What’s it worth? 98 R 940 Celebration

[psl]

We all want it as cheap as poss when buying, we all want as much as poss when selling.
You can always lower the price of your car or take an offer. You can try and increase the price of your car but I doubt you'll get much interest.
An honest 940 be it manual or auto in the run out celebration spec in my eyes if in good running order would fetch £1500 plus all day long

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by dan 244

Yes I agree they are only going up! I bought several 240s that I still have, most of them for £250 - £400 10 years ago, the £250 is a mint 244dl 1980 done 40000miles. Probably £3000-£4000 now! I bought one for £52 on eBay!

I'm sure you're right,'dan 244'.

I too think that the 9 series cars will shortly 'come of age' just as the 1 and 2 series have. I sold my last 2 series, a 1983 MOD 245 GLT, in 1998 for £450, having previously sold my 1978 Auto 245 in 1995 for £300. But, then, they were just 'old' cars, which I was selling to make way for a slightly newer one.

If one was thinking in terms of investment, in order to command the kind of prices that you mention today, I would have had to keep, preserve, maintain and (possibly) improve them for some 20 - 25 years. The investment in time and money to do that would undoubtedly have been considerable, thus offsetting any financial gain that I may have made.

It depends on what one is looking for in a motor car, which is another reason why it is difficult to give definitive advice as to value to 'Faxo'.

Regards, John.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

If one was thinking in terms of investment, in order to command the kind of prices that you mention today, I would have had to keep, preserve, maintain and (possibly) improve them for some 20 - 25 years. The investment in time and money to do that would undoubtedly have been considerable, thus offsetting any financial gain that I may have made.


Regards, John.

Like many people John, i fear you're forgetting something here - every car (old or new) needs preserving, maintaining and possibly improving. Therefore you can't justify offsetting that against the return you would get on your "investment".

Let's face it, for the annual cost of maintenance if done on a DIY basis (oil/filter changes every 6 months, other filters/parts as and when required by inspection and/or miles) you couldn't hire a car of any description.
Round my neck of the woods there are several small businesses offering low cost car hire to USAF personnel, the going rate is about £50 a week for the basic cars and then it goes up from there. These are all secondhand cars, often in the region of 20 years old but still look good, drive well and if something goes wrong, it's either fixed the same day or the hirer gets another car.

Using that as a guide price, that's still £2600 a year, vastly more than you can maintain a car for on a DIY basis.

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Like many people John, i fear you're forgetting something here - every car (old or new) needs preserving, maintaining and possibly improving. Therefore you can't justify offsetting that against the return you would get on your "investment".

Not forgetting, 'Laird Scooby'. I'd agree with you if the preserved car was also my regular driver. But if, as in my case, it was superceded as a daily driver by a newer car, only to be kept for 'investment' purposes, I believe the costs of preservation may then be reasonably offset against any return when the car is eventually sold.

Regards, John.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Not forgetting, 'Laird Scooby'. I'd agree with you if the preserved car was also my regular driver. But if, as in my case, it was superceded as a daily driver by a newer car, only to be kept for 'investment' purposes, I believe the costs of preservation may then be reasonably offset against any return when the car is eventually sold.

Regards, John.

That's a fair point John and to be honest, a difficult one to call.

Arguably you have the use (whether you make use of it or not) of the car while it's in your "custody" so the money spent on preserving/maintaining it is still a necessary expense and not just one that might be viewed almost as an ownership charge.

I do see what you're saying, i'm just trying to play "Devils Advocate" here to point out there are several ways of looking at it.

In 1972, my dad bought a brand new, Capri 1600XL (his first brand new car) and put it on the road for £1276 including paying for the optional extras, metallic paint, black vinyl roof and the big one - wait for it - a heated rear window!
At least it kept his hands warm while pushing it, something he had to do several times during the first weekend of ownership!

That aside, in the early 90s when he realised how much they had gone up in value, especially for one in "original" condition, he kept saying he wished he'd kept it as an investment. What he forgot was at 18 months old, both front wings had rust holes so that would have needed sorting.

Obviously there comes a point with any car when the repairs needed outweigh the possible return on the investment, the decision then has to be taken to either move it on as it is for whatever it may bring on the open market, do enough work to get a few more years out of it and see how the market behaves or to do it up regardless, keep it and enjoy it.
If it's simply "put in a box and left" as an investment, then come the time to sell it will need recommissioning which at minimum will be all new fluids, new rubber components (brake seals, steering seals, bushes, tyres and so on) preferably and anything else that has deteriorated during the lay-up.

In short, it's all a numbers game with a bit of luck and judgement thrown in.

[Prufrock]

With regard to cars coming of age (sic) and the notion of investments, I think it fair to say that very few Volvos are or will become investments. Those that have value (£s) are perhaps already out of the reach of many on here and those that already own (e.g Amazons, P1800s) will have purchased them some time/years ago.

Readers will also do well to consider the value of money. For example, if you bought a lovely car in 1990 for £2500.00, unless it is worth - today - considerably more than £5500.00 it wasn't any kind of investment - in fact the opposite. Another point being, any classic car (debate that), will only command good money if (a) in superb condition, and (b) with sensible mileage and provenance (e.g service history and low ownership).

With regard to the 900 series, yes one's that fit the above criteria will command and perhaps achieve good money, but the bulk of cars - namely those used everyday and especially those modified will not.

Jon.

n.b personal example, the original buyer of my 1989 Mercedes 300CE paid a shade under £40k for it in 1989, in today's money that's just shy of £90k. I have owned this car for 15 years and if sold I might just make a decent profit or at worst break even - because it meets the classic car criteria, and it is a Mercedes, and not capable of being run on a budget. A good friend of mine has a real problem at the moment, about a year ago he paid £59k for a supercar (against my advice) thinking it would be an investment, that car is worth no more than £40k now, he'll never see a break even let alone see a profit.

[john.wigley]

Thank you, both, 'Laird Scooby' and 'Prufrock'.

Having only a single garage, full of the accumulated 'junk' of a lifetime, means that my cars must live outside. As no car kept for investment purposes would benefit from being 'stored', largely unused, outside for an extended period, I would also need to obtain suitable garaging for the same. It is many years since I rented a garage, but the going rate in my area is around £100 pcm.

Coming back to 'Faxo's original post. The discussion above clearly illustrates once again the difficulty in making a valuation of any car, especially in this case with only a brief description and in the absence of any photographs. I stand by my original figure of £500 upwards, but do not disagree with 'psl' that a late 'Celebration' in excellent condition should make considerably more than that.

If 'Faxo' decides to sell, he will need to offer the car at a figure that he considers reasonable which is acceptable to him and then let the market decide. He asked for a guide. I attempted to provide one. Now it is up to him.

Regards, John.

[Prufrock]

Off topic - deleted.

[Faxo]

Thanks for the comment people, I plan on bringing the standard from ‘useable’, to ‘useable and in good condition’!

I good fettle, a good buff and replace any broken bits or trim etc is on the list, and then I’ll probably throw it on eBay with a 99p start and see how it goes!

[baggy798]

Maybe £1600 or more.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_o...o+940&_sacat=0