Having been years since my E-type ownership, I now long for an example. I had six of them over the years, and still remember the good times they gave me.
Prices are high. Some models may be near plateau others probably have more room to increase.
Decide on a budget or model youāre after and see where that takes you 
Best!
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Buy what you can afford and feel comfortable withā¦I would stay away from projects, or barn finds. I would look for a car with only a few owners, well kept paper work, in other words, all the things you already know . I would demand that you be allowed to study the car up on a lift for as long as you want, a nice long drive, including a bit of stop and go to see how warm it gets, and once you find something you like, send an oil sample out for a complete oil analysis. Price will become secondary in your decision, because at the end of the day, you get what you pay for . Best of luck !
JJ
All mine were sixes, as the newest was a 69. I do not care for the v-12ās and the complexity they have, but in a pinch, I would buy one if need be. All of mine were 4 speeds.
So true for any car, and I have purchased a lot of cars in my lifetime. Mechanicals are the devil for many, but I can take the lumps that comes from that area. The main thing is the body, and how much rust and if any has been fixed properly. I agree on putting one of these up on a lift.
No comment!
Beautiful car. No doubt worth some serious coin to someone who wants that vintage, that color, and of course a drop top. But it seems to me, any only one mans opinion, that this car was allowed to become junk, restored, then run down till it needed restoration againā¦then allowed once more to deteriorate, and run through the resto process yet again !! Lovely looking E, but I might suggest that she is an old girl, in a new prom dress. No doubt she has very old and tired bones. But hope it will finally find a new home .
JJ
With due deference, WTF makes this car worth more than any other off-the-line '61?
Did I miss something added/special equipment, or was it just one of the first 92?
I think itās just a RHD OBL OTS in OSB. Itās special edition because it has 4(TLAs). Mine has a measly 2(TLAs) in resale red.
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There is a premium on certain E-Types. Very early cars command a high premium regardless of their condition, as these are the cars most sought after for private (and not so private) collections. Cars prepared and modified by Eagle also command a premium, currently up to double the value of an equivalent non-Eagle car. The demand for these cars is sufficient for the general E-Type market to remain bouyant.
However, much of the money chasing the higher value cars is HNW individuals looking for high returns on capital. The consequence is prices inflated above what the genuine enthusiast would pay. In the last two years I have watched several long term E-type owners see the signs and take the plunge. One car, bought for Ā£40k 20 years ago was sold for Ā£275k. Others have converted 30 and 40 year owership into a healthy cash balance. The reason given by one owner, who had owned his car for longer than heād been married, was that he was using it less and less, and was becoming more concerned about not getting home than enjoying his car.
Will this last? Certaily not. But when will the correction happen? There are so many reasons why a correction will happen, but little indication that it is happpenening yet. Reasons why include several oxymorons : Trumpian economic growth; benefits of Brexit; populism in politics. When? Ownership of some assets carries more inertia than others. It is easier to dump an underperforming stock than a physical asset. The market for financial products is liquid and there are many market places with no barriers to entry. The market place for physical assets is less fluid. Assets often need to be prepared for market and often the market needs to be prepared for the sale of an asset.
The longer the price correction is delayed the more likely it is to be catastrophic, and this holds true for all classes of investment assets.
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OMGā¦ RUK??
Makes me want to drop the idea of getting another E-type and start chasing Bristols again. They are the real sleepers in the collector car world, and can still be had for fair money, unless, of course, the factory rebuilds one for you, and in that case, you are right back up in the stratosphere.
DKWs, sonā¦DKWs.
I just ran across this article on the Monterey auctions and though it was worth posting the link
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/371-million-monterey-auctions-mean-135842967.html
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āanyā thoughtsā¦I have never purchased a car because of what it may be worth in a future sale. If I wanted to do thatā¦Iād be proprietor of a used car lot.
Nick
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My thought is if I finish this car, it will be worth so much I wonāt be able to afford to insure it.
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Insure it for what it would cost to repair, not what you hope to sell it for. Thats one way to keep premiums down.
Most of us are probably more interested in protecting our investment rather than profiting from it. Iāve got 20 years of āSports car Marketā prices and price guides which are actual sales prices, not asking prices. Using Enrico Fermiās āback of the envelopeā estimating, a Series I FHC (our car), current value is ~ $90k USD. Allow a 20% correction gives ~$70k. Now, auction cars are somewhat āselectā, as auction companies do some vetting of units for sale. Countering this is the fact that auction prices are actually wholesale, by tradition and reality, as brokers are a large percent of buyers at auction. Knock another $10k off for units that arenāt āselectā gives ~$60k for a good, running FHC if there is a 20% correction. You can ādoā a Series I for $60k if you do everything yourself and the core wasnāt complete junk and you already own it. My theory is then that a ~$90k car in this boom may well drop to $60k, and it may happen pretty fast. This has happened before around the 90ās. The difference now is the aging of the baby boomers. Art always has value, so an E-Type may be more resistant to collapse than the 60ās 442ās and the like. Those may collapse like you never saw before as they arenāt very good art or very good cars. The fashion for āmatching numbersā isnāt going to hold, as it isnāt really intrinsic and millenials like our son could care less about that, but still like art and quality.
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wouldnāt you need to insure it for what it would cost to replace tif itās totalled ? I which caseā¦itās market value