Sure, storing a vehicle on your premises has no obvious direct cost but it’s the hidden costs that can bite you in the ■■■■. Tire age, battery age and corrosion are the obvious culprits but not so obvious are things like collision insurance because if say a tree falls on your garage the repairs to the vehicle are NOT covered by your homeowners policy. Ask me how I know 
And yes no investment is “guaranteed” but for most the risks and returns are reasonably “predictable”
In rare cases yes, but 98% of the time, no. But you don’t necessarily have to wait 10-20 years. Back in 2005 when the then new Ford GT came out. Demand outstripped supply. If you could buy one for MSRP (and there were people that did), you could take delivery, then turn around and sell the car for $50k-$100k more than you paid for it. This is one of the reasons why some companies now make buyers of their limited production models sign agreements that they will not resell the car are buying for x number of months. Actor/pro-wrestler John Cena got into a spat with Ford over this exact thing when he sold his 2017 Ford GT only after a month after taking delivery.
Tires don’t need to be replaced until the vehicle is driven again, not driving - 4 flats is fine, remove the battery, no corrosion anywhere, and who has collision on an old car in a barn or garage, I don’t have collision on my fun car, I am just talking about storing old vehicles, now if I was to buy a 1 of 50 or whatever specialty car like a COPO Camaro or a Challenger SRT Demon 170 or a classic like a 71 Hemi 'Cuda convertible 4 speed etc etc, then yes full coverage ins, but bag it and let it sit, no other maintenance required…
Years ago I was shown a large back yard garage with an early 50s Corvette, an 64-1/2 Mustang, a rare Camaro and some other rare models with practically zero miles. The owner bought those and other cars as investments and had sold some rare models at outrageously high prices over the years. That car investor worked at the GM parts warehouse in Oakland.
Yeah, Bruce Williams used to refer to bare land as an alligator with costs eating away at any gain. But can refer to any other item with hidden or non hidden expenses. At the time had bare land, not as an investment but as a protection to be able to build when and where we wanted. But if you spend money, it is at an opportunity cost of something else. Assigning square feet of your garage just means it’s not available for something else. We shouldn’t be blind to the hidden costs but everyone has to decide if it is worth it or not to them.
Yeah I wish I would have kept my 59 Pontiac but the $125 came in handy at the time, but then where to put it as it continued to rust.
Collision is insurance for damage done to your car when driving it. When I store my vette for the winter - all I need is comprehensive insurance. Any damage done while in storage comes under comprehensive. Drops my insurance for those six months by 2/3rds.
Good points in post above. About buying land and not building immediately; If it’s rural and will have septic, the rules for # of perc sites can change over time and make the lot unbuildable. Had a friend run into that and he struggled with the all the town groups; planning, inspection, etc and the state regarding wetlands, trying to get a variance. Got stuck with an empty lot… Another friend/coworker bought some vacant land hoping to build some day. Sat unused for 10-15 years. Another person in town posted it and it ran into adverse possession litigation, cost him a couple million to settle…After those, I am leery of vacant land I will not build on immediately…
We were in town no problem with septic or anything. That can be a real hassle. When my dad died, in order to sell th3 house on the lake, it cost $10,000 to upgrade the septic. Then after a while went with a community system. The county folks though like to preserve farm land so have been restricting how many homes can be built on 40 acres. They don’t want clusters of houses which I think is not smart. ( opps, used the forbidden word). I’d rather see small groups of houses clustered together than spread out. Pretty hot topic a while back.
Normally on adverse possession though, one of the three requirements is to pay the taxes. States vary though. My neighbors and I adversely use adjacent railroad property and have been for over 30 years. Grade, seed, plant trees, and care for it but could never pay the taxes. So we can be kicked off at any time and there is no need to reclaim their rights every year or so.
It looks like positive descriptors are OK, but negative ones are censored.
On the subject of land percolation, a friend works for a company that builds systems to get around that. Waste water and solids flow under a greenhouse. There is a grass of some type growing in the greenhouse that draws wastewater up for nourishment and then transpires water into the greenhouse atmosphere. That moisture is collected for use by the landowner. If this type of system is acceptable to local government, land that won’t perc can be used for housing.
I don’t care to think about it but at the cabin we had a septic tank. Then after long leech field where the liquid that had risen to the top ran out to be filtered by the rock or whatever and then into the ground. That was South Dakota and approved on the lake. Of course the cow pasture across the road had no special features. In Minnesota, the leech field was very long and took up most of the back yard. The other alternative was just a tank that had to be routinely pumped out. Not a good alternative. Licensed installers and not cheap. Never understood howvth3byoung woman I dealt with could be so enthused about septic systems. Made you want to shower repeatedly.
It’s an extremely rare occurrence, but yes, it is possible for a new car purchase to turn into an investment, but even if one eventually profited from that purchase, it is still not “investing”—it’s gambling, pure and simple.
Sure, people can point to a few exotic, rare cars that are worth more now than they purchased for, but they don’t point to the other 95% that were bad bets.
Buying a new car for investment - I know of couple of people that did. One bought a brand new C4 Corvette and drove it maybe 10 miles total and then put it in storage. His goal was to sell it in 10 years and make a lot of money. After 10 years he brought it out of storage (in mint condition) and he did make a profit, but he could have made more money if he just put the money in a CD.
Second guy I knew bought a brand new (first edition) Dodge Viper. Drove it very little and sold it again 10 years later for a decent profit.
It’s a crapshoot. Cars are just way too expensive and too risky to invest in for the average person.
And IMO cars are meant to be driven and enjoyed, especially new cars.
Amen. Those people who own show cars that they flat-bed to concours…