SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
Yep, so I don't reckon that is expensive especially when you know what has been done and how....and maybe the buyer is a bodyman anyway ! Hopefully it'll crop up here and his name isn't Don.
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240Z on ebay
- Thread starter IbanezDan51
- Start date
Yep, so I don't reckon that is expensive especially when you know what has been done and how....and maybe the buyer is a bodyman anyway ! Hopefully it'll crop up here and his name isn't Don.
Alphabettispaghetti
Club Member
It'd be interesting to see what it ends up being like after its been blasted etc.
Given the amount of panels you seem to be able to buy now, it might be cheaper than it use to be to restore, hopefully might lower prices a little also.
Given the amount of panels you seem to be able to buy now, it might be cheaper than it use to be to restore, hopefully might lower prices a little also.
IbanezDan51
Well-Known Forum User
Im not sure it would only cost 20K to restore this unless you did everything yourself? And if you did would it be a 50K car unless you had the ability to do everything perfect?
A good paintjob will cost near half of that resto cost...add to that the costs welding/panels, an engine/box rebuild, new glass, new bumpers, new wiring, restoring the interior to its original glory (remember you're aiming for a 50k car here...) and what about all the mechanically worn out components (suspension, fuel tank. brakes etc etc). I could probably do it all myself as a hobbyist for 15k.
Dan
Seikoking
Well-Known Forum User
This certainly made more than I expected it to, but if you want a RHD 240Z your choices are somewhat limited. It was clear that at least 2 bidders fell into that bracket so the price just kept going up. 17-23k in last hour or so
When you’ve got your heart set on something and have the funds available I guess the “sensible” price goes out of the window and sometimes you just have to pay what it takes. The restoration will be expensive, but the car appeared complete and is desirable in the U.K. market being a RHD model. With the talk of a LHD to RHD conversion for a US import being c.10k would the equivalent LHD car be a sensible price at £13k. Maybe, maybe not!
If the decision was made rationally based on costs alone, my opinion would be that they’ve paid too much. However these decisions are as emotional as they are financial for many, and I like that, it great to know these old Datsuns create such interest I wish the buyer luck with it, hopefully we’ll see on these pages in the near future with a plan for the resto.
When you’ve got your heart set on something and have the funds available I guess the “sensible” price goes out of the window and sometimes you just have to pay what it takes. The restoration will be expensive, but the car appeared complete and is desirable in the U.K. market being a RHD model. With the talk of a LHD to RHD conversion for a US import being c.10k would the equivalent LHD car be a sensible price at £13k. Maybe, maybe not!
If the decision was made rationally based on costs alone, my opinion would be that they’ve paid too much. However these decisions are as emotional as they are financial for many, and I like that, it great to know these old Datsuns create such interest I wish the buyer luck with it, hopefully we’ll see on these pages in the near future with a plan for the resto.
It is quite staggering what people will pay for 'old' cars. It doesn't make sense to a lot of people including my eldest lad who would compare what he could buy for £23k with a rusty old non-running car for the same figure.I bought my 370Z for £24k when it was 1 year old. It had only done 1,000 miles (yes 1,000) and the guy had lost £10k. It was like a new car. I ran it as my daily driver for 5 years and put 80k miles on it but it was still in superb condition. When I sold it for practical reasons I could only get £12k and this seemed very cheap when I compared it to my 240Zs. That 370Z will be worth very little now but the 240Zs have increased in value by quite a percentage.
Will the bubble burst? There has been talk of introducing 'capital gains tax' on old cars - if that happened I'm sure these current values would drop like a stone.
The price paid for a lot of Classic/Vintage Cars does not relate to their 'worth' but to their investment potential, but perhaps not for the 240Z on ebay unless it's just dry stored.
ps I wonder if 370Zs will appreciate at some point?
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uk66fastback
Club Member
When I bought my '66 fastback as a shell in 2006 I paid £7k for it and that was about the going rate. '67/68s were a few thousand more. I wish I had bought a RHD 240Z back then ... !
SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
Dream on lad !
Because you'd habe been quoted a price with the importers (huge) margin. When one leaves ones' comfort zone and buys direct from the USA, you can save a lot of money - €20k will get you a great post-71 car !
Shaun, those 240’s were in France, Netherlands and Germany so import duties already paid. They were also LHD.
SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
Why hopefully lower prices ?
Do Porsche owners wish that their prices were lower, or Jag E-Types ?
What's wrong with owners here and why are high prices frowned upon when, at the same time, most of you go lush over an MZR ?
I bet most of you under-value your Z in whatever state it stands in today....it disappoints me to read anyone still wanting our cars to be 'cheap' !
SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
LHD isn't an issue as you were comparing to LHD imports via the UK AND you live in France so LHD is a plus !
I quoted importers' margins, not maritime transport and import duties that everyone has to pay.
If you want your moneys' worth you either buy from the States and do/manage the work locally OR, as you mentioned, go see yourself within Europe (or the UK) a restored car.
And please, my name is spelt Sean - what's yours ?
Alphabettispaghetti
Club Member
Too many speculators and people just wanting to make a few quick ££££. I've said it before, the best/coolest car MZR have is the genuine ZG. I'd give my right testicle for that.
richiep
Club Member
High prices are all well and good if you are an existing owner and have one eye on selling at some point. Or like to bask in the glory of your own foresight. But they lead to a car becoming an asset rather than something to be enjoyed and also vastly decrease the base of potential owners. It’s becoming exclusionary. You end up with a ownership class consisting of well-off Boomers and Gen-X, while accessibility for younger, and/or less cash-rich enthusiasts turns to dust. It is already happening. While they revere S30s in the JDM scene, few will afford them and they become elitist items. The Z up until relatively recently was an “everyman’s” sportscar - a niche, semi-secret delight that most enthusiasts could get hold of if inclined. Not so anymore.
When I got my FairladyZ, I was in my 20s. It was an affordable £5750 for a running, driving, presentable RHD car. Very few 20-somethings have the money or interest to commit to something like an S30 now, and if they do, it’ll be at the rough end to restore or they will go for something more modern.
Even now in my 40s, there’s no way I’d be buying a 30-50k Z. I don’t have the cash and the wife and kids would shoot me. If financing that size of purchase, it’s more likely to get past the “boss” for something with practical family utility - which is why I’m nurturing the plan to get a 5.0 V8 Mustang in the next year or two! 4 seats!
Bottom-line: IMO ever higher prices ruins the hobby and related community and will actually shrink it rather than grow it. People should be looking for a balance and common sense, where good cars get good money, and the shit doesn’t. And projects remain sensible.
When I got my FairladyZ, I was in my 20s. It was an affordable £5750 for a running, driving, presentable RHD car. Very few 20-somethings have the money or interest to commit to something like an S30 now, and if they do, it’ll be at the rough end to restore or they will go for something more modern.
Even now in my 40s, there’s no way I’d be buying a 30-50k Z. I don’t have the cash and the wife and kids would shoot me. If financing that size of purchase, it’s more likely to get past the “boss” for something with practical family utility - which is why I’m nurturing the plan to get a 5.0 V8 Mustang in the next year or two! 4 seats!
Bottom-line: IMO ever higher prices ruins the hobby and related community and will actually shrink it rather than grow it. People should be looking for a balance and common sense, where good cars get good money, and the shit doesn’t. And projects remain sensible.
tyroguru
Club Member
Sounds like a great plan Richie! I had to wait until I hit 50 and the boss cracked and decided that it would be OK to have a car with 2 seats (we are fortunate enough to have other cars but the kids are 21 now anyway). I jumped on her weakness and bought a 718 Cayman GTS. For me, it's fabulous beyond words.
richiep
Club Member
In my case, the first Z pre-dated the kids so easy to get away with! The second because I managed to save enough of a slush fund for a project car (and had been buying parts for years before actually having the car itself) and the idea of family outings with two Zs in convoy with a kid in each (my kids are only 6 and 9)! Maybe in the end, one of the two will make way for something like a C10 Skyline, although without giving my career trajectory a boot up the arse (and I don't particularly want to slide back into all that corporate climbing bullshit - which I f##king hate tbh), their prices - even as projects - may prove my undoing!
toopy
Club Member
Plus the inevitable insurance restrictions and cost thereof for high value cars/assets, leading to less and less cars being driven on the public roads because owners are too scared to use them/leave them parked somewhere!
SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
The speculators will come and go and it's a lot easier today to avoid them than was the case before internet and they WERE being imported by professionals even then....perhaps before a lot of people on this forum had their driving licence, let alone the thought to own a Z.
The (not MZR but Rahails' personal car) ZG is a personal import and not relevant to this conversation.