Who needs Bruce Weiner with ebay items like these.

[super-se7en (Malc Dudley)]

 At the moment there are very interesting micro cars on ebay (20 off) that would not cost the price of one of the auction lots.
First my apologies to Richard as i have not yet mastered how to link these to ebay but am still trying.
1) A Berkeley SA322 being a complete one owner unmolested car with 13000 miles.  ref 32174993112
2) A Berkeley 492 complete with the oh so rare triple engine   ref 350716903116
3)1962 Trojan that is taxed and tested and looks tidy at buy it now of £6000   ref 170992157613
4) Fibreglass's 16 microcars including a coronet all now on eBay   ref 321074936984
5) The Frisky F3 over priced at £3995   ref 170989764234
There are still affordable micro cars out there for the enthusiast and long may it continue. 

[steven mandell]

1) A Berkeley SA322 being a complete one owner unmolested car with 13000 miles.  ref 32174993112
 

I get "zero results found " when searching with this number.  Could you recheck for it please?
Thanks,
Steve

[richard]

Just typed in berkeley sa322 and there it was not rocket science . Another one crossing the pond ?

[Jim Janecek]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321074993112

[Big Al]

Well that is no money at the moment. Had one of these and I think it is a better engine than the Excelsior. Rare and pretty car but not washed so no points on the Bling scale! If it goes abroad make them pay for it!!!

[Bob Purton]

Well that is no money at the moment. Had one of these and I think it is a better engine than the Excelsior. Rare and pretty car but not washed so no points on the Bling scale! If it goes abroad make them pay for it!!!

One way in which we may be able to hang on to a few more of our home grown microcars is to not flag up everything that comes up for sale on this forum. We are our own worst enemy!

[richard]

Don't think I hav been guilty but have flagged up oddities like gordon fuel cap etc. Whay are they thinkig of ? Really annoying actually 

[Bob Purton]

This thread is a case in point. Soneones makes a good observation that there are still cars to be had here at reasonable prices but then tells the whole world where they all are! Kind of works against the original point doesn't it? Some may argue that overseas preditors would find them anyway but why make it easy for them? There was a time when we had our own network of enthusiasts, cars would change hands within the network as we all knew what each other were looking out for. Maybe that's just too idealistic for the kind of world we now live in.

[super-se7en (Malc Dudley)]

I am beginning to think bob is right and so i will refrain from highlighting auction sites. Thought i was helping to keep enthusiasts informed.

[richard]

Hmmm yes but the enthusiasts were already informed and now the merely speculative may be . Obviously then no members would aid exporting our rare cars then . No names mentioned

[Chris Thomas]

Dear Friends

You can not have it both ways. It sounds like you want a cartel when you want to buy to undercut the market and you want an open market to get the best price when you sell.

The fact that less than 50% of the cars up for sale on eBay do not sell means that a maximum of 50% can be manipulated, and probably only half of the 50% may be manipulated in the way you suggest, so 75% should be Kosher.

It would ne nice if bargains dropped into our laps, but the reality is the harder you work at something the more rewarding it becomes.

Let us not forget that there are people among us who regularly buy cars in France and sell them here in the UK, because they can turn a profit. The same can be said for those from other countries who do the same here and export to some other country. We are not sqeeky clean on this issue.

I can understand Bobs frustration that he has previously sold cars to museums on the basis that they were held in trust, but that also deserves the N word as nothing in this life is for ever. UK museums trusts have a system whereby they have to offer any cars to another museum first if they want to dispose of it. If nobody wants it then it is put on the open market. This hopefully keeps things in the UK, but is not a foolproof.

As for announcing what people have seen on Ebay for sale, I find this very helpful as it is circulated within the forum. It may be that Jim could make that section not visible to non members, I do not know, we need his advice on that. It would be a shame if that thread was lost completely.

Chris Thomas

[messerschmitt]

Hmmm yes but the enthusiasts were already informed and now the merely speculative may be . Obviously then no members would aid exporting our rare cars then . No names mentioned

There's a dilemma here! I think prices are going to go up, just not the the Weiner level - and there are lots of crazy prices out there already for our types of cars.

However, anyone who does not sell for the highest price to whoever comes along to buy their car is leaving themselves open to someone else doing that after they buy the car from them

Despite a couple of ludicrous offers, my schmitt sits in the garage, where it has been since last taxed in 1999, and has just been moved 20 miles to its new home. I paid £200 for it and could have sold a few times in the past couple of years for £8-9,000. Have I been tempted? No!! It isn't for sale, nor is it likely to be for sale - but if it was, it would be advertised (as a non runner, needing a restoration) for a five figure sum. Would I care who bought it? yes, I would, but it would be going where I would get most money for it.

IN the past, my two Goggo coupes were imported into the UK, and reexported to Italy some fifteen years later, the Mochet was imported and a Berkeley was exported as payment for it. My land Rover Dormobile was sold to a German and now resides in Switzerland. It isn't difficult to buy or sell a car abroad!

Here are some here that may tempt you

Mochet Velocar 1600 Euros
http://www.leboncoin.fr/equipement_auto/434227637.htm?ca=1_s


A CM 125 3000 Euros
http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/401076835.htm?ca=1_s

Microcar Tom Car 750 Euros
http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/355690547.htm?ca=1_s

There's a Rovin for sale there too just now, and interesting micros come up all the time.

In the case of this sale, a huge premium was paid, as it was in 1997, for a car from the Bruce Weiner collection. The cars will jump up in value and a tidy looking roadworthy Messerschmitt will be above the £15k mark now, with restored examples already for sale at a cost greater than some of the lesser Weiner cars. Do I care? No! Course not, after all, I already own one and it isn't for sale.

Would I buy one  now - definitely not - just in the same way as I wish I had bought a 60s Porsche 912 when they could be had for £4-6000, or a Citroen DS when they could be bought for a grand, or wish I hadn't sold my Vauxhall PA Crestas when I did. You can still buy cheap and have a great fun car. It just won't be a Messerschmitt, an Isetta or even a Heinkel.

[Jim Janecek]

As for announcing what people have seen on Ebay for sale, I find this very helpful as it is circulated within the forum. It may be that Jim could make that section not visible to non members, I do not know, we need his advice on that. It would be a shame if that thread was lost completely.

I am fairly certain that is a trivial thing to implement here if that is really what people want.
You guys figure it out, I am not going to make the decision for you.
Obviously it would not affect anyone signed in, only those that choose to browse and not participate.

[Bob Purton]

I never suggested that Jim.

[Bob Purton]

Dear Friends

"You can not have it both ways. It sounds like you want a cartel when you want to buy to undercut the market and you want an open market to get the best price when you sell. "

No that wasn't what I was suggesting Chris, the last two cars I parted with, my Schmitt and a scootacar were both sold below the market price to chaps in the UK fold because I was more interested in placing the cars in the ownership of people I knew and stood a good chance of seeing again at events than in squeezing every last penny out of them. [maybe im a fool!]They are both still in the country and I have seen them both recently.
Yes I have sold cars abroad in the parts and yes I have recently helped a "chum" export a car {i didn't sell it to them} but in the light of recent events I am changing my outlook on the whole scene. Not telling anyone else what to do , just sharing my current thoughts on the matter. I just fear that soon we may feel like a native of Mauritius looking for a Dodo supper!

"As for announcing what people have seen on Ebay for sale, I find this very helpful as it is circulated within the forum" It is helpfull if you are a casual browser just looking out of interest like yourself Chris but for many of us it can be a curse.