COMING IN HOT: See Future Trends Come to Life at FCCS

Your mom’s Supra. Your older brother’s Nissan. The popular guy in high school’s ride. The cheer captain’s convertible. Fast & Furious icons. These may all sound like answers to a category on the “Family Feud” game show, but they also fit the description of cars you will see at the Future Collector Car Show, January 22 on the Polo Field at WestWorld during the Barrett-Jackson 2023 Scottsdale Auction.

FCCS serves as a manifestation of burgeoning trends within the automotive industry, particularly when it comes to the sport compact segment of vehicles. Thanks to the first installment in the Fast & Furious movie franchise, the sport compact scene became mainstream and brought vehicles no one in the United States had really heard of or seen, like the R34 Nissan Skyline and S15 Nissan Silvia, into the limelight. To this day, these two examples remain forbidden fruit due to the country’s infamous “25-year import rule.”

That said, time is running out on this rule and some vehicles previously unattainable in the U.S. due to the Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act of 1988 – which banned the import of vehicles under 25 years old that didn’t comply with American safety and emissions regulations – are starting to arrive. One such vehicle, a 1996 Toyota Chaser Tourer V, became legal to import into the United States in January 2022 and will be seen on the show field at FCCS.

While Fast & Furious is the easiest to point to and say, “Look what it did for car culture,” influencers are also playing a hand in further popularizing some of the more mundane vehicles already in the United States. For example, Tyler Hoover, a “Barrett-Jackson LIVE” on-air commentator and popular American YouTuber with more than 1.4 million followers on his “Hoovie’s Garage” channel, sold his 1990 Mazda MX5 Miata convertible at the 2022 Houston Auction for a new world auction record sale price of $27,500. KARR, another popular YouTuber with over 30,000 subscribers, offered his internet-famous 1999 Mazda Miata custom convertible, better known as “Hell Kitty,” at the 2019 Las Vegas Auction, which also set an world auction record with its $36,300 sale.

Among the other desirable JDM vehicles gaining popularity over recent years at Barrett-Jackson is the Datsun 240Z. A 1972 Datsun 240Z sold in 2019 at the Scottsdale Auction for $67,100; recently the same car brought in $88,000 at the 2022 Houston Auction. While this example is considered a Resto-Mod since it is powered by a GM LS V8 engine with over 400 horsepower, love for original examples remains strong.

During the 2019 Las Vegas Auction, a 1972 Datsun 240Z crossed the block for $23,100; the sale was followed by another 1972 example at the 2021 Las Vegas Auction for $33,000, with yet another 1972 model eclipsing it, selling for $34,100. An additional JDM marque gaining significant attention is the Acura NSX. In 2019 at the Las Vegas Auction a 1992 model sold for $29,700, followed by the sale of another 1992 NSX at the 2022 Las Vegas Auction for $58,300.

Those in attendance at FCCS on the Polo Field at WestWorld will be able to enjoy a variety of vehicles ranging from highly modified custom builds to original and incredibly preserved rides like those mentioned above. Vehicles on the show field will also range from JDM and European marques to modern muscle and everything in between, effectively creating an experience where generations of vehicle owners can find common ground in their love of future collectibles.

To identify other future collector cars outside of the Fast & Furious movies, those that may not have been on posters hanging up in children’s rooms 20 or 30 years ago, all one has to do is attend the Future Collector Car Show and see for themselves where younger enthusiasts are pouring their passion. This family-friendly, one-day, concours-style event, presented by Meguiar’s, features vehicles that best represent the future of the collector car hobby, with the goal of celebrating the cars we love today and the future collectibles of tomorrow.