What car to make money on. One year, max £50k

[Guvernator]

I do agree that some of recent rises will have been fuelled by people with money looking to invest in other assets and then other people jumping on the bandwagon.

However this doesn't take into account the fact that some people just want to buy cars from those periods because they have always wanted them and may never get the chance again.

Consider this, cars of the kind that were made over the last 40-50 years will never be made again. We are approaching the end of an era and I suspect in another 20 years time, the internal combustion engine will go the way of the Dodo. We are already seeing downsizing, turbo-charging, and hybridisation which will only continue. Pedestrian safety regulations and crash protection now heavily influence how a car looks and all the safety systems add complexity, weight and remove more and more control from the driver. In short those hankering after a certain type of driving experience can only look back not forward.

Is the market over-inflated at the moment? Most definitely. Will it come crashing back down to previous levels, I very much doubt it as they just don't make those types of cars any more.

[SEE YA]

Guvernator said:

I do agree that some of recent rises will have been fuelled by people with money looking to invest in other assets and then other people jumping on the bandwagon.

However this doesn't take into account the fact that some people just want to buy cars from those periods because they have always wanted them and may never get the chance again.

Consider this, cars of the kind that were made over the last 40-50 years will never be made again. We are approaching the end of an era and I suspect in another 20 years time, the internal combustion engine will go the way of the Dodo. We are already seeing downsizing, turbo-charging, and hybridisation which will only continue. Pedestrian safety regulations and crash protection now heavily influence how a car looks and all the safety systems add complexity, weight and remove more and more control from the driver. In short those hankering after a certain type of driving experience can only look back not forward.

Is the market over-inflated at the moment? Most definitely. Will it come crashing back down to previous levels, I very much doubt it as they just don't make those types of cars any more.

Spot on, people that wanted a classic car now find prices have shot up. The car they wanted is now out of there reach due to values.

I could not afford my old 911 now, back in pre 07 prices were rock bottom.

So I was lucky in that way.

[DavidJG]

hornetrider said:

Air. Cooled. Pork.

What he said. Best air cooled 911 you can get, ideally something fairly rare (pre 911SC).

They're only going one way due to rarity and people just not wanting to sell.

[topless360]

Honda S2000 - for a few reasons. Firstly, they don't make them like that anymore. In a world of DSG this and turbo that, the S2000 stands out as a frantic 9000rpm manual sports car. Not only will we never see anything like it again, it doesn't really have any similar rivals.

Secondly, there aren't many good one's left. It took me weeks of seeing rusty, damage repaired, missing service history cars before I found mine. A rot free car with FSH is one to hang on to.

Ferrari 360 (Spider) - as someone has already mentioned, the last of screaming V8 Manual Ferrari's, modern enough to have stonking performance yet old enough to be considered a true classic. The F430 didn't sound as good and the 355 doesn't have a glass engine cover. In my eye's it's the perfect Ferrari (this side of an F40) and will hopefully continue to rise in value.

And yes, I own both

[Harry Flashman]

I walked away from a lovely, Tour de France Blue, crema leather with carbon sports seats manual 360 Spider, running on Stradale alloys and with a Tubi exhaust 3 years ago. Because it needed new ball joints and a clutch, and I thought that this was a bit much at £47k. It was a gorgeous car and drove beautifully.

Huge, huge regret. Ginormous.

I am actively looking for a good, manual 360 Spider. As soon as we have bought our house, this will be on the hitlist.

ETA - very like this one, but fewer miles, nicer (not bicoloured) seats, and on ball-peen polished Challenge Stradale wheels.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

God damn it.

Edited by Harry Flashman on Wednesday 1st July 17:54

[topless360]

Harry Flashman said:

ETA - very like this one, but fewer miles, nicer (not bicoloured) seats, and on ball-peen polished Challenge Stradale wheels.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

Edited by Harry Flashman on Wednesday 1st July 17:54

Is that how much they are worth now? I knew they'd gone up but that's top money.

Good luck with the search. One word of slight caution, if you're getting one with the 19 inch alloys try and get a later model as some early cars suffered with ABS issues whilst on 19's. It's a well documented issue, get yourself onto Club Scuderia if you haven't already, wealth of knowledge on there

[Harry Flashman]

Frankly, if I were really willing to spend £65k on a 360, I'd go the whole hog and buy a 430 for 75k. Probably not as much price upside, but a much more modern car for not much more.

[Ali_T]

Can't imagine values of Lancia Fulvias, especially HFs, will remain so dormant much longer. The Integrale and Stratos have raced upwards but the pretty little Fulvia is surely due a renaissance in appreciation.

[TheJimi]

Harry Flashman said:

Frankly, if I were really willing to spend £65k on a 360, I'd go the whole hog and buy a 430 for 75k. Probably not as much price upside, but a much more modern car for not much more.

Realise this is neither here nor there in the scheme of the discussion, but...

If my numbers ever come up, one of the first things I'm gonna do car-wise, is get a 360 Challenge Stradale Spider built.

Ohgodyeah

[ScottJB]

Can't help but think Jensen Interceptors and R32 GTR's are undervalued

[Lotus E300S]

Been watching Sagaris prices for a while and they have been going up around £5,000 per year since 2009/10, I put my £50,000 into a Sagaris for a number of reasons

They look great
They sound great
They drive great
More rare than an Enzo
Crap interest rates
Very limited numbers around 200 Sags built (keeping demand high)
Best Tvr to come out of Blackpool, halo car that most other Tvr car owners aspire to own and upgrade to
Prices have risen steadily keeping prices strong (no silly big jumps in price followed by a fall)
I admit I bought it as an investment but I have totally fallen in love with it and will probably never sell it just like my Sport 300, just wish I had bought one in 2010.

My bet is prices will still rise around £5k per year but if they don't I'm still smiling

Edited by Lotus E300S on Monday 6th July 08:55

[anonymous-user]

NSX's you missed the boat.
550's the same.

Definitely E46 M3 CS and CSL. I would say the CS is going to be very sought after soon. Honda DC2, they are all slowly dying of rust and being ruined by chavs, a good one is cheap enough to mothball for a time. Original Boxster, don't laugh, they will start to firm up, silver, black interior and totally standard. V10 M5 and V8 M3 have 3-4 years to go, the M5 is looking like serious value though.

Basically look for RWD, manual and limited electronics. People are going to seek this sort of thing with the every increasing BS in modern cars.

[Aeroresh]

Unless youre going to just park it up theres also maintenance and upkeep to consider.

I think pretty much all of the high value specialist cars likely to appreciate will cost you just as much in upkeep as normal cars of the same value cost in depreciation.

[rehab71]

Sagaris!

[Lotus E300S]

rehab71 said:

Sagaris!

Limited build numbers always help.

[kambites]

Good unmolested NSXs still seem to be climbing. Perhaps not fast enough to consider them an investment though.

As a general rule, if anyone knows a car is going to appreciate enough to be worth considering as a financial investment, it already has.

Edited by kambites on Monday 6th July 08:56

[Bradley1500]

Jenson Interceptor. They've risen over the past few years and seem to be steadily climbing still - not huge amounts compared with some of the cars mentioned on this thread but rising nonetheless.

Mercedes SL R107. For the time I've owned mine I've seen prices rise slowly. What's more if you look at the earlier Pagoda models, the prices on them have gone crazy!

Guvernator said:

Modern classic - Honda NSX. They are rocketing in value right not and the trend seems set to continue. Very nice to drive too by all accounts and not that expensive to maintain. The post 2002 facelift models seem to be the most sought after.

I was going to suggest the NSX too.

What would put me off gambling my savings on a car is I'd get no enjoyment from it. Every time you drive it you'd be worried of adding mileage, dents, scratches, if something went wrong. It would take all the enjoyment out of owning a special car.

[Lotus E300S]

Bradley1500 said:

I was going to suggest the NSX too.

What would put me off gambling my savings on a car is I'd get no enjoyment from it. Every time you drive it you'd be worried of adding mileage, dents, scratches, if something went wrong. It would take all the enjoyment out of owning a special car.

Not if you are making £5,000 a year, more than enough to cover servicing etc , makes driving it more fun.

How many NSX were built?

Edited by Lotus E300S on Monday 6th July 15:25

[daytona365]

Surely with 50k to spend, buying two or three good BMW E30's is a no brainer ?

[Lotus E300S]

daytona365 said:

Surely with 50k to spend, buying two or three good BMW E30's is a no brainer ?

Then you could be looking at storage cost if your garage isn't big enough, £1500/2000 per car per year.