Specialty cars in the $50K to $100K range are often seen as the gateway to investment-grade collecting – and they’ve quietly kept their momentum going in the first half of 2025. Despite slimmer catalogs from consignors, dollar volume, unit sales, and sell-through all edged up. It’s a clear sign that demand at this price point is still wide-reaching, but buyers are keeping a close eye on value.
Nearly half of the markets in this tier – 128 out of 285 – are up over the past six months. And most of those gains are coming from two camps: big, mid-century American cruisers and under-the-radar analog GTs from the ’70s through early 2000s. Think Cadillac Sixty Specials and 5th-gen Eldorados posting 30% gains, or cars like the Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2 and early 996 GT3s quietly climbing double digits.
By era, the ’70s, ’60s, and ’90s are inching forward, while newer stuff (and a few older nameplates) are either flat or down. Overall, the tier hasn’t moved much – down just a hair since Q1 – but the gap between winners and losers is wide. Some models are up over 30%, while others are down just as much. And there’s a clear pattern: the top performers averaged close to $80K per sale, while the underachievers clustered around $55K. The scarcer, more desirable cars are getting snapped up.
So what’s working? Usable scarcity. The biggest winners tend to be road-legal, character-rich cars that were overlooked until recently – like vintage Caddys, early water-cooled GT3s, and ’70s V12 grand tourers. They haven’t traded often, so even one strong result can move the needle. And they hit the right note for Gen X and early-millennial buyers: cool without being overexposed, analog but not ancient, and still affordable under $100K.
On the other end, the story’s familiar: cars that are expensive to run, don’t tug on the heartstrings, or show up too often just aren’t moving. That includes track-only machines like the 997.2 GT3 Cup (which dropped almost 50% over the past year), over-supplied modern luxo-bruisers like the Alpina B7 or Maybach 57, and anything that feels more like a financial liability than a weekend escape.
The takeaway? Focus on cars that are distinctive, drivable, and a little bit off the beaten path. This part of the market still has life – but if your car’s hard to love or expensive to keep, you’ll need to price it with a little humility. And if only a handful of them trade each year, don’t be surprised if the next sale changes the story overnight.
Using our CLASSIC.COM Market Benchmark (CMB)*, we’ve analyzed over 5,000 individual markets** to pinpoint the top Growing and Slowing Markets so far in 2025. To qualify for this list, a market must have more than one sold listing between January-June 2025.
Note: CMB is an indicator of how recent market activity has impacted typical market values. It does not guarantee individual vehicle appreciation.
Top 10 GrowingMarkets between $50K-100K
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Top 10 Slowing Marketsbetween $50K-100K
Auction Stats
Total sales reached $419 million across just under 6,000 cars – slightly more than last year, even with a bit fewer listings. That bumped the sell-through rate back up to 75.5%. It’s not quite back to the peak we saw in 2021–2022, but it’s a solid recovery. And with less inventory and more money changing hands, average prices held pretty much flat, right around $70K.
A few familiar names helped carry the weight. Kissimmee led the charge, improving efficiency without adding a bunch of new cars to the docket. Online platforms chipped in the most new money and moved over 3,200 cars – more than all the in-person auctions combined, even though they actually listed fewer lots. Elsewhere, most traditional auctions stayed steady, while places like Amelia, Miami and Scottsdale shrunk their catalogs but still managed to sell every car they offered. A good reminder that tighter, more focused auctions can really pay off at this price point.
What’s keeping the $50K–$100K segment moving isn’t rising prices, it’s liquidity. Sellers who set realistic reserves, especially online or at buzzy live events like Kissimmee, are getting cars sold fast. On the flip side, when catalogues get too big, returns start to thin out. Buyers are still willing to pull the trigger on the right car, while curated in-person auctions continue to clear every car they offer. For now, this tier seems to be holding steady in that sweet spot: lots of action, stable pricing, and no signs of slowing down heading into Monterey.
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*The CLASSIC.COM Market Benchmark (CMB) is a benchmark value for vehicles in a given Market based on data accumulated by CLASSIC.COM and calculated by a proprietary algorithm that takes into account volume and recency of each data point. CMB can be used to assess the performance of a market over a given time period. However, it does not represent the value of a specific vehicle.
** A Market on CLASSIC.COM is a grouping of comparable vehicles that have, at a minimum, the same Make, Model, and Model Generation. When relevant for purposes of valuation, a Market may be further segmented by Model Variant, Trim, Transmission Type, Body Style, and other factors.
