Well, I finally started getting the digest again. A good thing to as I was
starting to have withdrawal symptons. The topics spurred the following
musings:
It is true in general that, for a given age of car, its value is greatest
when the people who lusted after that car as youngsters their greatest
disposable income. For MGA's, that time is now. For MGB's, that time is
soon. For Model T's, that time is past.
LBC's are not rare enough to join the Bugattis as objects of art. Their
value comes from nostalgia, historical significance, rarity, quality of
design, and useability.
For the lesser cars, Nostalgia is usually the main driver for elevated
prices. For these cars, the prices drop after the wannabe owners age.
Rarity can be from low production or high attrition. In either case, it
can add to price.
For members of this list, useability is a large concern. I read in one
book or another that driveability = desirability. The reason that MGA's
and TR-2s are hot right now is that they are the oldest cars that still
have reasonalble useability in today's world. MG T's are on the borderline
but are also bouyed by historical significance. MGB's are also very
useable but lack the rarity and have not reached the nostalgia peak.
Unless there is a fundemental change in transportation, I do not expect the
useability of these cars to diminish much further than they are today. The
speed limit won't be raised to 110 mph in the near future. Because of
this, I don't expect LBC's to take the value dive that prewar cars have
seen after the nostagia value wore off.
Someone said that he expects his child to be restoring a Miata 25 years
from now. I do not see that happening. I do my own maintance / repair/
trouble shooting on my more modern cars but I am an engineer with strong
electro-mechanical and computer control experience. I cannot imagine that
a very large group of people will be able to DIY restore a modern car.
Look at the complex plastic moldings in the interior. Can you imagine Moss
or the future equivelant investing in the tooling to make a new Miata
Dashboard? Chevrolet has worked with people to continue support of old
Corvettes but I doubt that Ford will do the same for the MIata.
What does this mean? In my opinion, it means that our LBC's represent a
unique place in automotive history. They are useable in the modern world
but are still serviceable by at home and have parts simple enough to be
economically duplicated. I believe that LBC values will not fall any more
and will be based on value in use, not value for investment. This is good
news.
Regards
Bill Eastman
61 MGA (PO claims 14in rebuild though I haven't a clue where he spent it.
Maybe he was including the liquor bill)
One wife, two daughters (one daughter likes the A, other wants the Vette
back- I am educating her)
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