John A. Simmons wrote:
>I for one am glad to see the high prices for
>fine cars, maybe we are starting to get some
>respect and Moss Motoring Mag will start giving
>some of the space to Triumphs that they always
>reserve for MGs. Besides our cars are priceless!
There's only one group of folks who ALWAYS want the prices of classic sports
cars to rise - auctioneers and dealers (you can't make much of a living by
taking 10% of the sale price of $1000 cars).
For everyone else, hopefully including most of the contributors to this
list, there's but a single moment in time when we'd like Triumph prices to
be high - the moment we decide to sell our cars. I'd no more sell my TR6
than I'd sell my first-born child and, as far as I'm concerned, the only
GOOD reason to sell a Triumph is to raise the money to buy another one!
Getting a high price for the car you sell doesn't mean much if you have to
pay an equally high price for your NEXT Triumph.
IMHO the reason that restored Healeys sell for roughly twice the price of
TRs is largely a function of the cost of parts. I happen to be very fond of
Healeys (a 100-6 was my very first car), but it's hard to justify $20,000
for a car that's barely "decent" - and even harder to justify spending $1000
for a replacement front fender . . .
And besides, every time the price of Triumphs (and Triumph parts) goes up,
the number of people who can afford to restore and maintain them will go
down. Not a good thing.
Jim Hill
SpyderWeb Vintage Racing
Madison WI
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