[ROVERNET - UK] P5 values

[Glen Wilson]

Dirk Burrowes wrote:
> Rover P5 Coupe 3.5 V8 LHD from second Swiss owner in a stunning original
> condition. Superb original car, with no work to do, just drive and enjoy!
> Over 250 Classic and sports cars in stock. PRICE IN EUROS : 17950
>
> In US dollars that's over $26,000
>
> www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-page.php/carno/27594
>   
What this really shows is that there are huge differences between the 
two markets. That's why my old 3500S ended up going back to England to 
be restored: People in the UK have a higher appreciation of that 
particular model than we do in the USA.

There's also been an MGB roadster on eBay this past week with an asking 
price of $26,000, and Amphicars are regularly selling for $50k and 
higher in the USA. As far as I'm concerned, an MGB is still just an MGB 
no matter what you do to it or how much you spend restoring it, and you 
can buy a LOT of interesting automobiles for less than $26k. Who would 
want a $26,000 MGB, anyway? It's just another MGB, not a prototype that 
ran at LeMans or something that Jim Clark put a lot of miles on. It's a 
bit like that old joke about the guy selling apples on the street in New 
York City for $500 per apple: Nobody's bought one yet, but I only have 
to sell one for it to be a great month! A $500 apple is still inherently 
just an apple no matter how much you polish it, even if it's gold plated.

If seventy #4 and thirty #5 example of the 1967 3-litre Coupe sold in 
the States during the past two or three years, then we'd have a pretty 
good idea of what the true market value of the 1967 3-litre Coupe was in 
the US market. As it stands, there isn't really what I would term a 
"market" for Rovers in the USA. Just about every sale is simply a 
one-off purchase where price is determined by how much the buyer has to 
spend and how much he wants the car. In a market, there would be four 
excellent P5s being offered for sale at the same time competing for the 
buyer's money.

You also can't just get up one sunny morning and sell your $26k MGB for 
what you paid for it, while you COULD get your money back pretty quickly 
for the 99% perfect MGB you "only" paid $15k a month earlier. You would 
have a lot more trouble getting your $26k back for the P5 in the USA 
than for the MGB.

Just because one P5 is offered for sale at $26k doesn't make that the 
"market price" for the type of P5. Even if someone pays $26k for the 
car, it still isn't a market price. It may just mean that Dick 
Darlington got a good bonus at the end of the year and the seller lucked 
out. When something like ten similar P5s change hands within something 
like twenty-four months for very similar prices, then I'll agree that we 
may know what the "market value" of a P5 Rover is in the USA.

But that will never happen over here because a.) there are not enough of 
any given year/model of Rover, and b.) the few that we have vary all 
over the place in condition, and c.) not enough of them change hands in 
any given period of time.

So, I'm not "disrespecting the marque" or "trying to drive down the 
value of our precious Rovers" (as has been said before). I simply don't 
feel that there is really a known market value for Rovers in the US that 
can be supported with verifiable data. Sometimes, I almost believe that 
there is a market value for P6s in the US because they tend to sell in 
certain price ranges, but those prices tend to be what ANY running 
40-year-old car will bring, even if it's a four-door Ford Falcon.

Glen