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Drool............that looks gorgeous.
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I've seen '70s Aston Martins at restorers (who charge £30K just to assess the beasts).
Think '70s Cortinas. They rust the same, except the Astons cost thousands more to restore.
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An online calculator suggests that using "average earnings", £1500 in 1972 equated in 2010 to £26500, so it wasn't pocket money even then.
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>> An online calculator suggests that using "average earnings", £1500 in 1972 equated in 2010 to
>> £26500, so it wasn't pocket money even then.
>>
From the link it states £14k?
"The £1,500 he paid for the car in 1972 equates to about £14,000 in today's money"
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Dunno. I used this one, which I often use. It has big words on it so I reckon it's good and I trust it with all my soul.
www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/
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>> It has big words on it so I reckon it's good
:-)
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So for around £15k to £20k today, what would you stick in a barn for 40 years to make your grandkids rich?
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That car hasn't been in a barn for 40 years. Here is its history:
www.bramleyweb.co.uk/carsales/details.asp?StockID=6130
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But the two cars aren't the same. Your link is to a DB4 and the Telegraph one to a DB5. I know all AM's look the same - they always have ;-)
The car in the original link to the Telegraph was bought in 1964. But interesting the CNH20 plate featured on both. Timelines don't compare though.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 31 Jan 13 at 11:37
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You can see in the text that when that restored DB4 in the link was sold in 1966 the owner kept his CNH 20 number so assume he bought the "barn" DB5 sometime after than and put CNH 20 onto it.
This reg number confusion has caused a lot of chatter that there is some sort of con here and the "barn" one has been sprayed with fake dust to make it look something it isn't.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 31 Jan 13 at 11:50
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>> That car hasn't been in a barn for 40 years. Here is its history:
You're right it wasn't in a barn for 40 years. The original link says since 1977, so I make that about 36 years ;-)
"The blue DB5 was last put through an MoT test in 1977. After that it was parked in the garage of its owner, David Ettridge, where it has remained for more than 30 years."
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>> Dunno. I used this one, which I often use. It has big words on it
>> so I reckon it's good and I trust it with all my soul.
>>
>> www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/
>>
That's the one I always use, I reckon average earnings is a more meaningful benchmark than retail prices.
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That's interesting - I could have bought a Ford Focus in 1245 for £15/17/2 :-)
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Think I've mentioned back on HJ that I was always fascinated by the teenage memory of a Which magazine in the early 70s that group tested three new luxury cars around £1700 with a used Bentley, Daimler V8 250 and DB5 which were also around that price.
Managed to buy a copy of that April 1970 Which from Ebay recently and it makes interesting reading. Their DB5 was a 1964 with 51k recorded when they bought it for just over £1500 which fits in with the barn find one at a similar price in 1972.
To give the used cars a fair start they were brought into good running order which with the DB5 meant Aston Martin themselves fitted new engine mounts, sorted a sagging drivers seat plus gave attention to the shock absorbers, steering and suspension. The bill for all this was £96 and Which commented they thought it a little on the expensive side. Times have changed!
In testing the maximum speed (135) after 15mins they blew a piston and the engine needed a rebuild. They concluded the DB5 was fast with good handling, comfortable front seats but a poor ride. Also that it was heavy to drive and a bit of a handful. Summary that is was very good for looking dashing when cruising past the shops in the high street.
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CAR said the DB5 had an exhaust which suddenly went off at a right angle under the car: they thought a tractor maker would be ashamed of it let alone a sports car...
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>> a poor ride. Also that it was heavy to drive and a bit of a handful. Summary that is was very good for looking dashing when cruising past the shops in the high street.
Yup. A poser's car, although nice looking. DB4 was better, especially the GT, but even that was 'a bit of a handful' when really pushed. Of the post-war AMs the DB2/4 was the prettiest and most sporting. Some of the V8s were fast, but they were brutes really.
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>> >> a poor ride. Also that it was heavy to drive and a bit of
>> a handful. Summary that is was very good for looking dashing when cruising past the
>> shops in the high street.
>>
>> Yup. A poser's car, although nice looking. DB4 was better, especially the GT, but even
>> that was 'a bit of a handful' when really pushed. Of the post-war AMs the
>> DB2/4 was the prettiest and most sporting. Some of the V8s were fast, but they
>> were brutes really.
>>
I loved the 2/4 tail.
Nissan copied it for the Primera.
tinyurl.com/bdecllf
Last edited by: madf on Thu 31 Jan 13 at 15:21
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DB4s and 5s look gorgeous, there's no denying it. But they were trouble then, and so are just more expensive trouble now. Very agricultural suspension/steering compared with extremely average cars of today. In any book they are surely well overpriced (£500,000 for the best), but as Norman Lamont knows to our cost, you can't buck the market!
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If there was enough moisture to pit the chrome and rust the wheels, I'm surprised the interior isn't covered in mould after that long in storage.
I do a lot of work for one of the aforementioned restorers, I'll ask them next time I'm there if they know the car. Shabby early DBs do occasionally still come up at auction, the last couple fetched around £100k IIRC. Spend the same again on a rebuild and you've got a £250k-£300k car. Easy money :)
>> (Westpig) Drool............that looks gorgeous.
You'd like the 1959 DB4 GT I shifted on Monday then:
www.astonengineering.co.uk/race-preparation/db4gt
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 31 Jan 13 at 22:23
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>> >> (Westpig) Drool............that looks gorgeous.
>>
>> You'd like the 1959 DB4 GT I shifted on Monday then:
>> www.astonengineering.co.uk/race-preparation/db4gt
>>
I'd like it even more if I could hear it giving some large around Snetterton or Cadwell Park or Thruxton or Oulton Park
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That *would* be nice. I was satisfied enough just manoeuvring it on and off the truck... With a racing cam and slipper clutch it needed 3,000rpm just to avoid stalling it, and giving it a rev made the (un-sound-deadened, plastic-windowed) car rock from side to side :D
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A dentist friend of mine bought a ragtop DB5 in the mid eighties. I think he gave around 5 grand but it was a money pit.
I did some welding on it, inner o/s wing under the bonnet IIRC. Then the engine frottered itself locally and I recovered it to his house where we spent some time sorting it out. I can't recall exactly what blew, the head gasket or a piston, but we fixed it and he flogged it.
We worked out that with purchase price, fuel/tax/insurance/MOT/repairs, set against mileage, it cost him something like £30 a mile whilst he owned it !
Bet he wishes he'd kept it now...seeing him soon so I may tease him about current prices !
Ted
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So, a bit sad. What used to be rather overweight, old-fashioned and not all that well made luxury tourers with semi-vintage handling and a fair turn of speed in a straight line, with charisma dating back to a prewar and early post-war sporting pedigree, are now ludicrously overpriced heaps of old excrement, carefully made-up, of interest only to collectors, wide-boy dealers and overgrown schoolkids.
Sad, eh? Roy Salvadori in the DB3S... those were the days. But those racing ones are unobtainable. Perhaps if you were Bill Gates.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 1 Feb 13 at 00:31
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The DB5 (and call Aston's since) are probably only worth more than they should be because of the Bond connection. And AM would not lend a car! They would probably have failed if it were not for the Bond tie-in.
And of course the DB5 looks so much like a DB4 really doesn't it. It's not as if they still do that with all their models - i.e. looking the same :-)
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In my work today I came across a quote from a French poet called René Char. Never mind the quote, but when I Googled him I learned that he was meant to have been in the Facel Vega in which Albert Camus died near Lyon I think along with his publisher, the car's owner and driver. For some reason he couldn't go - the early Facel Vegas didn't have much rear seating - so went to Paris by train instead. Thus surviving.
The Facel Vega was even more of a poser's car than a DB5, able to go very fast with its Chrysler V8 but severely lacking in the braking and general handling departments. Very flash motor. Wouldn't mind one actually.
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Speaking as a child of the 60s I always liked nice interiors from my earliest interest in cars. I remember the Facel Vega was "on my list" for that alone... images.thecarconnection.com/lrg/1958-facel-vega-sedan_100319294_l.jpg
I quite liked the small Facel Vega convertible too, only about a 1500cc but almost 120bhp which was good for those days.
The Aston Martin DB 4/5/6 have always appealed, despite the comments in Which magazine. My favourite was always the DB6 with that kick in the tail from the side. Family friend had a metallic purple one in the early 70s and I drooled over that on its frequent visits. Revisited now though their look isn't as pure as the earlier models. The guy traded the DB6 for a V8 model which was fine by me at the time... a brute of a car as AC says.
Forgetting the James Bond connection in relation to Aston Martin these highly prized cars of the 60s are obviously selling on nostalgia, not ability by current standards, but I can understand why.
Back in those days there were ordinary cars which most of our parents owned... all painted metal, rubber flooring, 2ft gearstick, 80mph, noisy, dreadful handling etc. Then there were the Jaguars, Daimlers, Astons, Bentleys, big Mercedes etc which were a world apart with comfort, silence, acres of wood, deep carpets. They were special and that became a deeply imprinted feeling.
Today it is so different where the small family cars have many of the attributes of larger models just in shrunken form.... the prestige cars aren't quite so special. I don't think walnut and wilton worship will be ingrained in this current generation of children.
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>> liked the small Facel Vega convertible too,
Facellia it was called.
Camus publisher and fellow crash victim was Michel Gallimard, whose name is still big in French publishing.
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An online calculator suggests that using "average earnings", £1500 in 1972 equated in 2010 to £26500, so it wasn't pocket money even then. >>
Which one are you using, Crankcase? This one gives £15435.82
www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/inflation/calculator/flash/default.aspx/
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...but yours is more sophisticated.
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Aston Martin - DB5 bought for £1500 - Westpig
