Is modified the new original?

Traditionally, upgraded classics were less desirable – today the data suggests otherwise

- John Mayhead

THERE'S A BUZZ going around the clubs and car shows that modified classics are all the rage. I recently visited the excellent Classics at the Clubhouse - Aircooled Edition at Sandford Springs in Hampshire and that seemed to reinforce this view: there were VW Baja Beetles, backdated Porsche 911s and slammed split-screen VW campers everywhere, all surrounded by throngs of eager onlookers.

Modified, the theory goes, is what drivers of classics now want, but do the numbers back this up? An analysis of hundreds of thousands of online, live and dealer sales of classic and collectable cars tracked by Hagerty over the past three years shows that the number of cars marked as modified is dropping: in 2022, it was one in every 5.3 cars sold; so far in 2025, it's been one in 6.9. Sell-through rates at auction are down five points, too, from 77% in 2022 to 72% so far in 2025, much more than the 2% drop in unmodified cars over the same period. Comparing the low estimates with the final prices shows how the buyers' willingness to pay matches the sellers' expectations and it's down: in 2022, buyers paid an average of 24% over auction low-estimate for unmodified cars compared with 4% so far this year.