|
Agreed. My experience with a BGT V8 showed me that classics are lovely and fun to own but:
1) it's not a good idea to drive one every day (it loses its specialness and magnifies the innate foibles and faults)
2) you're lucky to make any money at all unless you're in 250GTO / 288GTO / Nick Mason territory.
Having said that, as soon as a windfall comes my way, I'm shopping for an Interceptor :)
|
|
On the other hand, if you have a pile of cash sitting in zombie investments or in the bank and earning zero interest, why not buy a decent classic car, and enjoy that, knowing that you should be able to sell it on for at least the same as you paid for it,
Of course there will be some maintanence & other costs associated but this will be outweighed by the pleasure of owning the thing and enjoying it.
I'm looking at a Ferrari 400 thats for sale at 16 K. one of the few Ferraris that are genuinely useable it seems criminally cheap, and should only increase with time.
Edited by Alf_Hooker on 10/03/2013 at 19:50
|
|
|
Having said that, as soon as a windfall comes my way, I'm shopping for an Interceptor :)
Hahah I'll be there competing against you in the auctions!
|
|
I owned a 1963 Lotus Elan S3.. for a number of years.
Be aware that prices rise and fall in cycles lasting about 20 years.. and the last peak was c 1993 after which prices halved...
OK if you have lots of money and time and a big dry - and preferably heated - garage.
If I wanted one now, it would be a 2.4 1973 Porsche 911, plus a few Ferraris, the odd Aston and a 1937 4.5 litre Bentley saloon with od...
|
I owned a 1963 Lotus Elan S3.. for a number of years.
By coincidence I saw an early (B-registered) Elan on Saturday around Styal / Manchester Airport way. I'd forgotten just how tiny they are.
|
|
|
Be aware that prices rise and fall in cycles lasting about 20 years
Is that how long it takes for people to forget about a boom/bust cycle? It was the article in the sidebar on this site that prompted my OP. Is there real value in putting money into classics? We're not attributing any weight to pleasure of ownership here, just fiscal return. I'm not sure you can.
|
|
If you're lucky with the timing, ie buy at the bottom, sell at the top, I'm sure you can make enough "profit" to cover the costs, and have some left over - but predicting tops and bottoms of cycles accurately is impossible - if it were possible we could all get rich on stock market investments.
|
If you're lucky with the timing, ie buy at the bottom, sell at the top, I'm sure you can make enough "profit" to cover the costs, and have some left over - but predicting tops and bottoms of cycles accurately is impossible - if it were possible we could all get rich on stock market investments.
You can forecast cycles in markets quite well if you know what you are doing.. Hint: we are in a bull market with a possible large correction early April.
Mind you.. it takes a lot of work which is why most people don't know of it.
|
Hint: we are in a bull market with a possible large correction early April.
Ok. Let's have a 'sell' date of 31st March. We'll compare the FTSE 100 index with today (6502), and see if the correction is avoided. I agree that we're in a bull market, but I don't think that the peak is easy to pre-empt. A lot of retirees blow their pension lump sums on shares, by thinking that they can spot trends in advance but actually end up on bandwagons.
|
|
|
You can forecast cycles in markets quite well if you know what you are doing.. Hint: we are in a bull market with a possible large correction early April.
So how come the Stock Market crashes of 2000, 2003 and 2008 came as such a big surprise to politicians and economists ?
|
You can forecast cycles in markets quite well if you know what you are doing.. Hint: we are in a bull market with a possible large correction early April.
So how come the Stock Market crashes of 2000, 2003 and 2008 came as such a big surprise to politicians and economists ?
WHich politician ever cuts spending when times are good becuase he'she thinks they are going to get worse?
Politicians work on the basis of" things can only get better." And voters only vote for thoise who say so.
As for economists? They make car salemen look honest. Most of them would not recognise a Bubble if they saw it in their bath water..
Current monetray policy is blowing up bubbles ..
see this very old chart...www.rubbernet.com.sg/monk%27s_chart.htm
|
You can forecast cycles in markets quite well if you know what you are doing.. Hint: we are in a bull market with a possible large correction early April.
So how come the Stock Market crashes of 2000, 2003 and 2008 came as such a big surprise to politicians and economists ?
WHich politician ever cuts spending when times are good becuase he'she thinks they are going to get worse?
Politicians work on the basis of" things can only get better." And voters only vote for thoise who say so.
.
As for economists? They make car salemen look honest. Most of them would not recognise a Bubble if they saw it in their bath water..
Current monetray policy is blowing up bubbles ..
see this very old chart...www.rubbernet.com.sg/monk%27s_chart.htm
Agree wholeheartedly,excellent chart by the way.
Edited by Collos25 on 12/03/2013 at 10:40
|
|
|
|
|
|
I owned a 1963 Lotus Elan S3.. for a number of years.
OK if you have lots of money and time and a big dry - and preferably heated - garage.
And I'm sure most of us know what LOTUS stands for? The posters are correct, buy and enjoy, but not as a money-making investment unless you go for something really special.
Using the term 'classic' loosely, mine is a 205 soft-top, which cost about 2½ grand, and I should be able to get that back if I time it right. Every couple of weeks it goes for an 80-mile trip, doing 1500-2000 miles a year.
|
|
And I'm sure most of us know what LOTUS stands for?
Rusty chassis.
|
|
Near, but not near enough.
Lots Of Trouble,Usually Serious is, I believe, the right answer.
|
|
I recall being advised: "remember, you're sitting outside the chassis".
|
|
Talking to a bloke at the weekend who was telling me his Austin Healey is worth £20,000 more than he paid for it a few years ago.
|
Talking to a bloke at the weekend who was telling me his Austin Healey is worth £20,000 more than he paid for it a few years ago.
He omitted to tell you he spent £30,000 repairing and restoring it?
the Lotus - yes - had an X frame chassis - designed to kill driver and passenger in sideways crashes.. Most Lotus drivers who pushed hard ended up sideways in ditches ... unlike a relative of a schoolfriend killed in an E Type when the front of car with driver detached itself from the rear in a crash ( it was a convertible..).
Mine had been rstored about 6 years before I bought it - new chassis, etc. Needed a complete body rebuild as the paintwork was not great - but looked immaculate from 5 meters away (it was red).. but once I changed the oil pump from the HP one to a standard one and changed the gasket on the diff- a struggle - it was quite fun to drive as it had been tuned to Sprint spec (approx 120bhp).
Nosiy and tiring on long runs and motorways tho.
I sold it and bought an A4....
|
the Lotus - yes - had an X frame chassis -
No it didn't. It had a steel backbone chassis. Here is a link.
www.philseed.com/files/images/lotus-elan-chassis.j...7" target="_blank">http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.philseed.com/files/images/lotus-elan-chassis.j...7
|
madf - he didn't.
Good for him.
The Lotus chassi looked like an X - a bit elongated ... bunch of pedants.. :-)
(Good thing I know my pedants from my peder###s)
Edited by madf on 12/03/2013 at 16:30
|
madf - he didn't
He didn't tell you he spent £20,000? I bet hew didn't!
|
the Lotus - yes - had an X frame chassis -
No it didn't. It had a steel backbone chassis.
Same thing really.
Edited by RT on 12/03/2013 at 15:34
|
|
This is an "x" fame form a Sunbeam Alpine.
kensparkes-sunbeamalpine.co.uk/sitebuildercontent/...1" target="_blank">http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=kensparkes-sunbeamalpine.co.uk/sitebuildercontent/...1
Subtle difference to the Elan backbone.
|
|
Where as the chassis on the Lotus was an elongated "X" the chassis on the Sunbeam was an oblong with cross re enforcment members.I had to remove the chassis from Europa Ford Twin cam version (as opposed to the earlier Renault engine versions) and replace it due to rust and it was only a few years old that along with numerous rain leaks and a pendant for destroying doughnuts it was a 1972 model bought in 1974.
|
|
I visited their factory around the late '70s and was impressed to see chassis being sent off for hot zinc galvanising. Unlike Aston Martin, at the same time, who were seen to be welding fillets into chassis for additional strength, thus creating hidden box sections on what was already rusty steel.
|
|
What ever Lotus did it didn´t do much good perhaps the rust bug was already in the steel I can remember my chassis coming away in pieces held together by the body and it was only three years old.
|
So how come the Stock Market crashes of 2000, 2003 and 2008 came as such a big surprise to politicians and economists ?
Depends who you mean by 'politicians and economists.' If you're suggesting nobody saw 2008 coming then you're wrong. Peter Schiff is one fairly high profile US businessman/media personality who had been warning of doom for some time, but nobody listened.
'Economists' are a joke, put 5 of them in a room and you'll get 8 opinions. I'm always reminded of the Geoffrey Howe remark regarding 364 'professional economists' warning against the Thatcher Governments plans; an economist is someone who knows 364 ways of making love, but doesn't know any women.
As for politicians, well what can you say. The vast majority of modern politicians and bureaucrats have no understanding of economics. We are governed by idiots, that's just fact. Every Government fiddles with economic levers to keep figures looking good when they're in office, probably knowing it'll all go to hell after they've left.
|
As for politicians, well what can you say. We are governed by idiots, that's just fact.
So get elected and show us all how to do it. Or I suppose you are cleverer than wanting to get involved? :-(
|
|
The electoral block of the public sector is too large and few of them would vote for me. Anyway, I'm far too sensible to go into such a hideous job.
|
|
You can talk the talk but can´t walk the walk.
|
|
Rich talk coming from the man who only knows how to patronise others and who f***ed off to Germany.
|
|
Now now keep your dollies in the pram .
|
|
Surprised it took so long for your wife to leave you.
|
|
She left me and has gone into the bedroom to take a phonecall ,as far as I know she has been happily married for 20 years she still with me at least.
But it shows your imaturity when you come out with statements like that.
|
|
|
|
|
