![Mike Brewer and Marc "Elvis" Priestley](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385347311_17208059022700_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqoBoyx_R5Fm8icbD09kIPereHsZFrEmHQDi0eQN40zhg.jpeg?imwidth=680)
The Wheeler Dealers guide to ‘modern classic’ cars
Presenter Mike Brewer reveals the models that provide the greatest driving pleasure for the lowest outlay – and may soon be worth a bomb
![Mike Brewer and Marc "Elvis" Priestley](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385347311_17208059022700_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqoBoyx_R5Fm8icbD09kIPereHsZFrEmHQDi0eQN40zhg.jpeg?imwidth=680)
“Fortune favours the brave,” as the saying goes. And there are few braver than those who put their faith in an out-of-warranty used car – although the potential rewards can be substantial for those willing to bear the risk.
Mike Brewer, whose successful Discovery+ TV show Wheeler Dealers features sometimes rot-to-riches modern classic car restorations with ex-F1 mechanic partner Marc “Elvis” Priestley, says there’s never been a better time than now to buy a classic… or simply hang on to what you may regard as merely a faithful runabout.
“There has been an oversupply of good classic car stock, because during Covid people had money and time, went in their garage and finally finished that Ford Cortina or Triumph Herald they promised they would,” explains Brewer.
“The market got swamped with good quality classics that bumped prices up because sales were high. But now the market has gone completely flat and prices are on their way down, dropping 10 to 20 per cent over the past six months and still coming down.
![Wheeler Dealers](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385347136_17208104365020_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq8juO8C_Vdx2cT20LARTibnFLfv0ucAwTrkjYdq767p4.jpeg?imwidth=350)
“I can see that happening for the next six to eight months. It’s a resetting of the market to where it should be – prices got over-inflated during and after Covid.
“So it’s absolutely the right time to buy, in some cases a good time to hold your nerve if you’re buying. We’ve got an unsettled market for a load of reasons: the energy crisis, mortgage rates, now we’re going through a change of government.”
Then there’s the most asked question in car-dom: what should I buy, or keep and maintain if I already own it? First thoughts often turn to mind’s-eye classics from the 1940s to the 1970s. But in many cases, says Brewer, think modern classics: this category usually encompasses machinery from the 1980s and 1990s, but his broader interpretation takes in cars produced as recently as 10 years ago.
“My top choice would be the best-engineered British sports car in the world; the Mazda MX-5 Mk3, from 2005 to 2015,” says Brewer. “I call it that because effectively it’s a reverse-engineered British sports car, isn’t it?
“The Japanese took the best the British had to offer in terms of MG and Healey back in the day, reverse-engineered it and made an amazing car with the MX-5.
![A Mk3 Mazda MX-5 in silver](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385347124_17208057508140_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqA7N2CxnJWnYI3tCbVBgu9T0aesusvN1TE7a0ddd_esI.jpeg?imwidth=350)
“The Mk3 is one of the best fun cars you’ll ever drive. They’re fundamentally bulletproof and you can get one for only a few grand.”
His choice of the MX-5 chimes with that of our resident expert Alex Robbins, so it must be worth a look.
Brewer’s next suggestion is German firm BMW’s take on a British classic: the 21st-century Mini, specifically the first generation Cooper S and John Cooper Works models, produced in 2005 and 2006.
“They’re becoming modern classics as we speak. The Mini community hated them at the beginning, but now they absolutely love them and they’ve generally been accepted. They’re on the ascent in terms of price. They did go down, but now they’ve bumped back up.”
![Grey Mini John Cooper Works](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385347031_17208060509620_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqzsG1RmRUWpnHvml0pBVGHOGUk0zZt0E0dcE0Ef1dIt0.jpeg?imwidth=350)
It’s back to Germany for another car that price-crashed, which in turn made it not-well-cared-for, causing many to be scrapped: the first generation Audi TT in 225 guise, meaning 225PS from a 1.8-litre turbocharged engine, along with quattro four-wheel drive.
“Definitely a modern classic is a Mk1 Audi TT,” says Brewer. “The 225bhp model, that’s a really good car – a very good modern classic.
“People who have still got those today don’t realise they’re worth 15 hundred or two grand, maybe two-and-a-half-grand, some of them, but that car will be solid in years to come. People will be paying 10 grand for those in the future.”
![Audi TT225 in silver](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385347063_17208059920930_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqO-NQjx60lzqnFRETso1T2zpHk7-TRhZ-Td2HyQeslco.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Next is a British icon – a car that’s flooded the market for decades: the Ford Fiesta. But, before you get your hopes up, not any old Fiesta.
“The Mk7 Fiesta ST (2018-2023), whether it’s the standard ST or the higher-performance model. They are definitely going to be sought after in the next three to four years, if not sooner. They’re very, very desirable as Ford is not making the Fiesta anymore.“That’s a car loved by the public of the UK and definitely one that’s going to be a future classic.”
Next, says Brewer, is the seventh generation Volkswagen Golf GTI.“The Mk1 and Mk2 Golf GTis were always the halo car. They’re great little cars. But marks three, four, five and six all became a little bit podgy, overweight. “Even if you had the GTI model, they weren’t really considered that good, until [the arrival of] the Mark Seven. It’s much lighter, much more energetic, true to its original roots of being that car that you get in and it excites you. Car enthusiasts know that. It’ll be one of those sought-after classics.”
It’s worth stressing that these cars are still widely available. “With all these cars you can look out your window today and if it’s not on your driveway, there’s one parked in your street,” says Brewer.
“My prediction is that we’re going to be into next spring before we see the market start to level off, a bit of euphoria in the marketplace, classic cars coming out of the sheds again after winter storage.”
![2017 VW Golf GTi in cherry red](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385347055_17208060880900_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq8LIREdTXGe7yHgb9zlAsYFYTiaaK5llr0KHnMjGajMQ.jpeg?imwidth=350)
The common ground with Brewer’s favourite modern classics is that they’re all enthusiast machines, providing driving pleasure in spades – for not much money.
Another word of advice. Brewer’s mantra, no matter how old or recent your classic car, is “use it”.He explains: “They’re machines. If they sit there, they decay. It’s simple things, like if you don’t open and close the door on any car for a long period, the rubber door seals simply dry out, become brittle, your car leaks, then you end up with rust inside. As soon as you park a car and walk away from it for a month or two, something inevitably goes wrong.”
Meanwhile, Brewer and Priestley have just finished their first Wheeler Dealers World Tour series, visiting some of the many countries in which the show is watched and loved.
But there are a lot more modern classics to go at globally, and World Tour 2 is already in the planning stage. And what Mike and Elvis choose to restore next could provide some strong clues as to what sort of modern classic we should be buying – or even keeping…