Paying homage to homologation specials with Deon Joubert

South African racing legend Deon Joubert, writing for CAR Magazine, speaks about the unique market that is the homologation vehicle. 

The iconic BMW 325iS / Image: BMW

When it comes to cars, as with many things, there is this constant dance between price and value, with the value often increasing to much more than what the original price may have been.

Related: Someone paid more for a mint BMW 325iS Evo 2 than a used M4

Some cars are instantly collectible, and brand-new Ferraris and similar high-end brands throughout the years have found their way from the shop into the garages of affluent collectors, where they have always appreciated in value. But they have also always been out of reach of the average person.

For the general person, the mass-produced vehicles that we can buy have a price, but because manufacturers make them for a long period of time, there is no rarity value initially attached to these cars. Over time that car starts losing value as it becomes more obsolete and expensive to maintain. Despite this dip in value, there is often a sudden interest that brings the price back up. This can be for a variety of reasons; the car happens to be the last air-cooled vehicle of its type or the last V8, or the design has become known to be unique. It becomes rare, more collectible and begins to appreciate in value.

Once factories that make mass-produced vehicles have stopped making them, it is unlikely that they re-open production. So, in a way, the art of mass-production in motoring lies in the factory; the design, the engineering and everything that went into making that vehicle. It’s similar to an artist’s prints, and where the first or second print is more valuable than the 100th, the same applies for cars in a bit of a different way; the first or last of a certain type will become more valuable after production has stopped.

There is also the generation value of vehicles. Cars that were attainable to normal people who saved and sacrificed a bit, and bought them when they first hit the market, we’re talking a Cortina XR6, an Alfa 3l GTV, the golden era of Opel Superbosses and Shadow Line Beamers. The child whose father had one when he was maybe ten years old and at his most impressionable, grows up. By the time he is in his 40s and making money, he’ll pay almost new-car cash for a model like his dad’s, which is still in good condition. And thus spikes the value of a car that was once mass-produced and accessible.

Image: BMW

This brings us to what’s called a homologation special. Something that, sadly, is much less prevalent now than it used to be. If you wanted to take part in something like an endurance racing series or a rally championship in a normal car – in a South African context this would be the Group N racing – a manufacturer would have to build a certain number of these cars to prove that it was for sale, as you were supposed to race things that normal people could buy. The homologation special came about if your car wasn’t fast enough, and you started to change things; ls diffs (limited slip differential), a cylinder change or taking some weight out by fitting Perspex windows or removing the spare tyre. Anything, as long as you sell the homologated number of those cars. Homologation specials are road-legal cars that have been produced in limited numbers by the manufacturer to meet the sanctioning body requirements of a certain race.

In racing, anything described as Formula normally refers to open-wheel, single seaters. But when you want to race something that is already made, let’s say Toyota says we want to race a Yaris in Group N, somebody has to go to a plant and measure up a Yaris and set specific rules, within which certain modifications are allowed, to meet the requirements of the racing series.

So, some of the most collectible cars ever made are these homologation special cars, which are based on normal cars. A Sierra XR8 is actually just a Sierra, which people were at one stage throwing away. But suddenly 10 or 100 of these cars are made and they become valuable because of their chassis number (remember what I was saying about artists prints) and something small like a cylinder head. You get to a point years after these cars have been raced where an XR8 in average condition costs much more than a decent Sierra, even though at the time the cost of modification was not particularly high.

When I think of South Africa and homologation I think BMW 325iS, Opel Superboss, Alfa’s GTV 3L, the Sierra XR8. All locally built, small-run vehicles, which were changed in the factory and made available for sale, with their racing history adding even more value now. We don’t really have this anymore, and I find it sad because the cars that we aspired to were quite affordable in their day. You didn’t have to have silly money to buy a very cool car and put some foot.

The post Paying homage to homologation specials with Deon Joubert appeared first on CAR Magazine.

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