JAPANESE 2020 VALUE GUIDES

IT IS 25 YEARS since the first Unique Cars Value Guide was published and more than 35 years since I began following movements in the market for interesting motor vehicles.

That time-frame has encompassed some monumental events including the 1987 ‘Black Monday’ stock market crash, the 1990s recession that dragged on for years and the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. All of those events came with unpredicted and unpredictable consequences yet none brought the confusion and contradictory signals that have accompanied the onset of ‘Coronavirus’.

You will notice while leafing through this Guide some inconsistencies between segments of commentary and the Value Charts. The Market Review section, written during the early weeks of 2020, reflects the 2019 market for Japanese models and bases any conclusions on an expectation that those conditions would persist.

As circumstances began to rapidly change it became necessary to look