LHD Classics in the UK

Rob Gaskin

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
I thought I'd start this Thread because I think it's an interesting topic in relation to the Classic Car World and the trend to import cars from the drier countries.

So to start off:

Why convert a perfectly good original 'rust free' classic car to RHD when it's annual mileage in the UK will be very low?

Finance (investment)
Availability of crack-free dashboards
Safety
Convenience
Insurance
 
Dale

Dale

Club Member
Ringing? Or is that for a completely other thread? :D

Sorry Rob, I couldn't help myself :p
 
Alphabettispaghetti

Alphabettispaghetti

Club Member
Nice cars will be worth the same LHD or RHD, I'll go for the bigger market
In the real world insurance is the same, I can't see how they're more dangerous?
Convenience, yep, I can see that angle.
Originality? Not a chance really, unless its a proper race car/rally car that gets or needs to be 're-shelled' I don't know how a car can be classed as original?
 
jonbills

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
If you're living in a RHD market, given the choice of two otherwise identical cars at identical prices, you'd always take the RHD one, wouldn't you?
Therefore, RHD is worth more than LHD in an RHD market, and we're only talking about *how much* more RHD is worth than LHD.
If the difference in value is more than the cost of conversion, then it's worth converting.
 
johnymd

johnymd

Club Member
I think you could get away with driving a lhd car for a short time but it would become a real pain after a while. It looks to be quite easy to convert so why wouldn't you?
 
Alphabettispaghetti

Alphabettispaghetti

Club Member
johnymd said:
I think you could get away with driving a lhd car for a short time but it would become a real pain after a while. It looks to be quite easy to convert so why wouldn't you?
Click to expand...

If you've got an original car its no longer original I guess? I think its narrow minded to think of the market as UK only, its seriously limiting a target audience.

Its no more hassle to ship a car to europe than it is to another part of this country.

If I was viewing two cars that are the same in their originality(metal and VIN wise!) one LHD one RHD i'd take the RHD. The chance of finding one is next to impossible though, there just aren't any, well unless your name is Rob :)
 
atomman

atomman

Club Member
I really cant see the reason to convert a LHD car to RHD , surely if you convert a car its not original anymore ? so infact worth less ?

I have a had a few LHD and used them daily with out any issue, Ok it was a bit of a pain to get in the underground car park though,

The main attraction for me was that I could buy a LHD car from a dry state in the USA and have a car that needed a lot less welding than a UK car,

I never considered converting them to RHD though,
 
Mr HollowPoint

Mr HollowPoint

Well-Known Forum User
I believe there is a law that states something along the lines of "If the parts are available to convert a LHD to a RHD vehicle, it must be done, unless it can be proven, that to do so would seriously devalue the vehicle." I could just be talking ******** there, but I'm sure I remember it from my insurance training.

As for LHD/RHD insurance, LHD is loaded slightly more, because obtaining LHD parts in a RHD market is considered to be more expensive/difficult, but also because there's a reason that all LHD markets have you drive on the right and RHD markets have you drive on the left, so yes, it makes it more dangerous, lol.
 
STEVE BURNS

STEVE BURNS

Club Member
when I had a mustang years ago the only bit that annoyed me was when you dropped back from the car in front so you could see if it was OK to overtake the amount of times people used to overtake me and jump in the gap I had left
 
Peter Bartlett

Peter Bartlett

Active Forum User
I Have a converted, well nearly converted LHD and have discovered all sorts of weird things like the blower was connected to - nothing on the inlet side and the drivers side vent is missing, the wiring was extended with masking tape for the blower! I plan to take the wiring down to the minimum this winter, still have the seat belt warning wires trailing and not connected to much, as for the Tacho, just bought a new generic one and stuck it were the radio used to be.
 
Dale

Dale

Club Member
rahail240 said:
Why ringing with a conversion?
My current Z and I know Duncan @ Z Farm on a few of his have kept the u.s vin no.
Click to expand...

That was just an attemp at a wind up because of a heated thread around the time Rob created this thread, and not personal view of mine ;)
 
moggy240

moggy240

Insurance Valuations Officer
Staff member
Club Member
being as I have had rhd and lhd drive Datsuns I can say that there is not much difference between driving them apart from toll bridges etc.i do not agree that a lhd is more dangerous to drive as it is down to the driver and look at all the lhd HGVs on the roads.but given the choice I would prefer rhd over lhd car to drive but my mate said that he would never consider a lhd to drive, only rhd.the other thing to consider is that the UK cars were a better spec than the USA versions.
 
chrisvega

chrisvega

Well-Known Forum User
I think there is a significant difference in value between lhd and rhd cars in the UK, probably at least 30% for cars of equal condition.

Here's an example.
If such a thing exists ;) how much would a rhd, one owner, 99% rust free, original paint, low mileage 240Z sell for in the UK ? I would guess at least £ 20k, maybe more ?

If we agree that auction is the real arbiter of a car's true value at any moment in time then that exact car in ex-US and lhd guise sold at Silverstone Auctions Classic Race weekend end of July at £13.2k with auction premium.

Average US imports seem to sell around the £ 10-12k region on ebay. Similar average UK cars ( albeit with replacement steel rather than rust free original metal ) would fetch around £ 15-18k.

People are willing to pay that extra premium for rhd even though structurally the lhd cars are often much superior. That is the conundrum and why specialists such as Duncan at Z Farm has a steady stream of people wanting the rhd conversion.
 
Alphabettispaghetti

Alphabettispaghetti

Club Member
There's not really such thing in the uk, you'll be looking at £30k I guess for a 'perfect' example?

When my lhd cars restoration is finished and if I needed to sell I'd happily pass it on to someone in Europe to sell for a %commision. If expect to get within 5-10% of uk 'value', cost savings being the minimal amount of parts needed, added value being the originality (to a degree) of the car. That's where the value is to me.
 
A

andrew muir

Club Member
As from Friday the new Independant Scottish parliament is proposing switching to driving on the Right after full independance in the next few years.:D
 
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