£40k For a Mid 90's Escort - The World Has Gone Mad!
Discussion
Have you seen the price of 80's & 90's Fords lately?
The mid 1990's Escort Cosworth has been a particularly big climber in the last few years.
This car was built in the same period as our TVRs & in much greater numbers, it is not a hand made open sports car with a V8 and a race car derived chassis, its a flippin Ford hatchback!!!! (all be a moderately quick one)
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...
And that's not one off...
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...
I think the whole old Ford value thing has gone mad, it seems to be driven more by the brand than the machine's engineering excellence. The thing that confuses me is in my day Ford wasn't a massively respected brand???
The phrase "Dagengham Dustbin" comes to mind
How is it a TVR Chimaera which is a 1060kg 300hp hand made traditional British V8 sports car built on a proper tubular space frame chassis with race car derived coil over unequal wishbone suspension be worth £10-£13k when an Escort Cosworth from the same period is worth £40k???
Honestly it's all gone nuts and has nothing to do with engineering excellence, the ignorance of the classic car buying public to what really makes a classic..... is baffling to me!!!
The world has gone mad!!!
The mid 1990's Escort Cosworth has been a particularly big climber in the last few years.
This car was built in the same period as our TVRs & in much greater numbers, it is not a hand made open sports car with a V8 and a race car derived chassis, its a flippin Ford hatchback!!!! (all be a moderately quick one)
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...
And that's not one off...
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...
I think the whole old Ford value thing has gone mad, it seems to be driven more by the brand than the machine's engineering excellence. The thing that confuses me is in my day Ford wasn't a massively respected brand???
The phrase "Dagengham Dustbin" comes to mind
How is it a TVR Chimaera which is a 1060kg 300hp hand made traditional British V8 sports car built on a proper tubular space frame chassis with race car derived coil over unequal wishbone suspension be worth £10-£13k when an Escort Cosworth from the same period is worth £40k???
Honestly it's all gone nuts and has nothing to do with engineering excellence, the ignorance of the classic car buying public to what really makes a classic..... is baffling to me!!!
The world has gone mad!!!
How about an old solid axle cart sprung Ford Capri then.... for £20k!!!!
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...
In my day old Capris like this were considered (quite rightly) total junk!
I have no issue with everyday classics making good money but they need to have some engineering excellence behind them, the original Mini is a good example of an everyday car that deserves classic status.
What I'm saying is price in the classic car world doesn't seem to have any correlation to engineering excellence, and there are other examples too.
Consider a mid 90's Porsche 944, 968 or 928 with its front engine transaxle layout which is clearly an infinitely better engineered design than a 911, so why have 911s from the same period gone nuts while the way better front engined cars still languish in the cheap seats?
The TVR Chimaera is light weight traditional British sports car with race derived chassis & suspension built in limited numbers, it & the Griffith are also 90's British cultural icons. If you were young boy growing up in the UK in the 90's and loved cars a TVR Chim & Griff were both guaranteed right up there on your wish list.
If you drove a Capri back then you were known as a "Kevin" (Chav in today's speak) and laughed out of any real car lover circles, if you drove the Escort Cosworth you were an "Essex Boy" (still a Chav in today's speak).
Perhaps Kevins & Essex Boy have just done so well for themselves in the last 20 years they now have big disposable incomes to throw at their peculiar taste in cars?
All I'm saying is engineering excellence doesn't seem to drive values, fashion & brand seem more important to classic car buyers these days which in my opinion demonstrates their massive ignorance.
A Ford Escort Cosworth was £23k in 1996 while a TVR Chimaera was £31k, so the TVR was almost 40% more expensive.
In 2014 Ford Escort Cosworth is £40k and a TVR Chimaera is £10k, the TVR is now a third of its new value while the Ford is almost twice it's 1996 screen price.
Surely that alone can't be right, can it?
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...
In my day old Capris like this were considered (quite rightly) total junk!
I have no issue with everyday classics making good money but they need to have some engineering excellence behind them, the original Mini is a good example of an everyday car that deserves classic status.
What I'm saying is price in the classic car world doesn't seem to have any correlation to engineering excellence, and there are other examples too.
Consider a mid 90's Porsche 944, 968 or 928 with its front engine transaxle layout which is clearly an infinitely better engineered design than a 911, so why have 911s from the same period gone nuts while the way better front engined cars still languish in the cheap seats?
The TVR Chimaera is light weight traditional British sports car with race derived chassis & suspension built in limited numbers, it & the Griffith are also 90's British cultural icons. If you were young boy growing up in the UK in the 90's and loved cars a TVR Chim & Griff were both guaranteed right up there on your wish list.
If you drove a Capri back then you were known as a "Kevin" (Chav in today's speak) and laughed out of any real car lover circles, if you drove the Escort Cosworth you were an "Essex Boy" (still a Chav in today's speak).
Perhaps Kevins & Essex Boy have just done so well for themselves in the last 20 years they now have big disposable incomes to throw at their peculiar taste in cars?
All I'm saying is engineering excellence doesn't seem to drive values, fashion & brand seem more important to classic car buyers these days which in my opinion demonstrates their massive ignorance.
A Ford Escort Cosworth was £23k in 1996 while a TVR Chimaera was £31k, so the TVR was almost 40% more expensive.
In 2014 Ford Escort Cosworth is £40k and a TVR Chimaera is £10k, the TVR is now a third of its new value while the Ford is almost twice it's 1996 screen price.
Surely that alone can't be right, can it?
Edited by ChimpOnGas on Monday 27th October 12:35
, corrected.
rigga said:
Who cares, I doubt a tvr owner purchased the car with future residuals in mind, rather to enjoy the ride.
And neither did the guy that bought an Escort Cosworth, so your point is?rigga said:
BTW car's from the mid 90's are hardly of the classic era.
Strongly disagree 
There are plenty of 90's cars already already well recognised as classics, and lots of classic car dealers trading in them.
I guess I just don't get the whole Ford thing, I used to work on them and they were to the most part not particularly well engineered or well built, they certainly weren't charismatic that's for sure!
Who cares about competition pedigree when the road cars were so removed from the campaigned specials anyway, they very seldom contained any engineering DNA from the competition cars.
My real question is not "why is an Escort Cosworth worth £40k now?", but "why do TVR Chimaeras remain so cheap?"
Surely were over the stupid reliability stigma by now?
SILICONEKID345HP said:
People say fibreglass cars are not worth much like the scimitar.
What does amaze me how much a Porsche Speedster replica in fibreglass with a butchered Beetle chassis and air cooled engine can be seen over 25k .
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Porsche-356-Speedste...
That's an even better example of what I'm taking about, start with a Beetle then make a kit car out of it - that's a truly horrible idea. I wouldnt give £6k for it let alone £30k!!!What does amaze me how much a Porsche Speedster replica in fibreglass with a butchered Beetle chassis and air cooled engine can be seen over 25k .
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Porsche-356-Speedste...
The price of Cobra replicas is another one that gets me, go to any kit car show and you'll soon see most Cobra replicas are total junk, and even a well built one is a far less complete car than a Chimaera.
So why is a Cobra replica worth £15 - £30k+, yet even the best Chimaera struggles to break the £15k barrier ???
I guarantee you the TVR will be the better car in every respect.
Its all wrong guys
This...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AC-Cobra-3-5-V8-DAX-Repl...
Or this for £10k less....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1993-TVR-CHIMAERA-430-RA...
Even if you reversed the prices there's still no contest!
Its all wrong
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AC-Cobra-3-5-V8-DAX-Repl...
Or this for £10k less....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1993-TVR-CHIMAERA-430-RA...
Even if you reversed the prices there's still no contest!
Its all wrong
Sardonicus said:
ho would want a Cobra with a bloody 3.5 Rover and a 4BBL bucket Holley throwing poorly metered fuel down its restricted neck ? 
SB or BB Ford/Chevy preferably you know it makes sense 
seeing as the whole car revolves around that cast iron lump of iron anyways, probably the worse use of a RV8 ever 
On the other hand Simon..... SB or BB Ford/Chevy preferably you know it makes sense seeing as the whole car revolves around that cast iron lump of iron anyways, probably the worse use of a RV8 ever http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1965-AC-COBRA-SHELBY-BY-...
The problem with replicas is 98% of them are total rubbish.
A good one on the other hand is a thing wonder that can save you big money over the original.
http://www.proteuscars.eu/
The problem is something decent is still going to cost you £80 - £100k.
If you're into this type of proper old school driver's car but don't have £80 - £100k, a Chimaera makes real sense, and at least with a TVR you're buying the original
What doesn't make sense to me is £40k Ford Escorts
It appears I was wrong!
Had to fight through this lot at lunch time in Smiths, just to get to the November edition of Octane Magazine.
Three dedicated monthly Ford magazines,one full special edition Escort portfolio publication and an Escort on the front of Practical Performance car!!!
If you want to knock one out to photos of old Escorts you're spoilt for choice.
None of it though even comes close to raising a semi for me
Had to fight through this lot at lunch time in Smiths, just to get to the November edition of Octane Magazine.
Three dedicated monthly Ford magazines,one full special edition Escort portfolio publication and an Escort on the front of Practical Performance car!!!
If you want to knock one out to photos of old Escorts you're spoilt for choice.
None of it though even comes close to raising a semi for me
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