I’m just talking about the new Mini (that came out in 2001) and how the basic design hasn’t changed much since it came out.
ah!..my mistake, apologies for that.
Also, perhaps the 1990’s Ford Explorers? A lot of decently running ones that could have survived went to the junkyard due to Cash For Clunkers.
Might make 'em rare, doesn’t make 'em classic. 
Acura RSX
Toyota Celica
Buick Regal Grand National perhaps? (more '80s I suppose)
I think the VW New Beetle will have a market, especially since it’s discontinued and the replacement Beetle is quite a bit less “funky” looking. One of the first bits of retrofuturist design, and I think a pretty influential design.
Yes, I drove one of these in college, and still drive it, in fact. It’s a little hard to tell with mine, because a pair of dogs ate the interior before I owned it and the previous owner beat it up a little, but it’s held up OK, and still drives well at 160,000 miles. However, I can’t imagine why this car would be a classic. It’s rather nice for a generic sedan, and it has a little more pick-up than similar cars, but it’s not very exciting.
The DeLorean will remain a classic because of Back to the Future, I think. The other features are nice, but that’s the way that my generation knows this car. Had those movies not existed, most of my friends would not know of the car, whereas when I got to drive one on stage a couple years back, most of my friends were quite excited.
it was made for 14 years. I doubt it’ll ever be “rare” enough.
Influential how? aside from the fact that it proved that J Mays has two modes, “retro” and “Passat.”
Back to the Future is the only reason anyone will continue to care about the DeLorean. It was pretty much a crap car all around. Expensive, poorly built, and slow.
What about the 1995-98ish Chevrolet Tahoe. There were a few SUVs before it, but IIRC it was the first big SUV that was really designed for a family. It was smaller (and ‘prettier’ then the Subarban but cooler then a minivan. It was also great if you have business and need to haul stuff around. On top of that it was (and is) a well built, sturdy car that really is made to last. I could see people that treat them well (and don’t drive them in harsh midwest winters) and only putting a modest amount of miles on them being able to regularly use them 20-30 years. There’s no reason why there shouldn’t be plenty of them hanging around in 2040. The only reason why they might not be considered classics is because they’ll probably still be making them and they’ve looked pretty close to identical for nearly 20 years already.
Also, with that, there’s the Escalade and to a lesser extent the Navigator.
I think the golder period of beautiful car design for American cars was the 1960s. Clean lines, minimal ornamentation, and breakthrough design were on hand and available to car buyers at reasonable prices.
The 1950s don’t appeal to me as much.
What about the Toyota Supras? I remember in the earlt 00’s that they were a modifiers dream.
Hint:
My first car was built 20 years before I was born.
What will be in demand will be:
- What the middle-aged male was driving when he was 18. These will be cheaper, by far.
- What the middle-aged male WISHED and DREAMED of owning. These will run slightly higher.
Just as the big cars - Pierce Arrow, Packard, Lincoln, Cadillac of the 30’s are worth big money - these are the ones the masses wished for, but could never own.
Same with Boomers and the muscle cars of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Go price a V-12 XKE roadster.
Dodge Neon SRT-4
GMC Typhoon and Syclone (so much fun!)
Buick Reatta
Listening to reruns of Car Talk?
Honda CRX SIs are almost there now. Rare are the ones that weren’t beaten or haven’t dissolved.
Corona GT?
Celica GT4?
I think possibly Mazda’s whole “RX” range (yes - there were some before the RX7)
There’s some gorgeous Alfas - the Brera, 159, Spider, 156 and GT would all have to be contenders
The WRX range and Evo range would be contenders also