To all,
I don't know... this is all so relative. For $32,000 you can go out and buy
some piece of shit Taurus. The again, you can go out and by a ten year old
Miata for next to dirt these days... and that Miata's a hell of a car of
course Frank, the Japanese soul was lifted straight from the Brits...).
If you're in it for the love of the car, you should appreciate the fact
that the rest of the world isn't smart enough to realize the value of a
Sprite. If you're into Sprites because you hope to make money on turning
them, you've made a poor choice... much better ways to lose or make money.
The prices of these cars will grow gradually... yet will most likely still
be a relative bargain.
Intererstingly ... Garafalo's car was parked near "the Bishop" at the 1992
Breckenridge meet.
(see http://www.thicko.com/bishop.htm )
Both cars are Leaf Green. Concours judges went back and forth a number of
times to see the unmolested, unrestored condition of the Bishop as they
judges his car. I remember the seats in his car appeared to have a slightly
differnt pattern to the vinyl, and had way too much blue in them.
Neverless... it was a stunning car... and worth many dollars.
If I was selling... (and I never am...)$15,000 wouldn't even turn my head
for the Bishop.
WST
Flounder
Team Thicko
----- Original Message -----
From Mike Maclean <macleans at earthlink.net>
To: Ron Soave <soavero@yahoo.com>
Cc: Wiedemeyer <boxweed@thebest.net>; spridgets list
<spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2000 12:25 PM
Subject: Re: Concours values (was Re: '61 Sprite Value
> Ron,
> I saw Rob's Bugeye just before he sold it at auction last year. It
> was a very, very well done restoration. His attention to detail was
> fanatical to say the least. He had been obtaining parts for a concours
> restoration for 25 years. He had ALL NOS parts on that car.
> Damn few repro parts, maybe some of the rubber ones. Interesting
> though, is that he really had to sell it as soon as possible when he
> noticed the seams and some surfaces were beginning to show rust from his
> acid dip a couple of years earlier. This did not show from the outside
> which is why it went to auction for sale. By the way I have those 40
> year old
> Dunlop tires he had on it in 1992 when he had it judged Gold Level. He
> sold them to me for $150.00 and the "cracks" in the sidewalls are many
> and rather large. The whitewall was added after he obtained them. Not
> as original on the export cars. So, not everything is as it appears.
> Unless it actually did come out of a "time machine" I don't think there
> is ANY Sprite, Bugeye or not that is worth $15,000. I have much more
> than that in my Bugeye restoration (the body work cost half of what was
> invested in this restoration), but I'd be lucky to see $15,000 for mine.
>
> Mike MacLean-60 Sprite
>
> Ron Soave wrote:
>
> > Interesting thread (again). The way I look at it,
> > there are 3 types of cars - perfect true concours
> > quality, cars that are sound body wise,
> > and...everything else, which will need tons of time
> > and $$$. I'm of Bob's mind(?) when it comes to
> > Concours cars' values. Most cars "in-between" usually
> > need everything in a short time period anyway. That's
> > why some of these $7,000 ebay Sprites are to me
> > foolish buys. They may appear sound, but what you
> > can't see can hurt a whole lot. Go in assuming you'll
> > need several thousand to make it right enough to drive
> > safely. I remember a year or so ago Rob Garofalo's
> > Bugeye that was featured in Road and Track was at a
> > dealer's for $25,000. Gold level concours, rubber mat
> > interior, original tires. The only points he lost in
> > Concours were for cracks in the sidewalls of the -0-
> > mile tires. So unless you had a time machine and
> > could buy tires from 1958 brand new, you could not
> > find a more perfect car. How much would you pay if
> > there were a BMC dealer in town selling brand new
> > Bugeyes? I'd probably pay $15 to $20K. Because there
> > isn't such a thing, I'd probably have tried to
> > negotiate on Rob's car a little, but paid close to
> > $25K if I had that kind of disposable income.
> >
> > Whatever, it's finally not raining, Little League game
> > to coach....
> >
> > =====
> > Ron Soave
> > '60 Bugeye
> > '72 BGT
> > '87 325iS
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints!
> > http://photos.yahoo.com
>
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