In regard to the storm David D started with his legitimate worries that
MGBs may have prices too low to guarantee their survival, Michael P.
Ohleger wrote:
> good. Just because someone put $14,000 into his restoral doesn't justify the
>price. I
> haggled with a neighbor that wanted $5000 for his rust bucket of an '69 MGBGT
>because he
> had $4000 in parts receipts. It's still sitting in his yard with the sign on
>it - been
> there a year and he's clueless.
I offer a comment and a possible explanation. It seems odd to me, but
true nevertheless, that those on this list have generally a lower (and I
think more realistic) view of LBC value than some outsiders. Like
Michael, I saw a reasonably straight 69 BGT about 3 years ago, which I
found tempting. It needed sills, upholstery, paint, and probably new
wires (had chrome wires going rusty). It was sitting in a field next to a
rather shabby body shop. If I remember correctly, the asking price was
$4500. I figure that to be about $3000 too high, at least. The last time
I went by, about 18 months ago, it was still sitting in the dirt,
undoubtedly getting rustier by the day while the owner waits for a
miracle.
My impression is that prices on B's and A's have held fairly steady for
the last few years, and T-series cars have held steady or possibly fallen
some. My explanation is that for a considerable time, there were no new
roadsters. If you wanted a roadster, you had to resurrect an LBC. That
drove prices up. Then came the Miata, and more lately the BMW, Mercedes,
and the Boxster. Some of the Miatas are now falling into the moderate
price range. I think there is a certain class of owner that wants an open
sports car, and does not much care where it comes from, or if it is old or
new, if it does what he wants. He now can choose an LBC or any of a
variety of newer competitors.
What we have to hope is that the cars we like stay affordable, without
getting so cheap that they get crushed. The thing that will keep rusty
cars out of the crusher is for them to have restored values that justify
the cost of fixing them up. A friend has offered to sell me his 72GT. It
runs, and he is not asking an irrational price, but it needs a good deal
of work. When I add up what it needs to be a nice runner, it is much
higher than the cost of buying something that already is a nice runner.
So his car does not get restored.
David is performing an important service in trying to find good homes for
cheap cars. He has to be doing it for love, because there is unlikely to
be money in it.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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