It just isn't Shite anymore...

[catsinthewelder]

Yup, battered rusty shit heaps that only 10 years ago could be bought for fag and beer money are commanding strong £ now.

 

Think we are going to have to start buying Ford Ka's and Kia Picanto's.

 

Through my whole life it seems that 5 minutes after I get rid of a car for peanuts its value shoots up and they become sought after.

 

 

Yeah, mine too.

 

I'd better get onto the insurer tomorrow and up the agreed value on the Cherry a bit then

[New POD]

To be fair that one was a 5500 mile car and was immaculate. It doesn't mean that any old RS is worth that now although I'm sure the owners might not think that.  Crazy money but if whoever bought it was happy paying then fair enough.

 

Out of interest, what happened to the ex-Autocar test Capri in green that was there? Did it sell? How much?

 

A bloke at Garrett (Honeywell engine boosting) had what must be the last series 2 off the line, with almost no miles on it.

 

He bought a G reg RS Turbo and the terms of his insurance meant that when someone drove into it at speed, they had to provide him with a brand new one, which took weeks as they'd stopped making them. In the meantime, he was promoted and got a company car, so the H reg replacement went into his heated garage, and only came out about 6 times a year.  He still had it in 2000 when I moved companies, but I bet he still has it.

[Asimo]

For half that much I could buy from the eBay thread both that Sierra XR8 and that Sierra dragster, even though they are both white Fords.

 

Weird times, let's hope the seller has a lot of fun with profit.

[mercrocker]

I remember George Bishop going on about this sort of thing in Classic Car magazine 1975!    He lamented that Austin 7s were fetching Maserati money at auction - citing one example where a Chummy tourer made more than a tidy 3500GT.   "If that Austin's a better car than the Maserati, then I am a monkey's uncle" he said, or words to that effect.    Had nothing to do with it being a better car of course, was just nostalgia and a fair degree of hyperbole making its impression on the marketplace.   

 

Tables are turned now of course viz. Maser and A7 values but the classic car was seen as a safe, enjoyable punt back then when stocks were tumbling, house prices stagnant and inflation rampant.   I don't really know what the fuck's going on nowadays, though.....Perhaps the modern motor car really has run its course as a source of status and entertainment for rich enthusiasts.

[forddeliveryboy]

Perhaps the modern motor car really has run its course as a source of status and entertainment for rich enthusiasts.

 

Quite possibly, for the more mass market of people with spare money - but millionaires will always indulge in rare old wheels.

 

One trend I've noticed over the past few years is just how uncool it is to be seen to think having a car is in any way a good thing, for many under 25s. They cite the environment and general hassle factor, prefering to use public transport. More than ever before they're a necessary evil - driving fast and having fun is for low-life, it seems.

 

The only cars I've seen many younger people take any interest in are EVs, especially BMW ones. I think oily things like differentials and camshafts have no appeal whatsoever anymore, which probably makes sense if you tune a car from your laptop.

 

[Sloth in a bowl]

I may be wrong, but there seems to be an ever growing premium for what is in fashion over what is not in fashion. The quality of the item has very little to do with it.

 

Given that anybody on a moderate income can buy many basic items of capability that only the very rich could afford a few years earlier, the capability of the item grows ever less important and its perceived social value grows ever higher. In this I include cars, phones, computers, clothes, entertainment systems, etc. With the massive exception of housing then the cost to end user of so much of our life has crashed. This makes anything that has an exclusivity, comparably more valuable than it was. Nobody will produce any more Escorts and the number of people in the world with the money to spend on such items has massively increased, the result is the occasional sweet spot of financial madness for a particular car at a particular point in time.

 

And while we are on over priced classics, about a dozen years ago you could buy a rough Ferrari Dino for about £35,000 and I considered that if I gutted my life then I could have got one in 5 to 7 years. After 6 years, they had jumped in cost to £70,000. Right now you are looking at £250,000 plus and even an Alfa engined replica is £40,000. Arses. So much for my sweet Ferrari dream.

 

Where the future potential for price crashing of classic cars is, is through the medium of ultra cheap, one off manufacturing which is still probably a generation away.

Already we are seeing small production runs of old body shells and the potential is only growing for what can be produced and the price to earnings ratio reduction in what it will cost.

In the future you will be able to buy a new copy of many a classic car for less than £10,000 with all the parts made and assembled on demand by a fully automated factory when it is fed the correct design files. Your new classic may not be road legal but for many owners that won't be the point anyway, by then classic cars will have been legislated off the roads anyway so the only time you will get to drive them is at autodromes and race circuits.

 

Going to stop now, making myself unhappy.

[wuvvum]

I still can't get over that bloody A40 Farina that made £10K at ACA last year.

 

I am, of course, now hoping that Citroën CX prices go completely mental in the next couple of years.

[cort1977]

Quite possibly, for the more mass market of people with spare money - but millionaires will always indulge in rare old wheels.

 

One trend I've noticed over the past few years is just how uncool it is to be seen to think having a car is in any way a good thing, for many under 25s. They cite the environment and general hassle factor, prefering to use public transport. More than ever before they're a necessary evil - driving fast and having fun is for low-life, it seems.

 

The only cars I've seen many younger people take any interest in are EVs, especially BMW ones. I think oily things like differentials and camshafts have no appeal whatsoever anymore, which probably makes sense if you tune a car from your laptop.

 

It's interesting that you say that, I have read quite a few articles saying that millennials (sorry) are not interested in cars and not buying them but on the other hand car sales are at record levels.   Some young people must be buying cars.   But they are definitely not the status symbol they once were for many.

 

Getting your hands dirty has definitely lost its appeal, I work with young engineers in their twenties who wouldn't think of working on their own cars but get all excited about the latest iphone and never put the bloody things down.

[Ghosty]

I recognised those 2 cars immediately, they were part of the "Bonkers" collection, to be fair to the guy he loves his RS's and owned the best of them, including Di's black one

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/features/ph-features/rs-royalty-the-bonkers-collection/23965

 

If he spends so much on detail why do half his cars have shitey post-2001 numberplates?

DMB GRAFKZ M9

[CaMIRO]

Every generation wants to relive its youth. Stands to reason that as those born in the '70s come into money and more spare time, the prices of the cars their parents drove will rise.

 

Witness the (perhaps premature) French collection of books, "La Peugeot 504 de mon père," "La Citroën CX de mon père," etc.

 

To a degree, I sympathize with those who complain that the actual technological significance or competence of the cars has little to do with it.

 

I've often wondered how much of my love for, say, the Renault 18 or Fiat 128 is about nostalgia; despite that I know their development histories and most of the CAR Giant Tests in which they feature by heart.

 

Then again, try as I might, I just can't see someone restoring a Fiat Stilo, Renault Clio Mk3, Peugeot 307, etc. in about forty years.

[doobietoo]

Is this not a consequence of the cars perceived as icons going down market? As a kid the dream cars were lambos and Ferraris along with Jags and to a lesser extent rollers and Bentleys. Whereas the next generation up lusted over the GTIs and RSs. The next generation had no real icons as everybody could buy a car with a "special" badge and the previous generations icons were available for scrap money. I dont see any of the cars now available for scrap money being lusted over in the same way as the escorts and cossies are now I really don't....

[dave21478]

You also have to remember that rich wealthy people are completely mental - its a whole other world above what the likes of us experience.

 

I would guess that 60k is an obscene amount of money to most, if not all, Autoshiters. I dunno about you guys, but it would take me quite a few years to just earn 60k, never mind have 60k "spare" after living costs.

 

But 60k is literally pocket change to some people. Its a few days interest on a trust fund in the Caymen Isles and they are happy to drop that much on something that pleases them in exactly the same way that we are happy to drop two hundred quid on a car that pleases us.

 

I get my kicks browsing the "under 1000" section of ebay, gumtree, leboncoin etc in the evenings while my employer browses the likes of http://www.jamesedition.com/yachts  - Its just like Gumtree but with less piss-stained matresses and broken Iphones.

[cros]

If I had the first 3d printer capable of running off an entire car I'd do myself a poverty spec Marina and tell the Cosworth fanciers the inks run out.

[UltraWomble]

I'd better get onto the insurer tomorrow and up the agreed value on the Cherry a bit then

I would, I mean its a three door isnt it? Ideal for a Europe replica for the classic rally boys. Drop in a Fiat 2.0 and roll cage, weld up the sunroof and away you go.

Megabucks.

[Junkman]

Every generation wants to relive its youth. Stands to reason that as those born in the '70s come into money and more spare time, the prices of the cars their parents drove will rise.

 

Witness the (perhaps premature) French collection of books, "La Peugeot 504 de mon père," "La Citroën CX de mon père," etc.

 

I haven't seen a 504 or CX selling for over 60k yet, but obviously we are getting there, seeing that it's now the going rate for MK3 Escorts.