Austin Seven (and other) values........

[merlinart]

It's good to see you people noticing change. The austin owners matra of old, only understood. " I want it cheaper".

Maybe the 7 world has a future after all.

Car prices, were always going to drop. As they went up so quickly. And always the cream risses to the top. So you should pay more for the best and scarce.

I have the same talk here with a customer the other day, that I have with many over parts prices. The risses over recent years are not pushed by the suppliers. Or even the machine shops that supply us.

House prices, mean machine shop rent goes up hugely.
Gas has rocketed.
Electric has rocketed.
It feels like every month I get warning of emission charges going up from foundries.
Ever tried renting gas bottles
And there is much much more, it all pushes up manufacturing prices.

One worry for the future, is is car prices fall back to far. The price of spares won't relate. And you may see less suppliers. Wich men's less support for your hobby.

Personally I don't think interest in pre war cars has changed, it's the type of people who are buying into them.

Most newbys are not interested in clubs, wich is were you will see numbers drop at events.

Most newbys don't look to do there own repaires, wich is why most rebuild companies have far more work than they need.

With the latter changes of owners also show why thee is less interest in autojumbles, newbys have ebay. And dont even know we're beaulieu is.

Anyone who wants to panic about there car being unwanted in the future, can always donate them to me. I'll find room somewere

Tony.

Some very interesting comments Tony.

Ebay being one, not knowing about Beaulieu etc, however, there will always be some with money who can simply afford to go to specialists for a total rebuild.

I do also agree about the idea of prices falling too far thus the cost of spares becoming disproportionate.

I know only too well too my cost, the cost of having too many spares on the shelf, having to shell out for 10 items of a component for example, when you might only need one at the moment.

Arthur

[Michael]

Our son made this movie which I hope proves that some of the young (the exceptions) have an interest in these things. You need to turn the volume up. Sorry, not A7.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daVDrGsaDME

However, houses, women, jobs etc have all had an impact and the car now sits largely unused.

[Duncan Grimmond]

My view is that we have a generation separation. I learned my mechanicing skills lying in the gutter outside our house with Haynes manuals and a copy of " How to keep your Volkswagen alive".
Modern cars have very few parts or systems which one can repair without computer skills and the right program. Thus we have comparatively few young up and coming amateur engineers who have learned the skill out of necessity.
Of course there are many young enthusiasts but fewer than in the 60's,70's and 80's.
I sold my BSA trike out of fear of the sort of driver who gets up your backside thinking "How charming" which soon turns into "Get out of the f----ing way!"
Had to get back in there though!

[Phil Kingdom]

Those of us brought up in the 40s,50s,60s  played with Meccano, and made Airfix kits, we also helped our Dads service and maintain his car and were used to using our hands and fixing things, most of today's generation don't get the chance to do this, the modern eurobox their dads have been driving needs a computer to tell you whats wrong and even then cant always cure the problem, not to mention the array of specialist tools needed torques, stardrives inner and outer and so on, it is no wonder the youngsters don't want to work on them, even I don't want to work on them if I can help it. The current problem is if a youngster wants a real car that they can work on the whole they tend not to have inherited the skills from their Dads and the initial cost of the car and the price of the insurance for under 25s is the governing factor, with current price trends they just buy a cheep eurobox and drive that till it dies of some silly electrical fault and is carted of for scrap, just check out marketplace on Facebook and see what you can get locally for a couple of hundred quid, compared with the price of a classic that needs restoring the day of the cheep classic has sadly passed, like all things the prices will peak then flatten and maybe drop a bit, but unless they are regulated of the road there will always be  some demand for older cars and most of these will have to be ready to drive away and polish jobs.

[Mike Costigan]

We need to remember that when many of us started in Austin Sevens they were no more than thirty or forty years old; that's like a Vauxhall Nova to today's youngsters. They will look on an Austin Seven now much as we may have looked on the earliest of Veterans - totally impractical and financially out of reach.

[merlinart]

We need to remember that when many of us started in Austin Sevens they were no more than thirty or forty years old; that's like a Vauxhall Nova to today's youngsters. They will look on an Austin Seven now much as we may have looked on the earliest of Veterans - totally impractical and financially out of reach.

Yes, very important point, we mustn't forget this. My first classic car was in 1976, I was 21 and bought a 1955 TR2 for £280, and it was just becoming a classic, because Classic Cars had just done an article on them a few years before.

It is amusing though to see Escort Mk1/2s selling for silly money, but there are specialists supplying parts for them, and of course only 40 odd years old.

Nostalgia is probably just still alive and kicking, but no doubt there's some treatment for it...electric shocks/saline baths etc.

Anybody here like 1940s/50s pinup paintings...preferably on the sides of B-17s etc? Take a look at some of the seriously non PC advertising of the era...superb "nostalgic" stuff, then there's the case for retro/chic nonsense, but it is good to see recycling/upcycling, so perhaps full circle, and there's no argument to be had.

It would be fascinating to see if "continuation" Sevens might sell and at what price...what a contentious and interesting idea?!

Now, chassis would be relatively easy, bodywork could be fabricated or dare I say it...out of grp, what about engines...3 cylinder Suzuki perhaps?

Arthur

[Dave Prior]

We need to remember that when many of us started in Austin Sevens they were no more than thirty or forty years old; that's like a Vauxhall Nova to today's youngsters. They will look on an Austin Seven now much as we may have looked on the earliest of Veterans - totally impractical and financially out of reach.

Yes, very important point, we mustn't forget this. My first classic car was in 1976, I was 21 and bought a 1955 TR2 for £280, and it was just becoming a classic, because Classic Cars had just done an article on them a few years before.

It is amusing though to see Escort Mk1/2s selling for silly money, but there are specialists supplying parts for them, and of course only 40 odd years old.

Nostalgia is probably just still alive and kicking, but no doubt there's some treatment for it...electric shocks/saline baths etc.

Anybody here like 1940s/50s pinup paintings...preferably on the sides of B-17s etc? Take a look at some of the seriously non PC advertising of the era...superb "nostalgic" stuff, then there's the case for retro/chic nonsense, but it is good to see recycling/upcycling, so perhaps full circle, and there's no argument to be had.

It would be fascinating to see if "continuation" Sevens might sell and at what price...what a contentious and interesting idea?!

Now, chassis would be relatively easy, bodywork could be fabricated or dare I say it...out of grp, what about engines...3 cylinder Suzuki perhaps?

Arthur

Speaking as a "young person" (I'm 26, so I think I still count)  all I can say is the main thing I find appealing about driving Sevens is the fact they feel so primitive and raw. I spent the first 6 years of my driving career primarily driving a 1958 A35 and that feels like a spaceship in comparison. Now my daily is a modern and the Sevens are even more appealing. It's such a different experience and whilst it is daunting at first I find few things as exhilarating as doing 55 in our 1934 PD. You're not going to get the same feeling with anything else. 
People don't have the opportunity to try things out. Many of the above points are true to a greater or lesser extent, but I would say the biggest problem is purely exposure, or rather a lack of it. You don't really see them being driven. I grew up with access to Sevens and was lucky to have done so. I know many people my age who would love to own one, but they don't know where to start.

[merlinart]

We need to remember that when many of us started in Austin Sevens they were no more than thirty or forty years old; that's like a Vauxhall Nova to today's youngsters. They will look on an Austin Seven now much as we may have looked on the earliest of Veterans - totally impractical and financially out of reach.

Yes, very important point, we mustn't forget this. My first classic car was in 1976, I was 21 and bought a 1955 TR2 for £280, and it was just becoming a classic, because Classic Cars had just done an article on them a few years before.

It is amusing though to see Escort Mk1/2s selling for silly money, but there are specialists supplying parts for them, and of course only 40 odd years old.

Nostalgia is probably just still alive and kicking, but no doubt there's some treatment for it...electric shocks/saline baths etc.

Anybody here like 1940s/50s pinup paintings...preferably on the sides of B-17s etc? Take a look at some of the seriously non PC advertising of the era...superb "nostalgic" stuff, then there's the case for retro/chic nonsense, but it is good to see recycling/upcycling, so perhaps full circle, and there's no argument to be had.

It would be fascinating to see if "continuation" Sevens might sell and at what price...what a contentious and interesting idea?!

Now, chassis would be relatively easy, bodywork could be fabricated or dare I say it...out of grp, what about engines...3 cylinder Suzuki perhaps?

Arthur

Speaking as a "young person" (I'm 26, so I think I still count)  all I can say is the main thing I find appealing about driving Sevens is the fact they feel so primitive and raw. I spent the first 6 years of my driving career primarily driving a 1958 A35 and that feels like a spaceship in comparison. Now my daily is a modern and the Sevens are even more appealing. It's such a different experience and whilst it is daunting at first I find few things as exhilarating as doing 55 in our 1934 PD. You're not going to get the same feeling with anything else. 
People don't have the opportunity to try things out. Many of the above points are true to a greater or lesser extent, but I would say the biggest problem is purely exposure, or rather a lack of it. You don't really see them being driven. I grew up with access to Sevens and was lucky to have done so. I know many people my age who would love to own one, but they don't know where to start.

One of the best places to start of course is to go to car shows/rallies and  on this forum. It is certainly good to hear a young point of view and long may you encourage others. Your opinion is very fascinating, being young you've not been exposed to the many modern vehicles that so many of us have in the past decades, when many of us seem to long for the cars of decades past often thinking them better (aesthetically) even if not so economic to operate. Yes the notion of being primitive and raw is a very good one...early pioneering days.  

Good stuff.

Arthur

[GK5268]

Dave has hit the nail on the head, lack of exposure, that is why it is important that we get out & use our cars as much as possible to keep the profile up. My 1965 Rover P6 is my daily driver and I would like to bring the Ruby up to the mark and take on daily duties, only trouble is how much I love driving the Rover...

[JonE]

I know many people my age who would love to own one, but they don't know where to start.

The limiting factors that would get them started:
1. access to the family garage space or an income to allow access to a personal garage or undercover storage
2. a supportive knowledgeable parent - or supportive club network close by
3. say 3 or 4 thousand quid to get them a rough running Ruby or an earlier car for tinkering with
4. a weekly fund for tools and generally-required stuff...

Once they are started, they will make the time, but is it realistic that this will happen unless people have that entrée already? i.e. parents or close friends being involved in the cars already...

But you, Dave, are in a key position to influence people and create a cluster! It would be interesting to put the issues to people who sound interested and find out whether these are the limiting factors, or if they aren't... what are?

The primitive and raw bit is excellent - I agree; one of the reasons I think they 'got' me. They really are hugely complex projects to manage that can be tackled because time/speed of completion isn't dreadfully important. And they are in many ways like going travelling without having to leave home - venturing into the unknown.