07-02-2018, 10:33 AM
I have a MG TD (yes, Shock! Horror!), as well as numerous Austin 7’s. I recently read a thread on the MG Enthusiasts’ BBS about values of old cars. I quote (with all due rights reserved etc.):
“The popularity and value of any pre 1960s car is on the decline. I have been trying to sell a 1933 MG J2 for over a year and very few people are interested. Compare this to Ford Escort Mexicos and Mini Coopers which a few years ago you would find in a scrap yard and they are now advertised at £50,000! This applies to all sorts of things. We had a superb roll top desk which at one time would have sold for £1000. It was too big for us so I asked a local auction house to sell it. They said transportation would cost more than I could sell it for! Eventually I sold it on eBay to a single bidder for £80. Compare that to UK G Plan and Ercol furniture from the 1960s which sells for a fortune.”
I have recently noticed that the Austin 7 market is beginning to soften in the UK slightly. Coupled with this, my local Austin 7 club (BA7C) is now mostly populated by retired, grey haired gentlemen of a “certain age”. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for the club to run its day to day business and events are poorly supported, viz. the BA7C rally 2017 attracted less than 50 cars, compared to Longleat and Spye Park in the ‘seventies and ‘eighties with 200+.
I can relate to the furniture comment as well, I am interested in long case (grandfather) clocks. I recently bought a perfectly original 30hr “cottage” white dial clock dating from 1780 or so on eBay for £100. A few years ago, this would have fetched £1200 from an antique dealer and £500 from a second hand furniture shop. Nowadays, such items are difficult to give away.
Another MG BBS contributor from the USA states (again I quote with all rights reserved):
“Generation X and Millennials have less interest in cars than Baby Boomers, especially older cars. The number of new license application is declining although the population is still increasing.
Many current owners of collector/antique cars reported they no longer enjoyed driving their older cars on congested highways with overly aggressive drivers.
There was some speculation that the collector car industry (and associated parts suppliers) will continue to collapse and might not be viable in 25 years. This could be exacerbated if new safety and clean-air regulations prevent older cars from even being registered.”
Maybe it’s time to reduce my collection of cars. I don’t want to but I also don’t want to lumber my executors with a load of old junk they have to dispose of if the future.
What do the Austin 7 cognoscenti think?
Discuss.
“The popularity and value of any pre 1960s car is on the decline. I have been trying to sell a 1933 MG J2 for over a year and very few people are interested. Compare this to Ford Escort Mexicos and Mini Coopers which a few years ago you would find in a scrap yard and they are now advertised at £50,000! This applies to all sorts of things. We had a superb roll top desk which at one time would have sold for £1000. It was too big for us so I asked a local auction house to sell it. They said transportation would cost more than I could sell it for! Eventually I sold it on eBay to a single bidder for £80. Compare that to UK G Plan and Ercol furniture from the 1960s which sells for a fortune.”
I have recently noticed that the Austin 7 market is beginning to soften in the UK slightly. Coupled with this, my local Austin 7 club (BA7C) is now mostly populated by retired, grey haired gentlemen of a “certain age”. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for the club to run its day to day business and events are poorly supported, viz. the BA7C rally 2017 attracted less than 50 cars, compared to Longleat and Spye Park in the ‘seventies and ‘eighties with 200+.
I can relate to the furniture comment as well, I am interested in long case (grandfather) clocks. I recently bought a perfectly original 30hr “cottage” white dial clock dating from 1780 or so on eBay for £100. A few years ago, this would have fetched £1200 from an antique dealer and £500 from a second hand furniture shop. Nowadays, such items are difficult to give away.
Another MG BBS contributor from the USA states (again I quote with all rights reserved):
“Generation X and Millennials have less interest in cars than Baby Boomers, especially older cars. The number of new license application is declining although the population is still increasing.
Many current owners of collector/antique cars reported they no longer enjoyed driving their older cars on congested highways with overly aggressive drivers.
There was some speculation that the collector car industry (and associated parts suppliers) will continue to collapse and might not be viable in 25 years. This could be exacerbated if new safety and clean-air regulations prevent older cars from even being registered.”
Maybe it’s time to reduce my collection of cars. I don’t want to but I also don’t want to lumber my executors with a load of old junk they have to dispose of if the future.
What do the Austin 7 cognoscenti think?
Discuss.