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jvandyke

jvandyke

Luke Skywalker
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So, I'm thinking about putting my '63 up for sale. I love the car but my 16 year old daughter and soon to be 16 year old son are looking hard for jobs and they will need to drive and well, for the next few years I'd better have cars that everyone can drive and drive year round. Don't know for sure what I'll do. I bet as soon as the weather breaks and I get her out again I'll forget all about selling it!
Anyway, I saw this and wondered what if this price is accurate, seems above market to me, and for a car the owner knows nothing about.
Over 5K for a '65 or there abouts?
ebay auction
 
Jeff, I think right around 5500 is not an unreasonable starting point for your nice solid MK1. Early Midgets seem to be hit or miss. If it looks nice, the price is going up. If it doesn't, it might not even bring scrap value.
I've seen a couple of bondo buckets go for stupid high prices on ebay recently, just because they had new cheap paint jobs and nice seat covers. Whereas a couple of solid rust free, but paint deprived originals couldn't even reach 1000.00.
 
I was thinking of asking $5,500 and hanging pretty tight to it. Not HAVING to sell means I don't have to settle. I'm still planning on redoing the dash and installing the side chrome as I think this makes the car more appealing. The closer to looking original the better I would think.
I'm a little surprised at myself for even thinking along these lines but owning a toy like this at this point in our family's journey is a bit selfish. As much as I love it, it isn't a very good first car and it can't really be operated between Nov. and April, that's almost half the time (although, just between us Spridget freaks, it's a daily driver for me in-season).
I can't realistically commute to work in it either, 40 miles a day in rush hour traffic on the interstate with today's speeds and inattentive drivers operating huge SUVs.....nope, suicidal, IMHO.
Maybe a later year Midget would be better, with a hardtop, but even that in the middle of Michigan winter? Probably not too wise.
So, if the price is right I should probably bail for a few years. Five years down the road is likely a much better time for me to have such a toy.
But, I won't take less than what I think fair market is for it, so I'll probably end up keeping it!
Upside is I could be in the market for something else "interesting" that could be pushed into service as a daily driver year round.....I have some ideas!
 
Well, personally, I would rather see you cocoon it for a few years, and buy a good used car for the kids, then take it back out when you are ready.
I have a feeling that in a few years, you will not be able to touch a bugeye or side curtain spridget. Bugeyes are already getting there and the side curtain cars are starting to get that way in Europe and the UK.
 
jvandyke, EBay is a good way to go. Get the car as clean as you can, set your reserve at your lowest price and let 'er rip in an auction.

I suggest not to use the "buy it now" feature becuase that eliminates the possibility of getting a "blue sky" price. I made the mistake of using "buy it now" once, could have gotten much for for the car otherwise.

In my view, market pricing on Spridgets has been somewhat steady for the past couple of years. Bugeyes seem to keep escalating in price, but most Spridget pricing seems a bit flat IMHO. Waiting to sell later may not reap any great potential. Antique cars are not the greatest investment, but sometimes we get lucky!

Good luck to you, I hope there's another LBC in your very near future! :thumbsup:
 
A good way to set prices is to search eBay for completed auctions. Even if the cars didn't sell, you'll get a good feel for what folks thought they were worth.

I'd be sorry to see you sell the car, but it's completely understandable in these times. Luckily, they made a lot of Spridgets (though less of the sidescreen cars), and they'll always be at the low end of the market. You do what you have to do.
 
I'm not gone yet. I love driving the stupid thing so much it's entirely possible I'll look back on this idea and laugh. It's been a long cold winter and easy to forget the glory of a summer's evening drive in a Spridget. I bet I get one good day in and I'll never let go! My 9 year old son just loves cruising for ice cream with ole dad in the Midget so he may not let me sell it either.

I wish I had a place and the funds to just let it sit but that's not really a good option for us, to tie that money up not doing anything. I could buy a super cheap 4th car but do I want my kids in a super cheap car? Can I commute to work in one? Depends on the car I guess. I don't think there's much drivable out there for less than $1,500 and for that I may as well get something interesting for ME to drive and give my kids my daily driver ('98 Intrepid, ABS, air bags and fairly "big", a good inexperienced driver car I think, though a bit too peppy perhaps)

I watch every Midget that sells on ebay as a hobby (don't we all?) so I think I have a pretty good feel for the market.

Okay for now. I have some things to do on her whether I sell or not.
 
This is indeed a dilemma.

One thing to keep in mind--do you really want your inexperienced kids driving a car that is, to be charitable, not up to modern crash-worthiness standards? The reality of kids and cars is that even a responsible, careful teen is will probably have an accident sometime in the first year or so of driving. Just the consequences of lack of experience.

My solution was to get my kid a 1987 Volvo 240. One of the safest cars on the road in its day, slow, and stodgy. Just what a teenager needs, and you can get a decent one for $1000. Also, easy to work on--he'll learn a lot about auto maintenance and repair, heh, heh.

My son did eventually have an accident with his Volvo--it got a pretty good whack in the driver's door, and it didn't touch him. I was impressed.
 
Sarastro said:
This is indeed a dilemma.

One thing to keep in mind--do you really want your inexperienced kids driving a car that is, to be charitable, not up to modern crash-worthiness standards? The reality of kids and cars is that even a responsible, careful teen is will probably have an accident sometime in the first year or so of driving. Just the consequences of lack of experience.
Click to expand...

Exactly, that's why I don't want them driving the Midget. It's not a safe car by modern standards period and that's not so bad if everyone were driving one but everyone else is in a 4,000lb SUV killing machine. I know how to drive very very defensively from years of driving cars and motorcycles. My kids don't have that experience. You could argue that it is irresponsible for a family man to drive around in a Midget (they try that argument for motorcycles too) but I won't go that far, one must live a little with a little risk or you may as well be dead already, no?

What I would (temporarily) replace the Midget with.....
I'm thinking Fiat X1/9. Newer, very rigid strong cage (safer) great gas mileage, sporty, not too fast. Unique, fun cheap (decent ones can be had for under 3K and fair daily drivers, around 1K!, they are undervalued I think). That would be my year round commuter (bit challenging in winter I'll grant, snow tires and extra weight should see me through though) Someone else in the fam could drive it if they wanted. Still satisfies my (juvenile?) need to be different, sporty. Plenty of opportunity to tinker on it. 4 years down the road (2 of three kids on their own)......Midget shopping time! (by then the Fiat would have rusted out from under me anyway) Maybe even a BE this time around.....
 
Fix It Again, Tony?
Final Italian Attempt at Technology?

You ever OWNED a Fiatsco?

I did....once.
I also worked on them (including the X 1/9), and they will make you long for British reliability and parts availability.

Now, that may all change with Chrysler (Or, Chryat, or Fiasler) as far as parts, but you can't fix design deficiencies.

I don't think they hold up in a crash as well as you think, having seen some examples in my time.
 
:lol: :iagree:
 
Seriously think about the Volvo idea - I've owned a few and they are... "Boxy but Good".

Oh yeah, and keep the LBC. :wink:
 
RickB said:
Seriously think about the Volvo idea - I've owned a few and they are... "Boxy but Good".

Oh yeah, and keep the LBC. :wink:
Click to expand...

+1

Someone asked on "Car Talk" about the best, safest first car and both agreed Volvo is the way to go.

Listen ~ VERY~CAREFULLY~ to my next statement.


<span style="font-size: 20pt">
~DO~NOT~SELL~THE~CAR~!!!!!!!</span>
 
I think about that "boxy but good" thing every time I see a Volvo. Dudley, funny. What movie was that again?
I did look up some Volvos today. Good idea. They're out there and cheap. Maybe one of those and KEEP the Midget. I like that idea better.
 
Or, do like I do........drive an LBC that is a 4-door tank.
Or, a 1950 Ford Tudor that is a tank.
Or, a 1950 Ford F-1 that is a tank.
 
Can't go wrong with a Volvo 240 for a first car for the kids. It's different enough now that it may even start to be retro-cool. :cooler:

Fiat X1/9s are fun, but a hassle to do anything with the engine. And you have to learn to think like an Italian mechanic. :hammer: Which can be a bit of a shock, after having thought like a British mechanic for so long.

You might want to think about trading in the Midget for a pre-1988 Jag XJ6. <span style="font-style: italic">Way </span>undervalued, safe, (well, safer anyway,) good for the family, great long-legged highway car, different, and still oh-so-British.
 
Just to be clear, if I offer up the Midget, its to get ME another slightly more practical year round driver. I don't want a Volvo, or an old Jag. My kids would be in my Dodge and that's a great car for them. I want to be in as cool and interesting a vehicle as will make it through a Michigan winter running 40 miles a day, give me that "thrill", give me something to tinker with too. To me, the X1/9 is a pretty fair compromise, targa top seems like a good compromise for winter and convertible too. Certainly not the best in the snow but not much worse then almost every car on the road back a few decades. X1/9s are on my "to do list" anyway. Then I would have hit another of my "I want one cars" and I can go back and invest in the one I like the best as a pure toy after the kids get out my hair.

My list includes, pretty much in order of preference, the following;
(limited to cars that I can actually afford!)

Opel GT; (owned, loved, smashed, not really interested in starting over)
Midget; (owned 2 so far)
X1/9
Triumph Spit
Triumph GT6

Of this list the only one that could likely be a winter car, not too $$ and "expendable" to me is the Fiat.
Thought of Fieros too but the ones I've been in are, well, just so crappy GM-ish.
 
Just a thought by someone unfamiliar with a X19. I know they handle great but being mid engined how well does the heater warm the tootsie's? May be a consideration.
KA.
 
I love P1800s, no way will I find a driver version of one of those for the $$ I'm willing to spend though. I want to keep this under 3K. This is silly talk. I haven't even decided to let the Midget go yet. I feel dirty.
 
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