• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

What's it worth?

Share this page

gsalt57tr3

gsalt57tr3

Jedi Warrior
Offline
As you can see by the handle, I'm a Triumph guy. However, yesterday I got one of those questions from an aquaintence.

Seems her family has a 61 Austin Healey sitting in the garage for the last 25 years, in undetermined amount of parts, but of course all there.

I had shown her pictures of my car and she wanted to know how much it had cost to restore (keep the receipts, but never, never add them up). My estimate to her was from 20 to 30 thousand dollars.

Now she seems less inclined to restore it, but maybe interested in selling it but I could give her no idea of its value (plus I have not seen it).

Anyone give me a base price?

It just occured to me that I need to know what model it is! I will try to find out today.
 
Based on the information given I'd say $3500 to $35000.
Possibly more and possibly less.
Where exactly did you say this lady lives? Br2
 
Impossible. You or your friend must have somebody who knows Austin Healeys and Healey restoration inspect the car and the parts. Only then can you get an estimate of its value. Way too many variables otherwise.
Randy
'66 BJ8
 
My friend lives in Stockton CA, the car is in San Jose CA.
 
tr3,

Unless you have seen this car, your acquaintance may have a 1961 Austin Healey SPRITE which would not cost as much to restore. As was just mentioned, there are too many variables to quote a price, the biggest variable being the exact kind of Austin Healey being talked about.

Ed
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/confused.gif
 
Ed_K said:
tr3,

Unless you have seen this car, your acquaintance may have a 1961 Austin Healey SPRITE which would not cost as much to restore. As was just mentioned, there are too many variables to quote a price, the biggest variable being the exact kind of Austin Healey being talked about.

Ed
Ed this is true! If it was my friend that had it I'd be over there like yesterday! (And I would't tell anyone where it was) Br1
Click to expand...
 
Actually, she isn't exactly on my "friend" list as much as she is on my "I have to deal with this woman" list.

She probably doesn't know the difference between a bt7 and a sprite, so I sent her pictures of each of the possible 1961 austin healeys.

Haven't heard anything yet.
 
gsalt, if you will drop me a line directly ( ed@justbrits.com ) I will look in my Membership Book and Resource Book <span style="color: #CC0000"><span style='font-size: 14pt'>(Reid, it's alphabetical /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif )</span></span> and see if I can come up with someone nearby to check things out for you.

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cheers.gif
Ed
 
This past summer I looked at BN2, that had been sitting in a dry garage since the mid-1970's when it had been driven into the garage. It was a complete car, but in obvious need of a complete restoration.

I determined after consultation with various people that the car as it sat was worth between nothing and a few thousand dollars and the cost of a complete restoration would be between $25k and $40k.

From my signature, you can see that I am on the look out for this exact car, but the owner (who was the son of the deceased PO) wanted a minimum of $10k for the car. It's still sitting in the same place.
 
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cheers.gif What's wrong with paying $10K for the car you want? After all they don't make them anymore. If it's a complete car your really ahead of the game and could possibly recoup the cost in parts savings over time.
IMHO
 
BlueRidge2's estimate of $3500 to $35,000, possibly more and possibly less, is close, but still doesn't address negative territory. A plain ol' 2+2 3000 in boxes, having sat for many years, may be "worth" down to -$20,000 or so. Maybe less. The cost of restoration still usually exceeds the normal retail value of the finished product.

If the car is a strict 2-seater (BN7 series) it will help a little, and if it's a Bugeye Sprite, that will not help.

Buying a dismantled, or even partially dismantled, Healey that has been sitting idle for a long time is not an investment, it's a donation. Smart buyers will pass it by and buy a car that is already in the condition they seek, with the expensive restoration already behind it.

Fortunately or unfortunately, there are still a fair number of not-so-savvy buyers, all willing to take the plunge and learn things the hard way.

If your friend wants to sell it, drag it out and take all kinds of good photos of everything that's there, and put it on eBay. The market will establish the price. I recommend maintaining realistic (i.e., "low") expectations.
 
Editor_Reid said:
Buying a dismantled, or even partially dismantled, Healey that has been sitting idle for a long time is not an investment, it's a donation. Smart buyers will pass it by and buy a car that is already in the condition they seek, with the expensive restoration already behind it.
Click to expand...

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif well said, except for the masochist /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
Back
Top