Since I am always looking at car purchase possibilities, thought it would be fun polling people with which cars from the below list they would rather own and why and would likely see the biggest increase in price over the long run:
1989 20th anniversary turbo Trans Am pace car
1990-92 Corvette ZR1
1980-85 Porsche 928 (5 speed)
1982-94 Lotus Esprit
1st gen Dodge Viper rt-10
Out of all of these, the only ones I even put on a long distance radar would be a low mileage, unmolested Viper RT-10. The problem with 90s cars is that they're technologically surpassed by everything made in the 00s - present. The 90s are sort of like the late 70s, in that generally speaking, the world produced a lot of ugly cars made with junk materials that nobody wants.
There will always be a niche market for collector vehicles... but that niche for something like a ZR1 and a TA pace car is going to be very small. In the 60s, the big bad 427 Corvette was highly desirable, and continues to be because it's still an amazing car. The 90-93 ZR1 was only any good because everything else was so bad (quote: me). With a modern tire upgrade on the old Stingray, the ZR1 was still slower than the 60s era 427 car. While it was a champ during its day, it didn't set any new bars and was ecliped only a few years later. Today, you can still snag one in low mileage, well-kept state for under $20,000. I don't see it ever going nosebleed collectable.
Same goes for the Lotus, TA, and Porsche 928. The 928 is going through a bit of a fad right now because millennials want a "vintage" Porsche. There has been a bubble for a bit, but it'll pop soon. They weren't desirable in the 80s, were hard resells in the 90s, and people still don't want them outside of that small niche that does.
The RT-10 is a unique on in this grouping in that it's a 100% performance car with exotic looks that are timeless. It will attract more attention and garner more interested buyers. At auction, these cars always perform well (at least the ones that are kept low miles and in pristine condition). The problem with them though is that there's not many that are of collector grade, as they've been thrashed at race tracks and have the wear and tear to prove it. This is one of the primary reasons why an unmolested 1st gen RT/10 generally goes for nosebleed grade money.
The rest of these, maybe sans the Esprit, are just 80s/90s junkyard fodder in terms of their styling and performance. The Esprit may go up in value, but it's not an Aston-Martin. Lotus cars don't really perform well in the collector market on a whole. They can sometimes do well on the economy side of the market (flipping for tens of thousands in 5-10 years), but I honestly don't think the Esprit is ever going to be worth big dollars... so its potential as an investment item is a bit low.
I'm speaking purely from the perspective of the overall market. This doesn't mean an '89 TA pace car can't sell for good money. It just means that if you had an RT/10, you might get 500 people wanting to bid on it. The TA might get 2 people. What are the chances that the 2 people bidding on it HAVE to have it and have the means to get it regardless of cost? Pretty darn low. Flipping an RT/10 is easy. Flipping an 89 TA might take a year or two to get the number you want in today's market. As time goes by, the 80s/90s cars are actually getting less and less desirable and forgotten about. So, I don't see the majority of them ever increasing in value.
To put it as simple as I can, the 50s-71 collector market is like collecting fine antique porcelain gas and oil signage. The sky's the limit on price so long as they're in good shape. The 80s-90s collector market is like bidding on rusted and abused folk art at a local auction house where you can snag 10 rusty oil cans and 5 signs in a lot for $7. You can double your money sometimes in this market, but the profit you would make on flipping a ZR1 wouldn't pay the auction fee on a low mileage restored 63 Corvette.
