How much are Unipower GTs really worth?
Discussion
Eagerbeaver said:
Last weekend, my dad was talking about his old Unipower GT which has sat at the back of his garage since the late 70s. It runs and wouldn't take much to MOT but he never got around to it. He's in his late 70s now and was offered £500 in the summer by a local scrap man which he accepted but the guy never came to collect.
Thinking the car is worth maybe £2-£3K with tax and MOT, I'm arranging to bring it back to my house to get it roadworthy over winter.
Now I see this!!!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UNIPOWER-GT-/230541216426?pt...
Surely these cannot be worth this kind of money! It's a mini based kit car which wasn't great in the 70s. It was just a bit of cheap fun.
Are cars like this really selling at this kind of price?
OH dear, in their day these were a very sophisticated mini racer that was well engineered by a well financed company. In racing they were the dogs doobris! They also have the bonus of being as rare as unicorn poo & built in limited numbers. That is why they are big bucks now. Just because it is Mini based don't knock it!Thinking the car is worth maybe £2-£3K with tax and MOT, I'm arranging to bring it back to my house to get it roadworthy over winter.
Now I see this!!!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UNIPOWER-GT-/230541216426?pt...
Surely these cannot be worth this kind of money! It's a mini based kit car which wasn't great in the 70s. It was just a bit of cheap fun.
Are cars like this really selling at this kind of price?
guru_1071 said:
Thanks for that. I did see that one as well as the fully restored one that looked like it sold for low £30K.[quote=tr7v8
OH dear, in their day these were a very sophisticated mini racer that was well engineered by a well financed company. In racing they were the dogs doobris! They also have the bonus of being as rare as unicorn poo & built in limited numbers. That is why they are big bucks now. Just because it is Mini based don't knock it[quote=tr7v8
I've had an email this morning from a contributor to a classic car mag and he has asked if he could come and do an article on the car. We are really excited by how much interest this has generated and all thanks to the other cars Ebay listing. He wants to interview my dad.
I'm not knocking it by any means but I think the saying is "familiarity breeds contempt". Well there is no contempt but we've had the car for over 35 years and despite being a family of car enthusiasts we just loved the car for being odd.
In the early 70s, mid engined cars were restricted to the exotic but by the late 70s there were production cars that were quicker and more sophisticated, it's a wonder it hasn't been scrapped sooner.
Our car has a very spindly steel tube chassis and everything about it is "home made". My dad says that if he was 20 years younger and didn't have his bad hip and artheritis he'd make a new one for less than £30K and make a profit too.
OH dear, in their day these were a very sophisticated mini racer that was well engineered by a well financed company. In racing they were the dogs doobris! They also have the bonus of being as rare as unicorn poo & built in limited numbers. That is why they are big bucks now. Just because it is Mini based don't knock it[quote=tr7v8
I've had an email this morning from a contributor to a classic car mag and he has asked if he could come and do an article on the car. We are really excited by how much interest this has generated and all thanks to the other cars Ebay listing. He wants to interview my dad.
I'm not knocking it by any means but I think the saying is "familiarity breeds contempt". Well there is no contempt but we've had the car for over 35 years and despite being a family of car enthusiasts we just loved the car for being odd.
In the early 70s, mid engined cars were restricted to the exotic but by the late 70s there were production cars that were quicker and more sophisticated, it's a wonder it hasn't been scrapped sooner.
Our car has a very spindly steel tube chassis and everything about it is "home made". My dad says that if he was 20 years younger and didn't have his bad hip and artheritis he'd make a new one for less than £30K and make a profit too.
eagers
the trouble is with simply making a new chassis and a body from a set of moulds is that your not making a unipower, your making a kit car, and it would have to be treated as such to be legally used on the road (racing is a different kettle of fish obviously). a kit car modern version of a unipower would have no huge value at all as it would have to be built to 2010 kit car standards and many compromises would have to be made for it so pass an sva test.
the value of a correctly registered period unipower reflects both its rarity (i think only about 20 are known to survive(and some of these are out and out racers, so wont have any paperwork) and the fact that it was a very potent machine in racing form, they are of course a fine looking kit car, something that many mini based kits where not!
im a big fan of the cox gtm, the mk1 version is rarer than a unipower (only made 50), but because they where made by various companies and in various shapes they have little value as the market is so diluted (final production was circa 500-700 ish cars/kits - they only stopped production of the gtm coupe version in about 1997 as it proved too expensive to get it to be easily sva compliant.
a mk1 cox gtm, which is as good looking (nearly!) as a unipower, and (fairly) well proven in some forms of motorsport is worth about 5 grand as a done road legal car - a 'mk2' version (the heerey cox) sold at h&h last month for about 3700, that was a really tidy, restored road ready version.
its the rarity of the unipower that will get your dad his big windfall!
the trouble is with simply making a new chassis and a body from a set of moulds is that your not making a unipower, your making a kit car, and it would have to be treated as such to be legally used on the road (racing is a different kettle of fish obviously). a kit car modern version of a unipower would have no huge value at all as it would have to be built to 2010 kit car standards and many compromises would have to be made for it so pass an sva test.
the value of a correctly registered period unipower reflects both its rarity (i think only about 20 are known to survive(and some of these are out and out racers, so wont have any paperwork) and the fact that it was a very potent machine in racing form, they are of course a fine looking kit car, something that many mini based kits where not!
im a big fan of the cox gtm, the mk1 version is rarer than a unipower (only made 50), but because they where made by various companies and in various shapes they have little value as the market is so diluted (final production was circa 500-700 ish cars/kits - they only stopped production of the gtm coupe version in about 1997 as it proved too expensive to get it to be easily sva compliant.
a mk1 cox gtm, which is as good looking (nearly!) as a unipower, and (fairly) well proven in some forms of motorsport is worth about 5 grand as a done road legal car - a 'mk2' version (the heerey cox) sold at h&h last month for about 3700, that was a really tidy, restored road ready version.
its the rarity of the unipower that will get your dad his big windfall!
Eagerbeaver said:
I've had an email this morning from a contributor to a classic car mag and he has asked if he could come and do an article on the car. We are really excited by how much interest this has generated and all thanks to the other cars Ebay listing. He wants to interview my dad.
That's great, it will help get the price up if it gets good coverage. Be sure, if you are going to sell it rather than auction it, to negotiate a good advert for it's sale in return for providing hte basis of the article. Are you able to tell us which mag?G
OP, you have some good advice here. The thing about your Dad's car is that it is a ticket into some exclusive classic car racing,and that my friend is why your Dad could boost his retirement fund a fair bit!! I'd do what is suggested, DO NOT EVEN CLEAN IT!!! Buy yourself Classic & Sportscar magazine, and contact one of the auction houses in there. I am 99% sure they will send out a rep to view the car and they would be honoured to cosign it to one of their auctions Seriously, that layer of dust could be worth 5 grand. Do not try to start it either, MG, S, knackered engine or not. Even if the S engine is long gone that different engine is still part of the cars history. GOOD LUCK! Keep me posted please, I love those.
The car has been disturbed over the last few months but it hasn’t been washed or cleaned – just looked at and a bit of dust wiped away by hand.
My dad originally just wanted to move it as he's at the time of life when he feels he needs to sort out his things so others don't have to when he isn't here. He's got years in him yet but a few friends have passed on this year so he's wondering when he's next. I guess that comes to us all.
I started the thread because I was shocked by the Ebay car and I have made a classic car sale booboo before. This one looks like it could have been much much worse.
My biggest regret so far was selling my wooden chassis Marcos in very solid and OK condition at a price that I dare not admit to now. That was over 5 years ago and it still hurts now. I sold it for about £500 more than I bought it for about 4 years earlier which I thought was OK considering I had used it almost daily and had done no work to it. The wheeler dealer who bought it was asking nearly 3 times what he paid me and he sold it in about 2 weeks from picking it up!!
Going back to the Unipower - we've got a family get together about it today.
I planned on getting it roadworthy and I still like the idea of that but that would be for personal reasons. It does need work and if it has got the potential to be a £20-£30K car, it is a good investment. I’ve seen that Skoller racing were or are rebuilding one and they are not too far from my dads and looking at their website – they look like they know what they are doing with 60s kit cars. If we go down the restoration route I think that will be my first call.
My dad has said that if either my brother or I want to restore it, we are welcome to it. I still don’t think he believes how much these are valued but since making this car public I have had dozens of emails all telling me the same.
The way people are talking about this, it is as if it is a long lost Lowry or Rembrandt which I am still having difficulty with. The link to historic racing is what does it I think which was the same with the Marcos. The Marcos though was technically sophisticated with the wooden monocoque. I’ve always liked Rochdale Olympics and they too are sophisticated in having a GRP monocoque but they are still not expensive.
We've always fancied going to The Goodwood Festival of Speed and with the feedback the car has got – it would be good to take it there.
On Friday I called an auction house just to give my dad some options but if we do keep it I will have the problem of how much to pay him. He says nothing but that is not on if we are talking the sums that have been mentioned.
My dad originally just wanted to move it as he's at the time of life when he feels he needs to sort out his things so others don't have to when he isn't here. He's got years in him yet but a few friends have passed on this year so he's wondering when he's next. I guess that comes to us all.
I started the thread because I was shocked by the Ebay car and I have made a classic car sale booboo before. This one looks like it could have been much much worse.
My biggest regret so far was selling my wooden chassis Marcos in very solid and OK condition at a price that I dare not admit to now. That was over 5 years ago and it still hurts now. I sold it for about £500 more than I bought it for about 4 years earlier which I thought was OK considering I had used it almost daily and had done no work to it. The wheeler dealer who bought it was asking nearly 3 times what he paid me and he sold it in about 2 weeks from picking it up!!
Going back to the Unipower - we've got a family get together about it today.
I planned on getting it roadworthy and I still like the idea of that but that would be for personal reasons. It does need work and if it has got the potential to be a £20-£30K car, it is a good investment. I’ve seen that Skoller racing were or are rebuilding one and they are not too far from my dads and looking at their website – they look like they know what they are doing with 60s kit cars. If we go down the restoration route I think that will be my first call.
My dad has said that if either my brother or I want to restore it, we are welcome to it. I still don’t think he believes how much these are valued but since making this car public I have had dozens of emails all telling me the same.
The way people are talking about this, it is as if it is a long lost Lowry or Rembrandt which I am still having difficulty with. The link to historic racing is what does it I think which was the same with the Marcos. The Marcos though was technically sophisticated with the wooden monocoque. I’ve always liked Rochdale Olympics and they too are sophisticated in having a GRP monocoque but they are still not expensive.
We've always fancied going to The Goodwood Festival of Speed and with the feedback the car has got – it would be good to take it there.
On Friday I called an auction house just to give my dad some options but if we do keep it I will have the problem of how much to pay him. He says nothing but that is not on if we are talking the sums that have been mentioned.
Edited by Eagerbeaver on Sunday 24th October 11:53
Please, please if you are going to take on the resto yourself make sure you have the budget and time to do it properly, having read your last post, I'm sure you have thought about this but I say because I have seen so many resto's that end up half finished and in a worse state than when the 'resto' started.
Having said my piece, it's terrific that you are going to take it on. The Festival of Speed is great and is a must do, but when you finish the Unipower you must take it to the Goodwood Revival, that really is the dogs doo doo's!
G
Having said my piece, it's terrific that you are going to take it on. The Festival of Speed is great and is a must do, but when you finish the Unipower you must take it to the Goodwood Revival, that really is the dogs doo doo's!
G
Hi, Don't sell it, they are rare and really worth restoring. I have a complete 1275 S engined version all matching numbers which I am restoring. I know of 5 in the UK plus yours. I have lots of history on the marque. When you look closely they are well engineered. Not sure about Scholar seems to have been a long time in the same state. The biggest problem is that the body is bonded to the chassis and the square tubes do rot out. Best of luck
I would agree dont sell the car unless you really have to. with regard to the price asked for the one on ebay, that is only the price that is being asked not what it will sell for! however there could/will always be someone out there with the money available.
The concern with any car that has been laid up for any length of time is whether the cooling system was drained, the cars had the heater pipes welded to the chassis along the passenger side. They have a tendancy to rust through and allow the water to pass into the chassis and do a bit of damage there, and it can be tricky to sort!
I to have a car that needs work and will be hopefully starting soon. Would be really interested in a picture or two if they are available and any details that you want to share?
The concern with any car that has been laid up for any length of time is whether the cooling system was drained, the cars had the heater pipes welded to the chassis along the passenger side. They have a tendancy to rust through and allow the water to pass into the chassis and do a bit of damage there, and it can be tricky to sort!
I to have a car that needs work and will be hopefully starting soon. Would be really interested in a picture or two if they are available and any details that you want to share?
Edited by rpb203 on Thursday 28th October 09:12
The one on e bay seems to have a rear mounted radiator (look at the pics) not standard!! So possibly radiator pipes had corroded.Don't know how it keeps the engine cool or the kabin hot. Hot air is sent via front mounted rad to heat kabin. I will sort pics of my car and other info soon. Keep the interest going these are more than just a kit car, they are a very special low volume production car.
I did notice that and a few other bits, however most cars have been tweaked over the years mainly in the 70's and early 80's when their value wasn't that much.
I agree with your comments and I really wouldn't consider the Unipower to be a 'kit car', the level of finish and the panel fit etc. is way beyond that of most 'production cars of the era and way above most if not all 'kit cars'.
I agree with your comments and I really wouldn't consider the Unipower to be a 'kit car', the level of finish and the panel fit etc. is way beyond that of most 'production cars of the era and way above most if not all 'kit cars'.
guru_1071 said:
eagers
a 'mk2' version (the heerey cox) sold at h&h last month for about 3700, that was a really tidy, restored road ready version.
That was my dad's! He bought it as a wreck on a whim and put loads of time into it. He's an award winning race restorer, and was disappointed with what it got - he was hoping for 5K. Problem was, there wasn't really anywhere to race it - but I can assure you it was restored to the absolute best standards! He didn't touch the engine and box due to the 'nowhere to race' problem, but it would've made a great hillclimber/sprint car.a 'mk2' version (the heerey cox) sold at h&h last month for about 3700, that was a really tidy, restored road ready version.
ChevronB19 said:
That was my dad's!
i think one of the big problems with that auction is that the guide price of the heery was about 15 grand (cant remember the exact figure) on the online catalogue - it was like this for about three weeks, so most people looking at it would have just not bothered. it only dropped down to 3-4 grand (again, i think) a couple of days before the auction. its the sort of sloppy mistakes that h&h seem to excel at doing really!ive got a gtm coupe and have just bought a mk1 cox gtm to restore - i dont suppose your dad has a load of photos of his car during restoration has he?
it was a really nice job he had done, and had i not bought the early cox, and had a bit more spare cash and the auction estimate had been right in the catalogue i might have been the heerys new owner!
i have a bit of an obsession with grp mini based kit cars!
How much are Unipowers realy worth, well thats a difficult one. Just an introduction, I am the guy some of you have been refering to, my name is Keith and I run Scholar racing 96, the links are to my web site.
My Unipower GT has been undergoing restoration for some time now, I bought it (having mithered its original owner for some 10 years) some time ago, it was going to be a quick restoration. Unfortunately when we rolled it off the car transporter it fell into 3 pieces. Further investigation revealed that the chassis had gone, it was literaly the rear engine frame and 3 buckets of rust surrounded by some fibreglass panelwork.
We have to date, drawn up a new chassis drawing as arch motors had destroyed the originals, built a new space frame chassis using as much of the original as possible, which is actualy the dash hoop and the engine frame. We have prepared most of the body to re-mate it to the chassis. Unfortunately customer work and other projects meen progress is slow, but it will be out racing in the next couple of years. The HSCC pre 70's roadsports have Unipowers on there list of acceptable cars and the FIA have homologated them as a 1293cc with 13" wheels, so this is now the specification for mine.
The problems with rust are caused when the unprotected space frame gets wet as a result of water penertrating the glassfibre and sitting for long periods against the chassis. The tubes some people have been refering to which run the full length of the chassis and carry water to and from the radiator are actualy aluminium.
My Unipower GT has been undergoing restoration for some time now, I bought it (having mithered its original owner for some 10 years) some time ago, it was going to be a quick restoration. Unfortunately when we rolled it off the car transporter it fell into 3 pieces. Further investigation revealed that the chassis had gone, it was literaly the rear engine frame and 3 buckets of rust surrounded by some fibreglass panelwork.
We have to date, drawn up a new chassis drawing as arch motors had destroyed the originals, built a new space frame chassis using as much of the original as possible, which is actualy the dash hoop and the engine frame. We have prepared most of the body to re-mate it to the chassis. Unfortunately customer work and other projects meen progress is slow, but it will be out racing in the next couple of years. The HSCC pre 70's roadsports have Unipowers on there list of acceptable cars and the FIA have homologated them as a 1293cc with 13" wheels, so this is now the specification for mine.
The problems with rust are caused when the unprotected space frame gets wet as a result of water penertrating the glassfibre and sitting for long periods against the chassis. The tubes some people have been refering to which run the full length of the chassis and carry water to and from the radiator are actualy aluminium.
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