> there's no
> reason why a properly done home restoration shouldn't be worth a price
that
> represents all the labor that's gone into them.
Perhaps not, but that is often the case. It would be easy to put $30K into
a Lotus Europa for which you could only get 8K. On the other hand, a Lotus
Super Seven might be easier to restore and could easily get over 20K at sale
time.
Cars are not worth what you have in them. Cars are worth what someone will
pay for them. With all the cars for sale in the USA, it seems unlikely to
me that there would be a rush to buy a TR250 for $26,000. Even if the buyer
was set on a TR250, there are fine examples available for less than this.
I have worked the bottom end of toy cars. I have sold a Sonett in which I
had about 900 dollars for 1,500 dollars. I have sold a Spridget in which I
had about 1,500 for 2,500 dollars.
Although my TR4 is not a concours car, I have substantially more in it than
in those fun-to-drive scruffy autocross cars. I have no plans to sell, but
I realize that I may not recover my investment. The payoff is in the
pleasure of sharing the Triumph with my lovely wife.
I have about $6K in the Lotus. Whether I was to sell it as is or fix up the
body, I might never break even. If I was to do a full resto on it, I would
be guaranteed to lose a bundle.
So it goes.
Phil Ethier West Side Saint Paul Minnesota USA
1970 Lotus Europa, 1992 Saturn SL2, 1986 Suburban, 1962 TR4 CT2846L
pethier@isd.net http://www.mnautox.com/ http://www.vtr2002.org
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