JD Classics, what have they been up to?

[AMG Merc]

tight fart said:

Because often they make more in the heat of an auction house.

I'm thinking not lately. I was at Coys Syon Park auction recently - not great results and a lot of motors stayed there. The top one's were all underbid.

[thegreenhell]

It simply looked like a fire sale - trying to liquidate as much stock as quickly as possible.

[Doofus]

AMG Merc said:

tight fart said:

Because often they make more in the heat of an auction house.

I'm thinking not lately. I was at Coys Syon Park auction recently - not great results and a lot of motors stayed there. The top one's were all underbid.

I think he meamt that auctions can make more, and often they do. The auction market is in a bit of turmoil at the moment, but you can't use one auction alone as an indication of how auctions always do and always have behaved.

[lowdrag]

The new owners have specifically stated that they will not be involved in car dealing but restoration and race preparation. So I guess that they bought the company at 10 cents in the dollar and they are getting rid of the stock. That is having a big knock-on effect it seems and prices are distinctly off their highs of a year or so ago. I believe (just my opinion) that confidence in the market has disappeared and people are wondering if there might be another big name in trouble.

[grumpy52]

I am of the school that top end dealer prices and prestige auction prices are not connected to real prices that club members and enthusiasts will pay .
JD was always treated very warily by the long standing trade because of its shady past and the quality of its early work .

[POORCARDEALER]

lowdrag said:

The new owners have specifically stated that they will not be involved in car dealing but restoration and race preparation. So I guess that they bought the company at 10 cents in the dollar and they are getting rid of the stock. That is having a big knock-on effect it seems and prices are distinctly off their highs of a year or so ago. I believe (just my opinion) that confidence in the market has disappeared and people are wondering if there might be another big name in trouble.

Last 6 months have been very tough.....you have sellers who wont (some cant) sell for the new lower prices and buyers who see a falling market and have their hands firmly in their pockets, waiting to see how it pans out, equals a stagnent market.

Auction houses are quiet rightly mostly accepting entries with lower sensible reserves, indeed one of the bigger auction houses that also has retail premises are no longer buying cars for cash for their retail business, SOR only, that tells you plenty

[lowdrag]

It's tough here too for us manufacturers. A year ago my cans of spray-on dust were flying off the shelves for the "barn finds". Now they just gather dust themselves.

Edited by lowdrag on Saturday 27th October 17:33

[bjr2018]

lowdrag said:

The new owners have specifically stated that they will not be involved in car dealing but restoration and race preparation. So I guess that they bought the company at 10 cents in the dollar and they are getting rid of the stock. That is having a big knock-on effect it seems and prices are distinctly off their highs of a year or so ago. I believe (just my opinion) that confidence in the market has disappeared and people are wondering if there might be another big name in trouble.

But they were doing this BEFORE they went under. That's what's strange. They were doing it when they definitely were dealers. I think it's also strange that the CEO, who let's face it left Lotus under a cloud (I've heard from numerous sources in Lotus that he was fired for sending out 250 cars to dealers that they hadn't ordered to inflate profits) gets the gig at JD, starts, as you say, fire selling their stock, the company goes under and he keeps his job. There's definitely a lot more to this whole story I would say which I hope somebody uncovers. It's sad to see such a company being tossed around like a play thing by faceless corporations. I know that's essentially the way the world works but I guess the romantic in me, because of my love of classic cars, would have hoped it wasn't the case. You can bet with all that's happened Hood must seriously regret ever taking the deal in the first place

[Doofus]

bjr2018 said:

But they were doing this BEFORE they went under. That's what's strange. They were doing it when they definitely were dealers. I think it's also strange that the CEO, who let's face it left Lotus under a cloud (I've heard from numerous sources in Lotus that he was fired for sending out 250 cars to dealers that they hadn't ordered to inflate profits) gets the gig at JD, starts, as you say, fire selling their stock, the company goes under and he keeps his job. There's definitely a lot more to this whole story I would say which I hope somebody uncovers. It's sad to see such a company being tossed around like a play thing by faceless corporations. I know that's essentially the way the world works but I guess the romantic in me, because of my love of classic cars, would have hoped it wasn't the case. You can bet with all that's happened Hood must seriously regret ever taking the deal in the first place

It's pretty obvious that Mr Gales knew what he was getting into. He's not an idiot. He had funding lined up before he too, the job. I'm not at all convinced the conspiracy is any deeper than that.

[neutral 3]

Not followed this for ages, but i have met Derek a couple of times, the last time about 13 years ago, when ex wife and i called in with my old ( much missed ) 3.2 Careera one saturday morning. I can still see him peering out and grinning at the sight of a Porsche a couple of feet from a showroom full of XKs, MK11s, E -Types, etc etc ! Despite being a busy guy and on his own that morning, he made time for us, we had a lovely chat and he let me have a good look over a stunning silver 3.8 FHC ( as a reference for a 62 3.8 Coupe that i was then restoring )

[T6 vanman]

lowdrag said:

It's tough here too for us manufacturers. A year ago my cans of spray-on dust were flying off the shelves for the "barn finds". Now they just gather dust themselves.

Hopefully you can survive long enough for the new filming of CAR SOS

[DonkeyApple]

lowdrag said:

It's tough here too for us manufacturers. A year ago my cans of spray-on dust were flying off the shelves for the "barn finds". Now they just gather dust themselves.

Edited by lowdrag on Saturday 27th October 17:33

Everything has slowed down everywhere. The number of transactions in all markets has fallen. Speculation money and Del Monte loans has fallen off a cliff.

[AW111]

lowdrag said:

It's tough here too for us manufacturers. A year ago my cans of spray-on dust were flying off the shelves for the "barn finds". Now they just gather dust themselves.

Edited by lowdrag on Saturday 27th October 17:33

So you're farming dust. Let it settle, and you'll have more when the boom times return.

[av185]

DonkeyApple said:

Everything has slowed down everywhere.

Not all sectors.

Some areas of our northern property markets are very buoyant in contrast to the south.

Newish high end cars are selling well.

Up to 3 year old used mainstream cars in particular show stronger residuals than 12 months ago.... even diesels, despite all the naysayers.

[Doofus]

DonkeyApple said:

Speculation money and Del Monte loans has fallen off a cliff.

I've tried fairly hard, but I have no idea what this means.

[AMG Merc]

Doofus said:

DonkeyApple said:

Speculation money and Del Monte loans has fallen off a cliff.

I've tried fairly hard, but I have no idea what this means.

+1

[suffolk009]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I thought the marketing for this years Goodwood Revival was horrible; "The most expensive grid in history". I'm no socialist but I thought it was in very poor taste. But more importantly it's all about the stupid value of the cars. That's why the grid is packed with Ferraris, Astons, and E-types. A few years ago they had some Ginetta G4s on the grid. They did rather well (they would though), and they've now been dropped from the grid. It doesn't suit his lordship's perception of the grandiose life and entitled money to have little £40k cars made of fibreglass and stickytape beating the multi-million pound GTOs.

[nicanary]

Del Monte Man he say "yes". Finance houses all too keen to lend when times are easy.

[DonkeyApple]

Doofus said:

DonkeyApple said:

Speculation money and Del Monte loans has fallen off a cliff.

I've tried fairly hard, but I have no idea what this means.

The number of people buying stuff on the punt that they will make an easy turn has fallen dramatically. There are far few speculators about at the moment.

Del Monte loans are loans from lenders who like to say yes. It’s got harder and harder through 2018 to procure loans as lenders are being more cautious.

[DonkeyApple]

av185 said:

Not all sectors.

Some areas of our northern property markets are very buoyant in contrast to the south.

Newish high end cars are selling well.

Up to 3 year old used mainstream cars in particular show stronger residuals than 12 months ago.... even diesels, despite all the naysayers.

There will always be segments of the market that are contra to the overall trend. Huge areas of the Northern housing market were contra to the huge price boom for nearly a decade after the credit crunch for example. Arguably what we are seeing now is those markets being deemed to still be fair value so attracting buyers. The markets and areas within those markets which have shot up due to casual lending and speculative action have all been slowing through the year as the guaranteed, easy profits aren’t so evident so fewer people interested in having a punt and lenders are being more restrictive. Generally speaking transactions are down and down the most at the top end. Which is exactly what you expect to see during a period of possible macro economic transition.