Historic's at Ascot

[pcn1]

Intresting day. Seemed a number of cars couldnt find buyers at the reserve and many that did were at the bottom of the guide.
My choice would have been the white 944 turbo cab. 2 owners, 61K, it sold for £24K with the commision.

That aside I treat the day like a car show and just enjoy looking around. Anyone else make it ?

[IAmTupperware]

pcn1 said:

Intresting day. Seemed a number of cars couldnt find buyers at the reserve and many that did were at the bottom of the guide.
My choice would have been the white 944 turbo cab. 2 owners, 61K, it sold for £24K with the commision.

That aside I treat the day like a car show and just enjoy looking around. Anyone else make it ?

Yeah I went to have a look on Friday and looking at the results they don't look too dissimilar to the last couple of auctions unfortunately. Although certainly better than last year, it snowed and very few turned up!

That 944 turbo certainly looked very nice, loved the interior.

I'm glad the 964 RS lightweight went, that looked lovely!

My buddy loved the Silver Shadow 2 which had been treated to a full nut & bolt restoration. However for me, I would have taken the blue 240z (which didn't sell ), the Alfa Junior 1600 or one of the nicer SL's or XJS's of which there where loads!

[mk1coopers]

Just a sign of the times, people are holding off on purchasing 'toys' until everything settles down with the economy and the uncertainty over Brexit, personally I find all these adverts for cars as 'great investment opportunities' very off putting, you should only ever buy what you like, that way if it's worth nothing when you come to sell it (this applies to everything not just cars) you had the pleasure of owning something you wanted to, if you then make money at it it's a bonus, buying something with the intent of making money, then loosing, is only going to be a disappointment

Edited by mk1coopers on Tuesday 5th March 13:00

[IAmTupperware]

mk1coopers said:

Just a sign of the times, people are holding off on purchasing 'toys' until everything settles down with the economy and the uncertainty over Brexit, personally I find all these adverts for cars as 'great investment opportunities' very off putting, you should only ever buy what you like, that way if it's worth nothing when you come to sell it (this applies to everything not just cars) you had the pleasure of owning something you wanted to, if you then make money at it it's a bonus, buying something with the intent of making money, then loosing, is only going to be a disappointment

Edited by mk1coopers on Tuesday 5th March 13:00

I agree with you, however I think Historics specifically is aimed at a slightly different market though, mainly drivers of all incomes and not investors. For example there was a lovely nb MX5 that went for c.£1k and lots of drivers cars that had been driven lots in the sub £20k bracket. Plus having spoken to a few people there, the more expensive cars are bought to be driven, not to be invested in. Maybe that's to do with the affluent areas in which they choose to do their auctions... but I don't know. I'm in no way affiliated with them in case you were wondering.

[mk1coopers]

There will always be people with the disposable income to afford to buy when they want to, and it's great to see the less expensive end of the market being catered for in an auction like this, I was at the Excel for the LCCS a couple of weeks ago, such a variation in prices, a really nice M5, £19,995, MK1 Cooper S, £79,995 !, there wasn't much in the way of bargain basement options, I've got to the point where it's going to have to be something very special to tempt me to buy another classic car (which none of mine were when I bought them, they were rusty old heaps that no one wanted)

[IAmTupperware]

Yeah I was there too. I think Coys was the big auction house there? As you say they seem to target the big earners with only a very few 'affordable' cars on show. To be honest mk1coopers, it wouldn't take much to tempt me in if I had the money. I have an incredibly overwhelming yearn for something classic but being only 22 with not much cash I become jealous of those that can afford one!

[mk1coopers]

There are still some cars out there that are reasonably cheap, Depends on what you want, modern classics, mid 80's on, are the next ones to become popular, there was a grey 205 GTi in the coys sale, the trouble with modern stuff is the electric/ecu side, far more complex than the old couple of wires / carbs of the older cars

[Bob CD]

Just a couple of words on that Ascot auction. A friend sold three cars out of the four that he took there and was pretty happy with the prices. He says you have to work at it in this economic climate, you can't just put them out there and expect good prices. He was also complimentary about the auction house which is good to hear. Certainly the one car I was watching made good money.

[IAmTupperware]

mk1coopers said:

There are still some cars out there that are reasonably cheap, Depends on what you want, modern classics, mid 80's on, are the next ones to become popular, there was a grey 205 GTi in the coys sale, the trouble with modern stuff is the electric/ecu side, far more complex than the old couple of wires / carbs of the older cars

I've been looking at a few, namely a Saab 900 Turbo and a few 944 Lux's. But no major motivation for either of those. That's one of the reasons i'm a bit sceptical. Looking under the bonnet of those 240z's shows how easy servicing cars used to be, perhaps why 'tinkering' used to be much more common. The oil filter was ridiculously easy to access. I have to dislocate my arm in 4 places in order to access the oil filter on my '93 MX5.

Bob CD said:

Just a couple of words on that Ascot auction. A friend sold three cars out of the four that he took there and was pretty happy with the prices. He says you have to work at it in this economic climate, you can't just put them out there and expect good prices. He was also complimentary about the auction house which is good to hear. Certainly the one car I was watching made good money.

I'm glad your friend has had good experience with them. The Historic's auctions are great for someone like me who wants to get up close and personal with these old heroes, I just hope they can continue to succeed!