When did everything get so expensive?!

[BigGingerBob]

As per the title really, when did all these classics get so expensive?
Only a few years ago I was Jensen interceptors for around £15k. Now they are £30k.
Spitfires, Stags, MGBs, Series Land Rovers, You name it and they have pretty much doubled in the past few years.
Looks like I ill either have to earn more money for a few years and buy one (only then to see that they have doubled again!) or wait until the classic car market has cooled off, if that ever happens.
But anyway, when and why has this happened? I just don't understand why pretty much every car of this age has rocketed in price.

[Dave Hedgehog]

normal investment routes are giving poor returns (low interest rate)

so peeps starting buying rare cars as an investment, price goes up, more people see it as a way to make money, price goes up, eventually this drags the lower rungs of the classic market up, rinse and repeat until you have a massively overinflated market place

as a side factor there are now large numbers of wealthy people in parts of the world who never had access to classic cars so they start chucking money into it, price goes up


however it is anybodies guess when the market will correct itself

[ChasW]

Not helped the fact that many of the booming economies in the Far East are right hand drive and I guess, where high import duties exist, they might not be so punitive on older cars.

[EXKAY120]

I`ll be so glad when it gets back to more realistic prices, stupid prices these cars are making, i could`nt afford to buy my own cars anymore !!

[BigGingerBob]

Even the Tuscans that I'm lloking at have risen. You used to be able to get one for around £15k, now you need £20k at least

[ianwayne]

Misplaced money in some cars. Look at the SOTW, a cracking Celica for £800. Mk 2 Escorts in good nick are fetching £5k +. They were under a grand in the late 90s, nobody wanted them, apart from the RS2000 specials of course. But all of them are fetching daft money now. Is it really just the rallying scene?

[trickywoo]

I was shocked to see that a run of the mill Elan (not the fwd version) is £40k now.

[EXKAY120]

Got 40k on it.....but not worth that money, and its fibreglass !!

[iva cosworth]

trickywoo said:

I was shocked to see that a run of the mill Elan (not the fwd version) is £40k now.

I think the most sought after are up there but "lesser" ones are more reasonable at "only" £20-£30K

[dai1983]

Integrales, Cosworths, old skool hot hatches and air cooled 911s have also risen in recent years. A £1k would get you a mint 205 GTI but now it's £3k+.

If the market did collapse I wouldn't want to have paid £20k+ for a 3dr Sierra etc.

[PoshTotty]

I work for a small partnership that restores classic cars and ownership is becoming more and more popular. It's a combination of poor returns from money in the bank and the rising prices of classics as an investment, but my bosses say that it is also a rise in the number of people who want to get away from the current trend of expensive to maintain management systems on modern cars. As they say an old Cortina or Land Rover, E-Type or whatever (yes, I'm old enough to remember Cortinas!) used to run like a dream without any electronic gadgetry, plus the current MOT and Tax exemption status helps with popularity too. I believe that from 2015 a rolling thirty year age will be the threshold for MOT exemption, therefore a lot of people will be able to cut down on their motoring bills by owning a classic. Mind you there are some possible downsides to MOT exemption as mentioned elsewhere on ph I'm sure.

[fausTVR]

PoshTotty said:

.... plus the current MOT and Tax exemption status helps with popularity too. I believe that from 2015 a rolling thirty year age will be the threshold for MOT exemption, therefore a lot of people will be able to cut down on their motoring bills by owning a classic. Mind you there are some possible downsides to MOT exemption as mentioned elsewhere on ph I'm sure.

Is that actually on the cards then, first I've heard? I like the idea, after all it's still illegal to use an un-roadworthy vehicle on the road.

[ianwayne]

MoT exemption is for pre 1960 cars at the moment (introduced only last year) so I doubt it would suddenly jump from 55 years to 30. The historic VED class is now rolling at 40 years though, so mid 70s V12 Jags etc. will shortly be £0 instead of £230 p.a.

Not a vast amount I grant you but when it was frozen at pre 1973 cars from 1997 until 2013, a car built in 1974 on was significantly cheaper. Every penny counts!

[eccles]

ianwayne said:

MoT exemption is for pre 1960 cars at the moment (introduced only last year) so I doubt it would suddenly jump from 55 years to 30. The historic VED class is now rolling at 40 years though, so mid 70s V12 Jags etc. will shortly be £0 instead of £230 p.a.

Not a vast amount I grant you but when it was frozen at pre 1973 cars from 1997 until 2013, a car built in 1974 on was significantly cheaper. Every penny counts!

Excuse my ignorance, but do you have any links to these tax rules.... my car turns 40 next year.

[ianwayne]

Here it is from HMRC:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...

That's a very dry document so here's article on the Honest John website about it from March 2014:

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/general-news...

[eccles]

ianwayne said:

Here it is from HMRC:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...

That's a very dry document so here's article on the Honest John website about it from March 2014:

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/general-news...

Brill! Many thanks. Looks like I'll have to wait an extra year as my car was first registered on the 23 of April '75 and I doubt there are records to show that it was constructed and imported before the 1st of April.

[jaisharma]

I'd try the owners club and see if they will give you a letter (assuming they can access the records). I did that with a Lancia and that was definitive.
I doubt they would have made, transported and sold the car in a few weeks only.

[swisstoni]

Welcome back to Earth GingerBob !

I think there is a bit of a perfect storm going on. Negligible interest rates for investors are a factor. Regular headlines about classic cars being solid gold investments are another. And the demographic factor is a supply of old geezers with a few quid at last and fond memories of the 'classics' in their heyday.
I'm one of those old geezers, BTW, so I'm not saying I'm too clever to be sucked into the storm myself.

[ChasW]

PoshTotty said:

I work for a small partnership that restores classic cars and ownership is becoming more and more popular. It's a combination of poor returns from money in the bank and the rising prices of classics as an investment, but my bosses say that it is also a rise in the number of people who want to get away from the current trend of expensive to maintain management systems on modern cars. As they say an old Cortina or Land Rover, E-Type or whatever (yes, I'm old enough to remember Cortinas!) used to run like a dream without any electronic gadgetry, plus the current MOT and Tax exemption status helps with popularity too. I believe that from 2015 a rolling thirty year age will be the threshold for MOT exemption, therefore a lot of people will be able to cut down on their motoring bills by owning a classic. Mind you there are some possible downsides to MOT exemption as mentioned elsewhere on ph I'm sure.

This is my thinking too. My kids have left home. Our household mileage has plummeted from 30k+ spread over 4 cars to 12k spread over 3 cars soon to be 2. So fuel costs are less of an issue. Our 4 year old upper-end VAG estate needs about £2k spent on it, cambelt, clutch kit plus various expensive non-repairable/replaceable superfluous bits, ie LED bulbs in headlights, have failed. So I am thinking laterally about where's the best place for my £25k-£30k main car budget. May not be classic territory yet but something that is less of a computer on wheels or possibly one basic run around car and one mental sports car from yesteryear. Costs will be the same, may be less.

[mcflurry]

IMHO the scrappage scheme also took out a lot of the supply of old minis, Fords and other "regular" cars, causing the prices of what's left to rise.