Peels

[P50]

So everyone wants to know who bought Nevs Ebay Trident. I reckon it was an american. No-one in the UK would pay that I think. I know my Peel cost a mere fraction of that two years ago. Seems I got in by the skin of teeth. Chap was going to Ebay my machine. Thank god he didn't..

However just because one car sells for that figure 10 years ago and again recently doesn't mean a Peel's worth that sort of cash. Or does it? These were worthless (useless?) machines not so long back. My car cost the previous owner £30! ok in '68 though.. So it did 85% depreciation in 4 years. Assuming no discount from Two Strokes. Shocking.

How many more will leave our shores? The good thing is (I hope) that most owners prefer their car to the money. I do. Plus if you take the Peel to a Car Show it's a show stopper. Fantastic fun. As I plan never to sell my Peel it has no real monetary value to me. I'd like Trident to join it. But not at 35 grand.

Nevs Trident has lost it's chassis plate and paperwork. So that would always have bugged me. Not knowing what it really was. But don't get me wrong I'd have bought it at the right price!!

As Peels rarely come up then what next? I reckon Scootacars are way undervalued. But as I have a cracking car I car not as prev. Oh well seems the worlds gone mad. Everyone I talk to says '35? madness, you can get a Ferrari for that'

And indeed you can..

[Stuart Cyphus]

Whoops, interupted again. Where was I?

 But everyone who drove a Peel at the Peel Rally tended to agree that in this day & age, a Peel couldn't really take to the road particulary safely. £35,000 for a car that you could rarely drive... Mind you, the new owner could always stick it on his mantlepeice! (didnt someone actully do that with a Peel years ago? Also, was Bob Dobie the last person in the UK or even the world to actully use a Peel as everyday transport? Doing as he did for several months back in 1976.)

 Mind you, I know all about "useless vehicles". My Harding Consort just does not work, With its gearing it has a heart attack at the slightest hint of a slope, & it was built at the factury like that. no wonder it only spent four years in use and 33 years in a shed. But I like it!

 Anyway, this topics meant to be about Peels....

[blob]

This whole episode has made me wonder why Tridents are held in such high esteem, I agree that 35k was ambitious for what is essentially a sheet of glass-fibre, three wheels and an engine. In my opinion it falls into the category of a modernist icon, it utilised the modern materials of the day cheaply and efficiently, with a design that was so minimal it didn

[P50]

OK, Lets analyse at greater length.

The Peel Trident posseses one utter quality. Those that know, know.. The Trident is unbelievable looking machine. It looks like a spacecraft. A vision from what I perceive to be happier times. It represents a sort of carefree freedom of a bygone era.Innocence. A Peel is much more than the sum of its parts. A Picasso is 20 pence worth of raw material. A Peel is art. Nev was going to go to Christies for a valuation not to a mainstream club or auction house. Without a chassis plate you will have extreme difficulty getting that Two Strokes plate on a V5C. It's like a Van Gough with the signature missing. You're much better of with an utterly wrecked Peel with every thing broken or missing with it's papers,tags and original engine.   

Forgive me when I say useless. But noisy,slow,extremely vulnarable on road,greenhouse hot in summer,unstable handling,no reverse,no brakelights(or brakes really),poor headlights,no safety features. I could go on.   But many cars of yore  in todays world are lethal to use. The Peel really is unusable today. My P50 has a defective engine. I'm in no rush to sort it as I cannot drive it safetly anyway.

However if Peels drift into the arena of the super-rich then we really are the losers.The family silver's being sold off. None at shows. None to view.   However I do know many Peel owners.I'm sure most if not all will keep them. A defiance of sorts.  Which I suppose will push prices up perversely. Supply and demand I fear. There are approx 50 real ones left out of 140 odd built.There's a few left out there though.. Hiding in the suburbs.  A P50 on it's own i.e., if the Trident didn't ever follow, would be fairly priced machine. But as its the sister to the Trident I would value one not a great deal less. For if one has one model you simply have to have the other. I've been approached to sell overseas. No thank you dear boy..

Most Peel owners are quite old. I don't think money drives them. The people who aquired these oddities are eccentrics.And have had them for years and years. So I assume that in most cases in the future death will promote a sale of an uninterested family. No new blood to come through.

How may Peels were tossed in skips in the 70's?  Actually that's simple,  about ninety to a hundred... Oh well! 

[robadob]

Just five words. THE WORLD HAS GONE MAD.

[P50]

Has? Went bonkers years ago!

[robadob]

Don't I know it. I'm still bonkers today after selling my two P50s in 1976!

[P50]

We all have our crosses to bear dear boy.  How many 'if onlys' have we all made.

Wouldn't worry about it. P50's are not all they're cracked up to be. But are good pub talk though..

[burst ur bubble]

There seems to be alot of bitching all over the place about the guy who put the trident on eBay. Has anyone thought he may just have been seeing what happens, seeing how u all carries on in forums all over the world etc. He dos'ent sound that bad to what I've heard, I was told that there are going to be some Tridents restored using copies of the  parts he lent out to be replicated.(And answered some ? over other parts). He sacrificed his own original wiring loom so it could be cut up and copied so other Trident restorers could get their hands on one, knowing that he had a good loom but would have to buy a new one himself. I think he did or made something else for them as well. At the end of the day better it be restored by someone and sold on then to rot or be thrown away never to be heard off by some person who did'ent know what it was, or didn

[burst ur bubble]

Obviously P50 has met the person who put this car on eBay, if P50's comments have been read by the owner, the same way I have read them , I can't see him being very eager to offer him this vehicle if it is still for sale. There seems to be a lot of bitching all over the place about the guy who put the trident on eBay. Has anyone thought he may just have been seeing what happens, seeing how u all carry on in forums all over the world etc. He does,nt sound that bad from what I've heard, I was told that there will be some Tridents restored using copies of the  parts he lent out to be replicated.(And answered some ??'s over other parts). He sacrificed his own original wiring loom so it could be cut up and copied so other Trident restorers could get their hands on one, knowing that he had a good loom and would have to buy a new one himself. I think he did, or made, something else for them as well. At the end of the day better it be restored by someone and sold on than to rot or be thrown away never to be heard of by some person who didn't know what it was, or didnít care what it was. And if the car is as good and original as they say who cares about the V5, like someone said, u can't use them on modern roads anyway they'er just a thing for shows. So who cares about a piece of paper, what's the guy to do scrap it, and anyone else in his shoes, just because some silly welsh git at Swansea won't hand V5's back to ANY classic vehicle unless proof can be found on a stone tablet signed by a guy called Moses and marked No 11.
I know some guy's with all the ID plate's, NO plate's, receiptís, service history, and D.N.A sample, (not just micro cars in particular) and they still can't get a V5 just because they have no doc's linking all they have to Swansea. If someone found an original green log book and a chassis plate of any Peel in a jiffy bag at an auto jumble and bought a replica of off Andy Carter, then gets that reg No issued to it, does that then mean that car is an original, or the original without a V5,  you can say the same thing about E type jag's etc, I know which of the two I would rather have. If that guy stays in power there are going to be a lot of classic cars out there in the future without V5's, or if they do it wonít be the original No's. Some mite say better to have the proper plate's than what that guy's pulled out of a hat, especially if it will never see a public highways. If youíre given a new reg No it can never be removed, so if you donít ask for one or try for one and just keep stum, well he's not going to be around forever? Sometimes, something's are better left alone, (well for the foreseeable future anyway).
Besides......... u can't blame the guy for trying if the sale is genuine (there are genuine also a lot of prats on eBay), would anyone turn down that sort of money for, as they say, a lump of plastic, its not like he tossed a match on it.

[burst ur bubble]

Sorry Guys very new to this forum lark!!! But i'm loving what people say. lol. 

[P50]

You seem to lack all the facts. Car's worth what it's worth. No dispute. Nev's an utter gent. If people wish to sell their cars that's cool if they want. Just a shame to see them go out the country. A sentiment shared by the Schmitt types as well for decades. A Peel would have gone on Ebay sooner or later. The Trident is a proper IoM machine. I'd have been delighted to have owned it. I'm afraid I have not the finances to aquire it. None the less. You won't be finding a bag of Peel ID at a jumble. Even if you did you'd have no chance of palming your creation off as a genuine vehicle. People are very verry canny.

You stick a Peel on Ebay or say an unknown Tiger and of course you'lll set the world alight.  Who ever owns the Trident has got what he wants at the price he wanted to pay.It hit reserve so it's 99.999% sold. Good luck to him..   

[robadob]

I don't think anyone is " having a go" at the seller of the Trident.  It's the prices of these so called collector's vehicles are now fetching that arouse the old grey cells. As for not using the Peels on the road. Where is your spirit of adventure.

[P50]

Robadob and I are deffo on the same wavelength.

Have no fear, when a 4.2PS lump or parts come my way I'll get the P50 MOT'd.

I did drive it through Wapping/St Katherines dock and back last year. Not for shrinking violets.. Speed-bumps are like

Which brings me on to another matter.Its seems without a sympathetic MOT tester one has to get a new 'daylight hours' ticket due to no indicators. But i'll cross that bridge when I come to it.   

[robadob]

Are you sure about the indicators for the ' MOT' ? After all they were not fitted to the Peels. Old cars and my motorcycles haven't got them fitted but have a full certificate. I understand that there has to be no lighting on a vehicle for a "Daylight Certificate" And woe betide getting stopped in heavy rain or fog without lighting. Fines I'm sure. Because of the Peel's age, you don't have to fit a rear fog light unlike my 2 Flippers that require them to be fitted, years 1980 & 1984.
 I always go in early to my various Testing stations armed with Photos and details of my vehiclesto find out what is required on the test and to test out their sympathies for a nutter with "Funny Cars".
Have a word with VOSA on their MOT Enquiry Line, 0870 330 0444. You don't have to give your name. EMail enquiries@vosa.gov.uk Web. http://www.vosa.gov.uk
 Bob D.
PS Does this mean there are no road legal Peels out there. Shame.