Seriously?

[BicycleBoy]

Originally Posted by Othen

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295027968...AAAOSwyA5ioJKq

I'll see your overpriced saloon and raise you...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334468210571

[foggyjames]

Seems a little odd for a (late) GL to have a B200E in it (I'd have expected a carbed engine in a GL), but I know they messed around with the engine specs of 240s a lot!

cheers

James

[Othen]

Originally Posted by BicycleBoy

I'll see your overpriced saloon and raise you...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334468210571

I sometimes wonder where the market might be for the top end 240s we see from time to time. This one is undoubtedly a nice motor car, but at £10,000 I wonder why anyone would buy it. If someone tried to use it as a daily driver then it would lose its cache and depreciate very quickly, although perhaps a hipster might be happy to do that (perhaps it looks too new for that though).

The alternative would be to keep it garaged and perhaps take it to car shows in farmers' fields in Lincolnshire to be admired by other bearded middle aged men... but it is only 30 years old and not a particularly rare or interesting motor car in the first place.

I have no axe to grind here, maybe someone is looking for just this thing and doesn't mind paying over the odds for a bit of nostalgia, but I can't help thinking that must be a very small market indeed.

Just my musings before Bob's first walk.

Alan

[BicycleBoy]

There is no market, these come up again and again, and only ever sell after an extended period of dutch auctioning (falling price). As they form a large proportion of the current vehicles for sale, anyone using the classifieds to value a vehicle is going to get a false impression of the average value of a 240.

So when an excitable dealer finds a single owner 240 (newsflash: Volvo owners keep their cars longer) they think it is rare and valuable and price for the top of the (percieved) market.

I would defer to market data aggregation specialists like Hagerty: https://www.hagerty.co.uk/valuation/ who put a concours 240 around the £4k mark. And these cars ain't concours.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by BicycleBoy

There is no market, these come up again and again, and only ever sell after an extended period of dutch auctioning (falling price). As they form a large proportion of the current vehicles for sale, anyone using the classifieds to value a vehicle is going to get a false impression of the average value of a 240.

So when an excitable dealer finds a single owner 240 (newsflash: Volvo owners keep their cars longer) they think it is rare and valuable and price for the top of the (percieved) market.

I would defer to market data aggregation specialists like Hagerty: https://www.hagerty.co.uk/valuation/ who put a concours 240 around the £4k mark. And these cars ain't concours.

This is a price guide that sort of developed itself through watching the market on this thread some months ago:

As a guide I'd say (from what I've seen things apparently sell for - not ridiculous asking prices):

a. Rough cars (anything with barn find in the title, cars needing welding to the sills or rear arches, MoT failures): make less than £1000.

b. Middling cars: 1981 and later cars with 100-200,000 miles, a bit of history (maybe the past decade, the stuff before that is just for interest), a long MoT and no obvious welding or repairs needed: make £1,500 to £3,000.

c. Very good cars: 1981 and later cars with less than 100,000 miles, full history, long MoT and in really good condition make £3,000 to £4,500.

d. Historic cars (1980 and older) will generally make 50-100% more than the above categories.

The above is just my observation of the market, it will not stop people hawking around rough cars for £3,000, mediocre cars for £6,000 or very good cars for silly money. I don't think they often achieve their asking prices and just spend months or years on the market until the owners give up.

I don't think these £10,000 (or even £15,000) motor cars ever sell - but there are plenty of folk that disagree with me (of which I care not one iota)

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by BicycleBoy

I would defer to market data aggregation specialists like Hagerty: https://www.hagerty.co.uk/valuation/ who put a concours 240 around the £4k mark. And these cars ain't concours.

Being a cynical git, i would always question the motives of an insurer providing their own classic car price guide - there's a very obvious conflict of interests there!

That particular car does look exceptionally nice and extremely low mileage, it either had one very careful, minimal-use owner or is genuinely low mileage and has been tarted up so the condition appears to reflect the mileage. It's not a colour i remember seeing new 240s in around that time which is another huge question mark for me.

Originally Posted by Othen

This is a price guide that sort of developed itself through watching the market on this thread some months ago:

As a guide I'd say (from what I've seen things apparently sell for - not ridiculous asking prices):

a. Rough cars (anything with barn find in the title, cars needing welding to the sills or rear arches, MoT failures): make less than £1000.

b. Middling cars: 1981 and later cars with 100-200,000 miles, a bit of history (maybe the past decade, the stuff before that is just for interest), a long MoT and no obvious welding or repairs needed: make £1,500 to £3,000.

c. Very good cars: 1981 and later cars with less than 100,000 miles, full history, long MoT and in really good condition make £3,000 to £4,500.

d. Historic cars (1980 and older) will generally make 50-100% more than the above categories.

The above is just my observation of the market, it will not stop people hawking around rough cars for £3,000, mediocre cars for £6,000 or very good cars for silly money. I don't think they often achieve their asking prices and just spend months or years on the market until the owners give up.

I don't think these £10,000 (or even £15,000) motor cars ever sell - but there are plenty of folk that disagree with me (of which I care not one iota)

:-)

Taking my comment above about the confilct of interests Hagerty have providing a price guide and insuring said cars Alan, i'd prefer to take your figures as closer to the real world values of most of these cars.
Granted we've bickered over the percieved value of certain models (Jubilee edition comes to mind!) but generally we're on the same sort of level for most when we've guessed at the final value on auction listings and your values tend to be a bit higher than Hagerty while not being "car dealer on amphetamines" high.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by BicycleBoy

Here's one to watch to test that theory:
Desirable spec (Manual, turbo, historic, wheels) but utterly tinwormed and siezed engine... so only worth the scrap unless you're a deluded maniac.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403691684369

That motor car made £640 at auction; perhaps a bit more than it was worth thought I.

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Othen

That motor car made £640 at auction; perhaps a bit more than it was worth thought I.

It’ll break for more, not much though!

[BicycleBoy]

Topping the charts this week, a new entry straight in at twelve grand:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...02206026411988
62 technicolour pictures to get your juices flowing: Steam cleaned like new, you can almost smell the detailing products.

[BicycleBoy]

This one, however, is, IMHO, worth the money
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...02206126723378
£3k for a GLT with 12mths ticket & 50k...