The Prices of Vintage Cars
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We have received plenty of support for our contention that the high prices asked for vintage and p.v.t. cars by many vendors are ridiculous and completely unrealistic. Signs that prices are dropping sharply and that the older cars are becoming difficult to dispose of unless realistically priced were seen at the Annual Veteran and Vintage Auction Sale, held this year at Measham in July.
Although prices are generally unnaturally inflated at an auction, on this occasion all but one of the Rolls-Royce entries failed to reach their reserve and were withdrawn, while a Graham-Paige sold for £25 and a 1930 sleeve-valve Daimler for £12 10s.—which we are prepared to term realistic figures! Another Daimler, a 16/55, put in without a reserve, excited bidders to go to £20, but no-one wanted a 3½-litre Bentley, a Railton, a nicely-preserved Alvis Speed 25 saloon or a late-version Alvis Speed 20, while it was possible to come away with (if not necessarily get home in) a 1930 Humber Snipe for £10, a Standard Nine for £30, a 1931 Swift Ten for £15 and a p.v.t. Alvis Firefly for £20, while a Riley Falcon was knocked down for £42½. Only very presentable or really old cars appear to have made small fortunes for their vendors.
So it would seem that sanity is being restored to those who shop for pre-war cars and if the trend continues it will be possible for impecunious enthusiasts to enjoy a more promising hunting ground, even if some of the post-war specialist vendors will then have nothing left to them apart from just sailing out of the picture on their luxury yachts.—W. B.