5 Cars that turned 25 this year Part 2

5 Cars that turned 25 this year. The hot rod Lightning pickup went through a couple of evolutions over the years, and 1994 wasn’t the hottest year for the cool truck, but it was the fi rst year. The 240-hp, 351-cid fuel-injected V-8 could pull a 15.6-second quarter mile, which made it by far the quickest hauler on the market. They had dual exhausts and bucket seats, which added to their cool factor. Ford only built 11,563 of the fi rst-generation vehicles from 1993-’95, so they don’t grow on trees. With pickups among the hottest segments of the old car market, it seems a given that nice survivors from the earliest days of the Lightning will continue to climb in value. Really nice ones command in the neighborhood of $20,000. Now that the trucks are 25 years old and widely eligible for collector plates, don’t expect the demand for Lightning to go cold anytime soon.

What follows is a list of 10 cars from 1994 that fi gure to hold their place as “collector cars” into the future. We purposely avoided including European cars and other foreign exotic/supercars in this list — it goes without saying that almost every Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bugatti of any vintage is going to have great appeal to enthusiasts and collectors. We’re narrowing our list to cars commonly seen on U.S. roads 25 years ago — machines that most of us can identify with. Of course, there are more than 10 that deserve to be on the list. But here’s 10 25th birthday machines we like and expect to be on collectors’ radars for many years to come.

1. Ford Probe (GT and SE)

The 1994 Probe came out right in the middle of the model’s 10-year run, which lasted from 1988-’97. These things were everywhere when they were at their peak, and they certainly qualify as one of the best all-around pseudo-sports cars of the past 25 years. Probably the best thing about them was they were affordable — just $16,000 and change would get you into a Probe GT in 1994, and for that you got a pretty hot little number with great handling, 164 hp from its DOHC 24-valve V-6 and lots of options to pick from. With or without the fi vespeed manual, these cars were fun to drive. The SE Package was available on the Probes in 1993-’94, and juiced them up with fancy alloy wheels, ground effects, fog lights and some different badging and trim goodies. There was also a “GT Plus” package, or “Wild Orchid Edition,” that came with special purple paint and black cloth seats with special inserts. The Probe has a pretty loyal fanbase and active online community. If you haven’t seen Probes showing up at car shows yet, we have a feeling you will soon.

2. Honda Prelude VTEC

Honda squeezed 190 hp out of the VTEC 2.2-liter fourcylinder, which made this Honda a pretty spirited little beast for a daily driver 25 years ago. The base engine still gave you 135 hp, but the VTEC was what the cool kids wanted. Critics gave the Prelude high marks across the board. They had performance and handling, and Honda’s usual iron-clad reliability. They had cool smoked dash lenses inside, comfy seats and fi ve-speed manual transmissions. The Prelude’s styling certainly didn’t excite everybody, and the VTEC version would run you close to $25 grand, which was no cheap date, but it might have been the best sports car-compact car combo machine around at the time. The tuner car crowd has been into the Preludes for years. You’ve likely seen plenty of ’em at stoplights with tinted windows, aftermarket wheels and gaping exhaust cans howling out the back. They were fun cars new, and they are fun cars now with a lot of nostalgia for the age 25-to-40 crowd. 

3. 1994 Mazda RX-7

The Mazda RX-7 was a hairy little pure sports machine for the guy who wanted Corvette-like performance but not a Corvette. The 1994 version — part of the third-generation FD Series than ran from 1993-2002 — packed a wallop in the form of a twin-turbo 1.3-liter two-rotor Wankel rotary engine with a scintillating 255 ponies in a 2,850-lb. bantamweight car. Like the Corvette, the RX-7 was a two-seater with very little cargo space, but who needs room for suitcases when you can go straight from the offi ce to the track and burn around S curves like Jackie Stewart? The RX-7 was pretty much a rally car right out of the box. 

Automotive magazine scribes 25 years ago were almost unanimous in their belief the RX-7 was the raciest car available in ’94 on this side of the Atlantic. You might not fi t in one if you were a tall guy, and if you were poor you were likely going to struggle with $35,000 price tag. Pristine examples are going for a lot more than that these days, and these awesome rascals seem like a lead pipe cinch to keep climbing in value and popularity.

4. 1994 Mitsubishi 3000GT

This was the Rodney Dangerfi eld of the Japanese sport coupes the 1990s. The 3000GT never seemed to get the same marketing push or have the same visibility as its Nissan, Mazda and Toyota rivals, but the Mitsubishi was a terrifi c street machine with an abundance of giddyup and a famously comfortable ride. The 3.0-liter DOHC V-6 featured twin turbochargers and intercoolers to produce an impressive 320 hp and 315 lbs.-ft. of torque. That translated to 13.5-second times in the quarter-mile and 0-to-60 in just 4.9 seconds. The VR4 model also featured full-time four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering! This was a car you could really live with as a daily driver, then get your thrills heading home from the offi ce when the twin turbos kicked you in the pants heading down the onramp. Unfortunately, the 3000GT got lost in the sports car shuffl e and never became a household name. There are still plenty of fans of these cars, and there will probably be more in the future.

5. 1994 Nissan 300ZX

The 300ZX doesn’t get the same love among collectors — or near the prices — as its main rival, the Mazda RX-7, but it was a worthy successor to the famed 240, 260 and 280z cars that came before it. In 1994, it was pretty hard to top the 300 hp and 155-mph-plus top speed of the Turbo model. Even for the not-so-adventurous, the 222-hp base 3.0-liter V-6 was more than enough motor to scare yourself and your friends. One of the best things about the 300ZX was that, unlike the Corvette and RX-7, you had some cargo space in either the convertible, T-top coupe or 2+2 T-top coupe. In any confi guration, this was a fast, sexy car that didn’t disappoint those who could plunk down the $36,000-$42,000 it cost new. With nice examples still trading in the $6,000-$8,000 range, the 300ZXs from the early to mid 1990s are some of the best collector bargains around. 

sources:

https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-cars-made-in-1994/reference

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