WHEN A CAR BECOMES A CROCK OF GOLD

Press, 18 December 1976, Page 15

WHEN A CAR BECOMES A CROCK OF GOLD

From

SIMON MARSH,

in London

Knee-deep in nettles in an English West Country orchard, rotting in the sun, was a mouldering heap of rubber, metal and leather. To a London antique car restorer and dealer, John Grosvenor, it was the prettiest sight in the world: a virtually complete 1916 Ford Model T. For £lOO it was his.

Two years later, completely restored, it sold at auction for £4BOO.

In the past year, as people seek something inflationproof to invest in. the market in veteran, vintage and post-vintage thoroughbred cars has gone beserk. Today the problem is not “what will it fetch?” but “where can we get some more?”

This is why dealers and auctioneers are frantically scanning manufacturers’ production lists for the past 60 years to find out just where all the "golden oldies” have gone. It appears that there are old crocks, from RollsRoyces to Austin Sevens, which have simply disappeared. “Many of the cars are undoubtedly family heirlooms jacked up in some garage and the owners may have no idea of their current value,” said John Grosvenor. A« recently as 1960, you could get a presentable ■Speed Six Bentley for little more than £3OO. Now you

would have to pay £lO.OOO. And not long ago Lord Montagu, creator of the Beaulieu Motor Museum, gave nearly £.35,000 for a 1908 Benz 120 h.p. racing two-seater.

A 1913 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. recently fetched £21,000 and a ' 1930 Mercedes Benz £9OOO more than that. Dealers say that if ever the original 1907 Silver Ghost — owned by the Rolls-Royce company, and thought to he the most valuable car in the world — came on the market, the bidding would start at about £100,000!

The chances of finding a windfall in an old barn are pretty remote today, but a 1912" Fiat 10-seater was found recently by an Edinburgh enthusiast in a farmyard in the mountains of Yugoslavia.

Another rare Silver Ghost, got for nothing after being found derelict on an Australian sheep station, has been restored by an American TV millionaire. Jim Leakie. at a cost of £17.000. Now it’s worth at least £30,000. A London specialist Gordon Cussens has already found a Daimler with a history of service with the Royal Family. Any car owned or used by a celebrity can have at least 10 per cent added to its value: a Railton owned by the late Duke of Windsor was recently sold for

£4OOO — well over the market price. And a Cord two-seater, once owned by American prohibition racketeer Vincent "Mad Dog” Coll, fetched almost £20,000 in an auction.

The other day, an American enthusiast offered a Vienna museum £50,000 for the Graft Um Stift tourer in which Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated at Sarajevo, in 1914 — an action which precipitated the First World War. But the museum wouldn’t sell. How a car is renovated after it’s been unearthed is the vital key to its subsequent value.

“A restorer must be a perfectionist," says Lord Montagu, who believes there are only about 10 really good renovators in Britain. “Not only must a car look right, the period must be right. You don’t upholster in artificial leather or fit trafficators.”

Nor do you fit fake carriage lamps or even have the car resprayed; keen collectors know that veter-

an and vintage cars were invariably hand-painted. Lord Montagu pointed out: "In the world of the collector, originality counts far more than performance or pretty looks. "A fake may be glamorous, but. its only commercial value will be in the

field of film hire, and for practical purposes all the investor has is a chassis.” Bearing in mind today’s astonishing prices, is it worth looking round for some sturdy wreck, refurbishing it and making a killing? The answer is maybe — first find your wreck. But remember that there is already a good market for comparatively modem cars which have satisfied collectors’ rriteria. Last year, special postwar models like Allard, Healey Silverstone. Daimler Sport, and the XK range of Jaguars caught up with their original selling prices. “The cars to look for,” says John Grosvenor, “are those whose manufacturers have gone out of business or models which are no longer made.” Ten years ago, Jowetts, Armstrong-Siddeleys, Sunbeam Talbots, and even old Ford V 8 Pilots were scrapyard fodder. Today they are fast becoming the vintage cars of tomorrow. Recently a rebuilt MG Midget fetched £2OOO at auction—nearly four times its original price.

But cars are like antiques — they are dependent on fashion quirks. Today, for instance, a car that has been on the Brighton "Old Crocks” race may fetch £5OO more than an identical model which hasn't.