Collectable Cars In Your Portfolio

[aja8888]

I bought a 1967 Jaguar E-type roadster when I was 24 years old for $10k. I drove it for 4-5 years and then life required me to garage it. I just retired 8 months ago at 58 and my retirement project is doing a complete nuts and bolts restoration of that same car that has been sitting in my garage for the last 30ish years.
Do I count it as part of my portfolio? Heck yes! Since I am working closely with a professional Jaguar/Ferrari restoration mentor, the car could be worth $150-250k. I will be investing about $60k plus my labor (I'm free).
Once complete, we plan to take it to a number of Jaguar Concours judged shows to get the car a good reputation as being restored properly to original.
If the car economy collapses, will it kill my retirement? No, but it will put a dent in it. I am using the project as a money making venture, but also as a fun way to keep myself busy doing something I really enjoy, and then, once complete, it will be a fun adventure for my wife and I taking it to shows. Hopefully, we will end up smiling as a collector hands us a check for an amount that makes us happy!

Chris, here is the current thinking and actual sales data on XKE's. (Bring A Trailer site). If you look around, you will find a scatter graph indicating the BAT universe of sales of these cars.

https://bringatrailer.com/jaguar/xke/

 

[LARS]

I bought a 1967 Jaguar E-type roadster when I was 24 years old for $10k. I drove it for 4-5 years and then life required me to garage it. I just retired 8 months ago at 58 and my retirement project is doing a complete nuts and bolts restoration of that same car that has been sitting in my garage for the last 30ish years.
Do I count it as part of my portfolio? Heck yes! Since I am working closely with a professional Jaguar/Ferrari restoration mentor, the car could be worth $150-250k. I will be investing about $60k plus my labor (I'm free).
Once complete, we plan to take it to a number of Jaguar Concours judged shows to get the car a good reputation as being restored properly to original.
If the car economy collapses, will it kill my retirement? No, but it will put a dent in it. I am using the project as a money making venture, but also as a fun way to keep myself busy doing something I really enjoy, and then, once complete, it will be a fun adventure for my wife and I taking it to shows. Hopefully, we will end up smiling as a collector hands us a check for an amount that makes us happy!

There is always a first, and you may very well be it, but generally speaking you don't make money restoring most old cars. At least that has been my experience. Obviously it comes down to the level of the current project and how perfect you want the end result.

The real justification is you love the car.

Are there exceptions? Sure, but they tend to be incredibly expensive cars.

Regardless, as a lover of old British sports cars (owned a bunch of Lotuses) I applaud you for keeping one more on the road...

 

[btdt22]

For me, collectible cars are in the same category as high end antique jewelry or jewels like the Hope diamond.... something I do not want, do not own, and feel would be an utterly senseless, useless albatross dragging me down, nearly impossible to sell for what it is supposedly worth, and doing me no good whatsoever.
.

I Kept my first car, a 1957 VW bug, in a barn for 41 years. Towed it home last week and was offered $16k as-is, while parking at a hotel en route. I don't consider it a collectible or an investment, but the memories it brings are priceless. For some it may be utterly senseless, useless and dragging them down, but for me, my 1962 VW double cab, C-dory Tomcat, and 57 VW bug, bring some serious happiness to an 'old' man. I also suspect my younger better-half will enjoy the fun money she gets when she caches it in. To each their own.

 

[chrisv]

Thanks for the website info! I love the site, and spent a few hours looking through it. There is a lot of good Jaguar information and a lot of great pictures. The ongoing conversations are nice too. The pricing looks to be pretty much as expected and it gives me hope that I'm not too far in a dream. But as @LARS said, "The real justification is you love the car". The website also has a lot of really cool other cars for sale and the bidding process (adding an extra 2 minutes after each bid) is really nice, as is the simple $99 to sell an item and the 5% charge to the buyer. Could you give me a little help finding the Scatter graph?

Thanks again for the info!

I am registering to bid on a vehicle and it is asking if I would like to say who referred me by entering their username. If you would like, I can put in your BAT username??

 

[aja8888]

Thanks for the website info! I love the site, and spent a few hours looking through it. There is a lot of good Jaguar information and a lot of great pictures. The ongoing conversations are nice too. The pricing looks to be pretty much as expected and it gives me hope that I'm not too far in a dream. But as @LARS said, "The real justification is you love the car". The website also has a lot of really cool other cars for sale and the bidding process (adding an extra 2 minutes after each bid) is really nice, as is the simple $99 to sell an item and the 5% charge to the buyer. Could you give me a little help finding the Scatter graph?

Thanks again for the info!

I am registering to bid on a vehicle and it is asking if I would like to say who referred me by entering their username. If you would like, I can put in your BAT username??

Username on BAT is aja8888

Here is the graph of the Series II for sales of the XKE (scan down):

https://bringatrailer.com/jaguar/xke-series-2-series-3/

If you hover over a dot, the sale results will show, and if you click on it, the historical auction will open in another tab.


It's a great site for us collectors and fan boys!!

 

[chrisv]

Got it. Thanks!
Mine is a series I, being registered in early 1967 and dispatched in 1966 per Heritage Trust. Interestingly, it is a left hand drive with european colored side markers, but have been told it was always an american imported car?? Perhaps another subject for a different forum...

 

[Rummy]

Chris V. Another excellent e-Type site. Jag-lovers.org
Rummy. 66E-Type. FHC. 1E33010

Edit to add... spend the $$ to get yours safe and reliable, then Drive It!
There are too many over-restored garage queens out there now.

My best times with "The Jag" are when attending cars and coffee events and asking the kids, and parents, "Do you want to sit in it?" Most are astonished and think I'm kidding...

Another member of Jag-lovers says, "You put gas in it and smiles come out all over!" Drive It!!

 

[foxfirev5]

In my extra car days I dabbled in Mustangs and Corvettes. Not what I would consider an investment. I drove them. A lot. Not liquid at all. Each time I'd spend about 6 months selling the car for about what I had in it. Then buy another one. Again not an investment.

Now days cars are for transportation and investments must meet the criteria that they have a saleable value on any given day of my choosing.

 

[RenoJay]

I never counted my cars in my net worth until I splurged on a convertible Mercedes AMG 55 this year. Then I added a row to my spreadsheet titled "vehicle value" so I could help justify the utterly ridiculous impulse buy.