88v8 Ivor Duarte Gloucestershire UK (1041 posts) Registered: 02/11/2010 04:29AM Main British Car: 1974 Land Rover Lightweight V8 |
Mean green TR6 machine
First TR6 I ever saw with a chopped screen.
Guess he doesn't intend driving in the rain. With that trans and rear end, it's going to be revving its nuts off, methinks. [www.ebay.co.uk] Lot of work gone into that car. Ivor |
Moderator Curtis Jacobson Portland Oregon (4576 posts) Registered: 10/12/2007 02:16AM Main British Car: 71 MGBGT, Buick 215 |
Re: Mean green TR6 machine
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88v8 Ivor Duarte Gloucestershire UK (1041 posts) Registered: 02/11/2010 04:29AM Main British Car: 1974 Land Rover Lightweight V8 |
Re: Mean green TR6 machine
Gosh. I can see why he's looking for such a high starting bid.
Wonder what he'll do for an encore.... I don't think it will be finding its way to my garage, alas. SWMBO wouldn't go for the colour, and there's nowhere to put the camping gear. Ivor |
motek George Smathers Spokane, WA (118 posts) Registered: 09/12/2009 02:45PM Main British Car: 1967 Morris Minor (48 hp @ crank!), 1971 TR6 302 |
Re: Mean green TR6 machine
Nice build. Isn't this the Portland car that was for sale last year for a ridiculously low 12K? Wasn't the board's take that he could get more if he hadn't changed the body?
George |
88v8 Ivor Duarte Gloucestershire UK (1041 posts) Registered: 02/11/2010 04:29AM Main British Car: 1974 Land Rover Lightweight V8 |
Re: Mean green TR6 machine
Mmmm, don't remember that, but I'm sure it's true that if one alters the coachwork, the chances of finding a buyer tend to diminish exponentially. Even bumpers on or bumpers off, can attract or deter.
And then, few of us have the faciities to 3D-model coachwork changes, consequently, modifications all too easily fail to fully meet their creator's vision and aspirations when applied in the metal. Again, there's the matter of individuality and taste: How often does one drive around the suburbs and contemplate with approval the various DIY 'improvements' home-owners have inflicted on their real estate? Alas, regardless of fabrication skills, the same tends to be true of aesthetic changes to cars. What floats one person's boat, sinks another's. And a car with a chopped and blended screen and minimal tail-lights is pretty much track-day & strip only. So there's a teentsy cohort of buyers before you start. Not to mention the front spoiler and speed humps. If this has been a standard looking car with those mechanicals, one of the 1,100 people who have so far viewed it, would have bid. Perhaps even me. But it is what it is, and there's always the thought at the back of one's mind, that one day one may need to resell it. To whom???.... So, while I love the workmanship that has gone into this example, I, like you, suspect that its marketabiity will not have been enhanced by the revisions to the bodywork. When he built it, I'm sure that was far from his thoughts. He built what he wanted, with no thought that he might ever sell it. I admire that. But now, he wants or needs to sell it. Remember how Rick Vandenberg struggled to sell his car, and that had a roof and door handles. Hmmmm. Ivor |
Moderator Curtis Jacobson Portland Oregon (4576 posts) Registered: 10/12/2007 02:16AM Main British Car: 71 MGBGT, Buick 215 |
Re: Mean green TR6 machine
Thinking of these cars as investments is one way to drain the fun out of them, and IMHO it's detrimental to the hobby.
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88v8 Ivor Duarte Gloucestershire UK (1041 posts) Registered: 02/11/2010 04:29AM Main British Car: 1974 Land Rover Lightweight V8 |
Re: Mean green TR6 machine
Yes. And the same goes for 'classics' in general. If we worried that we'll never get back the money we spend on our cars, let alone the time, we'd never start.
I suppose what I'm saying about this aspect and this car, or cars of this nature, with a standard car one has some idea of its market value, and one knows that there's a body of potential buyers out there. With a car such as this one has no idea of the value, and one knows it will be hard to re-sell. Taken together, this deters some potential buyers. Over here at present, there are a lot of Custom cars for sale. I bet there are more on Car&Classic and eBay right now, than over the whole of 2011 and 2010. Sign of the times. Each represents one man's dream, created for or by someone with much toil & sweat &/or much money. But we all have our own dreams, we don't necessarily want to buy someone else's, and the unifying theme of these cars is that they don't sell. Auction with Reserve, don't reach the reserve. Then they appear again, BIN + offer. Then again as Classifieds. Round and round like a bad penny. No sort of 'investment', too right. But the simple fact is, if & when the time comes to convert our dreams into cash, it's not so easy to do. I spent, oooh, 30,000 hours (thirty thousand) of my life restoring and improving our previous Period house (disregarding maintenance, that was additional). When we came to sell it after 30 years, were we inundated with buyers? Plenty of people said how wonderful it was and how they enjoyed seeing it and how unique, blahdiblah, but.... did they want to buy it..... nooooo. It was our dream, not theirs. In the end, if we got a premium at all, it was minimal. In fact, I'd say it was probably harder to sell than a 'standard' house, and I fear that the buyer is busy undoing much of my work, not that I want to know. We enjoyed living there, I mostly enjoyed creating it, it's just galling when one comes to sell. As you say, no sort of investment. Will he find someone to share his dream of the mean green TR6 machine.... Ivor |
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Re: Mean green TR6 machine
I agree with Curtis that it is better not to look at restoring and modifying these cars as an investment for two reasons:
It takes the fun out of it. The cool thing about restoring and hotrodding old British sportscars is the process of restoration/modification. The second aspect is the enjoyment of driving the car. You cannot place an economic value on these things. If it cost you $40000.00 to build the car and it sells for $25000.00 then you can write off the $15000.00 as the cost of having fun!! The other way of looking at it is that you buy a new sportscar for $40000.00 and after you have owned it for a number of years you sell it for $25000.00. For the most part automobiles are very poor investments. If you can get your hands on a valuable classic and restore it you have a chance of recouping your money but little chance of the time you put into it. Somewhere out there someone will see the value of the "Green Machine" and will buy it. The kicker is that this is not a good time to be selling such a car as the economy is not doing well. Cheers Byron |
88v8 Ivor Duarte Gloucestershire UK (1041 posts) Registered: 02/11/2010 04:29AM Main British Car: 1974 Land Rover Lightweight V8 |
Re: Mean green TR6 machine
Including no bids from us on here. An ungrammatical thought, but we know what I mean.
Relisted, here. [www.ebay.co.uk] His pics on this website were better, of which I have reminded him. Ivor |
Moderator Curtis Jacobson Portland Oregon (4576 posts) Registered: 10/12/2007 02:16AM Main British Car: 71 MGBGT, Buick 215 |
Re: Mean green TR6 machine
If I were posting a car like this on eBay, I'd prominently feature a link to BritishV8.
Yes, cars usually do look better here than they do on eBay. More importantly, the link would show that there's a thriving community of like-minded people (and vendors) here to support the new owner after their investment. |
88v8 Ivor Duarte Gloucestershire UK (1041 posts) Registered: 02/11/2010 04:29AM Main British Car: 1974 Land Rover Lightweight V8 |
Re: Mean green TR6 machine
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