YOUNGTIMER PHENOMENON

YOUNGTIMER phenomenon: cars dating back between 1980 and the early 2000s light up the market for new and future collectors.
No longer recent, but not so old-fashioned cars: competitive prices, still enviable performances and an appeal never ceasing to please.

An increasingly widespread phenomenon, called Youngtimer. This word was coined in Germany not many years ago and indicates all those cars belonging to the twenty-year period going from the mid-80s to the very early 2000s.
Their division into models, characteristics and age/era is spontaneous if we think about the 4-wheel world. The temporal distribution contributes especially to the creation of as many sub-categories among which we mainly find: classic, contemporary and vintage cars. But if the latter are also called Oldtimers, can Youngtimers be their exact opposite, as the old and young opposition instinctively might suggest? Not really, actually. Let’s be clear. If we think that Youngtimer is the opposite for Oldtimer, we must stress that its meaning is very close, but the solution is not so simple. In fact Youngtimer, a word of recent usage, identifies all those vehicles considered “old”, but not enough to be included under the “classic car” category. But then, what exactly is the origin of the word “Young”? Well, the word does not refer to either cars or their buyers.
In fact, fans of this world (most of them in their forties and fifties), when buying Youngtimers today, remember when such cars, in their most roaring years, were an integral part of their world.
Thanks to the Youngtimer cars, the owners live a real “second youth” and often by purchasing them they fulfil a dream that had once been forcibly stored into the drawer.
Many Youngtimers were present at important car fairs in the last months – in particular at Retromobile in Paris where the space dedicated to the category was remarkable – however they are much more than reliving a memory: the new collecting frontier is represented by them with a very broad catchment area due to their affordable prices. In fact, since they are cars of the past, but not yet historical, their purchase cost can meet everyone’s pockets, often the most popular models do not exceed 10,000 euros.
Not all Youngtimers, however, are the same. They range from the famous FIAT 500, the old Mini model and Lancia Thema Ferrari, not to mention Volvo 850, Fiat Uno or Peugeot 205 GTI of 1984. There are many possible examples, but the scepter is undoubtedly held by Volkswagen Golf GTI: a car that made its debut over 40 years ago but still, incredibly, shows up on our roads from time to time. An exemplary, Golf, lends itself well to acting as a pivotal example of the Youngtimer world: the car with an affordable price and still outstanding performance has never stopped finding a certain feedback on the market. Golf GTI has, like many Youngtimers, all the features to continue to climb to the world of vintage cars. A passage from the world of historical collecting which will make a simple family car purchased at a good price to a car of ever increasing value. This is why their purchase is often a safe investment and the possibility of seeing their value increase over the years is absolutely concrete!
Cars are a little old but still efficient, apart from the inevitable little interventions, and those who buy them can still enjoy excellent features that are the same as those that made their success possible between 15 and 35/40 years ago.
They are neither too old but not even new: “car in half”, then? Not in the least!
Youngtimers certainly celebrate a happy past but still provide for an excellent service to those who wish to continue to use them: cars are no longer young and are approaching an excellent old age but are still strong and full of charm. In fact, it is no coincidence that the community of enthusiasts is in continuous and constant growth; on the other hand, Youngtimers are the right occasion for many to approach the exciting world of vintage collecting starting from a much more accessible context. An ever increasing diffusion that has seen the entry of some BMWs like 1996 Z3 into the “Young” world: impossible to forget (it was James Bond’s car in the GoldenEye movie) and still exciting to drive.
Youngtimers are conquering increasingly important spaces, whether the motivation to purchase is a desire to have a return or a weighted investment. On the other hand, these cars are a bit the expression of the world in which we are immersed every day: looking sharply at the future, but with an eye that always looks at the past, so as not to forget it…