We’re now seeing £12k as a typical value for one needing restoration and £18k for a usable car ripe for improvement. The really smart ones are more like £30k and the best £44k.
We’ve come to rely on Morgans as the sort of solid classics that live in a parallel universe, one untroubled by the fads and market machinations that can afflict cars with mainstream desirability. But this month’s Price Guide Movers On The Slide reveals what may be a chink in their armour. For now, a 2.2% fall in values of the carburettor-fed Plus 8 models built from 1973 to 1986 is neither cause for owner alarm nor aspirant buyer celebration.
Five years ago you’d be spending £9k, £15k, £22k and £26.5k for cars in equivalent condition, so they’re 43% more expensive today, despite this latest wobble. But it doesn’t seem like a mere blip, an anomaly, because prices are slightly down on where they were a full 12 months ago.
While selected £100k-plus collectable classics have resisted the recent market correction, or at least turned around from decline, sub-£50k cars have largely experienced steady growth so it’s unusual to see Morgans struggling. Their detractors might cite such an antiquated driving experience and image as reasons for new buyers to leave them on the shelf, but their five-year performance contradicts that hypothesis.
While we commonly see the generational effect pushing up values of standout cars from the Eighties and Nineties, it doesn’t automatically follow that those of older eras will suffer accordingly. If that were true, Bentley R-type Continentals and AC Cobras would be competing on price with Morgans right now. Sadly, they’re not.
Price Guide Movers On The Up is part of 18 pages of market tips, analysis and buying advice in the latest issue ofClassic Cars.