Seriously Overpriced Cars

Monday 3rd October 2016

BMW really don't make anything as exceptional as that any more. Completely in its own league.

5,214 posts

243 months

Monday 3rd October 2016

BuzzBravado said:

BMW really don't make anything as exceptional as that any more. Completely in its own league.

Yes, I agree and that's why I've kept mine and it's not for sale. When I bought mine I already had another one in exactly the same colour combination but with more miles on it but I still bought this one.

A time came (actually on more than one occasion) when I just had too many cars and 'something' had to go. On one occasion, it came down to a choice between selling the 8-Series or my E30 M3.

http://www.bmwclassics.co.uk/gallery/index.php?spg...

At the time they were worth about the same in purely monetary terms. However, for me personally, the choice was simple...the E30 M3 went and the 8-Series stayed! For me, it's just so much more 'car' and the difference in build quality etc. etc. etc... BMW will never build anything like it again. It's just obvious, when you're up close and personal, how much more it must have cost to build one of these cars than any other BMW I've owned.

I also agree, that blue one, at £42K, currently seems expensive, particularly at the prices that they have been in the UK up until now (but those are nothing as compared to how much good 8-Series have already been in Germany, for example).

However, times do change and prices can change...and sometimes very rapidly!

I sold my E30 M3 (above) for £13.5K with all the extra stuff in the photos. At the time, even here on PH, people baulked at the price; saying stuff like: "He might get lucky and even get as much as £10K for it....". A couple of weeks later, EVO Magazine ran an article the conclusion of which named the E30 M3 as the "Greatest M car of all"...and we all know what suddenly happened then, don't we?

History then repeated itself just a few months after I sold my E46 CSL. It had 30K miles on the clock and I sold it for £28K. Guess what happened a few months later to prices?

http://www.bmwclassics.co.uk/gallery/index.php?spg...

As a final example, I don't know if many people will remember but it was advertised here on PH: There was an E9 CSL for sale at Nutley Sports & Prestige Cars. It was a stunning low mileage CSL and they advertised it at £60K IIRC. Absolutely everyone was laughing, baulking calling it "Seriously overpriced" etc. because at the time a decent E9 CSL was literally a car worth £Teens...not £60K. It seemed so, so off the map at the time. Well, it sold...and then every other CSL and his dog jumped on the band-wagon and suddenly made that CSL look like bargain of the century as prices suddenly rocketed into 6 figure sums!

My point is, one needs to be a little cautious on this thread at sticking one's head too far above the parapet, laughing at or being otherwise disparaging at some sellers prices because in my experience, one could end up with a bit of egg on one's face...and sometimes very quickly! laugh

Yes, in some cases the term "Chancer" may seem right and appropriate...and we all know that there are several dealers who seemingly run their whole business and existence on that basis... but we also should remember that there's a strong element of:

Guvernator

13,156 posts

165 months

Monday 3rd October 2016

Sorry I have no problem sticking my head over the parapet, I call them how I see them and the current prices of some cars are absolutely nuts. Doesn't matter if some fools are easily parted with their money, it still won't change my mind that the classic car bubble is WAY over-inflated.

Hainey

4,381 posts

200 months

Monday 3rd October 2016

Guvernator said:

Well said

Barring the 850 the 8 series is pure council anyway.

whistle

Devil2575

13,400 posts

188 months

Monday 3rd October 2016

Hainey said:

Barring the 850 the 8 series is pure council anyway.

Have you seen a doctor?

You clearly have issues biggrin

Hainey

4,381 posts

200 months

Monday 3rd October 2016

Devil2575 said:

Hainey said:

Barring the 850 the 8 series is pure council anyway.

Have you seen a doctor?

You clearly have issues biggrin

Only because I never bought one when they were cheap hehe

5,214 posts

243 months

Monday 3rd October 2016

Hainey said:

Devil2575 said:

Hainey said:

Barring the 850 the 8 series is pure council anyway.

Have you seen a doctor?

You clearly have issues biggrin

Only because I never bought one when they were cheap hehe

Well, some still are...if you look hard enough and act quickly! It's even crossed my mind to buy anoth......no, scrub that idea! laugh

5,214 posts

243 months

Monday 3rd October 2016

Guvernator said:

When one tries to rationalise things in an objective manner, I agree...and I've seen several "ups and downs", "bubbles and bursts" over the years in the 'classic car' market but this one seems different somehow. It seems to have gone on for much longer than previous bubbles...really, if I'm not mistaken, since 2008. It also seems different in that it hasn't been an across the board surge in all classic cars. This time it seems as if it's more piece-meal. One make or model coming "on song" at a time...being hyped...prices inflated by the 'usual dealers'. The supply of those becomes exhausted and they move on to the next?

"We've run out of a decent supply of E30 M3s to flog, at inflated prices, to fools who are easily parted with their money...what next? E36 M3s?"

"Ditto...Mercedes Pagodas. What next? R107s seems like a naturally good idea? Air-cooled 911s?...How about 996s? Or should we have a go at racking up 944s?"

The secret seems to latch on to a car model that has something a little different or special about* it but crucially where the above hasn't happened yet? Can you think of one?

(* Although, having said that, that's why I like browsing this thread because some of what I see and thought of back in the day (and still think of) as just another pretty cheap and crappy effort from Dagenham (sorry guys...but I'm just of that generation) continues to surprise me with the prices they seem to be commanding these days.

I think some of this longer-lasting 'bubble' is in part due to the above piecemeal way certain cars are made fashionable at certain times (weren't Z3 Coupes a bit fashionable on here about a year or two ago? And prices leapt up? Can't really remember any big discussions about the on here this year? Out of fashion...or has the hype machine moved on?) It's also maybe due to very low interests rates making it easier for people to be persuaded into believe "investing" in a classic car is "better than money sitting in the bank" and due to us Average Joes believing that line when it is sold to us. For the most part, for the Average Joe, one classic car isn't going to be a good 'investment'.

I'm in no way disagreeing with you Guvernator. In fact, I'm agreeing but perhaps I'm even more cynical about it than you. It's not that I personally would pay the sort of money that some of the cars shown on this thread are up for sale at or indeed even sell at; it's maybe that I'm not so surprised when they do! smile

Smokey32

359 posts

93 months

Monday 3rd October 2016

Must be a joy to drive, doing 200miles a year proves that. Haha

5,214 posts

243 months

Monday 3rd October 2016

Smokey32 said:

Must be a joy to drive, doing 200miles a year proves that. Haha

I can't even remember what it's like to drive, as I haven't driven it at all for the last 2 years! 200 miles a year is an average! LOL!

"A joy...without even driving?!"

Could be a new term?!

"Very low mileage...pristine condition...a joy with or without even driving!" laugh

Hainey

4,381 posts

200 months

Monday 3rd October 2016

It's one of the few cars you can take joy from just from sheer pride of possession. Or I would anyway.

I have 5 cars already, if I had room for another it's well up on the short list for consideration. Ironic that when I had space for one I was poor, newly married and couldn't afford one. Now years later I can afford one but cant find a place to put it.

Although if a mint 850 came up in my price range I'd put it in the sitting room, see if I care!

e21Mark

16,205 posts

173 months

Tuesday 4th October 2016

E36 M3 prices are on the up. I imagine the lack of affordable E30 M3's is partly why? I declined a mint one for £4.5k about a year ago. frown

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bmw-E36-M3-Evolution-3-2...

I know the 80's nostalgia thing has driven prices for cars of that era (and 70's) but does the 90's have much of note for the trend to continue?

Efbe

9,251 posts

166 months