| Author | Message | ||
     Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 648 Registered: 2-2013 |
Jetsetters and fellow scalliwags. There is this marvellous young dealer in Beverley Hills who is doing the Gullwing two step and probably sleeping in a fevourish state saturating his bed pillow with sweat and sleeping lightly with his hand firmly attached to a 357 Desert Eagle. As we speak he is offering, bless his heart, a magnificent 1971 RR Corniche Convertible in kak Red. For a slight twig under $16,000 USD you can purchase this car or at least part of it together with a mind blowing amount of rust. Trust me its a plum. Nowhere does he announce that he has the rest of the car. And this is not the only bargain he has for sale, for indeed he has in his amazing inventory some vehicles that have been superbly looked after possibly by nefarious crustations 20 metres under San Francisco Bay. This raises the question as to why does he advertise such astounding merchandise at chemically insane prices. Because gentlemen and foxy pups he KNOWS about the DREAM. He knows that there are men out there with the cash to buy top shelf basket cases which will inevitably cost them double the price of a good car to put the dream right. Its nasty, true and thoroughly horrid but such is human nature I guess. Errkkk!! | ||
| Omar M. Shams Grand Master Username: omar Post Number: 928 Registered: 4-2009 |
We all need to resist the temptation of buying basket cases that end up costing more than good cars. These basket cases will make good pools of spares for the rest of the good cars. I will admit that i struggle with this concept. I need therapy here. | ||
| richard george yeaman Grand Master Username: richyrich Post Number: 664 Registered: 4-2012 |
Vladimir Omar thank goodness there are people left to fix these basket cases, the so called good cars usually end up being owned by people who wouldn't know a trunnion from a rat trap and spend all their time polishing the paint away, never spending any time with a grease gun in their hand. Richard. | ||
| Christian S. Hansen Grand Master Username: enquiring_mind Post Number: 440 Registered: 4-2015 |
Richard... Valdimir can certainly speak for himself, but I believe that the point was that it is unarguable that restorations are vastly expensive unless you are working for free (ask Chris Brown) and generally consume $2+ for every $1 of resale value created, so the additional point is that it is fortunate that there are wealthy people out there willing to do that. Almost every quality auto auction has the "body off" or "rotisserie" restoration costing $200,000 and then the car sells for under $100,000. On the one hand, it is convenient for the buyer that someone did this, but from another perspective, it is a bit of an indulgence, and from another, an inefficient application of assets...money...unless you have so much you don't know what to do with it anyway, in which case, restore another!! . | ||
| Robert Noel Reddington Grand Master Username: bob_uk Post Number: 1212 Registered: 5-2015 |
A comment from a guy at our local Austin Seven club. old cars seem to need restoring every 10 years. Maybe Crewe cars are better made but its either use it and wear it out or store car in garage and the car wears itself out. The old car industry is worth billions world wide, a lot like me have earned a living from it so not entirely a waste of time. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 2138 Registered: 6-2009 |
Bob wrote, of someone else saying, "Old cars seem to need restoring every 10 years." To which I respond, seriously, "No, a certain kind of old car owner develops shipwright's disease about once every 10 years for the vehicles that have their focus." Of course, I don't take the word "restoration" to mean doing major maintenance or overhauls of things like engines that, when of a certain era, needed the same treatment when new. That's just doing necessary repairs and caretaking. It's also interesting to see how restoration has, and quite consistently, gone well beyond "bringing it back to its original state when new, and wandered into "make it as though it were manufactured using modern methods 'perfection'." Brian |
