Seriously?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

The 144 has sold!

No surprise.😁

Come on, own up!😂

Not guilty, wrong colour and one too many pedals for me!

[Othen]

Now this one really is a ‘Seriously?’:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156190343...mis&media=COPY

… £17,000 for a 240! Okay, the parts fitted are like a wish list from the custom car sweet shop: Rover V8, 5 speed gearbox… the list goes on. On the negative side it remains a 136,000 mile, 39 year old (so tax exempt next April - good) cooking motor car.

The seller says he has spent £60,000 on the 240 over the past 5 years, that may be the case, but is it worth £17,000 now? I suppose that depends entirely upon one perspective. It is nowhere near original, and it is a bit too good to use without it losing its show condition status, so what is the potential market? For £17,000 one could buy a much better sports car (say a 10 year old Porsche Boxster), a very nice luxury car (any number of Jaguar, BMW, MB) or a brand new hatchback, all of which would be much more reliable, safer and either faster or more economical (maybe both). What market remains? Someone with considerable expendable income and garage space that is perhaps interested in trailering the motor car to shows in Lincolnshire farmers’ fields? There is one other possibility of course: someone setting out to build the ultimate parts-bin 240 (they appear in these pages from time to time - I can think of a few offhand) - for that person spending £17,000 on this motor car would be a far cheaper way of achieving the aim without bothering to do the work.

My own opinion (as if that matters) is this 240 is gauche - I’d feel a bit embarrassed - so it certainly isn’t one for me.

I can’t help thinking the seller may be one of us from this excellent forum - I do hope I have not in any way offended him/her.

[Moomoo]

Agreed to all of that Alan.

Nice thing but the world’s full of nice stuff I don’t want!🧐

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Now this one really is a ‘Seriously?’:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156190343...mis&media=COPY

… £17,000 for a 240! Okay, the parts fitted are like a wish list from the custom car sweet shop: Rover V8, 5 speed gearbox… the list goes on. On the negative side it remains a 136,000 mile, 39 year old (so tax exempt next April - good) cooking motor car.

The seller says he has spent £60,000 on the 240 over the past 5 years, that may be the case, but is it worth £17,000 now? I suppose that depends entirely upon one perspective. It is nowhere near original, and it is a bit too good to use without it losing its show condition status, so what is the potential market? For £17,000 one could buy a much better sports car (say a 10 year old Porsche Boxster), a very nice luxury car (any number of Jaguar, BMW, MB) or a brand new hatchback, all of which would be much more reliable, safer and either faster or more economical (maybe both). What market remains? Someone with considerable expendable income and garage space that is perhaps interested in trailering the motor car to shows in Lincolnshire farmers’ fields? There is one other possibility of course: someone setting out to build the ultimate parts-bin 240 (they appear in these pages from time to time - I can think of a few offhand) - for that person spending £17,000 on this motor car would be a far cheaper way of achieving the aim without bothering to do the work.

My own opinion (as if that matters) is this 240 is gauche - I’d feel a bit embarrassed - so it certainly isn’t one for me.

I can’t help thinking the seller may be one of us from this excellent forum - I do hope I have not in any way offended him/her.

As a sum of its parts, labour etc it's certainly worth the £17k asking price and then some. However, you'd have to want (really, really want!) a V8 240 with the older style front and the exact spec he's built to even consider paying anywhere near the asking price.
Sadly this is a prime example of the market deciding what a car is worth. It all appears to have been done to a high standard (i'm sure we've seen much rougher versions of similar in this thread) so it should stand the test of time. As i think most regular readers will know i'm a big fan of the Rover V8 and have often advocated a V8 conversion into a tired car but these days, the Rover V8 is extremely old hat and the Toyota/Lexus 1UZ and it's later generations are a much better bet. There have even been Rover SD1s converted to 1UZ V8 power which really tells the tale!

I'm sure it'll appeal to some, i doubt they'll be a member of this hallowed portal though!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

As a sum of its parts, labour etc it's certainly worth the £17k asking price and then some. However, you'd have to want (really, really want!) a V8 240 with the older style front and the exact spec he's built to even consider paying anywhere near the asking price.
Sadly this is a prime example of the market deciding what a car is worth. It all appears to have been done to a high standard (i'm sure we've seen much rougher versions of similar in this thread) so it should stand the test of time. As i think most regular readers will know i'm a big fan of the Rover V8 and have often advocated a V8 conversion into a tired car but these days, the Rover V8 is extremely old hat and the Toyota/Lexus 1UZ and it's later generations are a much better bet. There have even been Rover SD1s converted to 1UZ V8 power which really tells the tale!

I'm sure it'll appeal to some, i doubt they'll be a member of this hallowed portal though!

I agree with that last sentence in particular Dave, I think most members of this forum would consider a 240 like that one as rather gauche, and would prefer a more original motor car (for a quarter of the price).

There is of course an outside chance that this is exactly what someone is looking for - and they have 17 grand burning a hole in their pocket and plenty of spare garage space. I can't help thinking that might be a rare beast though.

I can't help thinking the seller has just got carried away with this one: perhaps bought a rough 240 5 years ago with the intention of doing it up a bit, but planning on the kitchen table just went too far and he/she just kept ordering more stuff out the the Sears catalog (deliberate American spelling).

[230ina245]

Well, props to the guy for finishing what was probably his vision of the ultimate 240. It would stand out on the showground.
I doubt he had any intention of selling the car until his health problems showed up.
I think to a greater or lesser extent we all try to build our own dream car version. However, we all tend to have different dreams.
Tim

[Othen]

Originally Posted by 230ina245

Well, props to the guy for finishing what was probably his vision of the ultimate 240. It would stand out on the showground.
I doubt he had any intention of selling the car until his health problems showed up.
I think to a greater or lesser extent we all try to build our own dream car version. However, we all tend to have different dreams.
Tim

You are probably right, the seller probably had every intention of keeping his perfect motor car - until the medical issues started. I wish the seller well of course, but the chances of finding a buyer happy to shell out 17 grand on another person’s vision may be small.

[Moomoo]

Now then!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235559526...Bk9SR97kno3tYw

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

Now this one really is a ‘Seriously?’:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156190343...mis&media=COPY

… £17,000 for a 240! Okay, the parts fitted are like a wish list from the custom car sweet shop: Rover V8, 5 speed gearbox… the list goes on. On the negative side it remains a 136,000 mile, 39 year old (so tax exempt next April - good) cooking motor car.

The seller says he has spent £60,000 on the 240 over the past 5 years, that may be the case, but is it worth £17,000 now? I suppose that depends entirely upon one perspective. It is nowhere near original, and it is a bit too good to use without it losing its show condition status, so what is the potential market? For £17,000 one could buy a much better sports car (say a 10 year old Porsche Boxster), a very nice luxury car (any number of Jaguar, BMW, MB) or a brand new hatchback, all of which would be much more reliable, safer and either faster or more economical (maybe both). What market remains? Someone with considerable expendable income and garage space that is perhaps interested in trailering the motor car to shows in Lincolnshire farmers’ fields? There is one other possibility of course: someone setting out to build the ultimate parts-bin 240 (they appear in these pages from time to time - I can think of a few offhand) - for that person spending £17,000 on this motor car would be a far cheaper way of achieving the aim without bothering to do the work.

My own opinion (as if that matters) is this 240 is gauche - I’d feel a bit embarrassed - so it certainly isn’t one for me.

I can’t help thinking the seller may be one of us from this excellent forum - I do hope I have not in any way offended him/her.

I notice the seller has dropped the price by a monkey… form an orderly queue .

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I notice the seller has dropped the price by a monkey… form an orderly queue .

I'll wait another 16 months until he's successively dropped a monkey a month and it's down to £500..........