overpriced ebay project

[daugs]

Not sure if there is a separate section for things not recommended or considered as overpriced but saw this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384976057315 ... Swh8piuvLO

for that money I'd be expecting something that you could take to get it tested for an MOT and it would at least get to the testing station even if it failed on a couple of minor things.

2 others that sold recently, and I struggled to believe them (need to scroll down)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rover-S ... 7675.l2557

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1972-LAND-RO ... 7675.l2557

or am I just hopelessly out of date on values,

[Bob Fell]

Hi David,
Regrettably the latter, prices for vehicles in very poor condition are fetching a premium and that's not just Lightweights, 109's have shot up massively from 2/3 years ago. 101's - that's another world.
I guess its down to increasing rarity.
Regards
Bob,

[daugs]

Hi Bob,

but is it everywhere or just ebay ? I see the same discussion on other fora and club sites, people who know better have a much more realistic appraisal. There is a similar discussion on Series 2 club forum at the moment with a £13k 2a that club members think is more of a £8-10 vehicle. I guess my question is are the ebay prices real or just statistical outliers ?

Ebay only needs one buyer for something to sell, and clearly some have but is this really indicative of true values. Many of the Lwt projects are missing things like upper bulkhead, proper split tailgate and hoodsticks - that together second hand is probably nearly a grand. If they haven't run for years there is the engine and gearbox rebuild which can still cost a bit even if you can do it yourself, and we've not discussed springs, shocks etc. And on these £2k projects everything is suspect, chassis, main bulkhead, yet something capable of an MOT is £4-5k. Which economically has to be a better bet as it will be complete and will need work (like mine) but cheaper in long run.

This ebay phenomina is not new. I bought an austin healey back in 2006, which from my youth I had always aspired to. I wanted a 2 seater 3000 and they only made a couple of thousand of them so rare but lots of other 3000 so not too bad. Looked at a few etc etc. Anyway, before I eventually found mine, I saw one on ebay, looked at in person, bit overpriced but ballpark and a couple of nagging items for concern. Got it inspected, not only were the items of concern more serious but the advice I got from a highly respected healey expert was not to touch it even if price dropped by a third. The sellor was incensed. A month later I got a very abusive email about how my expert was an idiot because the car had sold at full price. It turns out to a lady who had bought it as a present for her husband's birthday. He probably loved the car but not the repair bills.

I could understand if rare, complete vehicles with interesting history came up, eg full winterised RM or such like would command high premiums in whatever condition but ramshackle incomplete vehicles ??

The good news is that I have such a project, now dismanted, plus some extras, so more than complete in a lock up, maybe I should sell up..........with us in London I won't be working on it anytime soon.