
Any basic economics course teaches that price is determined by supply and demand. That principle is vividly illustrated in the current market for collectible British cars, where prices have been rising on almost all marques for five years. Here are a few reasons why.
More buyers in the marketplace
Who buys collectible cars? Baby Boomers, that’s who. When the boys in uniform got home from WWII in 1945, after postponing marriage for four years, they had one thing on their minds. The inevitable result was that the birth rate immediately skyrocketed. As prosperity took hold in the early 1950s, plans for a second, third, even fourth child filled new homes in the suburbs.
By 1964, considered the last year of the Baby Boom, four out of every ten Americans were under the age of 20. This is the biggest single age group in the history of the world.
This was also the first generation that grew up with a garage by every house and an automobile, or...
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Keith Martin on Collecting Austin-Healey, MG, and Triumph with Digital Supplement $29.95 |
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Vintage Austin-Healey 100-Six Print $15.95 |