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40 years ago, on this day, in the Autosport classifieds


theduisbergkid
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We’ve all lost days trawling EBay, Autotrader and the Pistonheads classifieds trying to convince ourselves that we’ve found a future classic at the bottom of it’s depreciation curve. Lets delve into the fusty archives of Autosport Magazine and look at a few choice ads from this day in history, 40 years ago. Link below opens as a PDF and doesn't have any digital lurgy.

Click this to open as PDF > http://www.sucksqueezebangblow.net/folder/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/autosport-international-september-21st-1972.pdf

1-TVR Dealers, all gone now of course, but this company are still in business as a Volvo specialist. Is that a Vixen in the picture ?

2-E-Type Jaguar, £795, these are now £20k and upwards so this one has appreciated 2500% in the intervening 40 years. I’ll bet the seller didn’t have to deal with endless text messages from people he has never met, calling him ‘m8’ asking ‘wots ur best price ?’

3-Avenger Tiger, new £1495, Dr Octane says these are worth a few quid now as classic rally cars given that Ford Escorts of similar vintage are now silly money.

4- 1959 Jaguar XK150. No mention of price. The advert hints that it’s a money pit. They can fetch around £100k today but I’ll bet they’re still money pits. Beautiful though.

5-1953 Morgan +4, £895, old-fashioned in 1972 and even more so now but they’re still making them. I’d guess this is worth c.£30k today, a 3400% increase, but better to look at than to actually drive.

6-Performance Cars, Brentford. I love the logo. They offer “exciting sports cars” without actually mentioning what any of them are. Must be BL dealer in disguise.

7-1966 BMW 1800 with bluespot radio. £625. Amazing to think that 40 years ago a radio was an expensive extra, whereas today people expect Bluetooth, not Blaupunkt.

8-Riccardo Emiliani. Lancia dealer for Lincoln. Surely the toughest gig in the car trade. A quick google shows he’s still fixing Italian stuff today. Respec' !

9-Mr (Tony ?) Pond of Uxbridge, selling a Capri with a very rare Lumo engine for £1650, I’m not sure prices have gone anywhere for Capris since 1972.

10-Ford Mustang Mach 1 for sale. Boasts power steering and brakes. Worth, perhaps, £20k now so a 1300% increase since the ad was placed. Yee-ha. Etc.

11-Scimitar GTE’S [sic]. Even in 1972 the odd Greengrocer’s apostrophe peppered the small ads. I bet Foley Park’s Elans are worth a few quid now though. I'll take mine in lime green.

Using the same rough maths, a good £30k Elise could have appreciated to be worth half a million quid in 40 years time, I shudder to think what petrol will cost though. What is your prediction for future classic status ? My pension pot is doing nothing and I'm feeling bullish. :)

Thanks to Mr Sleg for the mag.

More here > 40 years ago, on this day, in the Autosport classifieds | s2b2

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Bmw Z8

Any rag top RR or Bentley

TVR all

Mk4 R32

e30 full kit conv msport

Mk1 Golf Gti

Pug 205 1.9 Gti

Jag xjr, any r type model

Fiat 500 Abarth

vw camper

Mk2 beetle rs

Thing being that virtually any car kept mint for 30 years slips in to collectors. There was a tv set on Cortinas the other night when in pub and gosh the Lotus and 1600E's looked good. Had you told me they would be classic back in the 70's I'd have sh1t myself with laughter.

Look at the humble Yamaha Fsie (£200 new in 76, £2500 now), or even the Raleigh Chopper(£35 in 73, £250 now) or Grifter (£50 in 80, £250 now).

Fashion and desire for retro does seem to be on a throw back loop of 25 years or so. There's a few very original E30's round here, and damn they look really good as original non chaved.

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Look at the humble Yamaha Fsie (£200 new in 76, £2500 now), or even the Raleigh Chopper(£35 in 73, £250 now) or Grifter (£50 in 80, £250 now).

There's been better investments than those!

A pal of mine has a near mint and untouched E30 325 cab (non face-lift), on the original 14 BBS's too. Had a new hood fitted which really sets it off. Looks so damn good.

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Used to work for Sky up until July and to the day I left, I still saw the "Performance Cars" Logo on the side of the building

Always wondered what that company did (apart from the obvious from the name) but assumed it was long gone

It's on the Great West not too far from Sky/Glaxo/PC World

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