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Spitfire eBay Spitfire - good deal?

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JoeC

JoeC

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I've never owned a Spitfire, but I've always liked them. I saw the following on eBay today...

ebay listing

If this were a TR6, it would be a great deal. I'm not sure about the upscale interior :cz, but I'd like some of you LBC experts to tell me why there are no bids and a seemingly low buy it now price.

Thanks.
 
Well, I now see that it is only a "buy it now" with 6 offers...I'm not a real eBay expert. It still looks like a good deal to me. (it's not my auction either by the way!!) :nonono:
 
From the standpoint of what had to be spent to get it to the condition shown by the pictures, the buy it now price is more than reasonable. I am at the end of the first year of restoring my GT6 and I have almost that much in it. The engine is out, the front end is disassembled, rust repair and paint still to be done, etc., etc. From my standpoint, the Spitfire looks like a bargain.

As to the no bids, it may be that there are interested parties watching who will bid at the last minute or make an offer for less than the buy it now price. When I last looked at it, there were 7 offers made, so there is fairly intense interest in this car.
 
The price is high for a Spit but it seems to be a pretty exceptional example. Probably worth it.
 
If you started with a driver and tried to bring it up to that condition you'd probably spend more all together, BUT you in to driver TR4 and TR6 range at the buy it now price.... no comment on relative merits of the cars but still something to consider.
 
A number of his "upgrades" are stock actually. Things like the wooden dash, which is exactly what it came with from the factory. The leather seats, doubt it, they're vinyl. Big difference!

It's all sparkly and pretty on the outside. The inside, not so nice. Door panels were reskined, and not very well. A downdraft Weber with hoses hanging oddly and poorly. A 1500 replacement is not an upgrade to the stock 1300 in most peoples opinion. Canvas top, prove it. They all have vinyl tops unless someone spends a fortune for canvas. Seats look saggy in the bolsters.

All that price and it doesn't even have an overdrive transmission.

The seller doesn't know the car well, and is making grand sweeping claims. The price is high, overly high in my opinion.
 
You couldn't build/restore a car to that level for that price!

AND it is a CA/AZ car, so probably has no hidden "tin worm" issues... :thumbsup:

IF it is as nice as it looks it is worth EVERY PENNY!! :hammer:

JMHO ("Just My Humble Opinion"), for whatever that's worth... :driving:

-Bear-
 
From my limited experience, foxtrapper is right on the money. I would go so far as to say that the 1500 is not an upgrade either. Due to the exceptionally long stroke of the engine, you are limited to the rev limit that's not shown on the tach of 5500 rpm. A properly built 1300, though you have less torque, will easily reach 9000 revs.

I also view the Webber 32/36 DGV as a bit of a downgrade also, but that is personal opinion. I have the same carb and manifold combo on my spit, and I'm having nothing but issues with it. Once I get some unexpected bills paid off, I'm yanking mine off, and replacing it with S/U's that have been offered at an extremely excellent price from a member here.

Another thing to point out, the side closeout panels are missing from the engine bay. Minor detail, but it's probably something that the judges are looking for, if you're trying to have a concours example.
 
To give you some idea, I bought a rust free 79 Spit from San Diego for about $3400 (nice driver, ratty interior, absolutely zero rust). About 70k miles, complete service history. Add another $1000 for shipping it to PA. I actually waxed the floorpans inside the car once I stripped the interior.

And the judges will care more about the painted engine bay than they will about the missing side valances.
 
I spent part of yesterday looking at pictures of this auction and saved several as references for the work my sons and I are undertaking on our '72 Spit.

Minor point... the dash is an upgrade from a later car. Take a close look at the pictures near the bottom and there is one showing the SCCA National Champion badge on the right side of the dash. Note it includes victory dates through 1973. Likewise, the gauges are from a later car (note the electronic tach). The '71 1300 would have had a cable driven tach.

I agree that there is a tremendous amount of work in and on this car and the Buy it Now price is reasonable for what has been done. However, if you give serious consideration to buying this car, insure it with one of the classic car insurance companies based on agreed value. if you were to place this car on your regular daily driver policy you would loose a lot should the car be involved in an accident.
 
Good advice, above, as always.

Not to overstate the obvious, but you can't really know unless you personally inpect the car.

The ultimate enemy and wallet-buster may easily remain hidden on pretty eBay photos: RUST :devilgrin:

RUST, and frame damage, not to mention other gremlin-loaded things. IF the car is in the stated condition, however, it may be a good buy.

A concours MK IV Spit may be "worth" up to $15,000, says "Cars That Matter". But in the real world, I don't know anyone who would pay that much for a Spit.

Again, that's not a bad price IF the car is in excellent, or darn near-excellent condition. And if I were looking for a nice Spit, I'd wait for one with overdrive (you're going to add it anyway if you keep the car long enough!).

Your car will come to you, just wait.

Caveat Emptor, my friend. :yesnod:
 
FYI: I just looked at the car again on eBay....

It is SOLD!!! :hammer:

Might not be a "correct" car or a concourse level restoration, but if it is a rust free car that looks & runs as nice in person as it does in the listing then someone is gonna be a very "happy camper".

Remember, Beauty & Value is in the eye of the beholder! As someone mentioned earlier, if this were a TR in similar condition it would be considered a BARGAIN!! (Which just goes to show how undervalued the Spits are in today's market! I predict that this will change in the years to come!!)

Regardless, it is good to see another old British Sports Car going to a new home! Hopefully it will provide the new owner with many years and miles of enjoyment!!

"Cheers!" :cheers:
-Bear-
 
I watch people spend silly money on things at auctions all the time. The fact that something sold doesn't mean it's worth the price paid. Remember, to win an auction you have to spend more money than anyone else is willing to spend. Now think about that for a moment.

Sure, if it was a TR6 that was a reasonable price. It ain't a TR6! It's a spitfire. A car that was always worth a lot less than a TR6. Don't go mixing apples and oranges in price evaluations. If it was an Tempo in that condition, it would be vastly overpriced. An XKE, underpriced. So what? It's not a Tempo or an XKE, or a TR6, it's a Spitfire.
 
foxtrapper said:
Remember, to win an auction you have to spend more money than anyone else is willing to spend. Now think about that for a moment.
Click to expand...

:iagree:

But in this case someone else thought it was worth nearly that much.... :yesnod:

If there's a lot of interest it will push the price up.

If there aren't many people, or they're not motivated, prices won't go so high.

I've bought lots of stuff where I was the only bidder. I usually got what I thought was a bargain. Would you have me think I was buying rubbish because no one else wanted it?

And I've bid in auctions where the vendor put in an absurd starting price (ÂŁ.99) and then pulled the auction despite getting a lot of bids simply because no one bid enough in their opinion.

The buyer might have been able to buy a similar one for less somewhere, sometime; but in the final analysis no one forced them to bid and they themselves are the only ones that can judge whether the satisfaction (or otherwise) they get from the car is worth what they've paid.

If it's Bill Gates I'm sure the enjoyment of a Spit would be worth quite a lot.... I wonder if I could interest him in a nice....
 
Excellent observation, James.

I've seen eBay auctions on some very nice LBCs go for practically nothing! A nicely sorted Midget went for less than $4,000 recently, but ONLY because there were few bidders and no one to drive up the price.

It's a literal crap shoot. If interest/bidding is low, the buyer wins.

And, this is exactly the reason why we should exercise great amounts of patience when shopping for an LBC, espcially on EBay. If you wait long enough, your car will come to you.

It took me almost two years to find my last GT6, and I never regretted the long wait. Sure, I became twitchy, but it was worth the wait.

Patience, Grasshoppers! :yesnod:
 
I will say it is a nice looking butI agree with foxtrapper. That's alot of money for what it is. I'm surprised that the GM alternator "upgrade" (IMHO is good)was not mentioned. Big thing I was wondering about is why is the frame and firewall painted black. If the car was truly that nice it should be body color. Just my 2 cents...
 
There are quite a number of details that are not correct on the Spitfire and the paint doesn't look like a quality job to me. Have a look around the chrome trim near the tail lights.
The auction process on eBay is quite interesting. Quite often I have seen a car sell for what seems like a low price, but then I think, if I had also bid on it the price would have gone much higher. There are few bargains in this global market, but just occasionally you may be lucky enough to be the only serious bidder.
 
For the money I would have wanted OD. The leather is nice, but in a Spitfire? I agree with all others about the Weber downdraft. And I do not like the exhaust. Black painted firewall looks like a coverup. Why does a Spitfire wih only 40,000 miles not have the engine valance panels. Were they made out of particle board?

The Mk IV came with the black plastic dash, which I actually like better. So this dash would be an "upgrade".
 
billspit said:
Why does a Spitfire wih only 40,000 miles not have the engine valance panels. Were they made out of particle board?
Click to expand...

No even worse! If they are like the ones on my GT6 they were made out of the same nasty cardboard/molded paper that the transmission tunnels are made of. After all these years they probably disentigrated and looked terible, just like the really tatty ones on a shelf in my garage.
 
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