Thread: are s1's now made of gold?

I have been looking at that one it seems like a good buy

I think people are forgetting the reasons certain cars, vehicles etc become more expensive overtime. A lot of investors are now shifting over to early Land Rovers because of the fact there are only so many rare cars to go around and as time goes on there are less and less original Landies left. However there is a plentiful supply of most parts if you are willing to look hard enough. So if a number of discerning investors begin to buy the immaculate, all correct numbers concourse series 1 Landies for the 25K plus and then park them in their garages for 5 or 10 years it will lift the prices of all the bottom end land rovers as well. Add to this the odd one that comes up for sale or auction which has an exceptional history (Winston Churchill's S1 sold for 135000pounds plus recently) or is a very early model (first 50 or so) and has documentation etc and sells for exceptional prices it agains lifts the value of the cheap S1's we used to see laying around in paddocks doing nothing. Using the Churchill S1 as an example I can remember it reading in a Land Rover Owner International Magazine around the year 2000 that it sold at auction for around 50000 pounds. 13 years latter and its almost tripled in value! That is a good investment in anyones eyes. As the years go by and more and more S1's become un-restorable due to lack of original parts a well sorted S1 with matching and original numbers and original features or documentation will grow in value. Canny investors are buying the really good early S1's as an investment not to show or to use but to keep in concourse condition and make money off. This then drives up the price and value of the all the others of lesser condition, as I mentioned before. Just as another piece of info on the side I keep track of two or three american 4x4 websites and forums with references to Land Cruisers and Land Rovers and recently I saw a standard early 80's Land Cruiser troop carrier right hand drive Australian delivered diesel bought in Australia and transported to the USA for sale for $40000 US. It had over 350000kms on the clock and was nothing special but again, american investors are buying them and storing them much like people do with classic and rare Ferraris. If I had an early S1 with matching numbers and in nearly concourse condition I'd be insuring it for upwards of $30K and if I had a restorable one I'd be working on it day and night as prices are only going to climb. Sorry for the long reply - I guess you could say it was my 20 cents worth