Those of you familiar with the worldwide classic car auction scene will no doubt have heard about the recent Bonhams Scottsdale auction in which a number of gorgeous classic were sold, including a lightweight Chevrolet Corvette racer. Those of you who haven’t, hold on to your hats.

On the 19th January Bonhams held an auction in Scottsdale Arizona with a whopping gross sale exceeding $36 million and an 85% sale rate. With some exceptional cars selling at the sale it showed that the American classic car market is in possibly the best shape of its life. This big result got us thinking about how American cars are selling over here, and how this might change before a certain figure ruins the fun for everyone. As the automaker with the widest variety of desirable cars in this country we took a look at Chevrolet auction prices.

They’re doing rather well as it turns out.

A quick glance at Chevrolet prices shows an encouraging curve of prices at UK auction houses. Although a spread of all models sold in the UK over the past 20 years there is repeatability in what we are viewing with a number of models appearing more than once throughout allowing us to accept the trend. As one would expect the most popular models are the iconic C1 Corvettes and early Stingray models occupying the upper echelons of the pricing.

Post 2015 we can see clustering towards the bottom end of the market with some later stingray models, 80’s Camaros and pick-up models. There is a clear split at UK auctions in desirability as the 80’s and 90’s models aren’t seeing an up turn in values yet, their quirks and foibles not endeared as such by the British buyers like the original models.

Chevrolet prices in the UK are clearly split by age. The highest premiums are reserved for the oldest and best condition and after that the values slope downwards.

What is encouraging to see, however, is that on this side of the pond there is a clear market for these American cruisers which we hope to see grow more and more.