Vitesse convertible values

[1904vitesse]

Is it not time that the values of Vitesse Convertibles are re-vamped, the reason I say this is that one has not long sold at auction

in america for over £17,000. I know there will be a few that wont want the values to go to high because this would take the car

out of reach for a lot of people, but surely this now sets the bench mark for concourse cars.

I personally believe that each classic has its time when it joins the next level in the world of classic cars and as such all owners

should embrace this and price their car accordingly regardless of weather it puts the value out of reach to others.

 

[mishmosh]

Good point. Generally we have seen the small chassis cars going up. Especially gt6 and early heralds. Could be an interesting few yrs.

[Gary Flinn]

I've been watching the values with interest over the past few months as I'm thinking of selling mine?

 

Recently on E-Bay a fully professionally restored 2 Litre was up for £20k and I've seen a couple of nice Mk2's for sale around the £10K mark, which is around Dealer price values for nice ones.

 

I've got mine agreed Value insured for £13K and hope to get someone near this figure when I decide to sell it.

 

When you factor in the costs of Labour alone, to fully restore a basket case one could easily exceed £20K with the Parts to be added on top!

 

When I restored mine back in 2002 I ended up spending over £13K on Parts and the Respray, this doesn't take into account all my time, I must have spent near on 2,000 Man hours over a four and a half year period!

 

I'm hoping to get a TR5 or TR250, the values of those two model really have gone up dramatically recently   

 

You only have to look at Escorts, Capri's and Mini's to see the small Chassis Triumph's are bargains in comparison.   

[1904vitesse]

This is one for the club, could the values of these cars be re-looked into and then adjusted. If this was done as a club then

wouldn't the people who put values on classic cars ie classic car mag have to look at their valuations ?

[alstrMK]

didn't Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall drive one of these in his River Cottage program? did that put the values up or down? 

[Colin Lindsay]

Thora Hird drove a Herald, but it didn’t cause a massive surge in sales..

 

However: this is a thought-provoking sentence from 1904Vitesse: "I personally believe that each classic has its time when it joins the next level in the world of classic cars and as such all owners

should embrace this and price their car accordingly regardless of weather it puts the value out of reach to others."

 

A car is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, so we can talk figures all day long, but it’s sales that count. Prices of our cars are up as other Marques become too expensive for the lower end of the market. It’s a knock-on effect; if Triumphs become too expensive then prospective owners will move on to something cheaper; we’re left with cars that swallowed huge amounts of money on rebuilds but won’t reach anywhere near that on resale. It’s another boom-and-bust, like we saw back in the 1990s. Cars become more expensive to buy so become more desirable to restore rather than scrap; prices go up, they end up in the hands of speculators and rich collectors and everyday enthusiasts pass them by, so sales slow and prices drop. Even adverts on eBay are reaching funny money; why pay £5- or £6000 for a Herald when you can pay £2000 or less and still get a good one? 

Incidentally Hugh Robert’s Vitesse was priced over £20000 back in the 1990s when he built it, but it doesn’t mean they were all worth that.

[1904vitesse]

While I agree with some of what Colin has said I cannot agree with everything. " if Triumphs become too expensive then prospective owners will move on to something cheaper; we’re left with cars that swallowed huge amounts of money on rebuilds but won’t reach anywhere near that on resale." If this was the case then owners of good tr5, tr6, e-types, and numerous other makes would be stuck with there cars but this does not seem to be the case. Even when there was a boom and bust economy in the 90s the bust did not last long as prices in classic cars started to rise and overtake the prices they had reached at their peak. Properly restored cars will always sell, they just don't change hands as much as the more poorly treated ones due to people thinking they can buy a "good" one cheap and then realise that they need to spend a lot more money in up keep.

Oh and please excuse my ignorance but who is or was Hugh Robert ?

[Gary Flinn]

Hugh Roberts was involved with the TSSC way back in the 80's & 90's.

 

The Dolphin Grey Vitesse Mk1 Convertible in the Club Museum was restored by him in the Late 80's early 90's and was a Autoglym Concours finalist and winner back then?

 

I can honestly say it is probably one of the best & most Originally restored Vitesse's in the World!

 

Howard Jones Mk2 Convertible from the same period is a close second though.

 

I've admired Hugh's Vitesse on numerous occasions at thr Club HQ.

 

He also used to help out at SW Classics down in Devon who had a good reputation for restoring Triumphs and did the Practical Classic Vitesse & TR6 Resorations.

 

I believe he retired abroad somewhere?

[1904vitesse]

Thanks for the info, sounds like a superb car.