Today we want to make you money. First tip: don’t throw out that old Holden or Ford or other rust bucket, they could be worth real dollars.
At last month’s Shannons Winter Classic Auction investors couldn’t wait to pay $15,500 for a 1972 VW Beetle S, $33,500 for a 1965 Holden HD Station Wagon, $42,500 for a 1971 Holden HQ Monaro 253 GTS and $28,000 for the very small 1965 Honda S600 where your first prang will be your last.
So today we’ve gathered a panel of the finest minds in the car caper to suggest what you should be buying now to make a motza later. Remember here at Weekend Australian motoring, in the business section, we are guided by our two great investment maxims: buy low, sell high, and you never make a loss by selling at a profit. Friends, follow these two pieces of advice and you can sell the permanent holiday home at the Walu Caravan Park at Budgewoi and move into the Villa Marini on Capri (Italy, not the Gold Coast).
Unique Cars magazine (tradeuniquecars.com.au) asked its car nuts to nominate cars that you won’t lose your shirt on. Here’s the choices I like. You can buy a 1988 Mazda MX-5 1998 from $5000 but get a lower mileage, more recent model for somewhere over $12,000. Another Mazda, the RX-7, starts at $10,000 and heads towards $22,000.
I was up at Gavin King’s Concours Sportscar Restoration this week looking at some of his better than new $400,000 E-types, and spotted a Jaguar XJS undergoing a major renovation. A few years ago you couldn’t give these cars away and if they haven’t been looked after you still can’t. But don’t be put off by the V12. They are a simple engine to work on. But these are not cars for the fainthearted. You do need some mechanical and electrical skills. The Jag Drivers’ website list them from $8500 to $30,000 for a 1989 car with only 95,000km on the clock. Both Unique Cars and I give them the possible next car to head north certificate and I reckon they are about to take a big leap.
OK my partner in crime and driving, the man that made Adelaide great (small joke about the SA capital there), BMW specialist Michael McMichael says the BMW 2002 (1966 to 1977) remains a good buy despite them being the favoured transport of hipsters and smashed-avocado eaters. These have already had a big run. You can pick one up for $12,000 to $14,000 but a serious car will set you back $30,000. The BMW 8 series coupe (1989 to 1999) came in a V8 or a V12 for real men and women. A seriously beautiful car and good buying around $25,000. Not that SA Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis and I ever drop names but at dinner last week, in return for my ongoing lame jokes about the state, he did point out the coloured liquid I was drinking was wine and the best in the world came from South Aussie. Pity about Holden, Tom.
Racing coach and Mazda rotary expert, Phil Alexander, sees value in the Mazda 626 (a real ham and egg car), particularly with the six-cylinder engine. You will be flat out paying more than $3500. We all know Toranas have gradually become superstars. Phil thinks the GTR (1969 to 1972) still has a long way to go given a 1977 Torana SS A9X sold for $260,000 in January. Think about paying $15,000 to $70,000.
My picks are both porkers. The 928 (1978 to 1995) and 944 (1982 to 1991) are both front engine, rear wheel drive from the home of the rear engined masters. The 928 is a beautiful-looking great kilometre eater. Prices have wallowed around the twenties although serious cars will sell from $45,000 to $100,000. You can pick up an OK 944 for $9000 but I’d pay a lot more. A couple of exceptional low mileage 944s have sold close to $100,000.
Talking of cheap cars, Sebastian Vettel took himself closer to a world championship and Ferrari to a constructors’ title with his easy win (despite steering wheel damage — the horn wasn’t working) in Hungary on Sunday. This was a race where it was impossible to pass. To paraphrase a sporting cliche it was a race of contrasts. Despite team mate Kimi Raikkonen being quicker than Seb, Ferrari ordered him to not to pass. No doubt who they want to be numero uno del mondo. Despite Lou Hamilton being faster than team mate Valteri Bottas, Lou asked Mercedes to order Val to pass him. Bottas crossed the line in third ahead of Lou. Is Lou the new age person of the year or what?
Want to see more racing action? Head down to Winton today for the Festival of Speed. You’ll see over 300 historic cars from the 1940s through to the 1990s. More importantly you’ll see former Viper gun Geoff Morgan out to defend his title in his 1975 Porker.
Or you could head to Queensland Raceway for round four of the Production Car season where our own brown-cardigan-wearing bean counter and LeMons star Steve Champion will be sharing the driver’s seat with Michael Sherrin in the BMW135i. Also up there is father of the groom Brian Walden, whose son, world time attack champion and Weekend Australian racing boss Garth, married GWR partner Myriam Chrystal in racing HQ, Bali, a week or so ago.
