Filed Under: News
By the time the various magazines reach us the chances are that the classic we must have has gone, of course there are cars that seem to appear week after week, one wonders why. One car I kept track of was advertised for almost a year.
We then come to the price, it is difficult to give an accurate value on a car there are so many factors to take into account, despite the listings some magazines print.
The truth is that most of the classic cars come in from the UK, however the seller is not going to lose out, how much is added to the actual original purchase price, no way of telling.
The one, well one of many bugbears is how cars are described, immaculate, hmm, lady owner, does this mean greater care has been taken or it is driven delicately, if my daughter is anything to go by not a chance.
One can go chasing all over this island looking for the perfect specimen, costly and time consuming also frustrating to say the least.
I must put this in, that one of the safe places to buy a classic is through the club, if you are no mechanic there are enough members who would no doubt be delighted to give an opinion.
Car auctions, are big business across the water, a great choice of vehicles and you can get guide prices, though as it says a guide.
One point you must remember is whether you go privately or to a dealer or an auction it is going to cost to get the car home.
Just to run through a few points, ferry crossing, accommodation, and food fuel depending how far you are traveling, insurance on the car and most of all paying for it, bearing in mind the rate of exchange at that time.
Just to give you an idea when I purchased the Volvo, it was a private deal, it was a stupid chance to take but I was lucky, the insurance was arranged before I went, the money was electronically sent to the vendors account, we estimated the time for the journey from Holyhead to Harrogate would allow us to come back on the first ferry Sunday morning, we didn’t have to pay for the trailer or the car coming back, but I am told we were lucky, fuel then cost about E100, the accommodation was with the ferry company and we got a good deal but not a lot of change out of E500, we gave a great sigh of relief when we saw the Volvo, so if you need to think about it, perhaps that will do as a start.
I was looking up forthcoming auctions and here are some of the prices being quoted:- These are Sterling
1935 Austin Ruby Opel 7500 – 9000
1983 Merc 280SL 5500 – 6500
1979 Merc 350SL 4250 – 5250
1971 MG “B” 2500 – 4000
1967 Sunbeam Alpine 4750 – 5750
1964 Austin 1100 1500 – 2500
1969 Austin 1300 2000 – 3000
1960 Singer Gazelle Convertible 4000 – 5000
1961 Zephyr Farnham Estate 2250 – 3250
1954 Rover P4 90 1000 – 1500
1967 Triumph 2000 1500 – 2000
1966 Morris Mini Cooper s 16000 – 20000
This is the actual Earls Court Motor Show Model
1970 Lotus Cortina 11000 – 13000
1968 MG “C” GT 10000 – 12000
The listing comes only from the top auction houses where one expects quality cars.
Ted Lay tedlay@gmail.com
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