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Number: 3376
From: "SNP Marq" <infosyssec@i...>
Date: Thu Aug 28, 2003 10:12 am
Subject: Re: [ASC McLaren ] Update on Restoring my 85 ASC Capri
Body:
Two schools of thought on this one :
a) build the car to YOUR level of personal satisfaction, or
b) build the car with the understanding that at some point in the future you may have to get rid of it and you would like to at least recover some of your investment.
The one thing I learned a long time ago was to not become a slave to my car. In the end it always became a losing proposition and the car always came out the winner. You will see other such folks advertising their cars ( investments) on eBay and the various car re-sell mediums. They always whine how they invested $10k, $15k, $25k and even ludicrous amounts like $50k and $75k into their 'restorations' and upgrades. And than they are stumped when their car is only sellable at a few dollars higher than a mint condition version of their particular car.
Or to put things in another light, let us say you lived in a neighborhood of $200k houses. Your house being one of them. You suddenly get on a 'renovation binge' and do $300k worth of upgrades and restoration to your house. In your mind you know have a $500k house sitting in a neighborhood of $200k houses. Take a guess at what your chances are of ever selling or recovering that investment. It just isn't going to happen.
Ok... so let us fall to the alternative plan of simply building the car to 'your personal level of satisfaction' with no regard to the future possibility of having to sell the car. At that point the sky is the limit and you can pour whatever dollars you want into the vehicle because money is no object and your personal satisfaction will be achieved.
This is the same situation I was faced with when trying to decide how I would go about the restoration of my McLaren. In order to properly do my McLaren up to a concours level it would probably take about $20k. When I see genuine virgin and mint McLaren's being sold for $15 to $18k I have to wonder why I would pour so much money into a 'resto' when I could still pick up a mint example for less money.
It is not like I have a great attachment to this vehicle. It hasn't been in my stable long enough to have earned any loyalty points in my book yet. And do I really want to see the car 'out of action' for one year while a complete resto is executed ?
So that is where I wieghed what the top dollar I could get for my McLaren against what I would budget for it. I know that my 'resto' could never compete against a mint McLaren in concours competition. So having accepted the reality of the situation I was able to best determine the 'future' of my car... to be restored to an 'excellent' driver that I can drive and enjoy without fearing every child that rides a bicycle near it.
I went through a similar process years ago when I was restoring Triumph TR4As. ( they look like a Triumph TR6 with tail fins - or something like a Sunbeam Alpine/Tiger ). Great little car and a sexy look to it. but unfortunately it never really became a 'collector car' for the marque. In fact most of the Triumph family have proven to be money losers over the years, ( Spitfire, Stag, Herald, TR's, etc ). Even the oldest members of the Triumph family never quite caught on as a 'collector' car - even the Triumph TR2A or TR2B's.
Now take for example a Jaguar XKE or the XK140C type, those cars you could pour $30k into and you knew that when the time came to sell you would recover all your investment and basically have enjoyed the use of the car all those years for free. That is ultimately the best of both worlds, to fully enjoy the use of your car while seeing it make money for you each day it survives.
Those a a few fast thoughts off the top of my head on the topic. Ultimately each of us has to look at our own financial situation, the reality of our expenditures against the chance of having to sell the car someday, etc.
The chap who built the $500k house in the $200k neighborhood may never sell his house. But then again he may plan on living in that house for eternity. But we all know that 'things change' and you have to plan ahead so that you aren't caught with your shorts down when that time comes.
Marq
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 9:50 AM
Subject: [ASC McLaren ] Update on Restoring my 85 ASC Capri
My wife found a guy that restores cars. I call this guy on the
phone and told him about my project and wanted to set up a time he
could look at the car to give me an estimate on it. Anyway this guy
e-mailed me all weekend about how he had done research on the car
and how rare it was. When I got to his shop Tues. he had already
done his own research on the car had photos of the car in and out
and very good photos. I was very impressed so far then he showed my
his work "Now I'm very impressed" he had 2 cars he restored featured
in Muscle Car Mag that he did the restore on and built the engines
for. Anyway my total damage was 5k that includes taking the engine
and trans out and painting everything. I'm can't wait for next
spring when my baby will be finished :-).
Question I have is should I continue with my original plan of having
performance parts added to the car. I was thinking about having a
306 or 347 put in it. I know that the trans in it has bad syncros
so now I need to decide on havingit rebuilt or buy a new Tremec,
3550 or TKO trans. I will keep you guys posted as he also has
contacts at Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords.
PS: let me know your thoughts on the performance stuff please.
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