Seriously?

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Othen

:-) I’m sure it will suddenly become clear.

That is funny, I was thinking that I might buy a Mini (just because I’ve never had one of the new type), but Dan (my son, aged nearly 17) wants me to get this instead:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...?atmobcid=soc4

… we don’t need another car of course, but that isn’t really the point - is it?

Alan

My mini is an excellent ,well screwed together motor. Goes like stink, the figures actually show it to be faster in both acceleration and top speed than an E Type Jag. I can believe it. Too firm on the springs for a mile muncher, (at my age), but a damn good car. Much better than the usual Eurobox.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

My mini is an excellent ,well screwed together motor. Goes like stink, the figures actually show it to be faster in both acceleration and top speed than an E Type Jag. I can believe it. Too firm on the springs for a mile muncher, (at my age), but a damn good car. Much better than the usual Eurobox.

Your Mini is capable of 150+mph?

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

Just checked your sons choice, no tow bar or roof rack available!

He's young!

We have a sensible diesel estate car for that stuff :-)

Dan is a bright lad and has worked it all out. He calculates that the depreciation on a 540 is very low (and he is right, I checked that) and so we wouldn't lose much over the next 2 years (the time he will be in the VI form doing his A levels - it would be the coolest car in the world to be picked up from school in!). I'm running out of excuses not to buy it - maybe it will be too wide to fit in the garage?

:-)

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

My mini is an excellent ,well screwed together motor. Goes like stink, the figures actually show it to be faster in both acceleration and top speed than an E Type Jag. I can believe it. Too firm on the springs for a mile muncher, (at my age), but a damn good car. Much better than the usual Eurobox.

A mate of mine picked up a Mini for £400 - and it is surprisingly good :-)

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Your Mini is capable of 150+mph?

No , 139mph, about 15 mph better than an E Type. 150 was hype at best, lies at worst. Just like XK 120-130-150!!!

But very stylish!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

No , 139mph, about 15 mph better than an E Type. 150 was hype at best, lies at worst. Just like XK 120-130-150!!!

But very stylish!

I'll partially concede that 150mph was hype but one of the first XK-E models with (if memory serves) the 265bhp 3.8 triple-carb engine managed 152mph, the later 4.2 models weren't quite so powerful for some odd reason, even with the triple-carb set-up. Fairly sure the 5.3 V12 XK-E could easily attain 150++mph though.

As for the modern Minim, Rover designed it well, shame it was executed by BMW!

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I'll partially concede that 150mph was hype but one of the first XK-E models with (if memory serves) the 265bhp 3.8 triple-carb engine managed 152mph, the later 4.2 models weren't quite so powerful for some odd reason, even with the triple-carb set-up. Fairly sure the 5.3 V12 XK-E could easily attain 150++mph though.

As for the modern Minim, Rover designed it well, shame it was executed by BMW!

The 5.3 v12 had little problem doing as you say. Was it that engine some of the boat boys raced at up to 900 Bhp +?

As for the BMW bit..........totally agree!!!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

The 5.3 v12 had little problem doing as you say. Was it that engine some of the boat boys raced at up to 900 Bhp +?

As for the BMW bit..........totally agree!!!

Yes and no - i think!

I have vague memories of the Jaguar powered powerboats in the late 80s/early 90s and heard the figures of 900bhp used in the same sentence. However, those had twin engines so i think it was probably 450bhp each.

Found this online, somewhere in it there is a reference to the powerboats :

https://www.jaguarheritage.com/uploads/2018/01/MARI.pdf

Something in the back of my mind says there was a tie-up between TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) who primarily tuned Jag engines for the race track and powerboating but i'm not sure on that. Seem to recall figures of about 700-750bhp from the TWR V12s but i also think they were in the region of 7.0-7.6L capacity and tuned for cars rather than boats.

Doesn't seem to be a subject that's all that well covered on t'internet sadly!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

Perhaps I explained that poorly Dave. I have no axe to grind about people fitting aftermarket FI, alloy wheels and low profile tyres, what I think about the blue car is not important in this context; this thread is generally about what the market thinks (and therefore what the value of different Volvo 240 motor cars might be). In this case my point was that the modifications might well have detracted from the value of a 1980 244 DL, rather than added to it.

The market will tell us whether I'm right about that tomorrow when this auction ends. My feeling is that if someone wanted a FI 1980 Volvo 244 they would buy a GLT (which would have also come with alloy wheels and would look less odd with low profile tyres) rather than a warmed up DL.

The seller does seem to have spent £6,000 on the blue 244 this year, we don't know how much he/she paid for the car, but £3,000 would seem a reasonable guess for a 244 DL that had been recommissioned - so if the market values it at around £10,000 tomorrow we will understand that was a good investment, and furthermore that it is worth warming up a DL rather than buying a GLT in the first place.

I might well be wrong, but I don't think the motor car will make close to £10,000. We will find out tomorrow (barring shill bidding, which I think might be a possibility with this auction).

Alan

PS. I have a particular interest in this motor car because it is so similar to the RB, and therefore it will give me an idea how much it would be worth spending on the project. My feeling is that in the current market 1980 244s will top out at about £6,000 (but that would have to be an excellent car - better than the RB or this blue 244 DL); we see cars advertised at more than that but I don't think they ever sell (whatever some people might claim).

Well, the market has spoken. The auction for the blue 244 with the FI, flash wheels and silly tyres concluded at £5,485 half an hour ago. I’m nearly certain this auction involved some shill bidding, particularly as the highest bid (from a bidder with a low eBay feedback score) was retracted soon before the conclusion of the auction. I rather suspect this motor car will appear again soon, either at eBay or another sales site, the seller’s insurance bid having not been exceeded. Ho hum.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-244...-127635-2958-0

So, what may we conclude from this business? First that my hypothesis that 244s (from about 1980) top out at about £6,000 is probably true; it just isn’t worth spending more than that on them. Second that it isn’t worth warming up cooking versions of the 240 (DL and GL models at least) because one will never get the money back. Thirdly is that shill bidding hardly ever works.

I must admit I’m a bit disappointed by this auction (be it a fair one or not), the motor car looked like it was very nice before the seller started adding all the boy racer stuff. My thoughts are that it would not have made a lot less if he/she had just fixed the bodywork… and nothing more. It would then have been a nice, low mileage 244 DL worth about £5,000.

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

I suspect as i've indicated further up Alan, if he'd put a sensible set of alloys on, the basic EFi conversion to miprove reliability and driveability and then used it to at least have some use from it and then sold it, he would firstly have got at least some of his moneysworth out of it, secondly been more likely to get a decent price and thirdly, most importantly would have had a more saleable car to start with!

It would have still looked near standard from the outside and also under the bonnet and those that "buy with their eyes" wouldn't have seen anything wildly amiss.

As things stand at the moment, i agree that £6k is about top-dollar for a 240 series unless it's really special but in fairness, we didn't get any special 240s here except the 1977 Jubilee model, 50 years of Volvo - not HRH Queen Elizabeth II but happened to be the same year.

That said the Jubilee model didn't attract particularly high bids if memory serves.

From now until february next year i'd expect a steady decline in values anyway, we have the "C"-Word to contend with in just over 3 months then come January, the "B" Word - all the bills!
They will depress values (and humans!) for a while then bounce back as Spring makes it's welcome way back into our lives early next year.