Magnum, Cordoba, Charger, and Fury deserve to be on the most under rated collector car lists. Until they get more respect, at least we can buy them for reasonable prices still.
Despite being a Ford, perhaps my favorite overall car I ever owned was my '90 Tbird SC. I used it as a daily driver and it was about to hit 200,000 miles when I sold it. It fit me like a glove, the power curve with the supercharged 3.8 was perfect, the 5 speed manual with hydraulic clutch mechanism was user friendly, and the car looked great.
I've seen a few pristine examples sell in recent times for low prices and wouldn't mind having another someday. However my concern with them is the same as my concerns with most cars from the last 30+ years. That is keeping them on the road. Cars from when computers and more sophisticated technology came into use are going to be really hard to fix when they have issues, and I think the aftermarket won't support many of their parts. So how will they be able to be kept on the road?
My T bird had a really complicated Teves IV ABS brake system that had a very complex master cylinder with hydraulic booster assembly. The accumulator on mine went bad once, and at the time I worked at a brake parts manufacturer. Our tech service department fixed it for me as a training class demo, to replace it you had to pump the brakes 40 times as I recall, with the ignition off, or else I was told the accumulator would shoot off when you started to remove it, like a cannon shell! Just bleeding the brakes on that car required plugging it in to some scanner or something to cycle the ABS, you couldn't just pump the peddle or gravity bleed it.
Buick GN's and some other GMs from the late 80s had a similar brake MC, called a power master I believe it was called. My company was making them for Delco for service parts, but even when I left there in 2005, there was a component for them that the supplier didn't want to make anymore for the low volume, I think those must have ended up discontinued not long after that. I believe GM guys retrofit a conventional vacuum booster and master cylinder in them now if the Power master goes bad. Good luck doing an OE resto on a GN or GNX!
Many areas have emission tests on cars '96 and newer, some even on cars older than that. If the check engine light is on, you can't pass the test, and you might find fixing the car to pass the test to be a challenge.
Cars over 30-35 years old are much simpler and therefore easier to keep on the road.

 

[patrick66]

the green one is a 71 hornet H code SST (saved the original paint)
the purple one is a 71 S/C 360 go pack (not even going to try and save that paint)
only under rated by a lil bit ....lol
ya both my cars.

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My younger son wants a Gremlin or a Pacer. We're looking! I'm more of a Hornet fan.