3376    <<    Message Index    >>    3378
Number: 3377
From: "negusm" <negusm@y...>
Date: Thu Aug 28, 2003  10:49 am
Subject: Re: [ASC McLaren ] Update on Restoring my 85 ASC Capri

Body:
Re: [ASC McLaren ] Update on Restoring my 85 ASC Capri

I agree. All cars are losing propositions. You will never make
money on it or get half back what you put into it. Any mods
or "upgrades" you put on will be for your own benefit and will be
worth nill at resale.

The only thing that I can see that will improve the price is a good
quality restoration job with an eye on originality. People will
usually pay more for an unmolested example over a modified one. And
I think its more so with these cars since they were geared more
towards a luxury image and not with performance.

Ask yourself how your going to drive your beauty once you get it back
all nice and shiny and perfect. Are you going to drive it hard like
the 347 demands? Or are you going to cruise around in style and baby
the car? If the latter, then why not save your money and put a few
mods on the original 302 that could be swapped back in the future if
you go to sell it?

I like originality so take that into account as I am biased.

-Mike



--- In ascmclaren@yahoogroups.com, "SNP Marq" <infosyssec@i...> wrote:
> 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 -----
> From: clevelandcain
> To: ascmclaren@yahoogroups.com
> 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.
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> ADVERTISEMENT
>
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>
>
>
>
> the Yahoo! Terms of
Service.