Why are Classic Cars so expensive?

[The_Equalizer]

44 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Suits me. I like granny furniture, it's better than chipboard crap that is assembled once then not breathed on too hard for fear of breaking it. I have several bits from my mate's granddad's place and I'll get more if I need it - no way it was going in the crusher at the tip.

Absolutely. I have various bits, some inherited, some bought, but the truth is they are worth a fraction of what people paid in the 80s. 1980s that is although probably 1880s and 1780s too. Lol.

[captain_70s]

1 hour ago, big_al_granvia said:

Why are classics so expensive??? Some other bugger has spent a fortnight pot riveting cover sills on a £1500 car and with a skim of filler and half arsed respray it'll fetch £5k on eBay.

Fixed.

Old boys who rebuild Jowett Javelins in sheds don't sell their cars, for profit or otherwise. That sort of restored car is becoming a thing of the past, as now old motors are worth real money for every 1 bloke who wants to sort one out properly there are 10 looking to tart it up and flip it.

Even with the current high values there is no money in genuine restoration, most work being done to classic cars is rubbish on top of 40 years worth of "it'll see it through another MOT" garage repairs. You only need to look at the "professionally restored" cars for sale with a keen eye to see they're wobbed up rotters with fresh paint.

[big_al_granvia]

you can do a job right and get your money back, okay perhaps not the level of rot that is in your triumphs cpt, i know that mk1 focus flat4 bought will probably be hiding some rot going by the scabbing  on the outside, i would like to keep it as it is one of the oldest surviving mk1 ghia estates, it is in my eyes a classic already but we are not chucking stupid time and money on it.... the ep3 civic type s is a future classic because it isnt a type r and i would rather put the time and money into it

[Bitzer]

20 minutes ago, The_Equalizer said:

Absolutely. I have various bits, some inherited, some bought, but the truth is they are worth a fraction of what people paid in the 80s. 1980s that is although probably 1880s and 1780s too. Lol.

We have our weekend/summer farm filled with Art Nouveau/Jugendstil/Vienna Secession (choose your preferred term) furniture I picked up for next to nothing. It is all solid oak and exotic veneers and must have cost a fortune then, because it is definitely not a work of drunk village carpenter. If anything, it shows that antique furniture is not exactly bullet-proof investment, because when I needed to free up some space to replace some of the pieces with finer ones, nobody wanted them even for my original purchase prices.

Actually, I think I read somewhere that the very world, "antique", is a deterrent. You must use "vintage" instead.

[bunglebus]

51 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

Even with the current high values there is no money in genuine restoration, most work being done to classic cars is rubbish on top of 40 years worth of "it'll see it through another MOT" garage repairs. You only need to look at the "professionally restored" cars for sale with a keen eye to see they're wobbed up rotters with fresh paint.

That became a big problem when everyone wanted a Beetle in about 1990. Loads of them got repaired with Veng panels and filler - whether that saved cars that would have been scrapped anyway, or ruined ones that could have been restored properly is open to debate

[Lankytim]

53 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

That sort of restored car is becoming a thing of the past, as now old motors are worth real money for every 1 bloke who wants to sort one out properly there are 10 looking to tart it up and flip it.

Many of these cars have already had a restoration of some sort of another. I remember during the 80's the value of some classics started to go up and some dodgy "restorations" were done to make a quick buck.  Some of these are appearing back on the market so buyers will have to contend with brazed repairs and inches of filler etc before they can start their own "flip" quickie restoration. 

[lesapandre]

36 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

Many of these cars have already had a restoration of some sort of another. I remember during the 80's the value of some classics started to go up and some dodgy "restorations" were done to make a quick buck.  Some of these are appearing back on the market so buyers will have to contend with brazed repairs and inches of filler etc before they can start their own "flip" quickie restoration. 

Mk2 Jags particularly were huge risers in price. Bit like some Fords at the moment. They were wobbed up, sprayed red and put on chrome wires and were in the mags every month.  Citroen DS went through a similar thing - once every poseur wanted one - they used to fake the Pallas type by swapping the interiors and spraying them black. Triumph Herald too. 

[AnthonyG]

Those 1970s/1980s restorations were either done properly or very badly, and I would imagine those done badly are probably parts cars now, or will have been scrapped in the intervening 30 years. 

I do think vintage/prewar cars were probably ‘easier’ for an amateur back then to restore, I accept parts were harder to get (although not as hard as trim/body components for 70s stuff now) and fabric/wood coach work could be hard to rebuild if you didn’t have the skills, but generally the metal was a lot thicker and the mechanical components very simple. 

How much of a market there is for this sort of thing these days don’t know.  I would have thought anyone who wanted an Austin 10 or whatever would be owning one by now.  On the plus side, very little interest from the ‘flippers’ here.
 

[Shite Ron]

4 hours ago, 2flags said:

This is all about nostalgia. Those of us born in the 50's, our dad's had things like Vauxhall Victors, Cortinas, Morris Oxfords. People born in the 70's, well we are looking at Golf's, Astra's Escorts and Sierras. It was also the rise in the Japanese imports. Nissan Sunny or Bluebird anyone?

I was born at the very end of the 60’s so  grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. All I wanted was a Cortina ( my dad had a Viva which I hated) I liked Jag’s and Granada’s but they seemed out of reach. Ferrari’s and Porsche’s held no interest at all for me. I also have little interest in car’s from 83 onwards. The 60’s were probably the best for style, I love most 70’s cars now and early 80’s cars are probably the nicest to drive with all the comforts required, after that it all went downhill style wise in my eyes. The value of cars is pretty much irrelevant as I have no intention of selling any. If anything it helps curtail me adding to my collection as although I would like a Jensen, I think they are now too expensive. In some ways the increasing values take the fun away as I used to enjoy the fact a £200 Cortina was so much nicer to drive than something costing  100 times more 20 years ago. I know not everyone will agree with me but cars are about what makes you happy not what other people think or what they cost.

[2flags]

I was born late 50's I like the cars from the 50's/early 60's. As to cheap cars, well at the moment we have the cream of the crop. We have cars that, for the most part don't have the floors fall out after 7 to 10 years. I remember just how well the cars of the 60's 70's and 80's used to rust. Ford flitch plates and sills anyone? My daughter has a Renault Megane 2001 convertable. 140000 miles, no rust and runs great. Only cost £600 a couple of years ago. I have a Jaguar X Type, 2001, 80000 miles. Great car. £1000. Bargains both of them. As to classics I would love something like Wolseley 1500, or a very old Jag, Mk9 or 10. Why don't I get one? Money and nowhere to keep it. I couldn't keep something like that on the drive. 

[Burnside]

On 11/23/2020 at 1:58 PM, Lankytim said:

Around 15 years ago I had a 4 door Mk2 1.1L. It was my daily driver but I squirrelled it away in a lock up. The lock up got broken into a couple of times so decided to flog the escort for £250 as I needed it gone before it got burnt out or stolen. 2 Doors were making good money back then but a 4 door base model was still pretty undesirable. A couple of years later and the values began to skyrocket. Ah well, that's life I suppose. 

BTW, the Escort was bought by a rally school in south Wales and AFAIK is still around.

I got offered a MK2 Escort 1.3L 4dr back in the early 00's for £600 at a rural garage I used to use. Trouble was being under 21 with insurance costs and also it being beige, put me off. 

They couldn't sell it in the end being a 4dr and after 18 months they bridged it. ☹️

Although a friend brought a MK2 Escort 1.1L 2dr not too long afterwards for a £150! It had all the usual old bodges though. So he completely restored it which took him about 5 years, but he brought it as a keeper and still has it now. 

He also brought a MK3 Escort XR3i for just £30 around the same time, which he still has too.  

Funny thing was he didn't originaly want it, as he was looking for a MK1 Escort. Someone he worked with said they knew of a old Escort. Which was due to be scrapped that week, but didn't know anything more.

He went round to the address and it was the XR3i. Only reason he brought it was because the bodywork was decent and only thing majorly wrong was the valve stem seals.    

For him it was just a case of being in the right place, right time.

[SiC]

3 hours ago, big_al_granvia said:

ep3 civic type s

An EP3 Civic is the Type R?

[big_al_granvia]

1 minute ago, SiC said:

An EP3 Civic is the Type R?

same body shape only the r has vtec on both cams, the s only has it on inlet

[SiC]

Just now, big_al_granvia said:

same body shape only the r has vtec on both cams, the s only has it on inlet

The type S engine in the 7th gen that I think you are talking about only came in the 5 door. Either way it's not an EP3 as that's the 3dr Type R. 

[big_al_granvia]

i just drive, bosh an detail them lol

[The_Equalizer]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

That became a big problem when everyone wanted a Beetle in about 1990. Loads of them got repaired with Veng panels and filler - whether that saved cars that would have been scrapped anyway, or ruined ones that could have been restored properly is open to debate

That made me laugh. I had a 1964 Beetle in 1990 aged 17. I remember going to a pub in Chislehurst - The Bickley Arms as it was called then. There were 12 other Beetles outside the pub that night. Not a VW meet, just they were that popular at the time. Anyway, my '64 got the treatment you mention from a less than honest restorer in the Thamesmead direct (I think). It was subsequently restored again when I sold it in 2006 (documented here albeit now sans photos https://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?s=e46cf33a3b9e35333429c5661f9db014&t=557756&highlight=hot+tuna+rotherham ), and lives to this day, somewhere round Huddersfield I believe. Most recent photo I found on my internet hunt for it ( https://fleurdelyscvs.org/media/gallery/2018-2/fdlcvs-277-gc-2018-1964-volkswagen/ )



For the example above, I would say that getting to 1990 meant it got to live for a lot longer. 

[Ian_Fearn]

I’ve spent since April finishing all those jobs I expected to take me years as I can’t carry on with my usual life. So I’ve been thinking about getting a project. Something that will take 2 or 3 months and keep me from driving the wife mad.

Today I saw this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reliant-Scimitar-GTE-se6a/124462153279?hash=item1cfa85be3f:g:9~UAAOSwEOhfwkqn

No reserve and local enough. I’ve fancied one for ages and there is virtually no article written that doesn’t say how values have never really kept pace so they represent a good buy. They also say how repairing one will always cost more than a good one in the first place.

So what’s it worth? I’m sure a year ago this would have fetched £1500 absolute tops. Judging by early bidding this is going to sell for way more than that.  

 

[jonathan_dyane]

On 11/24/2020 at 3:57 PM, captain_70s said:

Old boys who rebuild Jowett Javelins in sheds don't sell their cars, for profit or otherwise. That sort of restored car is becoming a thing of the past

Exactly the lifestyle I’m looking for. When I finish my Javelin I might have to take up smoking a pipe.

On sheds they are a beacon of sanity in a damaged world, a refuge from all the awfulness. And if they contain a dilapidated semi dismantled Jowett so much the better.