Auto-invest Blog Thanks to ...more

Thanks to those who have contacted me regarding the last blog on auction prices- including a certain classic car magazine editor- very pleasing to know that I am not just talking to myself! Leaving aside the state of the classic car market for a moment, I want to have a moan about the rampant overuse of the term 'rare' to describe just about every classic car one sees advertised for sale today. Dictionary definitions of the term rare include 'uncommon, unusual, few & far between exceptional, seldom found or occurring' etc etc. So how can a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow possibly qualify as being rare? To the seller of one such car currently advertised, it obviously does although he is probably deluding himself. Nevertheless, far too many dealers and private sellers are guilty of inflating their descriptions by adding the adjective 'rare' to cars which are patently not nor ever will be. Can an E Type Jaguar be called rare? In my opinion no, apart from a handful of genuine lightweights all the rest are from a total production of some 80,000 of which tens of thousands survive. Lovely cars but not rare. What is truly rare then? A Ferrari GTO qualifies- only about 20 made but so do some unlikely candidates not due to low production numbers but because of low survival rate. The barn find Triumph Gloria currently in our stock is unquestionably rare despite many thousands being produced during the 1930's simply because according to the Pre-war Triumph Register, only 9 saloons remain with their original bodywork. Similarly, our 1928 Chrysler Imperial Le Baron Club Coupe is ultra-rare by both qualifications for the term- only 25 ever made and only two survive! So lets hope for slightly less 'rare' descriptions for cars where plentiful supply is available and perhaps a little more imagination in highlighting other undoubted qualities which might interest a buyer. What do you think?