There seems to be one underlying assumption about this whole thread.
At some point you(we, us them) will sell the car for some kind of
profit.
If you are in the LBC hobby for any kind of financial gain, you're gonna
starve!
For most of us, putting $1200, $1500 in an engine, tranny conversion, V8
installation or whatever, is not about profit, or breaking even. It's
about contiuous and ongoing enjoyment of the car, our enjoyment of the
car.
If value is defined as the price a willing buyer will give a willing
seller, then my cars have $0 value. They are not for sale. Thus any
moneys spent on repairs, upgrades, resoration, or (gasp!) customizing,
neither adds nor detracts from it's value.
I believe that the vast majority of listers to one extent or another,
look at it much the same way.
If on the other hand, Value can be defined as the quantification of the
enjoyment or pleasure one gets from an inatimate object, then Value can
approach infinity. Again, moneys spent do nothing to the Value of the
LBC.( I think economists refer to this as the "utility" of goods or
services.)
For the dyed-in-the wool LBC nut, the "utility" of a newer car is simply
not in the same ball-park with our LBC's.
Dollars simply don't enter into the equation.
Rick Morrison
72 MGBGT
74 Midget
On Sun, 1 Feb 1998 21:04:26 +0000 "Scott Gardner"
<gardner7@pilot.infi.net> writes:
>
>> Yeah, but have you considered depreciation of the MG versus the
>Miata.
>>
>> Every last cent I put into my MG minus my labor appreciates the car,
>provided
>>
>> I don't put $15,000 into a 100-point restoration.
>
>Not even close. Spend $1200 dollars on engine parts for a complete
>rebuild, and see what happens to the resale value of your B. It
>won't go up anywhere near that much. Same with pretty much any other
>work, with the exception of something really labor-intensive, like a
>repaint. You don't have to spend anywhere NEAR $15,000 to have more
>money into it than it's worth.
> As for the depreciation, there are old Miatas, too, and they
>can be
>had for a very nice price. If you're going to complain about the
>depreciation on a brand-new, loaded, $23,000 Miata, you should at
>least be comparing it to what would happen with a freshly-rebuilt 100
>point MGB on a new bodyshell. You'd spend $20,000 easily on a car
>you couldn't sell for $12,000.
>
>>Otherwise, I feel good,
>>
>> knowing that I don't have a car payment each month, and a piece of
>steel with
>>
>> wheels that will eventually be worth very little monetarily. I
>think another
>>
>> consideration as well is that many newer cars are not meant to be
>around long.
>>
>> They are disposable.
>
>I don't see this. People may be TREATING them as disposable, what
>with short-term leases and drastic model changes every few years, but
>the cars are getting better and better. Advances in rust prevention,
>use of materials such as aluminum and carbon fiber, advances in
>engine longevity and increased safety requirements all lead to cars
>that can be around for a long time, if the owner has the inclination.
>>
>
>> Jay
>>
>>
>>
>> ***********************************************
>
>Scott Gardner
>
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