Author: John-Joe Vollans
Photography: Manufacturers
The United States is a country of over 340-million people, and growing. That’s just over 100 million shy of the population of all 27 European Union nations combined, and five times the amount of people in the UK. Ever since we’ve been making cars, demand driven by the USA has dictated the market. The same is, of course, true in the classic sphere. No matter its global or domestic outlook, the United States of America has the buying power to dictate global markets.
The most obvious effect of this, for us, is when the 25-year import restriction on modern classics lifts. Allowing citizens in the USA to more easily bring in classics from around the globe and register them Stateside will often see values climb.
The class of 2001 is about to breach that barrier but which, and by how much, is dictated by desirability. We think these five driver favourites are bound to find many new fans in the land of the free…
Renault Clio V6
Renault’s no stranger to making mad little mid-engine machines. It all started when Lancia toppled Renault’s (via Alpine’s) grip on world rallying. Just after the Stratos turfed the A110 off podiums, Renault green let the mid-engined 5 Turbo. Interestingly, considering where it went later, Renault’s 2.6-litre V6 engine was deemed too complicated and heavy.
Fast forward three decades and Renault’s mid-engine mantle passed to the millennial era Clio V6. A concept car had been teased to the public at the 1998 Paris Motor Show and, just over two years later, the Clio V6 was made manifest. This time Renault Sport (so still mostly Alpine) did go down the bent-six route, with its mid-mounted engine – borrowed from the Laguna, displacing 3.0-litres – sending 227bhp to its rear axle.
The first-gen V6 had a slightly unwieldy reputation, largely cured by the time the second Clio V6 was launched in 2005. Whether that makes it more desirable, objectively, America will find out in a few more years…
Volkswagen Beetle Rsi
The ‘new’ Beetle that landed in the late-1990s wasn’t particularly known for being exciting. Well aware of its mobile-flower-vase image, an enormously confident Volkswagen – fresh from deciding to go chasing the fastest production car title with the Bugatti Veyron – sought to give the flower-power Beetle a shot of horsepower. A single-model race series, created to coincide with the launch of the Beetle RSi, gave the model some much needed petrolhead kudos.
It may have looked a lot like its siblings but the lower, wider and flared to within an inch of its life RSi was mechanically a lot more like the V6 TT that followed in 2003. The mighty 3.2-litre VR6 – incidentally the first use of the ‘R32’ engine – sent its 221bhp to all four corners via VW’s clever 4Motion driveline, granting this beast of a Beetle the ability to blast to 60mph from rest in just 6.4 seconds.
Comfy interiors were ditched, replaced by carbon fibre buckets and door card inserts. Together with other missing luxuries, these shedded significant kilos with the RSi only tipping the scales at 1500kg; featherweight for a four-wheel drive.
Oddly, despite being built in Mexico, the Beetle RSi was never officially offered in the US. With just 250 made for the rest of the world, we can certainly see prices escalating.
BMW M3 GTR
Another racer that made its way to the road was arguably BMW’s best M3 of the E46 era. Very few bemoaned the stock M3’s fabulous S54 straight-six engine, but if you were to swap it, then one of the firm’s very best racing V8s wasn’t a bad call. The M3 GTR was V8-powered, specifically the 90-degree, 4.0-litre, 460bhp quad-cam V8 that provided enough grunt for the GTR to place drivers J.J. Lehto and Jörg Muller on 7 out of 10 podiums during the 2001 American Le Mans series.
A road-going ‘Strasse’ (street) version GTR was apparently made available to just ten select customers, for a whopping 250,000 euros each (over 400k today). Finding a GTR is the biggest problem, no matter where you’re based, but opening up the market to US collectors is bound to result in a few record figures being broken in the coming year.
Honda Civic Type R (EP3)
This 200bhp Honda might seem a little modest in the company of our other millennial monsters but, take our word for it, it’s easily worthy of inclusion. It’s one of the best hot hatches, not only its era, but of any. The combination of its taut chassis and suspension dynamics – and easily exploitable if high-rpm performance – make it one of the best all-round classic performance cars out there.
The USA never officially experienced the screaming joys of this generation’s now legendary K20-power plant but we got plenty. All Type Rs were built in Swindon; somewhat making amends for excluding the UK from getting the first Type R (EK9). Familiarity might breed a contempt for some, and it’s certainly true that affordability hasn’t helped the EP3’s image to date – nor those horrendously-modified EP3s droning at 1000db through your local town centre.
At its core, however, this one of the most focussed and fun driver’s cars you can still buy for under £10k, but with the US joining the party, how long will that last?
Nissan Skyline R34 V-Spec II
The Skyline R34 has been US-import worthy for a few years now, but the more focussed V-spec II hasn’t. This carbon-fibre-bonneted behemoth built on the already brilliant custom aero, suspension and active limited-slip differential of its V-spec I predecessor.
Lower weight, largely due to a NACA-ducted composite engine lid, meant the second V-spec was granted further revised and stiffened suspension. The cabin was also tweaked with alloy pedals, black cloth trim and a neater-looking ‘iridium’ centre console.
Although far from the most extreme GT-R, the rarity of the V-spec II, with fewer than 1900 made for Japanese and New Zealand customers, makes it one of the more collectible. V-spec II trim, both inside and out, proved so popular that it was rolled out across the GT-R range, but only the V-spec II got that special bonnet.
Will its Stateside arrival set auction prices alight, probably not, but Skyline speculators will nevertheless expect to see an increase in returns.
Are any of these cars on your wish list? We would love to hear from you in the comments below.
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