Classic Car Weekly summary of the market in 2014
Classic Car Weekly summary of the Classic Car market in 2014
The early January edition of Classic Car Weekly carried a story on the state of the Classic Car market throughout 2014, on page 4 of it's 7th of January, 2015 paper, and it would seem that all is good with reports of an overheated market appearing unfounded.
The report reviewed Classic Car auction prices throughout 2014, and despite many cars selling for well beyond the estimates of the experts, the market as a whole did not reach the crazy boom-bust scenario of the late 1980's, which was everyone's concern. This time around the market is remaining stable with some excellent gains in Classic Car values during 2014, with many cars easily achieving 20-25% growth through the year.
The article discusses the arrival of "outside" money from many of the Classic Car Funds that are now being used as a major alternative to property, shares or any of the other very low-yielding investments. In particular, Aston Martin's and Ferraris' are seen as favourites over Maserati's and Bristol's, with the lower priced Aston's and Ferrari's rising fast, which in turn make the higher priced examples rise at an even greater rate.
Classic Car Weekly went on to explain that 2014 was also the year of the "Barn Find", with the advent of the Practical Classics Restoration and Classic Car Show, which put these vehicles in the spotlight. CCW discussed the fact that an early Barn Find Jaguar E-Type is still a very viable alternative to an Aston Martin DB4 or DB5 which are of course very costly investments now, as the DB7 will be. The report also mentioned the Daimler SP250 as one car that is gainingh a foothold, as indeed it now should given it's Classic Car lines. The MGC was mentioned as an alternative to an Austin Healey 3000, whilst down at the very affordable end of the market, the non-Cosworth Mercedes 190 E may be worth another look as they being re-appraised for value now, as are the E30 series of BMW.
Other Classic Cars to consider as they begin their rise are the Austin A30, A35, A40 Farina (now auctioning for £10,000), the Ford Anglia 105E, Triumph Herald, Range Rover and MkI Mini.
The final conclusion by CCW from all of the experts, is that 2015 will continue as yet another bumper year, and be part of many bumper years to come well into the future.