An additional thought about values

[Randy Harris]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't start collecting old LBCs to make money. I always wanted an MGA, I got lucky and found a great resto candidate.I was in the game. 15 years later, I found another wonderful car that had always tickled my fancy and was fortunate enough to have a few bucks set aside. So I bought my BJ8. Frankly, I paid too much for it and almost tripled the purchase price doing the restoration. Does that sound familiar?
3 years ago I decided I needed another challenge and found a '68 E-type to bring back. Never once did I think to myself these cars were good investments. How could they be? I'm underwater in both the Healey and the Jag. I made a few bucks on the MGA, maybe. But I owned it for 16 years.

Like almost everyone else, I'm interested and amused
by the auction results. The numbers don't shock me nor do they cause me any level of angst. I'm happy to own my beautiful cars and enjoy every moment I can with them. If some day I must sell, well, I suppose increasing values will make it slightly less painful to do so.

Anyway, I say bully to you Kurt Tanner. You're doing great work and are being rewarded for that excellence. Let's not all lose perspective though. These are special cars for special people and hardly reflect market conditions, any more than eBay reflects the true value of collector cars.
(don't even get me started on eBay)
Just my 2 cents.

Randy '66 BJ8, '68 OTS /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif

 

[MotorHead67]

I enjoyed reading your point of view and, like you, I didn’t by my Healey as an investment. I got lucky enough to buy my dream car.
But with regard to market conditions: last year when I bought my car, there were a couple of sellers quoting auction results in an attempt to boost their selling price. Of course I wasn’t buying the pitch but I do think these auctions help to artificially drive the prices up out of the range of the real enthusiast and into the hands of speculators. I say artificially because I believe that sooner or later the hysteria created by these TV auctions will peak. And then there’s a danger of all these speculators dumping their cars so as not to loose their shirts. I think that happened in the late 80’s with big dollar European cars.
Ah well, maybe I think too much, huh? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazyeyes.gif
Like you, none of this will affect me. I bought the car to DRIVE.
Now we have 4 cents. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

 

[Steve]

Make that four cents and a couple of pennies.....I agree wholeheartedly, both of you make very valid points. Just enjoy your cars and drive them, and if they fetch a good price if you have to sell then fine. Good outlook.

 

[Johnny]

Hear, hear Randy. I agree wholeheartly with your comments. Personally I enjoy the cars for what they are. Many times people have told me why don't you just buy an Audi TT, Miata, BMW Z4 etc. etc. But I allways say how many times have those owners ever been told "Great car, I had one of those once."
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif

 

[Randy Harris]

[ QUOTE ]
Hear, hear Randy. I agree wholeheartly with your comments. Personally I enjoy the cars for what they are. Many times people have told me why don't you just buy an Audi TT, Miata, BMW Z4 etc. etc. But I always say how many times have those owners ever been told "Great car, I had one of those once."
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

You know, if Healey made as many cars as there are ex-owners there would have been more of them on the road than VW bugs.
Never the less, it is fun to drive a car that seemingly everyone loves and can relate to. These old British cars seem to evoke great warm memories in people. They sure do for me. Although I've always been partial to Healeys and Jaguars - Triumphs, MGs & Morgans all make me smile. That's what it's all about, right?


Randy '66 BJ8, '68 E-Type OTS /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif

 

[healeygal]

Speaking of "I had one of those once," -

Last week, while out for a ride after the rains died down, I pulled into a Lexus dealer right next to a used (oops, that's "preowned") red SC coupe sitting on the lot. I wanted to see the two cars side by side, because the Lexus is the shade of red I selected for my Healey, and Dago did a great job, they matched perfectly! I figured that if a salesman came over, I'd tell him I wasn't interested in trading in my car, I just wanted to buy a bottle of touch up paint.

Well, in about two seconds, four salesmen came over to admire the car (my Healey, not the Lexus), and all of a sudden one of them was telling me about the Healey he owned 25 years ago, and began reminiscing about oil leaks and folding windscreens, the rust and trouble spots where it could be found, how he used to do his own work and get his parts from Moss Motors, were they and the Southern California club still around, was the mechanic out in the Valley with the garage full of cars still in business, what are the cars worth these days, and on and on...a lot of interest in a 50-year old car, NOT ONE WORD about the $55,000 (and depreciating daily) car sitting next to it!

Sharon
BN1

PS: Just saw a Tiffany lamp go for $37,500 at auction on the Antiques Roadshow TV program - the price of a pretty nice non-auction Healey. Obviously, the item is worth that amount to the buyer, but how many smiles per mile can you get out of one of those!!??

 

[chuck1006]

I moved to Phoenix in 1977. My wife and I had traveled around for 3 months in a Chevy van before moving there. We both got jobs here right away so needed another vehicle. I bought a a 1965 Austin Healey BJ8 for transportation believe it or not. It cost $1600 and ran great but had dull paint and torn top etc. though not any rust. Summers were warm but I could make it to work with my necktie on without a problem. Going home I was soaked with sweat but loved each trip of about 15 miles each way. My Healey lasted about 2 years before the clutch went out and I decided to rebuild the engine and fix it up at the same time. Took about 2 years since baby son was born in the meantime. I redid engine and clutch, replaced interior using the old seats and panels as patterns which I sewed myself and sanded and painted body myself also. It looked real nice and ran great. By then we had two sons and were moving to another house and needed to replace the van so my Healey went up for sale. I sold it in about 1983 for $5,500. I should have made do and kept it but family pressures won out. So far as value, the fun I had with my Healey was worth much more than the $5,500 especially after doing so much work on it myself. So, I will never rate the value of my current Healey based on any any perceived market value but only on my love of the ride and car (although I wish I had a BJ8 again). I'll have to try to find out how my former 1965 BJ8 is doing.

 

[jtb55]

Values go up and values go down. Based on my forty years of owning old and new cars, trucks, motorcycles and boats my experience which has included buying and selling certain ones several times is that if you consider the all in cost of acquisition, repairs and modifications not including the "sweat equity" and the time value of money it is generlly not an investment proposition. To my mind the value is in use [ road and track}, the mental health benefit of working on them and the overall experience. While I have and continue to enjoy the BJ auction it seems to me that a good measure of the the investment value is drive by the the TV exposure the bidder gets. I do not believe that this extends to to the market value as a whole. While there are exceptions to the " good investment notion" they are infact exceptions. Use and enjoy !

 

[SHG]

There's nothing wrong with having the idea in the back of your head that if you ever had to sell your BJ8, you could get you money out. But I really can't imagine anyone buying one for investment. If that's their real motivation, frankly you've got to figure they're a jerk. Having a big Healey is a feeling, and driving it is the only reason to own one. And I can't drive mine without smiling, making it one of the few things in my life that can always bring a smile to my face. Let them bid 'em up to a million. My Healey's worth that much to me.

 

[joeq]

i don't plan on keeping my car forever (few things are more idiotic than keeping a healey in manhattan – what with the lousy roads and insane garage fees), so explaining to my wife that "i'll more or less get my money back when i go to sell" helped me to seal the deal.

 

[ThomP]

People can and do make money buying and selling vintage cars. They're called "vintage car dealers"! They are proof that vintage cars can be an investment.

I think the Healey is peaking in value, because "we're" the right age to appreciate them and we have enough bucks to buy them. Our children, rather their friends, won't be buying Healeys at top dollar, they'll be buying Hondas, Mazdas and Toyotas. Much to the chagrin of the pundits, because that's what they grew up driving!

Look at the value of pre-WW II cars. It has leveled off or decreased, because the people that sought those cars are getting too old to drive. Yes, good examples are still pricey, but I think their value will continue to decline. So, If you bought a Healey for investment, now is the time to get out. I'm not saying the prices will drop tomorrow, but as our cars approach 65 years of age, expect the value to start tapering.



BTW, mine's not for sale.

 

[stever]

Worth? Value? What do these mean? To me the 'value' of a Healey is the amount of cash a willing buyer will pay to a willing seller for that vehicle. Key terms here are, of course, 'willing'. I am 'willing' to sell my car, but not at a bargain price because its 'value' is pretty high to ME. However, pretty much everything has a price.......including my Healey. It just isn't a low price as it has a high value to me - and I don't have any external pressures forcing me to sell. Just as the sage has said: "my two cents".

 

[Henri]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not saying the prices will drop tomorrow, but as our cars approach 65 years of age, expect the value to start tapering

[/ QUOTE ]

I hear this arguement all the time...however I wonder who is buying the '32 Fords...or Model-T's.certainly not those that were driving them when they were kids...I'm not sure most of the people on this forum's parents were driving those cars...yet they are collected...and some of them are "extremely" expensive...and still going up in value...last...I have news for you...they don't make these cars anymore...there is a limited supply of them...they can never be reproduced...NEVER...that is why they will always hold there value...and why they will always increase in that value...besides just inflation alone will make sure of that... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif