The Best Collector Cars of the 1970s: By The Numbers

The crew at Hagerty, thanks in no small part to having reams of data at their disposal, know the minutiae of the collector car market. After all, it’s their job.

But data is useless without analysis. That’s why it is Hagerty’s job to distill the important stuff so you needn’t go blind looking at spreadsheets and instead get back to installing those 4.10 gears in that Fox-body Mustang you bought three years ago. Whether one is using data to make a smart buying decision or simply to show off at the pub quiz, Hagerty has you covered.

As the purveyor of insurance for collector cars, in addition to being a rather organized bunch, Hagerty keeps record on the volume of quotes requested by gearheads across the nation. For our purposes, this means it is well equipped to suggest a list of the five most popular ‘70s-era collector cars based on frequency of inquiry.

Most Popular Collector Cars of the 1970s

Let’s get one point clear right from the start - every single one of these vehicles landed on the list because it was inquired upon by someone from the Generation X age group. Remember, a driver’s age is part of any insurance quote, so Hagerty can confidently estimate the finer points of which demographic is asking about a particular vehicle.

With both the ‘73-’79 Ford F-Series and ‘73-’80 Chevy C/K-Series leading the list, it seems Gen Xers really like pickup trucks. This shouldn’t be a surprise, since gearheads of that age group are likely to have grown up bouncing around the bench seat (and probably the open bed, let’s be honest) of such vehicles. Now in their prime earning years, this group can afford to own a rig which either reminds them of their youth or they simply desired back in the day. The sheer volume of these vehicles also plays a part, of course; Ford and Chevy trucks saw huge production numbers in the mid- to late-’70s, so there’s an argument to be made that there’s simply a lot of them around which are now worthy of Hagerty collector car insurance after living a life of work on the farm.

In a similar vein, Hagerty has seen a lot of quote volume for both the 1970-1981 Chevy Camaro, along with the same model years of Pontiac Firebird. These second-generation cars, produced over a dozen model years with a brace of cosmetic changes along the way, represented a relatively affordable way for V8-loving gearheads to find their way behind the wheel of something that looked cool and sounded aggressive. Notice we didn’t say ‘go fast’. Like the trucks mentioned above, Gen X is now the right age to invest in something which they desired as a kid.

Rounding out the Top 5 in terms of insurance quote volume is the final rear-wheel drive generation of the venerable Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Hagerty has lumped the ‘78-’80 third-gen cars in with the ‘81-’88 fourth-gen cars because it is only right to do so; engines and major dimensions from the intermediate downsizing were all carryovers between these two iterations. Between its cool factor at the time, association with the leather jacket cool crowd, and success in racing, it should be no surprise at all that Gen Xers (who would have been impressionable kids at the time) are seeking out this model in 2025.

Value Proposition

On the flip side of all this Americana, we find the 1972-1975 Lancia Stratos as the most expensive collector car to grace Hagerty’s books for this decade, clocking in at a cool three-quarters of a million dollars. The stylish and influential 1977-1989 BMW 6-Series (called the ‘E24’ by nerdy fans) is labeled in particular as a model which is growing in popularity, a development which shouldn’t surprise anyone blessed with the gift of sight for it is a particularly beautiful vehicle especially in an expressive color like Cinnabar Red.

Rising and Falling Stars

A brace of Volvo models make the list from this era which includes the 1970s: the 245 is a vehicle which has been increasing in value over the last couple of years while its related 265 cousin shows up as one of the era’s most attainable collector cars according to Hagerty data. While these boxes on wheels were largely seen as deeply uncool when new, they are enjoying a renaissance driven partly by nostalgia and partly by people trying to stand out by being quirkily ironic. Here’s the good news for those people: these bricks still enjoy a reputation for being safety cocoons despite being four decades old.

One of the collector cars seen to be decreasing in value since 2023 is the sixth-generation Ford Thunderbird. Produced from the 1972-1976 model years, this personal luxury coupe had grown massively in size since its appearance as a lithe convertible about two decades prior; combined with choking emissions standards and general malaise from the American auto industry at the time, it weighed nearly 5,000 pounds when equipped with the gargantuan 460 cubic-inch (7.5L) V8 engine.

Rounding out the data pack for this decade is the American Motors AMX. Appearing for the final two years of the ‘70s and showing up here as one of the more surprising cars on the list, those three letters made their name at this brand during the muscle car wars a decade prior. Revived for this era as a sporty appearance package on cars like the Hornet and Spirit, the model was actually campaigned at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 1979; not only did it finish the race, it won its class.