Cars & Auto

Why the Suzuki Samurai Could Be a Top Collector’s Car for 2022

There are real Jeeps, and then there are knock-off open air vehicles that want a part of Jeep’s market. One such car that was popular for about a decade was the Suzuki Samurai. (And for the record, this hits close to home considering that I owned one in the late 1980s.) These light vehicles (trcklets) ended after 1995 and they are rarely seen on the road now. They do still remain popular for ranches and country properties because they are so light and are rather easy to work on.

Is it for real that the Suzuki Samurai is now a collector’s car that could be ready to move up in value? The vehicle that was named after the great Japanese warriors could have been more appropriately named after mice and gerbils.

According to Hagery Automotive Intelligence, the Suzuki Samurai is one of the top bull market picks for 2022. These vehicles felt like they had a lawnmower engine powering them, and getting above 80 miles per hour required a strong tail wind or required drafting behind a much larger truck. These cars were so light and the metal was thin enough it felt like a door ding on any other car was a dent in the Samurai, and if you bumped into anything going more than 5 miles an hour it was going to need a bumper replacement.

Hagerty called the Samurai as being “the closest thing the global auto industry would ever come to replicating the original World War II jeep…”  That said, if you owned one of these trucklets you never thought you were a real Jeep owner.

As for why it was so similar to the Jeep, it had the same 80-inch wheelbase. But that 1.3-liter engine with a v-4 and 63 horses (which we used to refer to as gerbils and hamsters back then) under the hood at least kept younger drivers from getting as many speeding tickets. It was also available in a hard top or a removable soft top. The trucklet barely weighed 2,000 pounds.

On a personal note, perhaps the funniest thing that could ever describe the Suzuki Samurai’s soft metal the best was when a friend was rubbing on the door with his sleeve. When I asked him why he was doing that his retort — “I want to see what kind of beer cans this thing is made of!”

Hagerty listed the average price of a Samurai when they were new as $6950, and they now value them in a range of $10,000 to $14,500.

Collectors Dashboard looked for Samurai vehicles for sale today, and we found two on ClassicCars.com:

  • a jacked up 1993 Suzuki Samurai was listed for $23,995 with 123,271 miles and details were to be put up soon.
  • a 1988 Suzuki Samurai soft top with a manual transmission was listed for $6,495 with only 84,611 miles.

AutoTrader.com’s classic cars for sale also had some offerings:

  • 1991 Suzuki Samurai 4WD JL Soft top red with 130,128 miles for $18,000.
  • 1986 Suzuki Samurai 4WD Soft Top (red) with 84,600 miles for $6,900
  • 1987 Suzuki Samurai 4WD Soft Top (white) with 63,000 miles for $5,500.
  • 1988 Suzuki Samurai 4WD Soft Top (red) with 130,000 miles for $14,100.
  • 1987 Suzuki Samurai 4WD (gray, bimini top, weathered) Mileage N/A for $4,000.

Hagerty did list some highs and lows about this trucklet that were rather humorous:

  • Highs — Just looking at it causes smiles; doesn’t take up much space or consume many resources; lots of parts available; goes pretty much anywhere.
  • Lows — Stock ones hard to find; fast only if driven over a cliff; at the end of every rocky trail is a chiropractor’s office.

As with any classic cars and any collectibles, seeing the value rise comes with no guarantees. Hagerty didn’t issue any price guarantees on this “bull market” call for the Suzuki Samurai, but Hagerty’s image below did show a price tracker chart that you can see.

2022 Bull Market: 1986 Suzuki Samurai infographic

In fact, the notion that these vehicles have this much value is impressive. If a recycler or junk yard pays $70 per ton, this will only be worth about $40 to $50 in scrap value after you remove the wheels and inside of the vehicle. Then again, “classic car buyers” are never buying their targeted cars based on scrap value.

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