David,
I disagree with you that a '69 fully home-restored MGB is worth $13,500. It
depends. Is
it 95 point concours? I seriously doubt it. Most amateur home-retorals aren't
that
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 think I'm more sensitive to this issue since I started looking for a TD. The
prices
are all over the map. But I agree with you in that people will let these cars
rot
rather than let them go to someone who cares simply because greed and vanity
cloud their
vision.
As far as seling at a loss is concerned, isn't that what we all do with our
daily
drivers - our Hondas and Buicks and Chevys, etc. - or is this not part of the
argument.
I hate like hell to buy a new car only to have it lose half it's value the
first year.
Maybe that's why so many people lease. In my own experience, I had to replace
the
steering rack on my V*lv* to the tune of $2000 - does that add $2k to the
value or to
the price?
A question to ponder is what will happen to the value of these cars when and if
Rover
lets the MGF into the US? Will everyone forget the LBCs and concentrate on the
new one?
OR, will it heighten the interest and cause the "old ones" to become even more
popular?
Time will tell...
Cheers
Michael Ohleger
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