The classic car world is possibly one of the most opinionated collecting pursuits known to man, and nearly everyone seems to have an opinion on relative values and desirability. Each car on this list has at one time or another been deemed by \u201cexperts\u201d to be hopeless as a collectible and each has one thing in common\u2014they\u2019ve skyrocketed in value.<\/p>\n

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Chevrolet Corvair Convertible<\/p><\/div>\n
3. 1979-80 BMW M1:<\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0M1<\/a>\u00a0was BMW\u2019s first foray into the mid-engine exotic world. Just over 450 were built. With a little development help early on from Lamborghini and some inspiration from an earlier Paul Braq-designed concept car, BMW produced a credible supercar and the first officially badged M-car that spawned a long line of special Motorsports BMWs.\u00a0 Back in the flamboyant 1970s, though, the car was deemed to be too low-key inside and out.\u00a0 But its subtle good looks have aged extremely well.\u00a0 As recently as 2003 an M1 sold for just $49,000 at an auction in the UK. Three years later, they were still going for well under $100,000. This past March, one sold at an auction in Florida for $379,000.<\/p>\n
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1979 BMW M1<\/p><\/div>\n
4. 1976 Porsche 912E:<\/strong>\u00a0Porsche has always struggled with the entry-level stuff. They know that they should have an entry-level car, but they\u2019ve often either fumbled the execution and\/or suffered a backlash from the Porsche snobs. The\u00a0912E<\/a>\u00a0was a one-year-only stop-gap effort that held down the down-market fort after the end of 914 while the front-engine, water-cooled 924 was readied for the U.S. It was essentially a stripper 911 with a VW Transporter-derived 2.0-liter Type IV air-cooled four-cylinder engine. On the surface, a sports car with a bus engine sounds like a bad idea, but it was actually the same engine from the outgoing 914, and if you could get past the sound, it was quite pleasant with tons of low-end torque. Just under 2,100 were made (all were sold in the U.S.), and while in the past it has been derided by supposed Porsche experts as \u201cperennially undesirable,\u201d the 912E\u2019s mid-\u201970s vintage 911 looks and easy serviceability have made them quite desirable today. I personally paid $6,500 for a nice one in 2005. The same car would be worth $20,000 today. A New York dealer has recently advertised one for just under $40,000.<\/p>\n
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1976 Porsche 912E<\/p><\/div>\n
5. 1955-63 Mercedes-Benz 190SL:<\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0190SL<\/a>\u00a0has lived forever in the shadow of its bigger, sportier and more powerful sibling the\u00a0 300SL<\/a>. And while they\u2019re outwardly a bit similar, they\u2019re in a whole different league performance-wise. The 190SL used to be dismissed as \u201ca German Thunderbird,\u201d or a car whose looks wrote a check that its performance couldn\u2019t cash. But as 300SLs rose to over $1 million, collectors began to accept the 190SL for what is was\u2014a very well-built and pretty sunny day cruiser. Cars that traded for under $50,000 just a few years ago can now bring a quarter of a million dollars.<\/p>\n
$\"Mercedes-Benz$
Mercedes-Benz 190SL (photo courtesy of Silar)<\/p><\/div>\n
This article has been reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder, Hagerty. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Click here for more\u00a0<\/i>classic car stories<\/i><\/a>\u00a0from Hagerty.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":5494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[136,3],"tags":[1486,1494,1487,1481,20,1477,868,1479,433,728,23,379,1480,1475,593,1231,885,1132,165,1483,1488,1489,1484,1485,1491,73,1482,1490,1478,622,1492,1493,623,1476,44,1340],"class_list":["post-5491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-automotive-history","category-automotive-news","tag-190sl","tag-2nd-generation","tag-300sl","tag-912e","tag-auction","tag-big-three","tag-bmw","tag-bmw-m1","tag-car-auction","tag-classic-car-auction","tag-collector-car","tag-corvair","tag-corvair-convertible","tag-golden-hawk","tag-hagerty","tag-hagerty-car-insurance","tag-hagerty-classic-car-insurance","tag-hagerty-valuation-tool","tag-jay-leno","tag-mercedes","tag-mercedes-190sl","tag-mercedes-300sl","tag-mercedes-benz","tag-mercedes-benz-190sl","tag-motorsports-bmw","tag-porsche","tag-porsche-912e","tag-porsche-914","tag-ralph-nader","tag-rob-sass","tag-second-generation","tag-second-generation-corvair","tag-studebaker","tag-studebaker-golden-hawk","tag-vw","tag-vw-transporter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t