In todays age you have tor really think what makes a classic..

The Classic has a reputation nearly as despised as the P38 and I've said it many time over from experience that you either spend hours/days/years welding up a classic or you can spend time with a multimeter and a soldering iron with the P38, and having spent hours on my back under a Classic with sparks and metal splatter running down my shirt, I can tell you which I'd rather own..

Hence why I sold my 91 3.9 manual and kept my P38..

The values of the P38 are going up unless you're looking solely on Ebay where most spares/repair motors linger, even now you can snap up a classic for less than 8k as they tend to pop up on ebay occasionally.

Jeep XJ's have sky rocketed in value in recent times, no idea why my Dad had one in "murple" and he snagged it for £600 and gave it away a few years later, not very practical and incredibly thirsty for the size of the thing, IIRC it did 15mpg almost all the time..

As for LPG I run mine primarily on Petrol for that exact reason LPG has nearly disappeared from where I live and to be fair I factored in the cost of fuel when I bought it and to be fair to it with everything in tip top condition it is currently averaging 22mpg on my route to work which ain't bad considering my RRC with LPG did 12MPG on Gas which equated to around 23mpg cost wise, so any saving is was barely noticeable..

Would I spend 6+k for a P38? Hell no my Dad says the same about the 2dr classics he had one in the 90s he payed 1k for it he says to him they're still not worth much more than the £600 you could pick them up for a few years ago the £40,000 plus they fetch is hilarious

I payed less than £900 for my P38 4yrs ago, you can't find a running/driving one for that now..

StrangeRover wrote:

In todays age you have tor really think what makes a classic..

This!

Sadly I don't know if the market is ready for lumbering old 4x4s to join the ranks of the exhalted :/

Seems others don't agree

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/auctions/1971-range-rover-suffix-a-K8WdVg?

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/auctions/1998-series-1-land-rover-discovery-v8i-xs-Jgz3dn?

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/auctions/2006-range-rover-35th-anniversary-edition-A4wx18?

To become a classic something doesn't even have to be that desirable. People are paying silly money for what were regarded as mundane in their day. Have you seen the price a Mk 2 Escort is going for these days? Even a humble 1300 will fetch silly money, a rusted shell with a tree growing through it sold for over 4 grand recently as it still had the VIN plate and a V5. Don't even start me on VW Beetles, they were horrible when they were new but look what they go for these days......

ive asked this question in relation to Japanese bikes and the reply is that are just not old enough yet, give them some time and all things will have a value
as on man once said to me when i had a villiers and i went to ... and broke down and this happened and then some think else happened and so on so on , he then said the problem with Jap bikes is they didn't break down so no one has these memories of when this happened and that happened so on. memories to bring you back to reminiscing or wanting one again for nostalgia reasons. people that buy things like old GTs or whatever owned one when they where young or their dad had one.
with the p38 most original owners would already be older than most so when they sold there p38 they most likely dont want another one or go back to another one ,hence the price today . all the better for us but i do believe that in time these vehicles will appreciate and come into they own, you just wait a little while .

But even old Jap bikes are going for silly money these days https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/auctions/1972-kawasaki-h2-750-MgDzJ4?. Values of things like the original Honda 400 Four are completely mental.

yes some of them are pulling good money and they are getting better all the time , the same as the p38 is getting better for the right model but if we have to wait until they are 50 years old we have some time up our sleeves.

Morat wrote:

StrangeRover wrote:

In todays age you have tor really think what makes a classic..

This!

Sadly I don't know if the market is ready for lumbering old 4x4s to join the ranks of the exhalted :/

Yes and no.

To be fair the RRC can be classed as a lumbering 4x4 just the same as the P38...

Look at Nissan Patrols and old Land cruisers, they demand quite a price.

The classic car world is diverse even the "undesirables" are desirable to some!!

I've been looking at old cars on Ebay recently, stuff like mk2 Granada's and Cortinas I ran in my youth. I'm not about to buy one because they sell for big money now, most buyers would probably buy as an investment so only use it on Sunday and for shows where-as I'd use it as a daily, I wouldn't have time to pamper one and keep it rust free so any 'investment' would probably go the wrong way for me. The prices of classic cars are interesting though, everyone knows that a BMW 7 series is a much better car than a Granada but prices don't necessarily reflect that.. much of the market seems to be about people having cash today that they didn't have when they were younger so now they can afford to buy the car they always wanted even at the appreciated prices... Old Escorts once worth a couple of weeks wages now fetch crazy money now. We've become used to chip in key type immobilisers in more modern cars, any car could be vandalised parked up somewhere but one with chip'n'key is unlikely to get nicked as a thief isn't going to be able to start the engine... But older cars like the mk2 Granada are easily nicked, can be driven away by breaking the steering lock and hotwiring, and they are sought after as banger racing cars. Not so bad back in the day when most cars didn't have chip'n'key so your car was no more nickable than others parked beside it, the car might only have been worth £1k and didn't stand out from the crowd, but would think twice about driving the same car today worth £10k to the coast and going for a walk with the car parked in some backstreet carpark.

South African imports seem to be big on the classic car scene, can find a relatively rust free example of a lot of cars we ran in the UK in South Africa and sometimes better spec'd such as 3L engine'd Cortina's or more likely to have aircon. I might be interested in importing something like a mk2 Granada from South Africa myself if it would mean could get one relatively cheaply, haven't looked into it yet, anyone got any tips on how best to go about it?

As for me, I’m glad that the P38 values are currently low. I’d have never bought one if they were expensive. The value of my D2 seems to be creeping up, and my 2A is worth several times more than I bought it for, but unless I ever decide to sell it, it doesn’t matter what it’s valued at.

My 1962 ford consul 375 has 3 speed column change --- bench seat no seatbelts took me 6 months to do all the work including sewing up a red/yellow interior ---- I've left it unlocked at numerous places & never worried about it getting stolen as not many people can do column change ---- can't sell it for toffee ---- so think it might a future 4x4 project
The 1965 Rover 2000 I've owned for 30 years now has Buick 300ci motor in it Seriously mental ( was factory experimental Australia car) been offered £10k turned it down as granddaughter got it now
P38 vogue SE put away for a while so can concentrate on P38 pick up and 3door disco v8

I take back the comment about 4x4s :)

But, the P38 hasn't reached the level of desirability of some others, like the Nissan Patrols and some Landcruisers.

Will it? Maybe. The favoured option seems to be the D2. I can't imagine why, but they're regarded as the connoisseur's choice amongst green oval fanatics - over the P38 at least. I don't know how it measures up against a D90 pickup, maybe it's just down to how many LED lighting bars you can fit on it :)

Hmm I have a D2 TD5 and yes it is a lovely motor, but i'm watching it slowly biodegrade ;)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174739520640?hash=item28af497c80:g:TOQAAOSwzFVgfpTH
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333967001882?hash=item4dc1fc091a:g:61oAAOSw3vVgffuB
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265132423459?hash=item3dbb1fb923:g:ITYAAOSwxAtggFAD
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294144910743?hash=item447c672597:g:t4UAAOSwSQJgWHKY
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284277655316?hash=item423044c714:g:j4cAAOSwiENgfUvF
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324586459513?hash=item4b92dc5179:g:Z-IAAOSwj0tf6evm

Lots of nice cheap metal there :)

https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/hagerty-market-analysis-bmw-m3/

Or you could always buy the original....
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/4136918786339619/?

or the original original :)
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1309690

I think my point is there's a long way to go before the P38 can really be called a classic. People like to put "Appreciating classic, get them before they're gone" type statements on the bottom of ads but I think it's premature. I'd love it if the P38 took off and The Duchess magically appreciated to £40k in the next 18 months but it's not something I'm going to bet on.

More generally, I'm worried that the whole classic car market will be fundamentally affected by the swap to electric cars. It's going to happen, and at some point, petrol will become hard to obtain and eventually fossil-fuelled cars are going to be made impractical for the masses. It might be a simple ban, more likely I suspect it'll be massive taxation which will allow the 1% to drive their classics and rub it in our faces.

I'm not so sure. We have a history of classic cars in this country with numerous suppliers and re-manufacturers of parts. It's also recognised by Government with the Historic tax class and removing the need for an MoT test for anything over 40 years old. A lot of other countries simply regard them as old cars and even some that do recognise classics have a historic tax class but with only limited use allowed either limiting the mileage they can clock up or by restricting the times of year they can be used. We are likely to be in a far better position than some.

Well, I'd estimate it won't happen for another three Governments at least, so there's plenty of chance for things to change a few times!
Average age of cars on the road right now is about 8 years in the UK. I'd reckon that there will be a bit of "last chance" spike in petrol/diesel car sale in 2029 and then 8-10 years later electric cars will be in the majority.

Whos to say that the ban won't be lifted.

I for one think we have a good 20yrs before we have to worry unduly.

What everyone seems to forget ---- how much damage to environment just getting metal for batteries And when old - what to do with old batteries Also they probably cost more than vehicle would be worth ----- I'd stick to old petrol engine and make alcohol to run it on like biofuel