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1174
Number: 1173
From: Marquis Grove <infosyssec@y...>
Date: Sun Aug 25, 2002 10:10 am
Subject: Re: [ASC McLaren ] Re: color change
Body:
On the topic of changing colors of cars and their respective value after... I
would probably
suspect that there are two answers to this question :
A negative drop of 75% in value may occur when we are discussing a 'trailer
queen' or ultra low
mileage McLaren that has changed from its original color to an alternative
color ( even if it is
only a variation of the original color ). In this instance the trailer queen
or ultra low mileage
McLaren is being sold prospectively to someone that is going to be most
interested in either a
'concours' quality car ( and hence the dire need to ensure the originality of
all components and
color of the vehicle ) or a car that adheres to all the original items that the
car was issued
from the 'factory' with.
On the other hand... if you are talking about high mileage McLarens, they have
already loss a
great deal of their base value simply because of the mileage. In fact if the
vehicle is past the
magical 99,000 mile mark it really doesn't matter if you paint the car flamingo
pink... the
mileage will be the factor that is held against the car. Although by putting
a lovely and
tasteful paint job on to the car will help you recover some of your investment,
it is not a
sure-fire expenditure.
In some cases a quality paint job for a McLaren will run you $2500 to $3600.
A review of recent
auctions on eBay will show that a number of high miler McLaren's could not
elicit bids from the
eBay'ers higher then $5k to $6k. In the case of a $5000 McLaren that sports a
fresh $3600 paint
job... you are basically talking money lost.
In the case of the infamous McLaren ' road pigs ' ( of which I am a proud owner
) it really
doesn't matter what color your McLaren is... there is little that will hurt the
value of the car
as it started originally from zero value. In the case of my McLaren 'road
pig' the car was
basically a write-off worthy of adorning a wrecking yard for parts. So each
and every upgrade or
improvement that I make to the vehicle helps to restore some of the value to
the car.
The question of color is one that I have also been fighting with myself about
these last two
months. I have rebuilt the entire body and gotten the car up to the primer
paint stage. Now I
face the undaunting task of picking the color that will adorn this restored
'road pig' when I take
it in to the body shop for the final painting.
According to Sandy, my McLaren was a 'McLaren Red' to start its' life.
Somewhere during it's
obscene history the car was painted with spray cans of black paint. Now that
the hood, nose,
rear valance, doors etc have all been replaced I face the spectrum of colors to
use to complete
the restoration of this car from the village of the damned to the land of the
living.
I already have a red cobra and I thought having two red 'stangs' in my driveway
might look odd.
My GTA is done in a nice sandstone metallic taupe - which was stock issue for
84. The color that
caught my personal fancy for this little McLaren was the current Mustang issued
color of Mineral
Gray. As the car has a restored gray leather interior I thought the current
Ford Mustang Mineral
Gray would work nicely with the body lines of the McLaren to help confuse other
motorist as to
exactly what it was that they were seeing when I wheeled by.
What I have found is that certain colors on the McLaren make it look like a
Mustang no matter how
you try to persuade people it isn't. This primarily holds true to the basic
colors of black and
red - as those colors harden the look of the lines on the cars and make it easy
for strangers to
visually identify the car.
Yet there are other colors that confuse peoples eyes and make them do a double
take to try to
register what it was they think they just saw. In the instance of my leaning
towards the Mineral
Gray color, I find that light reflecting off the car diffuses the body lines of
the car and gives
off different auras of shading based on how the light is striking the vehicle.
This diffraction
of color helps to confuse peoples eyes and makes them have to work harder to
visually identify the
car they are looking at. You could compare this to the use of sharp angles on
the stealth
aircraft being used to confuse radar that cannot discern the shape of the
aircraft because of the
way the radar signal is bouncing off the plane.
All that having been said... if you have a trailer queen that is in
immacualate condition ( ready
for a concours against Sandy's 1200 mile car ) then by all means stay as
original as possible.
Can you imagine the drop in value of Sandy's virgin child if he suddenly got
the urge to paint the
car in Viper Competition Yellow or that horrible shade of pink that the Mary
Kay cosmetic people
use to paint the cars they awarded their distributors. Although I am sure
Sandy would spend top
dollar for such a paint job - the end result would be that it was no longer a
virgin child - and
hence no longer appeal to the kind of purchaser who is willing to pay top
dollar for such a
vehicle. That is not to say however that by some fluke there just might be
some car buff with
extra dollars who would be willing to pay a premium dollar for a Viper Yellow
McLaren with 1200
miles on it - but those buyers are few and farther between then the purchaser
who would be seeking
an 'original' mint condition car.
But if your vehicle is a high miler... go with the color that suits your fancy.
It's value was
already lost when you hit the 99,000 mile mark. But do keep it a tasteful
color, because a
screaming hot orange or Mary Kay pink is doing a disservice to what value you
may have left in the
car.
If your McLaren is in the 20,000 to 60,000 mile range, and still is original
without modifications
then you are probably best off to maintain your original factory issued paint
color. You can
best imagine your car is sitting on the edge of the fence at this point where
the mileage and
originality of the vehicle can only be strengthened by holding to the original
color.
If your McLaren is a heavily modified - no longer essentially stock McLaren -
then mileage no
longer matters and neither should the color - you should be free to choose an
alternative color.
At this point, with a tricked out engine, interior modifications, heavy
modifications to the
suspension etc, the vehicle is too far away from being a stock McLaren to worry
about what color
the car is. People are either going to buy your car for the performance
enhancements or they are
not going to be interested at all in it because it lacks originality.
So as you can see, in my humble opinion the paths we choose when trying to
decide what to do with
a paint job on a McLaren require you to look at a number of factors.
Fortunately, having a '
road pig ' allows me the option to pick the color that I think will best
flatter the look of my
McLaren when it is done. My theory is this : Possibly if this color had
been available back
in 1988 the McLaren boyz might have used it themselves... ;)
Yet, if I was sitting with an ultra low miler McLaren then my hands would be
tied and I would
stick with the original color of the car to maintain its originality and value.
Hope this diatribe helps give you some additional thoughts on the topic of
color for McLarens.
Marq
--- cigarsandy <no_reply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> Only about 75% towards the negative, that's all!
>
> S A N D Y
>
>
>
>
--- In ascmclaren@y..., ascmclaren1986 <no_reply@y...> wrote:
> > If I change the color of my 86 SC from the stock white to another
> > color will it affect the value of the car?
> > WAYNE
>
> __________________________________________________
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