From The Fields of Copper
Hi Friends!
Last weekend I hosted the 36th Copperstate 1000 Kickoff and Car Show at Tempe Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. For those unfamiliar, the Copperstate is one of America’s three great vintage rallying events (along with the California Mille and Colorado Grand) and features a hyperselect group of pre-1974 automobiles traveling 1,000 miles across Arizona. The annual event starts inside the 10,000 person capacity stadium and on the baseball diamond where the California Angels (or Anaheim or Los Angeles or whatever they’re called these days) conduct spring training exercises. Of course, the baseball component adds a lot of charm and makes the event incredibly unique, but the real stars are without a doubt the participating cars and the super eclectic collection of several hundred vehicles in the car show in the adjacent parking lot.
Checking in at just over 80 vehicles for 2026, it would be an understatement to say that each and every participant brought something incredibly special. From multi-million dollar mid-century Maseratis and Ferraris, to Buicks and Bel airs, to Beatles and BMWs, every car on the field was a first-class example with undeniable documented prominence that would get them into virtually any Concours level event anywhere. Simply put, the Copperstate 1000 is a rolling museum of the highest order featuring the most exclusive collector vehicles on the planet.
After 36 years however, I can’t possibly imagine that this is a widely kept secret to anyone. I’ve hosted the event now four times and although each year the car quality seems to certainly surpass the previous, it’s not necessarily what we know that makes events like this so interesting. It’s that it exposes a variety of generally pretty incorrect ideas that people have about collector cars and it demonstrates this live, in living color and with exhaust in the air to boot
Here’s four things that I took away from the Copperstate 1000 that I think pretty universally debunk some common, incorrect assumptions about what we’re all doing here:
1. These cars are now too valuable to use.
This year’s Copperstate featured two multi-million dollar Maseratis, a Ferrari 275 GTB, numerous near seven-figure Aston Martins, multiple early Lamborghinis, several 911 Carrera 2.7 RS examples, a Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing, multiple early Shelbys (GT350 and Cobra) and this barely scratches the surface. All in all, I would say that there was about a 100 million dollars or so on the field in Tempe Diablo and all of these cars were pushed incredibly hard over the following three days. The reality here is that cars like this are owned by people that know what they’re doing and they’re ready for the task at hand. These are going to be your best vetted, most maintained cars out there and they’re also the most well prepared. It’s easy to see vehicles like this behind velvet ropes and assume that they just sit, but whether it be vintage racing, rally events or Concours d’Elegance these are all cars that are actively being used for something. Of course, there are the guys that are going to lock these things up, wrap them in Saran Wrap and hide them from the world but when you break down how many events there are around the world and how many cars like this appear at each of those events and then combine that with overall production numbers specifically from this era (it’s low pretty much across the board), the theory that there’s a line where you can’t use cars anymore starts to fade pretty fast. Value doesn’t stop usage, but it definitely filters which categories of owners and caretakers they spend their time with.
2. Modern collectors don’t actually enjoy their cars.
I think it would be foolish to state that low mileage examples don’t pull a premium. Especially true with retro and supercars, there seems to be an air out there right now where people want the least used vehicles they can possibly find. To a degree, this makes sense. Most originality, least amount of stories, etc, these tend to be the hallmarks of valuable collector cars. Even with these cars, enjoyment doesn’t disappear. It becomes more calculated and deliberate. Events like the Copperstate, any of the various supercar clubs and tours that are clearly increasing in popularity right now and Concours culture are at the end of the day, all ultimately about experiences. The doors to those experiences open when you have the right key and the right key is the right car. Sure, it’s about collecting (and the subsequent financial components therein), but it’s also about networking, travel, community and of course driving too. Modern collectors are intentional and that was on full display last weekend.
3. Only certain cars matter in today’s marketplace.
I’ve been saying for years in this newsletter that there’s more paths of entry into collector cars today then there’s ever been before and even taking the variety of cars on the baseball diamond and in the stadium out of the equation entirely, and focusing on the West lot car show by itself, we had cars ranging from things like Lamborghini Diablos, obscure British vehicles, JDM heroes and Kei cars and it was abundantly clear that different cars matter to different people differently and it’s incredibly easy to find things to be passionate about. Yeah, the 1,000 horsepower hypercars and low production, coach built Italian classics grab the headlines, but they are such a small component of what makes this hobby appealing that discounting everything else is not only disingenuous, but sort of unfair. There’s certainly varying degrees of relevance, but that relevance is really fragmented across the greater spectrum and that’s really healthy. There’s not one market out there anymore. There’s dozens and there’s a lot of overlap with individual enthusiasts too.
4. It’s all about the money and that money has ruined the hobby.
I get a ton of comments every week alluding to this and when I do respond to these types of replies (which is generally rare), my answer usually lands somewhere along the lines of “money doesn’t create the hobby, it just follows wherever it decides to go” and I think things like the Copperstate continue to prove that. Yeah, the event is expensive and yeah, it takes money to go on it, but the event itself is free as is the West lot car show and none of this works if people don’t show up and care enough to participate. If it was only about money, none of that stuff would be possible and things like this (and things like Arizona Car Week for that matter too) wouldn’t be able to exist in the forms that they do. Follow the market, there’s always affordable ways to get in, do fun things and create memorable experiences not only for yourself, but for those around you who might be along for the ride. Last Sunday was awesome fun and it was shared by people from across all different backgrounds and generations, many with different objectives, but all enjoying the individual lanes that they have picked to travel. That’s what this stuff is all about.
I think the broader lesson to be learned from all of this is that you can’t just look at spreadsheets or screens and try to use that as a barometer for anything in this hobby and in this industry. This is a passion based business and as we tend to move in directions in which we over analyze and base everything on statistical output, at the end of the day everything about this is irrational, that’s always going to mean that there’s more to this than meets the eye and you’re never going to understand that unless you’re on the ground observing it. Best bet is to go out in the world, get involved, do things, talk to people and learn that way. Sure, data is still important, but at the root of that data is behavior and this marketplace exists because of that behavior. Not the other way around.
That’s it for this week……
Darin Roberge