And I guess my point, Tim, is that we -as owners and restorers of these
cars - should do all we can to change that situation!
If we, the "experts", decry the high prices and tell the world at large that
these cars aren't worth but a fraction of the restoration costs, then who's
to argue with us? The cars will always be worth a lot less than it costs to
restore them.
If, on the other hand, we encourage people to buy cars for closer to what it
costs to restore them, we - as sometime sellers - win, there is more
incentive to restore cars properly in the knowledge that it'll be easier to
keep from getting upside-down, and the buyer of the higher-priced car will
have a greater appreciation of what he owns.
In the grand scheme of things, it's also fairer, as why should it be
possible for one person to buy for $20K what another spent $40 restoring?
Remember, market values are established by buyers and sellers; if some "Blue
Book" somewhere says a TC is only worth $15K, surely that doesn't mean that
we all have to sell our cars for that price, or give up restoring them
because they'll never be worth half what the job costs?
Just my 2 cents' worth, of course...........
Lawrie
British Sportscar Center
-----Original Message-----
From: Moorhead, Tim <TMoorhead@leapnet.com>
To: 'Lawrie Alexander' <Lawrie@britcars.com>
Cc: 'mg-t@autox.team.net' <mg-t@autox.team.net>
Date: Wednesday, August 16, 2000 7:57 AM
Subject: RE: TC Wanted
>Lawrie -
>
>Thanks for the reply.
>
>You use the words "professionally building" and cite a 40,000 figure. This
>doesn't mean that the car is worth that amount of money. I have found that
>one can get upside-down fairly quickly if one relies on others to do the
>restoration work. I worked at at a restoration shop here in Dallas from
>1995-1997, and during that time period we completed the restoration of
>several cars. One of which was a '71 MGB for a fellow who had owned the
car
>since new. He spent between $25,000 and $30,000 on the restoration. Does
>this mean that his B was worth that? Only to him. IMHO, his car was
worth,
>at best, $10,000, and then only to a select group of people.
>
>I have personally restored a TD and a TF to what I (and my fellow club
>members) would term "correct show quality", and didn't get upside-down on
>either of them. Some work was done "professionally" (machine shop, and
>paint/body) , but the remainder of the work (dis-assembly, re-assembly,
>mechanical, electrical, upholstery/top/tonneau) was completed by my
lonesome
>in my home garage. Many of our club members have completed " correct show
>quality" restorations, including body and paint work, without relying on
>"professionals".
>
>I guess my point is that many people seem to think their cars are worth
what
>they have invested in them, and in most cases, this just isn't realistic.
>
>Tim in Dallas
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Lawrie Alexander [SMTP:Lawrie@britcars.com]
>> Sent: Wednesday, 16 August, 2000 9:21
>> To: Moorhead, Tim
>> Cc: mg-t@autox.team.net
>> Subject: Re: TC Wanted
>>
>> And, yet, why is this? The present-day cost of professionally building a
>> correct "Show-quality" TC is about
>> $40,000. So, either there are great variations in peoples' ideas of what
>> really is "Show quality", or there are a lot of people around willing to
>> simply throw away the money they have invested in their TC restoration.
>>
>> Lawrie
>> British Sportscar Center
>>
>>
>
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