Classics when they were cheap
Discussion
Was browsing through lots of old copies of Practical Classic magazines I have stored. In a Sept 1997 issue for example, I was amazed how cheap many sought-after classics were even the late 90s. Times have certainly changed. One thing I noticed with these old ads was that sellers were more willing to include 'or near offer', you certainly don't see that these days for some reason.
Bargains include (compared to today):
"Jaguar E-Type FHC 4.2 Series 1, part restored, believed to be earliest in country, all numbers matching. £8750":-).
An early example like that today would fetch anything from 60-90 grand.
[url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/ObIPmGvl[/url]
Bargains include (compared to today):
"Jaguar E-Type FHC 4.2 Series 1, part restored, believed to be earliest in country, all numbers matching. £8750":-).
An early example like that today would fetch anything from 60-90 grand.
[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/ObIPmGvl[/url]Edited by Jukebag on Saturday 15th February 11:16
That's not cheap Jukebag!!!
When No.1 son was born in 1972 I sold my '62 3.8 E Type because we couldn't get him and the pram in the car.
I sold it to one of my customers for £750!!!
I took his '64 3.8 Mk2 in a trade in and allowed him £250. It was immaculate.
I detailed it and it won best engine bay of the day at Doune Jaguar day the following summer.
I then sold it to another customer for £400.
I used to go to the Glasgow car market and buy 1 or 2 Mk1s or Mk2s, sometimes a Mk10 on a Wednesday for anything between 50 and 250 pounds.
We would then put it through the workshop, sometimes doing allnighters, and have them ready for Friday night's copy of the Citizen newspaper, the best medium then for selling cars in Scotland. They would always sell, no exceptions, and usually for around twice what I paid for them.
It was then up to my favorite Indian restaurant in Glasgow for a curry.
As a Jaguar specialist then I would buy head gaskets from our local Jag dealer in boxes of ten. This cost £5.00; that's ten bob each; fifty pence to you young 'uns! There was no VAT on this because it hadn't been invented yet.
If someone tries to tell you that people of my age view the past with rose coloured glasses, just show them this post.
J
When No.1 son was born in 1972 I sold my '62 3.8 E Type because we couldn't get him and the pram in the car.
I sold it to one of my customers for £750!!!
I took his '64 3.8 Mk2 in a trade in and allowed him £250. It was immaculate.
I detailed it and it won best engine bay of the day at Doune Jaguar day the following summer.
I then sold it to another customer for £400.
I used to go to the Glasgow car market and buy 1 or 2 Mk1s or Mk2s, sometimes a Mk10 on a Wednesday for anything between 50 and 250 pounds.
We would then put it through the workshop, sometimes doing allnighters, and have them ready for Friday night's copy of the Citizen newspaper, the best medium then for selling cars in Scotland. They would always sell, no exceptions, and usually for around twice what I paid for them.
It was then up to my favorite Indian restaurant in Glasgow for a curry.
As a Jaguar specialist then I would buy head gaskets from our local Jag dealer in boxes of ten. This cost £5.00; that's ten bob each; fifty pence to you young 'uns! There was no VAT on this because it hadn't been invented yet.
If someone tries to tell you that people of my age view the past with rose coloured glasses, just show them this post.
J
Point taken Jith, but I was referring to the late 90s not the 70s. Looking at the prices in the pics you'd think they were from 70s. As usual though classics like the E-Type and Austin Healey have sky-rocketed through the roof now, which is no surprise, but looking at the ads from the late 90s for the likes of your common as muck MGB, Ford Anglia, MK 2/S-Type, Morris Minors, Spitfires, and a few others, they've remained much the same as today. At least these cars would've been regularly used by their owners 0 having the odd wear and tear on them, but at least they were driven and used as a 'garage queen' posing in some rich man's heated double garage.
Edited by Jukebag on Saturday 15th February 17:48
jith said:
That's not cheap Jukebag!!!
When No.1 son was born in 1972 I sold my '62 3.8 E Type because we couldn't get him and the pram in the car.
I sold it to one of my customers for £750!!!
I took his '64 3.8 Mk2 in a trade in and allowed him £250. It was immaculate.
I detailed it and it won best engine bay of the day at Doune Jaguar day the following summer.
I then sold it to another customer for £400.
I used to go to the Glasgow car market and buy 1 or 2 Mk1s or Mk2s, sometimes a Mk10 on a Wednesday for anything between 50 and 250 pounds.
We would then put it through the workshop, sometimes doing allnighters, and have them ready for Friday night's copy of the Citizen newspaper, the best medium then for selling cars in Scotland. They would always sell, no exceptions, and usually for around twice what I paid for them.
It was then up to my favorite Indian restaurant in Glasgow for a curry.
J
London Road market perhaps .......? and then the curry house under the Central Station bridge ......When No.1 son was born in 1972 I sold my '62 3.8 E Type because we couldn't get him and the pram in the car.
I sold it to one of my customers for £750!!!
I took his '64 3.8 Mk2 in a trade in and allowed him £250. It was immaculate.
I detailed it and it won best engine bay of the day at Doune Jaguar day the following summer.
I then sold it to another customer for £400.
I used to go to the Glasgow car market and buy 1 or 2 Mk1s or Mk2s, sometimes a Mk10 on a Wednesday for anything between 50 and 250 pounds.
We would then put it through the workshop, sometimes doing allnighters, and have them ready for Friday night's copy of the Citizen newspaper, the best medium then for selling cars in Scotland. They would always sell, no exceptions, and usually for around twice what I paid for them.
It was then up to my favorite Indian restaurant in Glasgow for a curry.
J
I remember Bobby Dunn ,who had a well known breakers yard at Mossend near Bellshill , had an immaculate pale metallic blue series one convertable in a shed in his yard and when he was repeatedly asked " how much for the Jag Bobby ? " he suck in through the gaps in his teeth and reply " fifteen hunner .. "
Considering we were all running about in ex Royal Mail / GPO Morris Minor vans that we all bought from the London Road car market for £25 that was a wee bit out of our price range .......
Ah ... The Evening Citizen ......you're 100% right about it being the best place to buy cars from.
Happy Daze indeed.
You need to bear in mind that the classic car market was in a bit of a slump in the mid - late '90s – too many people had had their fingers burnt in the late '80s/ early '90s classic boom. In 1989 I sold my TR6 - which was a crock of s
t - for £5000. A really good one was fetching something in the low £20k mark at that time. And those prices are similar to now for that model, but we've had inflation in the mean time.
t - for £5000. A really good one was fetching something in the low £20k mark at that time. And those prices are similar to now for that model, but we've had inflation in the mean time.There was a time when you could barely give a Ferrari 250 GTO away!
It was just an old knackered race car that was out of date and nobody really wanted them any more.
I've lost count of the number of people who have said that they had the chance to buy one for a couple of grand but decided not to because they figured it was just an old car that was going to cost a fortune to put right/run and they'd never make their money back on it!
Some of them are still kicking themselves daily!
It was just an old knackered race car that was out of date and nobody really wanted them any more.
I've lost count of the number of people who have said that they had the chance to buy one for a couple of grand but decided not to because they figured it was just an old car that was going to cost a fortune to put right/run and they'd never make their money back on it!
Some of them are still kicking themselves daily!
Jukebag said:
Was browsing through lots of old copies of Practical Classic magazines I have stored. In a Sept 1997 issue for example, I was amazed how cheap many sought-after classics were even the late 90s. Times have certainly changed. One thing I noticed with these old ads was that sellers were more willing to include 'or near offer', you certainly don't see that these days for some reason.
Bargains include (compared to today):
"Jaguar E-Type FHC 4.2 Series 1, part restored, believed to be earliest in country, all numbers matching. £8750":-).
An early example like that today would fetch anything from 60-90 grand.
[url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/ObIPmGvl[/url]
I can't quite see but it looks lke the red Healey is £27,250 and the red E-Type is £26,000 meanwhile back in the mid 90's my house cost £160k, my neighbour's just put his on the market at £685k. It's all relative. Bargains include (compared to today):
"Jaguar E-Type FHC 4.2 Series 1, part restored, believed to be earliest in country, all numbers matching. £8750":-).
An early example like that today would fetch anything from 60-90 grand.
[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/ObIPmGvl[/url]Edited by Jukebag on Saturday 15th February 11:16
My dad bought a 1928 AJS K8 motorbike in the late sixties for a fiver when nobody wanted 20s stuff. It had an Amal GP carb on it that he sold a couple of years later for £50, after he'd raced the bike for a couple of years in vintage racing.
He's still got it, guess it's worth ~£10,000 now, and it paid him £45 to buy it originally
I also remember seeing a page from a magazine that had Wood & Pickett(?) Minis for sale new, and an advert for an old racing car which was less money. The old racing car was a 250GTO...! Guess the Mini would be worth 10 grand now?!
He's still got it, guess it's worth ~£10,000 now, and it paid him £45 to buy it originally
I also remember seeing a page from a magazine that had Wood & Pickett(?) Minis for sale new, and an advert for an old racing car which was less money. The old racing car was a 250GTO...! Guess the Mini would be worth 10 grand now?!
jith said:
I used to go to the Glasgow car market and buy 1 or 2 Mk1s or Mk2s, sometimes a Mk10 on a Wednesday for anything between 50 and 250 pounds.
J
Mid to late 60's my Dad was a regular there.J
Ex GPO Morris Minor vans with rubber mudguards at 50 bob each. That's £2.50 !
Vauxhall 14 for 10 bob with the springs rotted through the bum
PA Cresta's for £5
Bradford Van for 10 bob with a knackered engine. Dad fixed it and mum used it for months.
My first Humber Sceptre came from there at £10 with 6 months mot still on it.
Many more like it passed through our hands. We had a small repair shop in Annathill and sold maybe 20 or 30 cars per year to the miners for Glasgow Fair. Then bought them back for much less when the holiday was over and the 3 months tax was expired [remember when you could tax for 3 months ?]
Happy childhood learning to drive up a farm track at 8 in mums Austin A40 Devon KOL 171 in dove grey.
A
Yertis said:
You need to bear in mind that the classic car market was in a bit of a slump in the mid - late '90s – too many people had had their fingers burnt in the late '80s/ early '90s classic boom. In 1989 I sold my TR6 - which was a crock of st - for £5000. A really good one was fetching something in the low £20k mark at that time. And those prices are similar to now for that model, but we've had inflation in the mean time.
I'll happily predict at least a 50% correction in the case of a lot of the old tat currently for sale/selling. True exotica will always command very high prices but crap like Stags for £20K? And don't start me on old Fords. Happened before and will happen again. Has anyone got and late 80's early 90's boom prices?t - for £5000. A really good one was fetching something in the low £20k mark at that time. And those prices are similar to now for that model, but we've had inflation in the mean time.Edited by 9mm on Sunday 16th February 17:04
9mm said:
Yertis said:
You need to bear in mind that the classic car market was in a bit of a slump in the mid - late '90s – too many people had had their fingers burnt in the late '80s/ early '90s classic boom. In 1989 I sold my TR6 - which was a crock of st - for £5000. A really good one was fetching something in the low £20k mark at that time. And those prices are similar to now for that model, but we've had inflation in the mean time.
I'll happily predict at least a 50% correction in the case of a lot of the old tat currently for sale/selling. True exotica will always command very high prices but crap like Stags for £20K? And don't start me on old Fords. Happened before and will happen again. Has anyone got and late 80's early 90's boom prices?t - for £5000. A really good one was fetching something in the low £20k mark at that time. And those prices are similar to now for that model, but we've had inflation in the mean time.Edited by 9mm on Sunday 16th February 17:04
As for the 90s boom. I have been around one if those secret vehicle storage areas. There were cars from that era put away with zero miles, waiting and hoping for their values to rise beyond what they paid for it. Exotica yes, but also Bentley turbo R, s class, ASton Virage, bmw 6 series, granada scorpio. Cars which are unlikely to realise their investment potential
Bought a 2 owner 1960/61 Mark 9 Jag, 50K miles needing tyres and an exhaust system in 1968 for £35-00 (thirty five) got some s/h tyres and made-up an exhaust system from straight pipe, brazed on flexitube 'bends' with Mini Cooper glass packs - used for a year or so and sold on for £75-00 - pleased to get that back then - no one wanted large gas guzzlers back then.
roscobbc said:
I DID buy a 2 owner 1971 Mach 1 Mustang with 429 SCJ 'drag pak' - one of 500 produced. Complained bitterly about paying as much as £1900 in 1981 (ish) - sold 8 years later for £7500 - now fetch $40K+ in 'States (although totally unrecognised here in UK)
Not as well known as the Shelby's etc - but not totally unrecognised - there are a couple of the owners club site ...Back in the late 70s/early 80s Midgets could be bought for next to nothing - literally - they were just old rusty cars - not classics. A guy opposite us bought one for £20. D reg. In a hideous green and yellow. But he also bought Isetta at £10 a pop I kid you not - I think he had two.
But again, these were not cars that were wanted, everyone wanted to be driving Marinas and aspiring to a 3-series etc. I wouldn't have a (modern) 3-series now if you paid me!
RichB said:
can't quite see but it looks lke the red Healey is £27,250 and the red E-Type is £26,000 meanwhile back in the mid 90's my house cost £160k, my neighbour's just put his on the market at £685k. It's all relative.
Jeez, where's your neighbour living:-). Where I come from house prices are a fraction of that, unless you live on an exclusive estate and even they are nothing like £685k, but that depends on where one lives, ie down south, whereas I live in the north. When my family moved house in early 90s it was bought for around £42k (a modest size semi with a side plot and garage space), even today with inflation you'd be lucky to get £110,000 for it; the house before that (a terrace) was around £10k in the early 80s. For £685k you could get an Aston Martin DB5. Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff