As some of you know, the Bring a Trailer site gets a lot of E-types at auction, and a lot do not meet reserves, or actually sell way below market values. Does anyone see this as a trend, or maybe the owners are ageing out? Like real estate, is the boom over? Thoughts and input on this?
My opinion… this is more a function of where the collector car market has moved recently, not a waning of interest in E-types.
If you want a bargain you’ll need a time machine. Maybe set it for 1980?
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GT Joey …will be smiling ….for the moment!
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I believe @Nickolas was keeping track of sales values of E-type and XK120 via a spreadsheet or similar, so it would be interesting if he is still doing that ?
My personal feeling is that IC vehicle values may enter a relative decline,
largely due to aging of ownership base, but also other factors such as higher interest rates, and general difficulties keeping older IC vehicles on the road etc
If any vehicle were to hold or increase its value though, I suspect E-types would be very high on the list, although they are not rare cars, so iconic
German cars, in particular from the 80’s are increasing in values, from MKI/II golfs to anything with an M and BMW tag and certainly 964’s. E-Types had a big spike, which is now setting largely in the “round 100k” area for FHC’s and Roadsters, no bargain territory but not what it used to be. Problem for many will be to get back restoration costs.
I have always seem the XK market as more of an oddity, in particular the XK120, there have been no spikes, but it has behaved rather stable.
Who would have thought a RS500 would be worth £600.0000 , fast Fords are going up in price , Jag’s are coming down , from what I can see in the UK !
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I’ve been following Hagerty’s valuations, mostly. They publish their valuations going back 15 years. This is for the late Series 1 OTS, which indicates that values have pretty much plateaued after a major runup
The fixed head is still on an upward slope, catching up to the open cars
And the plus 2s took a big jump fairly recently then have plateaued at a higher level
And, as you say, XK120 values peaked a lot earlier, dropped like a rock and then plateaued
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The market, she is fickle. I used to watch the values on the Chrysler products from the 60’s and 70’s, and the cars skyrocketed for a while. Those of us who grew up in that era were shocked with what had happened. I wonder now about the state of the economy and what might happen in the near future.
To me this sounds about realistic, Nick. When you go to XK though, you get the effect of “historic” cars. Not willing to go in a polemic discussion, but anything with a celebrity name associated to ownership, no matter the conditions makes the price go bananas. E’s FHC and SI seem really a safer bet that any other E, although I have always been a great believe (and fan) of the SIII V12 manual.
I know I said it before (and at a lower value) but in Europe XJS’s are increasing, in particular the rare V12 manuals and later 6-cylinder cars. Right now you can see 40-60k€ tags on some, unthinkable in the 2000’s.
…hasn’t worked with my Rover yet… 
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need to paint it poiple, and then see the stampede to press money into your hands…
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E Types on Auction Sites, here in Australia have an engineers report for each car. Most of the ones that I have read, I wouldn’t buy that car. Average overall condition is mostly “Fair” to “Poor”,"Rust holes’, “bubbling paint” etc and I think had a quick paint job not long before auction.
Just opinion, worth what it costs. Lots of things at play regarding values. Collectable cars had a big runup when they became an investment vehicle not just a car lovers dream. That kinda ruins it for the lovers of the marque, many were priced out of reach. The economic conditions today aren’t like those days so many speculators have left the market. I don’t chase valuations but do notice E-types seem flat. XJSs seem to be increasing but not out of line with typical increases in “pristine” car values after they get through that risky period of being worth less than it costs to keep it running. I have a buddy with a lot more money than me, he has left the old car collector market for rare modern cars.
pauls
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This is really interesting …… I’ve seen this car a few years ago……it is very nice the only critic I can give it is the perhaps the bonnet gap is not quite right
It is the 85th RHD and was the first Aust delivered car …… quoting $A500-550k ( my guess is this is way too low given its provenance )
What I like particularly is the fact that it’s not pristine underneath ….it’s been driven 
It certainly isn’t Concours gorgeous underneath, but it’s pretty damn clean!
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My guess is that it will fail to make the opening bid of $490K
Wow …let’s see
Would appear to be this car
The article explains the trouble the owner went to, to make the car as authentic as possible, especially given the dearth of information available at the time, including seeking out contemporary photos taken at the time which confirmed it was originally supplied with painted wheels. Clearly someone has blinged it up since then; I wonder what else may have been altered.
Hey Kevin any chance of getting a copy of article …… I believe it was restored by Ian Cummins I think