Methodology
The AmeriCar Files
Investment Index™
Every car. One grade. Based on data, not hype.
Methodology
Every car. One grade. Based on data, not hype.
Framework
Each vehicle is independently scored across four weighted dimensions. No single pillar determines the outcome. The final grade reflects the vehicle's aggregate investment profile.
Rarity & Production Integrity
Verified production numbers form the foundation of any investment case in the muscle car market. A vehicle with a claimed rarity that cannot be substantiated through factory build records, window stickers, or broadcast sheets carries material risk that this pillar is designed to surface.
This pillar also accounts for trim and option scarcity — engine designations, factory colour combinations, and package-level variants that materially affect both demand and value. Survivor counts sourced from marque registries are factored where available.
Weight: 25%
Auction Liquidity & Consistency
Asking prices are not evidence. This pillar is built exclusively from hammer prices at Barrett-Jackson, Mecum, and Bring a Trailer — the three platforms that provide the most transparent, publicly recorded transaction data in the collector car market.
Liquidity is assessed by frequency of sale: a vehicle that appears at auction regularly, across multiple configurations and condition grades, demonstrates a deeper buyer pool than one that trades once per decade. Consistency examines variance in sale prices relative to comparable examples.
Weight: 25%
Cultural Longevity
Nostalgia is time-limited. Cultural longevity is not. This pillar attempts to distinguish between vehicles whose desirability is anchored to a specific cohort of buyers and those whose iconography has demonstrably expanded across demographics and decades.
Evidence is drawn from media appearances, design influence, museum representation, and the degree to which a vehicle is referenced in contexts well beyond the collector car community. A car that only enthusiasts know is scored differently from one that appears in art, architecture, and mainstream culture.
Weight: 30%
Macro Resilience
Collectible assets are luxury discretionary items. During periods of economic contraction, many depreciate sharply. This pillar evaluates a vehicle's historical performance against the Consumer Price Index and measures its behaviour through documented recession periods.
Vehicles that maintained or recovered value through the 2001 downturn, the 2008–09 financial crisis, and the 2020 market disruption receive higher scores. Those that experienced severe, prolonged declines without recovery are penalised accordingly.
Weight: 20%
Grading Scale
The weighted pillar scores combine to produce a single composite figure. That figure maps to a letter grade on the following scale. Sub-grades (A−, B+, etc.) are issued where the composite score sits near a threshold.
Each car earns one final weighted grade. F grades are given when justified. Authority requires objectivity.
Outstanding Investment Asset
Exceptional across all four pillars. Consistent long-term appreciation, deep liquidity, and verified scarcity. Elite tier of the collector market.
Strong Investment Asset
Solid performance across most pillars with minor weaknesses. Reliable appreciation with manageable liquidity risk.
Moderate Investment Asset
Mixed pillar performance. Viable as a collectible but carries meaningful risk or limited upside relative to alternatives.
Weak Investment Asset
Significant deficiencies in at least two pillars. Likely purchased for personal enjoyment rather than investment return.
Not Recommended as Investment
Fails materially across multiple pillars. Historical data does not support collectible premium over instrinsic value.
On Methodology
The four-pillar weighting is not arbitrary. Cultural Longevity carries the highest weight (30%) because it is the hardest to manufacture artificially and the most durable driver of sustained demand.
Rarity and Liquidity are weighted equally (25% each) because one without the other produces a different risk profile: a rare car with no buyers is an illiquid asset, not an investment. A frequently traded car with no scarcity is a commodity.
Macro Resilience carries the lowest weight (20%) not because economic context is unimportant, but because the historical data set is necessarily limited to documented periods of contraction, introducing statistical noise at smaller sample sizes.
"Grades are not permanent. When new auction data, survivor counts, or documented production evidence materially alters a vehicle's profile, the grade is revised and the revision is noted on the relevant analysis page."
In Practice
See the Index applied in full: four pillars scored, weighted, and combined into a final grade for one of the most contested vehicles in the American collector car market.
Watch on YouTube