Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Sentiment in the Trad market.

A 2003 35th anniversary +8 just closed at £25250 reserve met. .... Someone got a bargain

https://www.carandclassic.com/auctions/2003-morgan-plus-8-35th-anniversary-8xRWMn

Certainly a bargain, but what a filthy engine bay! I have seen this often on cars that have been treated to “professional servicing” where they rarely bother to clean up and the owners seem to think that there is then no need to open the bonnet until the next service!

I suppose there are those that enjoy the cars by driving them, and those that enjoy them by polishing them. At 80,000 miles I'd say the vendor was the former. I won't show you mine! Working full time using my Plus 8 daily for national travel, and competing on weekends, my 80,000 miles over the past 4 years have taken its toll. Perhaps if I retire, I'll have time to attend to engine bay detailing, or maybe leave it to the next owner? Each to their own I suppose.
The main point was what the market is prepared to pay now for trad Morgans, with so many remaining on dealers forecourts at last years money for months on end. Well done to those who traded up for a CX last year or before, but I imagine trade in values on trads are beginning to get squeezed.

The colour won't be to everyone's taste, there are several for sale with lower mileages and many don't like the risk involved when buying at auction.

Combine those factors with the current state of the market and I'm not too surprised at the sale price.

There are a couple of nice ones on offer for around £30k. A nice looking one near me has been on Car and Classic for about two years now !

As the proud owner of a 2008 4/4 with Duratec 1.8 engine and 125 bhp I wonder what my cherished classic might be worth !

It's quite well spec'd with stainless wires, luggage rack, spare wheel, overiders, alloy rad. Royal Ivory and BRG leather upholstry, Walnut Dash. etc.etc. BUT at 80,000 plus miles is better used than most including tours including Italy, Spain, Portugal and France. When the time comes (to take to my wheel chair) I shall console myself with photo albums delving back to 2012 and aquasition day. She has never let me down and always starts on the first turn of the key.

Don't hesitate to let me know your best estimate of what it's worth today.

Simples. To you - priceless. To anybody else - who cares!

I suspect there can be many reasons to retain a degree of interest in the monetary value of assets, and much may depend upon our priorities which can alter with the passage of time, and in the case of our Morgans or similar "classics" as we might wish to have them identified, I suspect many if not most may have had investment thinking applied to them in varying degrees, perhaps more so if one`s better half might raise an eyebrow at the level of financial commitment required to initially acquire IT let alone run and maintain IT... (-:

Me..? It took me circa five years to save that which it cost to buy my then concours condition nut and bolt rebuilt +8, thus it`s market value after purchase was important to me, in that the Mog would be the first, perhaps simplest and least crucial in the grand scheme of things, that I could convert back into cash for whatever of life`s little emergencies might crop up. Fortunately for me, over 20 years on my Mog still sits in my garage. Sure there have been financial pressures from time to time, and anyone who has been in a self build situation that went on for quite some time, will well understand the potential to experience the occasional ...err...setback, but fortunately we weathered the various storms. To date I am still able to pay the bills feed myself, and maintain the place reasonably and at this stage of the game. I feel most fortunate to be in the situation of typing I care not a jot as to what my Morgan may be worth on the market. (-:

BTW it`s engine bay looks just about as clean as the day I bought it from Kevin, the craftsman who restored it to his idea of Morgan perfection with circa only 8k miles on the clock.. Now sadly with only circa 26k miles covered over the 20 or so years...Pity, but some were quite the most enjoyable miles I ever travelled in my life.... (-:

Speculating the future is what we do here, and it's always an interesting discission, but it really doesn't matter much.

Man maths helps to justify buying a low depreciationTrad, but the residuals to me are irrelevant on a hobby car. My Yorkshire disposition though, does stop me buying a new car, but then again, nothing really catches my eye.

If Trads do get cheaper, the potential number of buyers will increase, that's a simple enough prediction. I couldn't afford one until I was 55. Ten grand cheaper could have meant 10 years sooner.

It’s nice to own a car that has low depreciation; however it had very little influence on my original purchase of my 4/4.
Surely for the majority of TMers it’s about the fun of driving and the friends made?
My local dealer has regularly offered to buy my car, to balance his stock.
(Have a cheaper car to offer his customers.)

Out of interest, my 4/4 was first registered in 2003 and I bought it in 2005.
It had 6,500 miles on it when I bought it.
I paid £19,500.

Retail now?
Annual running costs? Not sure.
Mileage now c50,000

More adventures already booked for 2024


Bud
4/4 - Stanley

I think it is beautiful.

It seems cheap to me but the costs of shipping and importing costs and taxes to Australia would then make it expensive.

The depreciation is less than I expect a standard car would have. Say 10 years old with 128,000km on it, the Australian average car in 2023 drove 11,278km so this car has been used the same as an average car rather than sitting in the garage like many Morgan's, MG's etc. do. Looking at the receipts it was well less than £50,000 in total so kept half its value, not many 10 year old boring cars keep half their value.