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Classic cars that are depreciating


Rustycarlover

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All the fifties and sixties middle of the road tackle. A lot of the old hands that liked these have died off, a whole new market isn’t there in most cases, those with the money in their hands are in their 40’s/50’s etc and buying the cars they hankered after in their 20’s hence prices for Cosworths etc have gone into stratosphere.

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25 minutes ago, sierraman said:

All the fifties and sixties middle of the road tackle. A lot of the old hands that liked these have died off, a whole new market isn’t there in most cases, those with the money in their hands are in their 40’s/50’s etc and buying the cars they hankered after in their 20’s hence prices for Cosworths etc have gone into stratosphere.

This. It's generational. Same as Elvis memorabilia etc the market is literally dying hence prices drop.

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31 minutes ago, Mrcento said:

Morris Minors seem mega cheap these days.

I know a guy who's restoring one but it's a labour of love as it'll be worth 50% of what he has in it when he's finished 

A lot of the 50s & 60s stuff will go down as the older generation die off , as said above it's cars you wanted in your 20s so it moves on 

You even see it with model railways , I buy and sell on eBay , anything steam is bought by Derek / Clive / Gordon 

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Being heavily into 40s/50s family cars the news of a potential price drop doesn't bother me. In fact quite the opposite, my only concern being I'll soon realise how much I overpaid for my A40 Somerset in 2014.

Younger people are being priced out of these cars at the moment and lower prices will help encourage them in.

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2 hours ago, Angrydicky said:

Being heavily into 40s/50s family cars the news of a potential price drop doesn't bother me. In fact quite the opposite, my only concern being I'll soon realise how much I overpaid for my A40 Somerset in 2014.

Younger people are being priced out of these cars at the moment and lower prices will help encourage them in.

Still think car insurance is a massive factor for the younger generation being put off.

Getting insured on a brand new financed whip, is easier than a paid outright old smoker. Madness.

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Saw this earlier and thought it was stupid cheap by current standards but it fits with what's been said above. I know it's a 60s car but it's a 50s design. 

Screenshot_20210915_202421_com.android.chrome.thumb.jpg.74c2da2a2d9f8e6e16f3924c8e282561.jpg

I know it's got 5 days left but if it was ten years newer and a Ford, any Ford, it would have 20 bids and be in to five figures by now. It was MOTd until July despite not needing to be so looks to have been looked after. Tidy but not a show car, looks very usable. 

 

Also my Triumph. I seem to have the most undesirable Triumph around, a 1300 FWD. I don't know about prices dropping, they never went up in the first place. Which suits me fine. 

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2 hours ago, Angrydicky said:

Being heavily into 40s/50s family cars the news of a potential price drop doesn't bother me. In fact quite the opposite, my only concern being I'll soon realise how much I overpaid for my A40 Somerset in 2014.

Younger people are being priced out of these cars at the moment and lower prices will help encourage them in.

I certainly hope so. In the next couple of years I hope to be in the market for an a40 farina 

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3 hours ago, Mrcento said:

Morris Minors seem mega cheap these days.

I don't think they've ever been expensive. For as long as I was looking at a Lada, I'd find a Morris Minor for £500 - £1,000.

For me, I like the Morris Minor but only as a restomod concern. I couldn't keep it stock.

The MGB, I like the rubber bumper ones. But I like brutalism and that whole aesthetic of the 70's where it was simple enough lines with a purpose. 

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I am wondering if prices of pre war cars will drop much further. The passing of generations who fancy cars of a specific era is a likely explanation for price falls, but most people who experienced cars from the 1930s and earlier when they were new are already gone.

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5 minutes ago, D.E said:

I am wondering if prices of pre war cars will drop much further. The passing of generations who fancy cars of a specific era is a likely explanation for price falls, but most people who experienced cars from the 1930s and earlier when they were new are already gone.

Yep. On Done Deal ( the Irish sales website ) lately there was a gorgeous 1925 Delage tourer for €30k and on the next page a pastiche bubble arch MK1 Escort for €40k.

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1 hour ago, St.Jude said:

I don't think they've ever been expensive. For as long as I was looking at a Lada, I'd find a Morris Minor for £500 - £1,000.

This. Even when I bought my 1969 saloon in the mid 90's, a reasonably tidy, MOTd example was <£1k if you looked hard enough. They've had a funny rep for years; lots of people smile when they see or hear one but wouldn't want to actually own one. Scene tax has never hit them because they've never been 'in'. It is noticeable that the majority currently listed on the bay of E are projects rather than clean, minimal work involved-type examples. 

On the other side of the scales, Frogeye Sprites continue to soar in value, despite their original target market being of old age now. I guess it's because they've always been quite cool little cars and have never really gone out of fashion.

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I've been toying with buying another Mini and I had wondered if they may start to get cheaper, but the appeal seems to extend beyond anyone who could have any experience of owning one or even their parents owning one. I'm thinking they will always be expensive just because they are so cool/cute haha!

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28 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

I've been toying with buying another Mini and I had wondered if they may start to get cheaper, but the appeal seems to extend beyond anyone who could have any experience of owning one or even their parents owning one. I'm thinking they will always be expensive just because they are so cool/cute haha!

A few young (early 20s) people I know are mad for Minis. I can’t see them falling in price.

I’m gonna stick my neck out and say classic Land Rovers look massively overpriced, and have a niche appeal. They can’t keep rocketing forever, can they?

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6 hours ago, sierraman said:

All the fifties and sixties middle of the road tackle. A lot of the old hands that liked these have died off, a whole new market isn’t there in most cases, those with the money in their hands are in their 40’s/50’s etc and buying the cars they hankered after in their 20’s hence prices for Cosworths etc have gone into stratosphere.

Also a lot of those nice old 50's cars are alas awful to drive. Woolly steering, poor brakes and not great handling. Charming - but you don't want to go far.  A lot are pretty thirsty too.. 

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I don’t think Mini’s will depreciate as I know several ‘millennials’ who want one, or are restoring one. I still see Minis on a regular basis, far more than, say, original Beetles. Granted most are 80s/90s examples, but they are generally in good nick. 

I do wonder about older Land Rovers as @motorpunk said above, anything pre 90/110/Defender is a very agricultural experience to drive and the original engines fitted to the Series ones are (nearly all) awful - gutless AND thirsty. 

I think the mint and/or very original examples will keep their value but the middling stuff will start to fall. 

This doesn’t apply to decent Defenders, whose values will remain stable, or even rise for a while longer yet. There isn’t really a replacement for them out there, despite what JLR product planners and/or Jim Ratcliffe think. 

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I'm not sure I've noticed any cars going down in value, really. I think there is a much bigger gap between a project car and a nice, solid driver or restored example than there used to be, which I would postulate is something to do with younger enthusiasts perhaps not having the spannering skills or confidence to take on a project, whereas anyone who grew up driving in before, say, 25 years ago, had to learn at least basic skills just to keep even new cars running reliably. Young people, as a rule, want to go out and enjoy an old car and not spend years restoring one. Hence why there are lots of ostensibly 'cheap' Minors and MGBs and things for sale. But it's not like there aren't also really expensive ones for sale, and those ones are usually much, much, much better.

It wasn't long ago lots of cooking 1960s and 70s stuff was buttons, but it's all gone through the roof in the last few years. Ten years ago a Dolomite or Allegro or a P6 or whatever could be have for less than a grand on the road, easily. The MoT'd Allegro me and Garycox had in 2013 was £200. You couldn't even buy a scrapper for that today.

Vintage stuff is still going up. I remember a few years ago when nice A7 Chummies started going for about £12k people thought it was madness. Today people are asking £20k for exceptional examples. Most of the people I know who drive Vintage cars are confortably under 40, so I don't think there's any danger of interest dying out. The properly great top-end things will always be super-valuable.

Prewar stuff has never been valuable, mostly because it's shit. None of the charm of a Vintage car but with all the foibles, and you can't do any events in them. 1930s cars were built for boring people, mostly, and they're still owned by boring people. They're not expensive, but I haven't noticed prices falling particularly.

1950s porridge, again, is rubbish but still has a big following. It'll be a long time before the long-term owners all start dying off. More unusual but still rubbish stuff like early Vanguards seem to have shot up recently - £15k for a nice one, madness! Austins and the like are always cheap because they are still so numerous. A35s and A40 Farinas have shot up because of the hugely popular historic racing series for them. Nice Minors are still loads of money, horrid ones are still cheap. Lots of choice, people can be discerning.

1980s and even 90s stuff is definitely on the rise, but I don't think its at the expense of anything older.

The last time things went dramatically downward was the big crash in the 80s, but that taught a lot of people a valuable lesson. Some things will always be 'investments', but just because putting your money in a 50s Ferrari is smart it doesn't mean putting your money in a 50s Austin Cambridge is a good idea just because it's 'old'. Boring stuff is no longer treated as an investment.

I suspect things will continue to be worth proper money for another 20 years, and then nobody will be driving petrol-engined cars anymore anyway, so values will plummet as cars become static objects to be viewed, appreciated but not used. I think people are cottoning on to this fact now, and realise they have a finite time left to enjoy motoring, so values will remain bouyant until running a petrol car becomes impossible, or incredibly difficult and expensive.

tl:dr - no, I haven't noticed cars going down in value recently

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Don't tell me MGBs are getting cheaper... I've *deliberately* not looked at any for several years!

I've always fancied one, preferably a convertible simply so I can hear the exhaust note and because I prefer the look of it...but I'd be happy with either. 

I think they're a car in which you either enjoy the driving experience or you don't.  No they're not that great in a lot of ways, but I've always found them to be one of those cars which it just feels like slipping into a comfy old pair of slippers once slotted into the driver's seat.

I'd really forgotten how much I liked them until I had a shot of Six-Cylinder's one a couple of years back.

Much more the sort of car I had expected to turn up in my driveway when the XJ-S did instead!

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4 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

I've been toying with buying another Mini and I had wondered if they may start to get cheaper, but the appeal seems to extend beyond anyone who could have any experience of owning one or even their parents owning one. I'm thinking they will always be expensive just because they are so cool/cute haha!

 

I think so! But also I guess anyone over about 20 saw a lot of Minis on the road when they were a kid? They only stopped selling them 20 years ago...

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8 hours ago, barrett said:

tl:dr - no, I haven't noticed cars going down in value recently

Same here.

People keep saying that older cars will drop in value as the customer base dies off but in reality the surviving numbers of cars are so small and they're well recognised as an investment that values will likely never drop a significant amount. 

Look at Austin 7s, values have slowly climbed over the last decade despite the fact relatively few owners will have owned one as a new car.

Some cars at the height of their retro appeal may drop slightly, such as the MGB or Morris Minor as there are large enough quantities of surviving cars to fulfill demand. 

Others like the Mk2 Escorts, VW Campers and Mini have such a cult following I doubt they'll fall in price.

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