Mad Pagoda Prices in Australia

[Garry]

Check this heap of junk out and I see that it got $53000 at a public auction here in Oz. Remember the Aust and US dollar are on parity almost. Then do the sums to restore and it doesn't make any sense. I know as I just went an extra $10k over budget just getting the engine done

http://www.shannons.com.au/auctions/lot/AB27661E25DCJ9BJ?cmpid=SHN:GI:PI:NPS:EDM:20120531:131&2473PSEM

And another coming up at auction that apparently is not too bad and they think it will get between $85 and $100k.

http://www.shannons.com.au/auctions/lot/O6FM0K5ZZDB42R13


Scary.  Dont feel so bad about over spending on my car restoration.

[66andBlue]

We had the housing bubble here, looks like you have a Pagoda bubble down under! 

[franjo_66]

Garry, for some reason prices for our cars has indeed started a very marked increase.

I was offered $150k for mine by a guy who was checking my car out at the workshop while I had a service done last week. He was dead serious.
There is a place here in Sydney's east that sold a W111 280SE 3.5 coupe for $289k !!! It was immaculately restored, and the proprietor told me that there is crazy money being flung at old classic Mercs ?? He insisted that he has buyers who would offer ridiculous money for my car. I am indeed tempted.

I saw a few mediocre examples that are asking $65k - $85k. And there was a LHD 190SL in very good order that sold for $105k. Maybe people are catching on as to how expensive it is to restore one of these cars to at least a decent level

Interesting time to observe the market here in Australia at least........

[DaveB]

The second Shannons car looks nice indeed. It's refreshing to see a seller being a little circumspect about the mileage: "Believed 68,746 miles from new". In this case the interior condition supports the claimed mileage.

[Garry]

It is supposed to be a very good car and I know of someone here in Melbourne with an interest in it.

I was told but cannot confirm that two very good cars sold in Sydney recently for around $140,000.

[Flyair]

Garry,
And at least for the first car the add says "sold", meaning that people are ready to pay that price. This is crazy indeed, especially that these are cars with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side

I recently posted some cars offered for sale in the USA and the UK well above the 100,000$ threshold, which I found insane. Not anymore looking at what is going on.
Even here in Poland there was recently a nice yet not perfect 280SL that went for 52000 Euro (about 75000$) to Germany. The buyer was an intermediary, so this meant to me that he expects to make some juicy margin on top of the price paid.

[Richard Madison]

So it looks like when I'm ready to sell my ride, I should drive it to Australia.

Richard M, New York City   

[Garry]

I need to clarify something for the Left Hookers,

They are worth considerable less here, in the order of 25 - 50 %, and rather hard to drive or to sell.   Similar to trying to sell a RHD one in the USA, there they sell quickly there but at a discounted price for us if the exchange rate is good.

[Flyair]

Garry…
you must be wrong: either LHD and RHD Pagodas are never too hard to drive

[Garry]

We don't have a lot of multi lane highways outside the major cities so unless you have a passenger willing to make the passing call, it is quite an experience when driving on the country roads. 

I lived in the US with a RHD car for three years and did not have too much trouble other than at toll booths and the law that complained when my passenger read the news paper whilst driving to work in the mornings But I also brought a LHD car back home when I left there and it was very hard to do the same here with the lack of dual roads.

[Flyair]

I did the opposite: brought my first car a 1984 VW Scirocco GTX LHD from France to England for a few years. There were inconvenience you mentioned, but there was also one interesting advantage: you could always enter and exit the car on the pavement side
 

[Tomnistuff]

General reply:

"I think I`ve finally figured it out.  With the world going to hell at supersonic speeds, people probably figure, "Why the hell not?"  It`s perhaps a combination of, "At my age, this is my one last chance to do something for ME!" for us senior citizens and "the 'On The Beach' mentality for the younger ones who see no future for them."  You know, it's the attitude of Fred Astaire when he took his Ferrari 750 Monza (Worth a fortune even then) and drove it in a death-defying race to win the last Grand Prix before the radiation from the third world war in the northern hemisphere finally reached Australia, then killed himself after the race by CO poisoning sitting in his race car in a closed garage.

Tom Kizer

[Bonnyboy]

Mr Tom.   I think you hit it on the nail.

My father passed away recently and just before he got sick he purchased the one thing that his father could never afford and that he had never bought.  Now take into account that my Dad lived in town on a small lot so no acreage or anything like that - he bought a brand new farm tractor.  The snow plow attachment arrived the week he got sick so its still sitting on the back of his truck ready to be unloaded. 

His 1988 purchase of the 280SL I bought from him last year was an impulse purchase as well - his business dried up with the economy in 1988 and after the smoke cleared he had $20,000 left.  To start anew he needed to truly start over so at 49 yrs old he blew his last $20,000 and bought the toy that he lusted over.   He only drove it sporadically for a couple years, then took it apart and let it sit for 20+ years.  I know getting the car was far more important to him than keeping it up, just like the act of getting the tractor fulfilled a life long dream to buy a new tractor.    Unfortunately he caught that flu that was going around after christmas and unexpectedly lost the battle.   Anyone need a new mini farm tractor - its up near Alaska, or a rusted out Jaguar MKII, or three minivans with blown trannys or....

[stickandrudderman]

It's happening here in the UK too. I've just had someone commission not one but TWO full restorations, one of which is the factory 5 speed that I bought a year ago and was going to keep for myself........