The Rise and Fall of Chod

[vulgalour]

I've been keeping an eye on price trends with older cars over the past few years.  There's a definite curve to every car's value.

 

New - worth all the money

Drives off forecourt - remove a large perecentage of value

First MoT - remove yet more of value, a significant amount or more if it fails

Subsequent owners/every 10,000 miles gained - remove yet more value, no matter how careful the owner or the miles were

Achieve cult status and/or 25 years of age - gain excessive percentage of of current value, or only a little bit.

ALTERNATIVELY

Become hated by all but the most die-hard beige-ists - loose all but residual/scrap value

 

Up and coming at the moment appears to be mid-late 70s British tin, ideally from the BL stable.  In particular Allegros and Marinas have seen a frankly astonishing rise in value, well ahead of their other siblings such as the Ambassador (rarity does not always equate to high prices), Maxi and Ital.

 

80s Japanese cars, in both front wheel and rear wheel drive and from all stables.  Only exception here seems to be the Bluebird.  Datsuns in particular seem to be worth more than they ought to be, even for 100A models, though we are heading back into 70s territory and those are commanding good money across the board from what I see.

 

French cars are still struggling, as they always do, to get the value going.  The XM should be worth far more than it is considering how much car you get, but something is happening to the price on Saxos, 106s and other small 3-door hatchbacks of French origin.  2CV, Dyane, DS and Panhard are well out of cheap motoring now and you're lucky to find any of those at banger money I reckon, and most of those are so far gone they're not worth sinking the coin into.

 

Skodas and Ladas, once the butt of all jokes and loved by tight fisted motorists the world over have also gone a bit silly.  I'm not sure exactly what the reason for this is, there was some rumour I caught that they were being bought up by the Motherland a few years ago but that surely can't be the only reason for their scarcity now?

 

FSOs seem to have got stuck in obscurity, as do many other Eastern Bloc cars, but I suspect their time will come, just take a look at how much money people pay for a Trabant.

 

 

Just musings really, but it's interesting how unpredictable car valuing is and how swiftly the market can go a bit silly, possibly as a result of how much easier it is to find, buy and sell cars now than it was as little as 10 years ago.

[Lord Sterling]

I've been keeping an a bit of an eye on mid 80 to mid 90s Rovers, in particular the 800. I think current owners of 800s are trying desperately to force up current values. A couple of years ago you could bag a fairly tidy 800 Coupe for a few hundred notes, now they all seem to be advertised £1k+

 

Other Rovers of similar age are also balancing on that trend, the SD3 200 can be had for either a couple of hundred or a couple of thousand.

 

Despite them advertised for such money doesnae mean they'll actually sell, quite a few of them have been continually advertised for a very long time and I suspect they will continue to be advertised as for that money you could buy something far better.

[Split_Pin]

Give it 25 years and we will all want one. Fact.

[dollywobbler]

Skodas and Ladas really do tend to head home. Skoda UK fans are a bit upset that some really nice cars have gone to Czech. Even Favorits are rising in value now. I must get one before they get too expensive.

 

I do find it annoying that 'crap' cars are becoming so valuable. I haven't owned enough of them yet! On the other hand, it should ensure that collectors take better care of survivors.

[Des]

Imagine how a Glasses guide for chod would look. Best rule of thumb is that if it's your own car it can be valued by weighbridge, if it's a model that the kind of halfwit who dollys a Renault camper has a dozen of in his yard, then it's

 M£GA-CA$H-LOLZ£RZ just for the vin plates. The great unwashed set the prices, just now those fools place the highest value on German nastiness that looks to have been extruded from the anus of a Jack Russell. Leave them to it and keep it real, playah.

[Bucketeer]

I've been keeping an a bit of an eye on mid 80 to mid 90s Rovers, in particular the 800.

 

Unsurprising statement of the year, Mo. 

[garethj]

Tayne wrote an interesting post about how the values of the Range Rover here

 

 

Right now the media is full of stories about classic car prices being on the up.

I'm not going to pretend I know why but when a Countach goes for £300k at auction and then another makes £800k two months later the prices are only going one way.

This means that price of more normal old/classic cars will also be affected as those of us at the lower end of the food chain get in on the act.

The ideal time to buy an investment car is about 5 minutes before it goes from "old car" to "classic car".

 

Now either the XJ40 is in that transition or that dealer is going to start it off.

Let's imagine he finds an immaculate, low mileage, one owner, full history XJ40 which he buys for, say, £4k.

He then gives it a polish, a fresh ticket and puts it on the forecourt for £9995.

People on autoshite, XJ40.com, JagPervs.co.uk, etc say "WTF £10k 4 XJ40!" etc.

In a week, or a month, or two months someone (perhaps their late father owned an XJ40 in that colour) with money but no desire to do their own spannering walks in to that dealer and offers a cheeky £6k for what they see as the best XJ40 on the market.

They haggle and the buyer gets the car for £7750. The dealer then takes down the online ads.

At this point the folk on autoshite, XJ40.com, JagPervs.co.uk, etc say "OMG £10k XJ40 sold etc" and thus at least £1000 is added to the value of every XJ40 in the UK.

 

Now if you don't believe this is possible then please consider the Range Rover CSK.

There were only 200 made and a few years ago they were valued at £5-6k in good nick with the best on the country still not making five figures.

An enthusiast who spent several years and a lot of cash restoring one was forced to sell owing to a messy divorce, Graeme Hunt (google him) gave £9500 for the car.

GH then had the opportunity to write a "how to spend it" article for the Sunday Times "Classic cars, money, value, appreciate, etc Range Rover CSK, best ones - now £30k"

A lot of people laughed at this, then laughed more when GH put the restored £9.5k CSK on the forecourt for £32.5k.

Now only GH and the buyer know what it actually when for, but overnight the price of a rusty MoT-less CSK suddenly became £5k.

I'd say that one sale probably affected the values of all Classic Range Rovers as well...

This is sometimes the case with cars that have a long production run, values of the old ones, or certain types go up, and it drags the value of similar ones up with it.  When I started driving it was only split window Beetles that were expensive, but then oval window Beetles started to go up, then '60s ones and now any old rusty '70s Beetle is worth several grand if it can get an MoT.

 

Consider the Porsche 924, and how its value is so low it's cheaper than a Capri, Scirocco or even a Skoda Rapid in similar condition.  The values of all the others cars (especially scene tax from VW and Ford) has risen but the Porsche's hasn't.

 

Jaguars seem to follow the depreciation curve like a textbook.  The XJ40 has been bumping along the bottom for a while, if it doesn't rise soon it'll be the only exception in their entire history.

[EssDeeWon]

I've been keeping an a bit of an eye on mid 80 to mid 90s Rovers, in particular the 800. I think current owners of 800s are trying desperately to force up current values. A couple of years ago you could bag a fairly tidy 800 Coupe for a few hundred notes, now they all seem to be advertised £1k+

 

Other Rovers of similar age are also balancing on that trend, the SD3 200 can be had for either a couple of hundred or a couple of thousand.

 

Despite them advertised for such money doesnae mean they'll actually sell, quite a few of them have been continually advertised for a very long time and I suspect they will continue to be advertised as for that money you could buy something far better.

 

Like you do with the 800, I do with the SD1 values and these are slowly creeping up now with tatty examples asking up to £1k when a few years ago it would of been little more than scrap money, anything tidy is £2k and a really nice example £3k - £4k minimum.

 

I am not a member of the club, but the SD1 forum is often breaking out in squabbles about what SD1's are worth. Some are obsessed about there car becoming worth £5k while others don't really care. 

 

As you say LS, they can ask what they want but its only going to sell if someones prepared that asking price. One example:

 

1987 2600 VDP for sale via the club, ok condition with dirty interior and no history what so ever! and the bloke insists its worth £1500. Its been for sale for ages and he cant seem to shift it even admitting people have been to view it but don't want it. Makes me wanna make a weekly call and just say "Hi mate still got the Rover for sale" ??

[Micrashed]

Im waiting on the day that K11's skyrocket in price when everyone realises what a great car they are......

[oman5]

I agree with upward values on '70s BL tin..I have been semi-seriously looking at either an Allegro or Maxi, I can't find one in my (admittedly minuscule) budget

[vulgalour]

K10 Micras sometimes do make good money, sometimes little more than scrap.  They are becoming an appealing cheap way into classic Japanese motoring and for that reason while they're staying affordable now I don't think they will forever.  Trouble with the K11 is that there are fucktonnes of the wee bastards still bobbling about being the epitomy of a small Japanese car without the galloping rot, I think their day will come but that day is many, many years away yet.

[Skizzer]

Series 3 XJ6s still seem to be on the floor, apart from the very occasional optimistically priced minter.  (I'd be delighted to be proved wrong on this, by the way.)

 

Not particularly cheap to maintain at home, though, what with all that dropping out of subframes malarkey.

[RobT]

Maxi values have been high for a quite a while, too expensive for me anyway hence why I haven't owned one.

 

I'm waiting for the prices of R8s to sky rocket, then KruJoe and I can CASH IN!!

[Alexg]

80's MG's have hit a sweet spot in the last few years, especially Turbos - that Monty on eBay is up to 4 bags FFS!

 

Part of it is obviously down to the rarity but also because the ridiculous prices achieved by its peers, like mega money Escorts, pushing a few would be owners towards more affordable classics. I think we're near the ceiling though for BL stuff, there's far too many ignorant or self conscious snobs in the classic community to push things up much further. Which suits me fine.

[retrogeezer]

Mk3 Escorts are definitely on the way up, someone paid £2.5k for a very similar one to mine recently.

[laser wheels]

80's MG's have hit a sweet spot in the last few years, especially Turbos - that Monty on eBay is up to 4 bags FFS!

 

Part of it is obviously down to the rarity but also because the ridiculous prices achieved by its peers, like mega money Escorts, pushing a few would be owners towards more affordable classics. I think we're near the ceiling though for BL stuff, there's far too many ignorant or self conscious snobs in the classic community to push things up much further. Which suits me fine.

 

I really need to pull my finger out then and get a Maestro Turbo soon.

[EssDeeWon]

Wish I had bagged a nice standard MK4 XR3i a few years ago when they were all up for £995, even nice ones.

[DodgyBastard]

With white space classic car sellers bumping the price right up it's easy to see why people might think their cars are worth more. An example of this is a friend of mine bought an 89' Nissan Bluebird from a guy in Sunderland for around £400, he used it for a while but found it was quite dull to drive so put it up for sale at £450. With very little interest generated and a few timewasters he ended up selling it for £350 to a work colleague who needed a runabout while his Golf was being fixed up.
A couple of months later the new owner has his golf fixed so puts the bluebird on Gumtree for £1000, A guy I was friends with on Facebook ends up buying it for £700. I thought it would be a laugh to tell him it was sold by kgf classics a couple of years back for over £2000 as I had a photo of it from when we took our cars to an infinite white space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fast forward a couple of months and the current owner thinks it's worth a fortune, we also mentioned it was used in a short film starring Ewen Bremner so now the car was "famous"... It was true about the film but it was used in a 1 minute scene where the car was visible from above...

 

Anyway the current owner now thinks it's worth mega money and briefly tried to sell it for £2k quoting everything we told him as fact...

Obviously he was just a gullible fool but there's a lot of them out there who'll believe anything.

[laser wheels]

^

When I was out looking for a new motor at Christmas one of the backstreet dealers I visited had an absolutely immaculate white late reg 1.6 Bluebird hatch. 'Bingo!', I thought. On further enquiry I found he wanted £2k for it. It was nice and all but, really? Even one of the other traders thought he was mad.

[retrogeezer]

I remember that one on KGF (or at least a post saying it was) as it was really no nicer than mine that I struggled to get £200 for!

[lisbon_road]

I think all the TV programmes about older cars are helping.  Really see some high values on them.  I caught an American auction programme where everything seemed to be 100 thousand dollars, some fancy motors admitedly but still the idea gets you thinking yours are worth more.

 

It is all madness, but I had to go out with her indoors yesterday buying stuff for a family trip - useless crap for relatives and so on.  In a shopping centre full of people doing the same thing, all hot and claustrophobic. 

 

And I thought to myself - this lot probably think I am mad because I am into older cars and so on.  Well...............

[scooters]

I was very surprised at being able to pick up a basically mint 244 for the cost of 4 tanks of diesel. Probably got to do with the time of year and the way it was presented. Glad I did because 240s have been steadily climbing for the last come of years. Not that long ago you'd struggle to sell one for over 500. Now you rarely see a minter for under 1200

[scooters]

Xm 2.1tds seem to have plateaued around the 900 quid mark. Vs can go for a bit more. 2lt nas for less.

 

BXs are still the bargain out there. Look for a good condition giffer owned low spec 1.4 or 1.6.

[laser wheels]

Now it seems to me that BX prices are on the rise - at least whenever I've been in the market for one! Bah.

[chaseracer]

I like the idea that Dyanes might be heading up a bit at last.

[TagoraSX]

Each model gets to a point where most have been scrapped/ovaled/engine raped etc.

 

Two things can happen, the car has a good following and the remainder become sought after and prices rise. Or, they are not popular, numbers dwindle and its survival depends on a few hardcore lunatics.

[Spiny Norman]

Everything seems to attain Classic Gold status just after I sell mine. I look at the prices for old shape Saab 900s now yet I struggled to get a grand for mine not long ago, which was in pretty good nick.

I'm hoping Jag XJ40s are the next Big Thing.

[Skizzer]

...Or, they are not popular, numbers dwindle and its survival depends on a few hardcore lunatics people on here.

 

^ is what I think you meant to say.

[New POD]

I am only really interested in values of mk1 Mx5's and Early Generation 1 BMW Mini Coopers.

 

According to OWNERS forums (and my Best Man - who strangely has copied both purchases) both a worth twice what the average classified advert says. I reckon our Mx5 is worth £750 to £800, and he says £2k.  I reckon our BINI is worth £2500 and he reckons £4K.

 

If the prices of Cooper S's get below £2K, I'm buying a "decent" one, (for the wife) and giving the none S to our daughter for her 21st (in 3 years)

[Rocket88]

MR2 [mk 1 models] starting to move north at a rapid rate of knots.............