Market Flood

[DF9053]

So 15 Minors for sale and that the ones we know about, pretty much a flood!

A number of these cars have been for sale for a good while, and whilst we can laugh at some of the prices some are in turn pretty good value.

There are also a large number of Morris 8's for sale, at quite high prices but again the adverts seem to hang around for a long time. What do they actually sell for?

Whats going on, is a similar thing happening to other pre war cars? It is just saloons? I have noticed a drop in the price of Riley's Monaco and Biaritz saloons in partiuclar now coming blow the £10k mark. Some lovely vintage Humber saloons well below £10k. Yet there seems no change in the prices of pre war MG's, original Riley sports models, A7 specials etc - if anything these seem to be forever going up!

Is it a reflection on the increasing difficulties of using these low powered cars on our busy fast moving roads full of capable modern cars driven by people with no patience or understanding and loads of rage.

Is it a generation thing, the older people who had our cars in thier youth are perhaps bailing out or stopping driving.

Is it the credit crunch impacting on the lower end of the market first?

Perhaps the Minor has not found a new niche in the way the A7 has, perhaps its not sporting enough with no sports version that was raced and rallied and thus fails to inspire the next generation of owners?

I am being a bit of a devils advocate, but this is a real problem that may leave us with cars that are decreasing in value, impossible to sell and becoming increasingly difficult to use. When will the legislation come that says we need a flashing orange light like a tractor, (after all some of those are faster), or worse still band from the main road network completely not because we are dangerous but because others can't drive safely around us!

Cheers
Jeremy

[chris lambert]

Make that 18 Jeremy, three more in this weeks Classic Car Weekly. As to why is anyones guess. A number of them are project cars that have never got under way and the owners are trying to offload. Others have been 'laid up' for a while, there are 2 or 3 that are newly rebuilt (e.g. the red Minor sports), a couple are for sale due to bereavements and so a whole gamut of reasons for 'getting rid'.
I would imagine the underlying reason is down to the current economic climate. Many of us just dont have the spare cash in our pockets to cope with spiralling energy costs, and so something has to go to make up the budget shortfall. Costly to run and maintain luxuries are first on the hit list (the wife goes next week!). As I keep mentioning, it is a very good time to be buying a Minor.
As to your other reasons, I am pretty certain they all play a part. What worries me is that there are not enough members of a younger generation coming along with an interest in Minors. That can't be said of Austin Sevens (also lots and lots of these for sale at the moment). Attending any VSCC meet, be it a trial, sprint, driving test or hillclimb, you will see many people in there 20's (and a good mix of male/female) driving A7s very vigorously, whilst there are very few young Minor drivers. This has got a lot to do with the car's 'visibility', cost and eligibility for competition within the VSCC. The removal of that particular obstacle will make a huge difference (in my opinion) to the future of the car, the VMR and to the average age of it's membership.
Chris

[Highlander]

Would you believe it? In todays VSCC Newsletter under Non-Eligible sales:- 1933 Morris Minor 4 seater (cut down saloon 1970) Reg VT 9329 - £4950 - Being sold by a Brian Woods 0113 285 4135 (West Yorkshire). Are there anymore Minors being sold today than say 3 years ago? When I advertised in Oct three years ago I had about a dozen replies - all between £3000 and £5500 (All sv as that was what I wanted). My fear is that as we all get older (I am 73) who is going to buy any of our vintage vehicles. My own daughters would not be seen dead in mine and although my granddaughter like being driven in them they would bot own, or want to own one. If you take the average 20 year old lad - they do not know how to maintain our older vehicles - when we were that ago we had to learn as we could not afford someone else to do it. The same applies to motor cycles. We are in for a crunch but why so many minors? In todays VSCC newsletter there are 12 cars for sale p all large HP except for a 1931 Austin 7 for £6900. Another worry is that all museums are full and will not accept any further cars for show, my best mate died and his widow asked Brooklands if they would look after it until the grandchildren were older, answer, sorry no room. This was a 1919 Grand-Prix Morgan which she sold to a well know dealer for 2 pence, and he sold it for a fortune - number as well!!!!!! Let us just enjoy what we have and hope our pensions last. Highlander.

[DF9053]

I would agree with Chris's comment about Austin 7's being used virously, but I don't think this can be placed at the VSCC's door. There are still at least four ohc saloons for sale, all VSCC eligible, just about the cheapest vintage car you can get and usable in a range of VSCC events both light car and main club - yet still no one is interested.

So is it a saloon thing, Riley 9 saloons and Humber saloons also being mentioned in my original post.

Have A7's reached that stage where there are so many specials and open versions that they get the younger interest, the saloon version of the A7 also perhaps being ignored ( or perhaps converted to a special) These A7's speicals are also cheaper than the Minor sports (sorry M type!) and the semi sports is still quite a rare beast.

So we should create a raft of Minor specials from the saloons and problem solved???!!!!

Cheers (very tongue in cheek)
Jeremy

[chris lambert]

Once again no argument about the difficulties faced in selling OHC Minor Saloons, S/V Minor saloons or pre war saloons of any variety. Not too many events that you can compete in with a Saloon (although I see the VSCC are re-examining this). Plenty of open Minors don't sell of either variety, mainly due to very optimistic price expectation levels from the sellers! Take a look on eBay and see how many A7's sell. A far greater percentage than the Minor. No doubt many reasons for this.
Chris

[Tony Gamble]

Jeremy

Many a true word !!

A shame to lose saloons , but if the needs must !

Tony G

[chris lambert]

Having checked the numbers there are just 15 Minors for sale (that I am aware of). Some cars, like the Stoke Family Eight crop up more than once and so got double counted.
In true Blue Peter fashion - here is a table I prepared earlier:

Year Body Location Price Private/Trade Comments
1930 Coachbuilt USA £8000 Private + shipping
1930 Coachbuilt Wilts £4995 Trade
1932 2 seat tourer Surrey £9995 Trade Ex Cornwall
1932 2 seat tourer Wilts £6995 Trade Needs finishing
1932 2 seat special £9995 Trade
1932 Family Eight Stoke £3495 Private Reliant engine
1932 2 seat tourer Yorkshire £8995 Trade D.T. Mathewson
1933 2 seat tourer W. Yorks £4995 Private Also in VSCC
1934 Saloon Kent £7500 Private eBay classified
1934 Saloon Liverpool £2000 Private eBay Buy it now
1930 Fabric Sal. E. Sussex No price Private VMR
1930 Fabric Sal. ? £3500 Private Project
1931 Fabric Sal. Brecon £7500 Private Pristine?
1932 Saloon Stoke £1300 Private Chassis project
1930 Fabric Sal. Birmingham £4500 Private VMR

Cars for sale by year: 5 x 1930, 1 x 1931, 6 x 1932, 1 x 1933, 2 x 1934
By model type: 10 x Saloons (4 x Fabric, 2 x Coachbuilt, 1 x Family Eight lwb, 3 x s/v saloons)
5 x open cars (4 x 2 seat tourers, 1 x 2 seat s/v special)
Price Average = £6K

It would appear that a Word table can't be inserted onto the forum as this is how it appears above. Sorry about that - but I think it is still readable.
Chris

[Toby]

I note that the saloon project from stoke wouldn't sell even though the value of parts far out weighed the price, this was advertised in cmm for about 6 months. Apart from that the rest for sale are probably not selling because of the silly prices! At the height of the car boom my dad got £7,000 for PJ which I bought back for under 5k and that was only because of the sentimental link, my saloon cost even less yet is probably a better car (although it's now reached the point where I can't afford to sell it due to the cost of fettling!). I consulted a valuer and his advice was 7k absolute tops for an immaculate sv tourer, where do they get 10k from? It's madness. My saloons previous owner pointed out the age of the car meant it couldn't be used in the rain and wasn't suitable for going far on todays roads (this was mainly due to sortable problems which I've been working my way through) add to this the lack of cheap and available parts plus the knack of driving a 3 speed crash car with central throttle and I'm not supprised there's less demand, especially with the rise in classic prices and popularity (look at the values of mk2 cortinas and anglias etc!). I enjoy the foibles of ancient machinery but it probably puts off others! The 8 is quite a usable beast and nowhere near as primitive as the minor, certainly it used to be a bog standard fun prewar car that could be owned and maintained by an enthusiast, if 8s are not as popular as they used to be then surely the minor is becoming an ancient relic by comparison? Maybe the rule is that you want the car of your childhood thus the desirable old cars are ones that are 40 years old? (doesn't explain the A7s though) We followed a 7 once and Linda and I discussed how flimsy it looked!!!

[DF9053]

I was talking to a friend in Ireland last night who tells of a sv Minor 1933 2 seater that has been for sale for 6 months or more, now at around £3,500. I know of another 1932 2 seater which may come on the market soon.

There does seem to be a link between advertised price and length of time on the market. We also don't have much solid info on what the cars actually sell for.

I have also spoken with a couple of dealers - Minors are not good sellers! If you trade in then expect the price to be low.

Looking on number plate sites a two letter four number issue like DF9053 seems to be advertised for about £2-2.5k

The engine rebuild for a Minor costs £3k maybe more, as Toby says why are whole running/MOT'd cars worth less than the parts. I have had little trouble selling the spares advertised through this forum, in fact some I could have sold many times so it looks like ohc saloons are worth more as a collection of spares and number plate donors!

[dixiedog]

Hello all,

We have our problems using early cars here in the States, but I find most drivers (at least on the weekend) are supportive of our reduced speeds. I admit that this may be a function of reduced traffic density here, but I know there are areas in the U.K. where the fastest thing going is a tractor. The value or sales price really are not the basis for owning the cars. The society of the owners and friends who love these little cars are to be enjoyed, money is secondary. If you are worried about the future of the cars and want to bring younger folks along, invite them. Many of you remember when the cars were used daily; sometimes you can gin up interest by telling stories to which younger persons can relate! Many a pair of younger folks have enjoyed our M type and I hope to entice more with the Minor. At shows or during a drive I invite them to sit in the car. At least two of these folks have purchased early English cars because of interest generated by this sort of thing.
Trade on what my wife calls "the cute factor".
Don't give up now, as I hope to meet some of you next summer....!