Old car ads from magazines & newspapers

[Wills2]

skwdenyer said:

Dapster said:

LotusOmega375D said:

austinsmirk said:

I’ve discovered a few copies of autotrader from 89/90. As you’d imagine a fascinating read ! Like you all, love my older cars and I look back and think why didn’t I buy that cheap exotic whatever.

Seems like the simple answer is our choice of cars 34 years ago was staggeringly dull and rather limited. Hindsight’s a great thing as escorts, capris, minis are everywhere for buttons. I have no idea how to post pics or photos otherwise they’d be well worth adding to this.

Not everything was cheap in 1989:

If you had £1.2m back in 1989 and kept it in the bank, it would be worth £2.8m today.

Had you bought that 288 GTO you may get £3.5m for it now (https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/mo22/monterey/lots/r0139-1985-ferrari-288-gto/1272912).

Meanwhile a property purchased for £1m in 1988 on The Bishops Avenue in London would be worth between £20 and £35m now....

If you’d invested £1.2m in 288 GTOs at list price in 1985, they’d be worth £45m today…

1989 was a mad moment. From <£100k to £1.2m in 4 years…

In 1989 Apple traded at 29c today it's $179 as far as the hindsight investments that you're discussing it would have been a far better one for the £1.2m @ $1.6 to the £ you'd have bought 6.6 million shares and be sat on $1.2 billion.

[Doyliestag]

[Doyliestag]

[Dapster]

soxboy said:

CAR magazine, June 1983

That's brilliant. I would happily take absolutely any car from that list today including the pov spec Mercs (perhaps not the TR7 though!) now and back in period. How good were the exotics of the 80's?

Lancaster and Bramley Sports Cars always had absolutely mouth watering stock. 3.3 911 Turbo, Daytona, Sport Quattro, 2 x 959s, BMW M1, 288 GTO.... not a bad inventory






No prices but HWM have a few tasties in stock too. 8 year old Countach with delivery miles anyone!

Edited by Dapster on Tuesday 12th September 23:07

[Lotusgone]

Doyliestag said:

Circuit Travel, the poor man's Page & Moy of its day.

I went with them to Hockenheim, 1979; Zandvoort 1980 and Zolder 1982 (RIP Gilles, stopped going to overseas GPs after that).

Did any other PHers use Circuit Travel?

[Turbobanana]

Dapster said:

Lancaster and Bramley Sports Cars always had absolutely mouth watering stock. 3.3 911 Turbo, Daytona, Sport Quattro, 2 x 959s, BMW M1, 288 GTO.... not a bad inventory

An interesting mix indeed, however I struggle to believe that in August 1989 a 10 year old Beetle Convertible (even with only 69 miles on) was worth £29,995, or a Minor Traveller £9,995.

[soxboy]

Turbobanana said:

Dapster said:

Lancaster and Bramley Sports Cars always had absolutely mouth watering stock. 3.3 911 Turbo, Daytona, Sport Quattro, 2 x 959s, BMW M1, 288 GTO.... not a bad inventory

An interesting mix indeed, however I struggle to believe that in August 1989 a 10 year old Beetle Convertible (even with only 69 miles on) was worth £29,995, or a Minor Traveller £9,995.

It was when the market was going a bit mad, before the late 80s bubble burst. See Mondial convertible for £139,995 (or £10k less than a Sport Quattro).

[Rob 131 Sport]

Doyliestag said:

I remember the 0~60 time in What Car being 9.4 seconds with a top speed of 109MPH, as opposed to the 10.7 Seconds quoted here.

Based on my ownership experience I’d say that 9.4 seconds or under is nearer the mark. Absolutely great cars.

[Doyliestag]

[Fermit]

P5BNij said:

There's just something I love about that era of Maserati.

[droopsnoot]

Doyliestag said:

Wow, interesting stuff. If I recall correctly, the SMT Firenza was left to rot some years ago, but of course Bertha is newly-rebuilt and running again.

[AmyRichardson]

Wills2 said:

In 1989 Apple traded at 29c today it's $179 as far as the hindsight investments that you're discussing it would have been a far better one for the £1.2m @ $1.6 to the £ you'd have bought 6.6 million shares and be sat on $1.2 billion.

Apples vs. Oranges (or cars, as it is) - probably the most frothy era for classic and modern classic cars prior to 2010s, whereas Apple Inc's stellar turnaround from its late-90s nadir is amongst the greatest "from the toilet bowl to the top" stories in business history.

[P5BNij]

Fermit said:

P5BNij said:

There's just something I love about that era of Maserati.

Same here, even though I never thought I'd end up with a '90s classic, ownership of my Biturbo has been enjoyable in a way I can't quite put my finger on, the buzz I get from it is hard to define. I've been buying brochures, books and spares on and off for the last two years, these cars really do get under the skin. Maserati's history has been surprisingly varied at times, even the small number of 'mule' trucks they sold have their own charm...

[skwdenyer]

P5BNij said:

Same here, even though I never thought I'd end up with a '90s classic, ownership of my Biturbo has been enjoyable in a way I can't quite put my finger on, the buzz I get from it is hard to define. I've been buying brochures, books and spares on and off for the last two years, these cars really do get under the skin. Maserati's history has been surprisingly varied at times, even the small number of 'mule' trucks they sold have their own charm...

Electric trucks, no less! Didn’t look quite as rakish in the metal as the illustrator’s version, however.

[P5BNij]

skwdenyer said:

P5BNij said:

Same here, even though I never thought I'd end up with a '90s classic, ownership of my Biturbo has been enjoyable in a way I can't quite put my finger on, the buzz I get from it is hard to define. I've been buying brochures, books and spares on and off for the last two years, these cars really do get under the skin. Maserati's history has been surprisingly varied at times, even the small number of 'mule' trucks they sold have their own charm...

Electric trucks, no less! Didn’t look quite as rakish in the metal as the illustrator’s version, however.

Not sure how many were made, but the factory kept a couple for moving parts around.

Nice Mistral in this '67 advert...

[ajprice]

[Speed 3]

ajprice said:

Oh how times have changed (for the better).

[kjs62]

Too many pages to check if something's been posted before

[P5BNij]

Don't think it has

[Halmyre]

P5BNij said:

Don't think it has

So that's where William Woollard got his act.