Morris Minor Owners Club

Is it just me or has the price of minors gone up recently. It may well be that I am fast approaching fifty and can remember being able to buy a reasonable moggy for £50, however I do think there has been a significant price increase over the last twelve months. It seems that the days of finding a fairly good one for a reasonable price have gone as the basket cases seem to be selling for silly money.

I would say that's true.
Some of it may be driven by lousy interest rates, investing in something you enjoy owning makes more sense than letting the money get deprecated in the bank.
It used to be limited to Ferraris and the like but not everyone can afford them!

there are also far fewer of them around than there were, say 20 years ago.

look at what has happened to the Marina. i remember someone in the trade suggesting i buy one in the 90s for £20 as a scrapper and cannibalise it over time.

you can't even get a Marina for £20 now!

The price of scrap metal affects the bottom end of the market, my branch used to get offered rough Minors for nothing except wanting them to go to a good home.

The availability of reasonably priced insurance for young drivers means the cars are popular 'first' cars............

you can take a driving test in a moggie as long as you have head restraints fitted e.g. modern seats

bmcecosse wrote:The availability of reasonably priced insurance for young drivers means the cars are popular 'first' cars............

I can agree with that (Even though I have wanted a Moggy for a long while anyway)

I'd say aswell its due to the rise in price of other classics that push people into looking for other marques. But scrap prices definatly have a very big influance, just in pure scrap value a minor is worth around £300 plus breaking for spares you might get a couple hundred more. It'll only rise to the point at which people stop buying them then they will start to fall again, look at the vw camper vans, they were silly prices for what was essentially rust, you can buy a running restoration project now for the same money

How about this one then for a well OTT price!?!

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C357447

I bought my first Minor for £50 (and a few since) and am only just over 40....

Yes they've gone up in price (at last) but compared to beetles etc.. they still lag a bit.
The price in the US was more than double the UK about 10 years ago - I think we've caught up a bit since then but still cheap by comparison to some classics.

Marina? Mine cost way more than £50 and of course needs a lot of work but I wouldn't part with it! (1971 Suntour, currently none left on the road that are tax exempt..)
The post 72 Marinas are becoming very rare as you can buy another classic and save £210 per year on road tax, so why buy a mid 70's Marina? Many of the 1.3's have been Scrapped & stripped for parts (e.g. Minor engines) and the 1.8 etc.. are bad on fuel so who can afford that too?

A few issues are cropping up here. Firstly, classics being bought by 'investors'. Let's not forget that for a car to be kept in good condition it needs regular use and servicing, plus garaging, all of which cost money. I very much doubt that someone buying a classic as an 'investment' will be out there filing the points &c. as a true enthusiast would. So I think owners such as us will have the last laugh.

Secondly, Minors have always been popular first cars and student transport. There were at least four pottering round the University I attended. No surprise there.

Thirdly, it is morally questionable, nowadays, to break a fair condition Marina, the youngest of which are 30 years old, to upgrade a Minor.

Thirdly, it is morally questionable, nowadays, to break a fair condition Marina, the youngest of which are 30 years old, to upgrade a Minor

Minor vans were good work horses in their time. At the time it seemed immoral to waste such a good resource by keeping it stuck in a garage.. (e.g. a retired GPO van with a 2nd owner)
When the 3rd or 4th owners got tired of repairing their workhorse, nobody thought twice of scrapping them.
Eventually they became rare and the previously emprisoned Vans became highly sought after and the new found ££££ value means that many basket cases get repaired/restored/cherished.

The morality of scrapping an unwanted car that has some desirable parts? I would say that's more an issue for today's disposable society than classic car users.

So far, Marina's are becoming very rare, but this still does not drive up the price of a post 72 car. If anyone wants to save one, there's still no shortage of cars for sale. In 10 years time they may be as rare as a 1970's Alfa but I still doubt they'll command the same price..

yea a lot of good ideas here
would be good to stop the throw away brigade