Hi,
I might add something here.
I have a friend that restores Triumphs as his sole-source of income. In
order to determine the selling price for one of his cars, he uses the list
price of the Miata as a starting point. The rational - a TR6 is most likely
not more valuable (right now) than a Miata - and - his prospective buyers
indicate that if the selling price were higher, then they would go buy a
Miata.
I agree that buyers fall into two categories: those with money (they buy
the car and have someone else service it) and those without money. The
latter group may start off paying for the services of others but then
realize that this is a very expensive proposition for an older car. The
reality is that an old car needs work done to it... Now, the latter group
might eventually decide that paying someone to do the work makes the car
too expensive - at that point they either give up (in disgust) or they
start figuring out how to do the work themselves.
As for the "disgust" group, I have seen some unbelievable cases where a
person has spent $10k (or more!) and then give up on the car. In one case,
the owner dumped the car for <$2500! Wow.
But if you figure that a lot of folks pay garages $35 per hour for labor
and a lot of jobs on these cars take lots of hours, then it is really easy
to spend a lot of money on them.
For me, it is worth spending the time and the money. For others it is not
justified. They go buy the Miata if they are smart and people like me buy
their Triumphs when the others figure out that they are in too deep.
However, if I had more money, I'd have more Triumphs, not a Miata. Not yet,
anyway - I still like working on my cars (when I have the time).
So be it.
rml
TR6's
|