Classic cars

[doctor Bob]

Before we decided to build a house I was looking at a few classics, couple of years ago now. e type, Diablo, 308....

what happened, I've just started to look again and everything is 50% more in 2 years, no decent etype, series 1 under £100k amazing.
My mate sold his mint Testorossa for £55000 about 4 years ago, now £150000. Looks like I've missed the bus!!!! Why the mental increases, is it because the rich kids are getting nothing from bank investments?

 

[thetyreman]

my brother used to buy classic american cars pre-resession and they were an absolute bargain knowing what they are worth today, he would have made an absolute fortune had he kept hold of them.

 

[sunnybob]

Yes, when you dont trust currency, you take a gamble on fine art, which is what most "classic" cars are now listed as.
Something else you can blame on leaving the EU.

 

[John Brown]

If you'd kept everthing you'd ever owned, it would all be worth a fortune by now.
If we'd all kept everything we'd ever owned, we'd all be billionaires.

Or am I missing some vital insight here?

 

[doctor Bob]

If you'd kept everthing you'd ever owned, it would all be worth a fortune by now.
If we'd all kept everything we'd ever owned, we'd all be billionaires.

Or am I missing some vital insight here?

It was more to do with the rapid increase in values, so yes I guess you are missing something.
I doubt everything I ever owned would come anywhere near to 1% of a billion. Most of it was crap new and would now be old crap.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yeah ..... my stuff would still be worth 5/8s of f.a. :lol:

 

[murdoch]

We've just finished a kitchen for a lady who collects and invests in classic porsche 911's. She said she'd made the switch from property a few years ago as classic cars don't incur any tax on capital gains and she'd noticed the prices rising far faster than property.

 

[RogerP]

Back in the 1960's I had a Lotus Elite for a few years and then sold it for £500 quid or so (I forget the exact amount).

I see they now go for £100,000 !!!!

 

[Steve Maskery]

My bro has just got rid of his Trannie. It had 340K on the clock. He was offered £60 for it as scrap.
He put it on eBay, starting at £50.
He got £1750 for it.
We are both gobsmacked.

 

[Tasky]

I think the people buying these also want to actually drive these things... so they're buying and driving them now, while they still can, before various forthcoming regulations limit/prohibit anything on the road that isn't an Electric Vehicle or powered by ultra-green renewable lentils, tie-dye shirts and happy guitar songs... !!

 

[sunnybob]

rare cars are international objects sold around the world.
the pound has dropped almost a third in the last two years against the euro, and almost as much against other currencies. theres your sudden price rise.

 

[Claymore]

My bro has just got rid of his Trannie. It had 340K on the clock. He was offered £60 for it as scrap.
He put it on eBay, starting at £50.
He got £1750 for it.
We are both gobsmacked.

My sister used to go out with a Trannie Steve.......she doubled her wardrobe :lol: (sorry)

 

[Eric The Viking]

Yes, when you dont trust currency, you take a gamble on fine art, which is what most "classic" cars are now listed as.
Something else you can blame on leaving the EU.

Judging by the prices in SoCal then, where even Sotheby's run car auctions, they must be desperate for Los Angeles County to join Brussels ASAP.

Sigh.

 

[HappyHacker]

There was an article in a paper recently that said classic cars were dropping in price at the moment.

Nearly 50 years ago I turned down an offer to swap the beach buggy I had build for an e-type. Apart from the issue of a 20 year old affording the insurance I would probably have killed myself in it long before it became more valuable.

 

[bugbear]

Given fore-knowledge, (or hind sight) making billions from investment would be rather easy.

Microsoft shares in 1986 look like a good opportunity.

BugBear

 

[woodenstx]

There was an article in a paper recently that said classic cars were dropping in price at the moment.

That article was a load of bull excrement :lol:

The rate at which they are going up, has slowed, but there certainly is no drop (sadly, or great, depending on ones outlook on life).

 

[undergroundhunter]

Identifying the future classics is where its at. Stuff like the MK1 golf (maybe a bit late for that one now).

Matt

 

[tsb]

I can't imagine any of the modern cars to be future classics, but I know of a local guy who's trying with one of the last landrover defenders. He bought it brand new and it's sat in a garage never being used

 

[custard]

None of us can see into the future, but there's at least one plausible scenario that says this is the high water mark for classic car prices and from here on out prices will keep falling for the next twenty years until they're almost worthless.

Start by saying that there's nothing special about classic cars, they've simply appreciated like most other assets as interest rates ratcheted ever lower from the 1980's until today. So they've been buoyed up by exactly the same forces that have driven property, equities and bonds; namely cheaper and cheaper money. Then assume that the inflexion point for interest rates is either here now or fast approaching, this is as low as interest rates will fall and from here on out they'll start to ratchet up again. As cheap credit withers away we'll inevitably see almost every asset class decline in value, and some will absolutely crater.

On top of that layer on two more possibilities. Firstly that technology is marginalising the internal combustion engine, which could leave classic cars stranded in a world where they can't really be used and are relegated to the peripheries. And secondly that they're a fascination that's the preserve of middle aged men, so before long the market for classic cars will start to die off and won't be replaced with younger, new buyers.

Like I say, no one knows what tomorrow will bring, but to sink a large amount of money into a classic car in the hope that it will appreciate or at least hold its value could be exactly the wrong purchase at precisely the worst time.