Back to the Future, 1976
Discussion
Public bar, The Dog & Duck, somewhere in South London, summer of 1976.
“ How’s it going Barry, what will it be - pint of Red Barrel ?”
“Yeh, but the beers on me, my old grandma just pegged it and left me £3K “
“Bloody hell you could buy half a house with that - are you sticking it in National Savings or Premium Bonds. Don’t tell me you’ll be putting it on the horses. ?”
“Na, I’ve been looking around. There’s a market for old motors these days, seen some old Ferraris going for over £5K - crazy stuff. So I’ve narrowed it down to 2 ideas - buy something quick and new or invest in a vintage Roller. Either way, lock it up and leave it a few years to appreciate.
“Sounds dodgy to me - but what cars ?”
Dagenham Motors have got a new RS1800 Custom. Looks a bit ordinary and after all it’s Ford - but it goes like s**t off a shovel and it’s rare - what they call an homologous special or something ?”
“Crazy mate, for that money you could have a TR7 - now that’s a real looker. Or save £800 and get an RS Mexico - then you’d have enough change to buy Sandra a Moskvich. Whats the Roller all about?”
“Saw it in the Standard - one of those fancy dealers up in the West End. It’s a 20/25 with coachwork by Barker - incredibly old - over 40 years now. It’s in great nick and just had an engine rebuild”
“That sounds like a great idea - the Escort will be down the scrappie by the mid 80’s. Even if it survived that Roller will be worth 10 times more than the RS in years to come “
“You’re bang on mate, the Roller it is. Bag of pork scratchings?”
“ How’s it going Barry, what will it be - pint of Red Barrel ?”
“Yeh, but the beers on me, my old grandma just pegged it and left me £3K “
“Bloody hell you could buy half a house with that - are you sticking it in National Savings or Premium Bonds. Don’t tell me you’ll be putting it on the horses. ?”
“Na, I’ve been looking around. There’s a market for old motors these days, seen some old Ferraris going for over £5K - crazy stuff. So I’ve narrowed it down to 2 ideas - buy something quick and new or invest in a vintage Roller. Either way, lock it up and leave it a few years to appreciate.
“Sounds dodgy to me - but what cars ?”
Dagenham Motors have got a new RS1800 Custom. Looks a bit ordinary and after all it’s Ford - but it goes like s**t off a shovel and it’s rare - what they call an homologous special or something ?”
“Crazy mate, for that money you could have a TR7 - now that’s a real looker. Or save £800 and get an RS Mexico - then you’d have enough change to buy Sandra a Moskvich. Whats the Roller all about?”
“Saw it in the Standard - one of those fancy dealers up in the West End. It’s a 20/25 with coachwork by Barker - incredibly old - over 40 years now. It’s in great nick and just had an engine rebuild”
“That sounds like a great idea - the Escort will be down the scrappie by the mid 80’s. Even if it survived that Roller will be worth 10 times more than the RS in years to come “
“You’re bang on mate, the Roller it is. Bag of pork scratchings?”
£3k in July 1976, using the Hargreaves Lansdown inflation calculator would be worth £31,300 now. The Rolls would have been worse than putting it in a bank; on top of running costs, insurance etc. 
There was a magazine called 'Old Motor' round about 79 or 80. This was at a time when an old car in good condition was distinct from a 'classic', and it concentrated on cars which were then in the grey area between 'collectors item' and 'I can't afford am interesting new car but I can take a chance on a 20 year old one'.
Old MGBs particularly the GTV8. Jaguar S type and Mk2. Triumph TR4/5/6. That kind of thing.
What struck me at the time was that certain cars, particularly big engined saloons such as Jaguar/Daimler V12s and V8 Bristols seemed very cheap. I thought maybe if you afford to stash one away the value was bound to go up. Yet looking again 20 odd years later they were still cheap. The in between cars such as E types had shot up in value. The cars that seemed over expensive in 1980 because of the collectors market, such as Ferrari Dinos and Aston Martin DB4/5/6s, had gone up massively.
The trick would have been to buy collectible cars and ignore motoring value for money considerations. Like the wartime sardines that weren't for eating but for buying and selling.
Incidentally I think it was that magazine that had a letter from someone saying the 'classic car' concept was getting out of hand and 'at this rate we'll have people claiming Mk1 Cortinas are classics'.
Old MGBs particularly the GTV8. Jaguar S type and Mk2. Triumph TR4/5/6. That kind of thing.
What struck me at the time was that certain cars, particularly big engined saloons such as Jaguar/Daimler V12s and V8 Bristols seemed very cheap. I thought maybe if you afford to stash one away the value was bound to go up. Yet looking again 20 odd years later they were still cheap. The in between cars such as E types had shot up in value. The cars that seemed over expensive in 1980 because of the collectors market, such as Ferrari Dinos and Aston Martin DB4/5/6s, had gone up massively.
The trick would have been to buy collectible cars and ignore motoring value for money considerations. Like the wartime sardines that weren't for eating but for buying and selling.
Incidentally I think it was that magazine that had a letter from someone saying the 'classic car' concept was getting out of hand and 'at this rate we'll have people claiming Mk1 Cortinas are classics'.
In the early 1960s, the AA used to have a Member's magazine every month. In the back was always an interview of someone interesting. The one I may still have in the loft was an interview of Stirling Moss.
When asked to pick his tip for a car for investment purposes, he said "A Jaguar, probably an XK120 or even rarer XK150. A good one is currently about £240 and I can quite easily see that they will increase in value over the years to at least £1000 if the condition is kept tidy."
When asked to pick his tip for a car for investment purposes, he said "A Jaguar, probably an XK120 or even rarer XK150. A good one is currently about £240 and I can quite easily see that they will increase in value over the years to at least £1000 if the condition is kept tidy."
littleredrooster said:
In the early 1960s, the AA used to have a Member's magazine every month. In the back was always an interview of someone interesting. The one I may still have in the loft was an interview of Stirling Moss.
When asked to pick his tip for a car for investment purposes, he said "A Jaguar, probably an XK120 or even rarer XK150. A good one is currently about £240 and I can quite easily see that they will increase in value over the years to at least £1000 if the condition is kept tidy."
I think that brilliantly illustrates how differently we perceive large purchases now.When asked to pick his tip for a car for investment purposes, he said "A Jaguar, probably an XK120 or even rarer XK150. A good one is currently about £240 and I can quite easily see that they will increase in value over the years to at least £1000 if the condition is kept tidy."
Back then, people would save up to buy a car (very few bought on HP). They would accept that it would depreciate and be surprised if it ever made money - as told by Moss, above.
Today we buy on some sort of finance / lease and worry like mad about what it will be worth in a few years' time, to the extent that we all buy 'resale' colours and specs in the belief we'll be safe. Of course final value is a factor in leasing and finance.
Mrs Banana is the opposite: once we've bought a car she assumes it's immediately worth nothing so I occasionally surprise her when we sell.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Because just about nobody truly understand's how to use an apostrophe. What are they teaching kid's in schools these day's? Furthermore, autocorrect on phone's and laptop's doesn't even seem to get it.For clarity, nothing in the above paragraph required an apostrophe. However, criticising their use on Pistonheads normally incurs the wrath of many.
Turbobanana said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Because just about nobody truly understand's how to use an apostrophe. What are they teaching kid's in schools these day's? Furthermore, autocorrect on phone's and laptop's doesn't even seem to get it.For clarity, nothing in the above paragraph required an apostrophe. However, criticising their use on Pistonheads normally incurs the wrath of many.
DodgyGeezer said:
maybe the apostrophe is there to stop people from thinking it's been miscategorised as a RS2000S (of which there, obviously, wasn't one)?
Creative thinking, I like it! You've sent all the Ford beards scurrying away to their product catalogues now.Other fun plurals could be the FIAT Abarth Esseesse, VW Eos or Datsun 180 B SSS.
Turbobanana said:
DodgyGeezer said:
maybe the apostrophe is there to stop people from thinking it's been miscategorised as a RS2000S (of which there, obviously, wasn't one)?
Creative thinking, I like it! You've sent all the Ford beards scurrying away to their product catalogues now.Other fun plurals could be the FIAT Abarth Esseesse, VW Eos or Datsun 180 B SSS.
Turbobanana said:
DodgyGeezer said:
Maybe the apostrophe is there to stop people from thinking it's been miscategorised as a RS2000S (of which there, obviously, wasn't one)?
Creative thinking, I like it! You've sent all the Ford beards scurrying away to their product catalogues now.Other fun plurals could be the FIAT Abarth Esseesse, VW Eos or Datsun 180 B SSS.
In the case of the others, interesting...
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Turbobanana said:
DodgyGeezer said:
maybe the apostrophe is there to stop people from thinking it's been miscategorised as a RS2000S (of which there, obviously, wasn't one)?
Creative thinking, I like it! You've sent all the Ford beards scurrying away to their product catalogues now.Other fun plurals could be the FIAT Abarth Esseesse, VW Eos or Datsun 180 B SSS.
clive_candy said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Turbobanana said:
DodgyGeezer said:
maybe the apostrophe is there to stop people from thinking it's been miscategorised as a RS2000S (of which there, obviously, wasn't one)?
Creative thinking, I like it! You've sent all the Ford beards scurrying away to their product catalogues now.Other fun plurals could be the FIAT Abarth Esseesse, VW Eos or Datsun 180 B SSS.
That just looks wrong to me.
As wrong as it might be, I would always use Jaguar XJS' for the plural version
It's same deal with other car names that end in an S, such as the Ferrari 308 GTS. The correct plural version should be 308 GTSs apparently, but 308 GTS' looks more correct to me.
With the Escort RS 1800, I suspect most people understood that they were simply saying it was one of the many cars of that model built by Ford.
Back when I was a kid, dad took me to the scrapyard and bought a stripped Mk1 Escort 2 door shell, and built his own Twin cam.
Cheap salvage was everywhere, chains and London tress helped straighten them out, I remember a succession of Peugeot saloons, the rounder ones that I guess were very cheap because nobody wanted them.
Cheap salvage was everywhere, chains and London tress helped straighten them out, I remember a succession of Peugeot saloons, the rounder ones that I guess were very cheap because nobody wanted them.
Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff