logo

Why old-school analog supercars are heating up the market

By Christian Gilbertsen 24 September, 2024

Recent auctions of a Porsche Carrera GT, Ford GT, and Ferrari F50 show that demand for supercars with little or no traction control and manual transmissions is rising

We can thank technology for making cars safer, more reliable, faster, and generally more civilised, but these days there’s also growing concern among enthusiasts and collectors that technology has gone too far—it’s making sports cars less engaging, less dramatic, and, critically, less fun. Too many computer-assisted overlords, they say. Too many nannies. And it’s a fair argument: today’s vehicles are dripping with technology, whether you notice it or not. For sports cars and supercars, this specific quality of technology purists hate comes by way of drift analysers, synthetic engine noise piped into the cabin, fake pops from the exhaust, automatic transmissions, multi-way traction control, and more.

These aren’t bad things, but every year there is a bit more, and collectors who abhor ones and zeros are also increasingly swarming to analog sports cars and supercars. It’s a term that gets thrown around often, but what does it actually mean? While there’s no unanimous agreement on what makes a car analog, there’s a general philosophy and common sense about it: it’s a vehicle that lacks many of the qualities and creature comforts contemporary cars possess. In other words, no fake engine noise, no automatic gearbox, minimal driver aids—traction/stability control, ABS, for example—a focus on driver involvement, and one that inherently has a certain danger about it. The following examples have only risen in value, showing that some of those voices demanding older school driving experiences might finally have the money to buy one as well.

Porsche Carrera GT. Photo by RM Sotheby’s