Maranellos are disappearing

SF 90 is out ,little brother on the way,12 cyl uncertain future, hybrid ,SUV,etc etc ..folks realizing these lovely machines will eventually be as revered as the Daytona?

 

True but I don't give a rats behind about "getting the same money" When I buy a car, I buy it to drive it.

The market on the high end cars shot up from 2014-2016, letting out some SERIOUS air in 2016. It has been pretty sideways, declining slightly since. Here we are in 2020 and it is still remaining afloat, which isn't going to last forever. I resisted buying any cars for over 4 years and just bought a few project cars on the cheap to have some fun and keep me busy for the next year or so. I'm going to pick up one of them in Charleston this thursday and driving it up the smokies back to the midwest. I have my money invested in some equities and a lot of gold. Which is what I'm going to continue to do until the cycle ends and the cars get cheap again.

 

Cheap project cars typically fail to make any economic sense.

 

Not the ones I just bought. W12 phaeton for 3 grand that needs a new kessy module (600 dollars). It will be worth 10k the second I'm done with it. Also a V8 Phaeton for $5900 with full service history since birth, 2 owner car. And a 1998 c70 volvo coupe that was gifted to Val Kilmer for the Saint Film. Bought it for 2 grand (it needs a ton of work), I'll probably be under water a thousand bucks or so when it's finished but oh well.

I'm staying in the bargain bin until the market comes down.

 

Perfection! Best gated 575 I've ever seen. I even like it better than my own

 

Many moons ago, when I was learning my trade, I was taught that the definition of value in real estate is something along the lines of "the price at which a property changes hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell, and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts".

The same applies to cars. Asking prices are only relevant in setting an upper limit, and the second bid in the market is of no consequence whatever. As you seem to be a regular underbidder, Alan, I suggest you up your game if you actually want to buy a car.

Or, to put it another way, "the quality will remain long after the price has been forgotten".

 

Maybe he isn't in a hurry. Your statement is true today because it is still somewhat of a seller's market today. At some point it will return to a buyer's market, always does.

 

I'm quite happy at the numbers I'm bidding and eventually the right car will come along. I've twice said yes at asking price (both in the mid £70k's) only for the seller to pull the sale once it was clear I was a serious buyer and not simply wasting their time. Both via dealers (much to the dealers frustration), so this isn't a one way street. I'm also comfortable paying more than my budget if the right car comes along, I've bid a lot more off market for one car that is stored at KHPC, but the owner won't sell. He has 10 Ferraris, 3 of which are 550's - it's just not about money for him he just collects them despite never having even driven the particular one I'd like.

Has your car sold with a £100K asking price as a private sale? A little over double what you paid for it? Did you even get any serious enquries at that number? If it has sold what did it go for? I see the listing is no longer live.

The definition of value that you explain above is playing out in real time now on current 550 classified listings. Some of which have been for sale on and off for years at unrealistic asking prices. Next to none are selling, the dealers aren't moving on their asking opreice either, why would they? All pretty much have no skin in the game. These are sale or return cars or consignment sales.

My neighbour is a petrol head, he has a number of cars. Every winter he gives a couple of them (hardcore track focused cars) to SOR dealers for a few months when they can't be used at asking prices at least £30K over market. He gets some free storage over winter and in the strange event one sells he's happy as he'll have been paid way more than it's worth.

So right now I'm looking at trade adverts for 550's and 575's that are mainly getting a bit of free winter storage with pie in the sky asking prices. I think it will change, but it's likely to be the second half of next year before the finanical catastrophe that we're living in now fully unfolds.

 

I put 6 cars up for sale, with the objective of selling three and keeping three. https://bluebottle.smugmug.com/My-Cars Three have now gone, so the other three, of which my 550 is one, are staying.

 

So the reality was it was advertised at way more than market value as you didn't really want to sell it, unless someone was prepared to pay way more than it's actual worth. Which pretty much seems to describe many of the cars being advertised today.

It seems most of these (550's that is) don't even make it to market. Most seem to change hads privately and the closest I've got so far have all been cars that weren't advertised on which the seller than got cold feet.

 

No, I was as prepared to take an offer on my 550 as I was on all 6. I advertised high and was open to offers. As it happens, the other three went first.

 

You sold your Dino! Sorry to hear that.

how was the 964 as an ownership experience?

 

It doesn’t make sense that when you don’t offer enough for the cars you would like to buy, and the sellers don’t sell to you (and sometimes sell for more to others), you say the sellers are wanting way more than market value.

Why isn’t it that you and all the buyers who aren’t buying, are wanting to buy at less than market value?

a rational observer looking at a) the number of cars available over the last year and b) your numerous unsuccessful offers to buy some of these cars, would not conclude that the sellers are asking way more than market value. They would say you are offering less than market value.

You could buy a good Maranello tomorrow if you wanted to and the price you would pay would be the market price.

I get that there are some pie in the sky vendors advertising at unlikely prices. But everybody can see them because they are advertising. Nobody can see the pie in the sky would be purchasers - I am not talking about you personally, I am very keen for you join the Maranello club and you know your stuff - because they don’t advertise themselves.

I reckon there are as many overpriced cars as there are underpriced purchasers. (Plus a few people waiting for Armageddon) The truth, as ever, is somewhere in the middle.

 

The one thing i can say you can’t put a price on is having a Maranello in the garage ready to go at a moments notice!
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Yes, the Dino has gone (to Australia, and to someone who will, I believe, cherish it for many years into the future), but it was the luck of the draw. I'll tell you the story.

One thing had become clear to me, namely that I had too many cars (ignoring DDs). Ownership was becoming as much a chore as a pleasure, none was being used as much as it should (cars IMO are for driving, not polishing), and it was time to reduce my collection, so, at the beginning of the year, I set myself a goal to go from 6 to 3 (not reckoning on the problems that would present themselves a few months later).

What was not clear, however, was which ones I wanted to sell, because I didn't want to sell any of them individually. Each one was special.

The 964 was a brilliant little car, with emphasis on the word "little" - its size was a great advantage. Any 911 is special, but the 964 was the last 911 that actually looked like Butzi Porsche’s 901 and the first that came with all the conveniences that made it an agreeable DD (which it was when I first acquired it). I had bought it with a legacy from my mother who died in 2000, so it was her last present to me. I had owned it for getting on for 20 years and had done 65,000 miles in it. It was part of the family.

The Maranello was the fulfilment of a childhood dream: I had grown up in an era when Ferraris had V12s in front of the driver, and the first Ferrari that made an impression on me was the 500 Superfast. The Maranello is an amazingly capable car (a far more capable driver than am I) and a bridge between traditional Ferraris of the '60s and the modern cars of today. Nothing Ferrari has made after the Maranello floats my boat, Daytonas and their predecessors are not within my price range, and the flat 12s are not what my childhood memories say a Ferrari should be.

E-types have been in my blood since I first saw one getting on for 60 years ago. An E-type was the car that first kindled my passion for exotic machinery, and if Enzo Ferrari didn’t say that it was the most beautiful car in the world, he should have done. My present one is my third, and my ideal: a '63 3.8 FHC, in BRG / suede green. They don't come any better IMO.

The Dino was also a car that held special memories for me, from the time when, in my early 20s, I had been let loose in one at Goodwood on a track day organised for the directors / owners of Modena Engineering. I had promised myself then that one day I would have one. It is certainly the best car I have ever owned, and may be the best car that Ferrari ever made, and I shall never forget the greatest road trip of my life, to Maranello and back for the Dino’s 50th. anniversary celebration in 2018.

The Maserati Granturismo is, IMO, the most beautiful of Pininfarina’s 21st. century designs, and its engine note, without the need for any electronic enhancement, one of the best of any modern car. Collecting it personally from the factory in Modena was a wonderful experience, which I am unlikely ever to repeat. It is not a great car, but a very satisfying one to own, and it was very special for me.

And then there’s the Bentley. Totally different from the rest, but a wonderful driving / ownership experience in its own inimitable way - the true “drawing room on wheels” and a worthy successor to WO’s masterpiece, the 8-litre. The Turbo R is the car that turned Bentley from a badge-engineered Rolls-Royce on the brink of extinction, into a successful marque in its own right, securing its future. It has a surprising turn of speed, but yet is so relaxing that one never really feels the need to exploit that speed – one just feels content to waft along in great comfort and style, and let the world rush by. Like the Porsche, I have owned it for a long time – almost 18 years – and have driven my two nephews and my niece to their weddings in it, so it, too, is part of the family. And it is the only one of my “toys” in which my wife really enjoys travelling.​

The theme that permeated my collection, you may have noticed, is that all were the progeny of marques with an outstanding record at Le Mans.

So, each one had a special place in my affections, and several good reasons not to be sold: there was no obvious choice to be on the list, let alone three. After long deliberation, I decided that the only thing to do was to put them all up for sale and let the market decide for me. They were all ambitiously priced, but I don’t think that in itself deterred any serious buyers.

The result was that the 964 was the first to go, followed by the Dino and then the Maserati (to which I shall admit that I gave a little push, largely to prevent the 550 from being the next casualty – to lose one Ferrari is unfortunate, to lose two would seem like carelessness, with a apologies to Lady Bracknell), leaving me with the 550, the Jaguar and the Bentley (and a T2 campervan, but that is the property of my wife).

 

Thank you for sharing! Super interesting reading.

 

Very interesting reading, and real stories behind your cars. An inspiration.

 

You can now get an F12 for less than a manual 575.

https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/2013-ferrari-f12-berlinetta-2

F12 sold for £116k.

manual 575 sold on the same platform 2 weeks ago for £120k.

F12 is a LHD Middle East car which makes a discount, though the 575 wasn’t the nicest example either.

 

When did the manual 575 go on CC? I watch that site daily and didn't see it. It's also not on the sold section.

Was it a private sale that never got to live auction?

 

Or bought two 25k mile 599GTBs for the same price as the manual 575 (same platform, May 2020, £63k). So what? It's just the natural progression along the age vs value curve. Even my 25k miles UK 550 sold for £77k back in August.

 

Seems reasonable to me. I'd rather have the Maranello any day of the week.

 

Is there an underlying reason we should try to understand that explains your need to be rude?

“So what” is that this is an online forum for people to exchange observations about Ferraris; this board is about Maranellos; this thread is about Maranello prices; that post was about Maranello prices compared to Ferrari F12 prices; so there you go.

Your own point about 2 x 599s = 1 x manual 575 is interesting so thanks.

 

Yes, they do some private brokerage as well. It was a higher miles car, UK RHD FHP. I understand a nice car but not the nicest around. I wonder if anyone here bought it?

 

Unusual not to see it anywhere, even on his own website. Ed Lovett is not someone that misses the opportunity to blow his own trumpet.

https://www.internationalcollectables.com/