Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Has the bubble burst?

I agree that the market has changed significantly I have been looking for a long time and recently purchased my plus 4 for about £10k under dealer price it sat for sale most of the summer. A few years ago it would have gone in a heartbeat. I do think the current financial crisis has hit these type of cars hard as people are holding on to their money instead of buying pleasure vehicles. I think buying in August is better than buying in the spring but like anything if you don't sell you don't lose money as the market will fluctuate. It is definitely a buyers market at the moment

I’m not so pessimistic, Morgan cars have that very special attribute, they’re almost unaffected by ageing in the aesthetic sense, the shabby old trembling wreck to the sparking new rocket, they’re all lovable. I’ve a soft spot for some Italians for the same reasons, most other cars are about as appealing as an old tea bag once the next new one comes along.
Buy the car you desire, keep the car you cherish, just like your house, the monetary value will fluctuate, you’ll still own the same number of bricks or in the case of a Morgan, moments of enjoyment, past, present and yet to be.

From a Morgan dealers perspective, look at the stock in the good ones, rather the needing a whole range of cars to serve different purposes, the best ones have a huge range of cars designed solely for the purpose of enjoyment, spend what you’re comfortable with and you’ll still be buying the same quantity of pleasure.

We shouldn’t begrudge a good dealer a bit of margin either, even £10k isn’t really that much considering how many can realistically sell through. From that £10k vat has be deducted and wages/overheads covered, even future liability for the car sold.

Buying privately is fine if you can find a Perry or Craig with the car you want but the auction value for me is irrelevant for a car like this, I see that as the value of the raw product, buying a dead cow from a farmer isn’t the same as buying a meal from a restaurant!

Yep ... Ewan and I share that philosophy .... buy what sparks your spirit with what it is rather than with thoughts for future value. Use it and enjoy it .... when you're nodding in your chair in your dotage it will be those memories that bring a smile ... not having made a couple of grand on flipping some latest super bland-mobile.

I've noticed that my tally list of cars/bikes owned and houses I've lived in is pretty short compared to most ... I've always bought what moved me and felt no reason to keep chopping and changing ..... I've got more than one vehicle I've owned more than 40 years (and the Morgan will only not make that cut because I won't be around that long )... it's market value doesn't matter to me ... it's intrinsic enjoyment value will always be there.

K

Irrespective of whether the cars are sold at auction, privately or through a dealer, values have dropped considerably and owners expectations will take time to adjust.

It's not exclusive to Morgan. I follow the Classic Car market, which has some parallels, and it's the same pattern.

Regarding auction values and results, they are as relevant as any other means of sale. Perhaps more so as they're easier to analyse. The general trend at auction shows a substantial fall in successful sales. Clearly this is mirrored at both dealers and private sales until such time as the prices are reduced.

Anyway it's good news for buyers, which is perhaps long overdue.

Don't overlook that as prices fall, the number of buyers will increase. Maybe not in proportion, but thinking back to 2008 when I bought my Roadster secondhand, new prices at that point were edging over £40k. I would have loved to have specced a new Roadster, but I just couldn't make £40k without borrowing, and I usually avoid that.

By selling my MG's and using some savings I could get to around £34k.I paid £32,500 so within my budget. I'm not sure what would have happened had I found the perfect Morgan over budget. Anyway my point is simply that a drop of ten grand (for example) will open up opportunities to buyers on a budget with limited flexibility.

As ever, just thinking in type to pass the time.. (-:

When I was sharing thoughts in the topic relating to the Morgan marketplace at the time I stumbled into the area of "restomods" as a seemingly natural evolutionary process for petrol head baby boomers, and suggested that Morgan had inadvertently or otherwise been ahead of the game in that respect..? It was not till a while later that it came to me that perhaps Rob Wells was WELL ahead of the game with his creation of a Morgan lookalike with performance upgrades in power, chassis, driveline, suspension and brakes...I think there was perhaps some discussion or involvement with the MMC in Robs creation of his machine registered for the road as ROB 80 R There was an article in Miscellany a few years back detailing the spec of Rob`s machine.

Around the time of the Miscellany article on Robs creation, I remember discussing on eMog as to quite how such a machine might be categorised, I was of the mindset that it might be thought of as a "special," which perhaps reflects back to 1950`s terminology that I grew up adopting and that which might have been the description applied to many machines that were not products of main line manufacturers back then..?

As ever evolution in much plays a part in terms of influencing public opinion in so many ways, and I suspect petrol heads and investors alike have come to adopt the term "restomod," as the descriptor for vehicles that look to be of "original" design and have been modified, not so much in sheds as in times past, but by companies which seem to have grown considerably to match the market for their bespoke and somewhat expensive machinery...?

Expensive restomods...Hmm..? Yeah new Morgans seem expensive compared to the circa £20k I paid for my restomod +8 back in 2002.... My +8 a restomod..? Well perhaps just partly so as it had been a low mileage "barn find" (circa 8K miles) and subjected to a nut and bolt strip down and rebuild by a garage business owning Morgan enthusiast who set about recreating his ideal +8 to be free of all the usual foibles expected to be found in a mid 80`s Morgan... In time Kevin created that which at circa 35k miles today, has proven it`s self in terms of it`s abilities over the years to be more reliable as transport of foreign forays than I ever expected, and again today, it fires up at first time of asking, ready to go anywhere, what`s more to want....? Good old Morgan. (-:

As for it`s value today, I suspect it would be only that which someone might be prepared to pay for it, and that will be no more than whatever the average +8 of that era might be worth in the marketplace at any one time, despite what must have been hundreds of man (and woman) hours put into my Mog`s strip down and rebuild, or the extra cost of all the stainless kit and fixings and replaced parts utilised in the process, which I find somewhat interesting.

As for the Trad`s evolution, I guess had the MMC halted Trad production around the time the Aero 8 arrived on scene, and someone like Kevin taken the trad design and expanded it in the way that the MMC had done and much more, perhaps along the lines of Singer, RUF, Rennsport and others have done with the 911... I guess my old +8 might be in a whole different league of market appreciation as one of the early Kevin`s... (-:

Whadayafink...? (-:

So what makes a (Trad) Morgan.

As I understood it most of the parts were bought in and they were assembled by a human workforce in a some well known sheds. The old wooden press is very camera friendly but not a deal breaker.

It is if the business condones it and there is enough continuity in the brands experience. I have said before that taking some of the key elements and blessing of the company to a small business park and making continuation cars seems like something that there will be an order book for until at least 2035 ?

Morgan (InvestInd) could be given a kick back on each car sold so recovering some of the money they have working at the moment.

They don't need to be zoomed up Singer style - that already exists in the Plus Four/Six?

How about a sweepstake for a date when the factory site is sold off ?

Given they only bought it back 7-8 years ago that would be rich!

Correct; here's the 2017 story for anyone who missed it https://www.malverngazette.co.uk/ne...ry-back-in-corporate-show-of-confidence/ But to quote Dylan, "The Times They Are A'Changin'.