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MG MG Y Type - Nice YA over priced or not?

www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-page.php/carno/72389

A lovely looking YA for sale though way above any guide price! Though if honest YA/YB is priceless!
R E Knight

A few Saloons have changed hands in Australia for similar money to this, so as long as the mechanicals are sound, it seems a fair price.

I can see a few details that are not strictly original, but you would be hard pressed to find a car for sale that would pass an originality test 100%.
Tony SLATTERY

If the asking price is a true representation of the car's value, all Y owners should be delighted by the upsurge in the value of their treasured vehicles. However, based on my experience during during a search for a Y last year, I think it unlikely that the car will sell at the asking price.

I had a couple of Ys inspected and valued professionally, including a YA in near concours condition. The opinion of the inspector was that to be worth even £10k, a Y type would have to be near perfect. I doubt that this one falls into that category, not least because of its colour. Several very good Ys have been advertised recently by dealers for under £10k.

During my search for a classic car, I found many that were seriously over-valued by their owners. If you watch ebay regularly, you will see that classic cars frequently fail to reach their reserve. Those offered as 'buy it now' are frequently re-listed repeatedly.

A YA recently on ebay was bid up to just over £6k, but failed to reach its reserve. That car was one that I had had inspected during my search. It had serious problems with the paintwork, probably requiring a full respray to correct. So £6k was probably optimistic for its value. I declined the car. Nonetheless, it was subsequently advertised for sale by a dealer for just under £10k.

I subsequently found and bought a car almost restored to a high standard. I have had to complete the restoration, including the purchase of some missing parts. My total outlay, with the car virtually complete, is about £7k. It is insured for an agreed value of £8.5k, based on the insurer's valuation. I consider this a fair valuation for the car.

Although I do not intend to sell it, I would be delighted to believe that my car was worth £12,500.

Mike Long
M Long

The car has been up for sale for a few months.I agree with your assessment of the YA. Valuations,though, are very difficult and I would agree with Mike that there is a big difference bewteen expectations and reality.

Some of you may have seen Sandy Henderson's Y Type Convertible, indeed there is an excellent article about it on this website. The car was up for sale at Silverstone and I believe went for around £5-6k.
It has been for sale at Martin Cawle's 'The Barn' in Hampshire for several months at £11k ish - that too hasn't sold. I was quite impressed with it when I saw it at Silverstone.

Dick Jacob's YB which was sold at Silverstone for around £15k (and has been purchased by one of our members)was sold at The Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2008,I think, for around £7-8k which for a car of that provenance was a good buy. The next time I saw it was through the Classic Cars for Sale website over a year ago and it was advertised at £18-19k. It was there for ages, so whether he was the guy who had it up for auction I have no idea.

My point is that any car with a good provenance (as bove)and is in good original condition will sell. However, Dealer's prices reflect their profit margins,storage, maintenance and advertising costs which is why they will always be at the top end and more than a private sale.

One of the problems is, I reckon, that a number of dealers know very little about Y Types,whereas T Types are well researched. I am surprised that those guys who sell Y's for a living dont appear to check the facts about the cars. This of course can easily be found on our website! The most common error is that only 877 YT's were manufactured. A quick reference to David Pelham's articles on this site show that the figure is 884!


Tony mentioned about prices in Oz. I have noticed that there is a YT in Australia for which the owner is seeking £20k and another in NZ at around the same price (though the ad suggests that it may be in Gloucester). I wonder why the Oz YT has not been sold, certainly at the quoted price you could add a further £3k to import/customs taxes and VAT etc,should you be considering bringing it back to the UK,

That's more than enough from me. Off for my supper and a glass of wine (or three) as I am frozen out of the garage and can do nothing to the car!

OK it's 35 in OZ well here in the Midlands of the UK it's -5 and in Scotland the temperature dropped to -22 in the glens. So it's a night in watching the telly.

Have fun - and get your entries in for the Spring Run.

Sincerely and belated New Year greetings

Jerry
J P BIRKBECK

Near concours?. What do you think the concours judge will notice first; the door trim used instead of bonnet buffers or the missing air cleaner bracket?
Still it's nice to know that YAs are going for £12.25k, even blue ones with pink seats.
On the subject of UK weather, I managed to get to my garage yesterday for the first time since before Christmas. GBX 166 started first pull of the starter and I drove it out and took the chance of some pictures in the snow. I must admit that I patted it on the bonnet and said, 'Well done', sad or what!
Peter
P S Sharp

Well argued Jerry agree 100% with you. Same goes for people on eBay ... the facts are available, they just dont check them. I regularly send eBay messages to sellers to ask them please to correct their facts - like a 1952 MG YA or a '48 YB. Oh well, you can lead a horse to water ...

As to the weather, a warm 53 degrees here today. Still rainy, but can't complain. Snow - no chance. Its all dumped on the UK!

Paul
Paul Barrow

I was looking for another article tonight in some old "British Car" magazines from 1998 and a picture caught my eye that I hadnt noticed before.

It was in an article on a then recent auction in Arizona where a YB reached $51,000 ... but failed to reach its reserve! It was in A Class condition too.

So there you have it - a price is merely an "invitation to treat", nothing more. A seller has their price, and a buyer has theirs. When the two coincide it is no longer a price, but a contract and an exchange!

Paul

Paul Barrow

In a similar vein:

I was just flicking through the "new", January edition of Safety Fast and couldn't help but notice on page 97 that the "MG Barn" quite close to me, over near Southampton is currently attempting to sell a YT for £23,500.

Good luck with that then...

Cheers,
Saul.
Saul Duck


Maybe, I am a bit of an perfectionist - my aim is to have a rust-free YT. The panel beating on my YT alone costs £10K.
By the way, i am doping up the woowork in the doors. What a job - like a three-dimensional puzzle :o)

Best, Anton
Anton Piller

While idly surfing, I found this YA for auction by H&H:
http://www.classic-auctions.co.uk/lotdetail.php?lotid=28624&aucid=29207
The estimate seems exceptional, especially as the exterior colour and the interior trim are not original. Maybe, the value of Y Types has escalated recently.

Mike Long
M Long

Haviing just spent a fortine on getting my bodywork restored and resprayed, I can vouch that good Ys sell for about half what it costs to restore one properly! The Y has not yet reached the dizzy heights as an 'investment' car. You either love them of buy a Ford.

NC.
Neil Cairns

This thread was discussed between 06/01/2010 and 10/02/2010

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