Driving The Shape

Drive Time

Last Saturday I posted a link to a discussion on classic car prices and the market thereof, and  threatened  promised a followup post.  Here it is.

Right off, I’m going to suggest that anyone who’s happy with their 1979 Ford Bronco truck and can’t see the need for even having a discussion which features luxury classic car collecting may feel free not to comment.  This post is not for you.

Let me start this off by looking at an anomaly:  the BMW 507 from the late 1950s.

As anyone should know, this was BMW’s competitor to the Mercedes 300 Gullwing, in that it had a 3.2-liter V8 inside a lightweight chassis.  It nearly bankrupted BMW back then because the market wasn’t willing to spend what amounted to a king’s ransom back then on a car that wasn’t a Gullwing, or (in the U.S.) a similarly-powered Corvette that cost a lot less.

It’s a great pity, because while BMW has pretty much always produced “handsome” cars (as opposed to drop-dead gorgeous ones), many people thought this was a beauty.  Not enough people thought that, of course, which is why hardly any 507s were ever produced, and were bought by only the very wealthy (like Elvis Presley).

Nowadays, of course, it’s a whole ‘nother story, which is why the little thing pictured above sold earlier this year for just over $2 million.

Let me change course for a moment, while I talk about the Porsche 356.

Unlike the 507, Porsche made a zillion of the various sporty 356 models, because they were relatively inexpensive and for the time quite reliable, albeit underpowered.  Because they were inexpensive, not much care was devoted to their upkeep, so they became somewhat scarce through pure attrition.  Then in the mid-2010s people started to remember the 356 with great fondness, and a renewed interest followed, which is why the above-pictured 1958 356 (only two owners, 84,000 original miles, restored but not modified) is currently for sale for around $400k.

Well, that’s just silly, say a couple of people, which is why you can nowadays get a replica of the 356 — looking exactly like the original, down to the badges — with a fiberglass body and a better-than-the-original VW or Subaru engine with better efficiency, reliability and performance.

Cost:  just over $70k.

Now to the puristi, of course, this is an anathema:  it’s not a “real” Porsche, etc. etc. and I can see their point.

But what if you just want to drive a classic, beautiful car that is in good running order, will not cost you an arm and a leg to maintain and looks brand-new?

In other words, you want to drive the shape of the thing, and all the other stuff is irrelevant because of the steep cost of parts, service and so on.

It’s not too dissimilar with fine art, for example, where a decent print of a Monet — in acrylic rather than oil — can cost you mere hundreds, as opposed to the millions demanded for an original Claude.  And honestly, to the non-art history major, it’s just as pretty hanging on your wall.

Still another example is that of the Land Rover Defender.  The old joke about them is that if you want to go into the bush, you take a Land Rover;  but if you want to come back out of the bush, you take a Toyota Land Cruiser.

The chronic unreliability of the Defender is so legendary that it’s a joke in and of itself.  (In the UK, Land Rover drivers acknowledge the oncoming Land Rover drivers by flicking their headlights:  a rueful admission, as the story goes, that yeah, I’m also an idiot.)

Nevertheless, many, many people love the Land Rover (I’m one of them), but are frightened off from buying one because they want to own a truck which doesn’t break down every hundred miles, has headlights and windshield wipers that only occasionally work, isn’t plagued by the usual , and won’t fall apart with rust.

So why not get a truck that looks like a Land Rover Defender, but has a galvanized steel chassis, reliable electricals, and is powered not by the cranky and underpowered original Rover engine but by a nice modern Cadillac 5.3-liter V8?

Cost of the above monster:  just over $100k — pretty much in line with modern-day Defenders — and the mileage on the engine is in the hundreds, not thousands.  (Excuse me for a moment while I wipe off the drool.)

In other words, “driving the shape” shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg, because you’re not driving the all-original heritage, just its appearance.

Which brings me back to the BMW 507.

There’s no industry around to make replicas of the 507, but some guys did make one — and a purdy lil’ thang it is too — with a handmade aluminum body, dropped onto an original BMW 502 chassis and powered by an original 5.2-liter V8, putting out about 150hp.

The thing is, though, that it’s not a replica, but an attempt to re-create the original.  Hence its price:  $540k.

The dealership selling this idiocy is in Dubai, which figures.  Maybe some Arab oil sheikh will be tempted into splashing the cash for it.

Me, even if I won a mega-lottery?  Never in a million years.  I love the 507’s shape, but that’s all I’m interested in driving.  This little luxury plaything?  Nope, no matter how beautiful.

Oh, and in terms of the market:  people who would be enamored of the BMW 507 are in my age bracket — i.e. not much longer for the world, so what you’re left with are people who look on luxury cars purely as an investment.  And I suspect that the market for that era of luxury cars is going to disappear, just as the market for pre-WWII cars has also dipped precipitously as their nostalgia effect dies with the owners thereof.  Even the stratospheric prices for Mercedes Gullwings is softening, or else it’s taking a lot longer to sell them.

I myself would be perfectly happy to own that 356 replica and the Defender restomod.  I’m only interested in shapes;  the rest is irrelevant.

12 comments

  1. ” a zillion ” 356’s …… Well …. the actual numbers are 78,300 +- depending on what you count, over the 16 year model production run. Of those, there were about 4,000 speedsters of various models ) again depending and less than 200 of the 4 cam engine versions. In contrast last year alone, there were 86,541 Porsches sold in North America across the model range.

    In any case, most of the recreations / Resto-mods are arguably better cars than the original versions so I can certainly see the appeal. But they are not the real thing are they ? The theory goes that the peak market in classic cars is when the cars that guy couldn’t buy in their early 20’s are now the ones they can buy in their 70’s – so generally cars that are 50 years old or so. That’s why the market for pre war v8 Packards is basically non existent. 25 years ago they dominated the auctions — now nothing.

    What has seen a lot of growth is the “Tours” held prior to most U.S concours now. These are 100 plus mile drives in the cars entered for display. almost every car entered now participates. 2 weekends ago at Jay Leno’s Motor week event in Newport, I watched as a Stanley steam powered car and a 1910 electric Peugeot finished their run. almost all the other entrants also completed the tour, so people do still drive the originals.

    …… and my cousin keeps a Model T in Maine and drives it almost every day for the month they are there.

    ……. and the 507 never held much appeal for me, but to each their own.

    Driving a 50 year old car is generally a disappointment along the same lines as ” never meet your Heros”. New cars are so much better we forget just how bad they were in comparison. 50 Years ago I remember being very spooked at doing 100+ in a TR4 – Now I find that 100 sometimes does not keep up with some of the other SUV and pickup traffic.

    1. “the actual numbers are 78,300 +-”

      …compared to the few hundred 507s sold globally over three years.

  2. You are completely correct on the benefits of driving a replica. I’ll add another – if it gets wrecked, dinged, scratched, stolen, etc. it’s only a replica. I had an antique (American car, nothing you’d like at all) and there was the constant worry about driving it in traffic. I’ve had people driving crazy just to get close and look at it and almost run into me. I’ve stopped for 5 minutes at a convenience store and come out to find a fresh door ding. So yeah, replicas take a lot of the worry away.

    In the same line of thought, I’d love to have an original Colt SAA from the 1800’s. But I realize it’d be nothing more than a safe queen. Which is why I have a bevy of Italian replicas that I take shooting whenever I can. All the fun, none of the worry, so much cheaper.

    I’m not at the level to drop $70k on a toy, but that little 356 does look fun.

  3. Finally a thread where I can speak freely about banging my real doll while wearing a Chinese Rolex…..ok, maybe not, but I do have a few “clone” guns. 😀

    1. Once they automate those real dolls to cook breakfast, civilization is gonna peak and then experience a rapid decline. But better chance of that than the Star Trek Holodeck.

  4. The Grenadier is also an awesome and highly useful vehicle, which is arguably not only more capable than the Defender, but even the Toyota Land Cruisers, FJ40s, Hilux, and 70-series. These are brilliantly built trucks that are priced quite reasonably for what they do. Live front and rear axles, locking center, front, and rear differentials, and even 2 or 3 years in, has incredible aftermarket support. A nicely-equipped one can be had for about $85k USD, and loaded is a little over $100k. An ideal off-roading/overlanding machine for the first world.

    But unlike the original Defenders, I don’t think you’ll see NGOs buying fleets of these for bush duty in Africa or for farms or mining in ‘Straya. Troopies, 76s and 79s will still rule that world since you can fix them with about 12 hand tools, and the 16″ diameter tyres for them are supposedly stocked at every service station Over There. The Ineos…not so much. You can beat on a Land Cruiser like a red-headed stepchild and it will take the abuse. I doubt the Grenadier could survive the hard driving and utter lack of maintenance that the Toyotae are typically subjected to.

  5. Here’s another option along the same lines.
    https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/austin-motor-company-electric-vehicle/

    Not really a resto-mod or a recreation of the original Austin. It’s an electric version of a recreation of the original Austin Arrow. They are classifying it as a Quadricycle. and they claim you can use it as an around town car.

    But to me, it looks like something that belongs in a Hammacher-Schlemmer Catalog as a Christmas Present for overindulged kids.

      1. It’s odd, they couldn’t give the coupe away when new, but it’s somewhat appreciated now – values are better than the roadster. The short wheelbase didn’t help the rep for twitchy handling. They were the same price as an M3 when new which didn’t help either. Great “point and shoot” car.
        My roadster used to leak in the rain as soon as you got over 60 ks an hour. Wind used to force the water up the screen and it would get in and drip on my right leg, which you couldn’t move of course.

        1. It’s a common problem with almost all soft tops. Somehow, Mazda seems to have overcome the problem with the Miata… surprise, surprise.

Comments are closed.