Have British Sports Cars Had Their Day

Almost a year ago, The Roadster Factory, a beloved British car parts supplier suffered a tragic fire at its Pennsylvania warehouse. It might have been a metaphor for the classic British sports car world in general. From market data to shifting demographics, this part of the hobby is suffering setbacks.

In the timeline of sports cars (especially affordable ones) British cars had a run comparable to the dinosaurs. From roughly 1945 until 1980 or so, little English roadsters ruled the planet. From beachfront drives to SCCA race grids and autocross runs, they were absolutely everywhere. Then, labor issues, bad management, non-existent R&D budgets, and increased competition from other car-building nations brought things to a sad end. But that wasn't quite the end of things. A massive subculture and aftermarket ecosystem sprouted up and flourished, keeping these cars on the road long after the demise of the OEMs and ushering them into "classic" status. The baby boomers who remembered British two-seaters when they were new made up the lion's share of this culture. They loved their MGBs, Austin-Healeys and Triumph TR6s. Millennials and Gen-Zers, not so much. With flat values for the last decade, is the reign of the British sports car finally over? Maybe, maybe not.

From the early 2000s until roughly 2015, British sports cars had a pretty decent run in the collector car market. Excellent TR6s became $25,000+ cars, perfectly restored Austin-Healey 3000 MKIIIs could bring well over, and good Jaguar E-types more than double that. It was the knock-on effect of people buying the cars that imprinted on them in their youth. It happed with other 1950s-70s cars, too. But with older Boomers lightening their loads, it seems like the market is getting smaller for classic British sports cars.

Strangely, the only millennials that I know who own British sports cars own Spridgets (a portmanteau of Austin-Healey Sprite/MG Midget). I personally know four Spridget owners who are under 40. Some of the appeal for them is a factor of the cars' simplicity and sheer cheekiness, but mostly, it's because they're super affordable. Interestingly, though, these seem to be dead-end acquisitions for millennial enthusiasts. By that I mean they're not a gateway to other, more sophisticated, more sophisticated British cars further up the ladder. Young Spitfire owners don't move up to a TR6 and young Sprite owners don't move up to a Big Healey, much less something like an E-Type. Boomers and Gen-Xers thought that was the most beautiful car ever, but it just doesn't resonate with a lot of younger enthusiasts.

Hagerty's insurance data backs this up. While first generation (1965-73) Ford Mustangs fit squarely into the baby boomer demographic by model year, they have significant appeal with younger buyers as over 20 percent of insurance quotes come from millennial buyers. For the 1961-67 E-Type, on the other hand, that number is less than 6 percent, and for the Austin-Healey 3000 it's a little better at slightly above 10 percent. The MG TF, which carries a value low enough to be tempting to younger buyers, nevertheless sees a dismal 4.7 percent of quotes from millennials, and just 1.6 percent from Gen Z. As for values, Hagerty's British Car Index has been conspicuously quiet even during the pandemic boom of the early 2020s. The index's average price of $91,760 is basically the same as it was in 2015.

Classic British sports cars also suffer in comparison with the cars from the 1990s roadster revival. NA-generation Mazda Miatas, BMW Z3s, Porsche Boxsters and Mercedes-Benz SLKs are similarly cheap and plentiful, but they're also significantly faster, more usable, and more reliable. To someone born in the 1990s, they also look plenty vintage and are getting old enough to become "classics" themselves.

Are British cars dead? Not by a longshot. The huge number of classic British cars out there aren't going to just disappear. While their best days value-wise might be behind them, at least part of another generation will eventually succumb to their tweedy charms, just as any genre of car always gains a following. But it might be smaller, while any serious interest and value growth in British cars will likely be in models from the 1990s and beyond-classic Range Rovers, manual Aston Martin V8 Vantages, Lotus Elises/Exiges, McLarens, and even the odd TVR Cerbera and eventually (when it becomes legal here) the utterly mental TVR Sagaris. Basically, the cars of the Forza and Grand Turismo kids. The generational shift is here. Tastes change. Embrace it.