C5ALIVE Forum
C5Alive General Category => C5 Chatroom => Topic started by: danny7147 on 04, January, 2013 - 11:57:36
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Yet another brand new, never opened C5 has reared its head on Ebay, currently on 350. GREAT INVESTMENT!! Really? Let's look at the facts. £399 in 1985 is £1009.47 now. Very few of these mint boxed ones manage to make half of that! Will they in another 30 years? Who knows... But it reminds me of a friend of mine who, again in the 80's, bought a brand new Sierra. Drained the fluids, dry stored it, and as far as I know it's still there. That car even now would struggle to fetch 5 grand. Boxed, not boxed, face facts, the C5 will never make you rich for one simple reason. It's not a one off Ferrari... It's one of the many still boxed C5s!
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My dad said he would buy a brand new C5 but now one has popes up he has changed his mind :P ::) ??? :-\ :(
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If you had a TARDIS/time machine you would be better off going back to 1986 just as Sinclair Vehicles failed and buying up all the c5 spares and accessories ...that's where the real increase in value has taken place.
Supply and demand.
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Yet another brand new, never opened C5 has reared its head on Ebay, currently on 350. GREAT INVESTMENT!! Really? Let's look at the facts. £399 in 1985 is £1009.47 now. Very few of these mint boxed ones manage to make half of that! Will they in another 30 years? Who knows... But it reminds me of a friend of mine who, again in the 80's, bought a brand new Sierra. Drained the fluids, dry stored it, and as far as I know it's still there. That car even now would struggle to fetch 5 grand. Boxed, not boxed, face facts, the C5 will never make you rich for one simple reason. It's not a one off Ferrari... It's one of the many still boxed C5s!
Now up too £810, that's cheep for a new C5 ::)
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I have just seen the location of it and it's just down the road from me :o :o :o
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Hi there Luke Go down and take a sneek in the box and let us know if there is anything in it ...(Maybe Jack is there)
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Bye Chas
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I have moved the posts about remanufacturing indicators to a new, separate thread.
Click here (http://c5alive.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2851.0.html) to go to the new thread about remanufacturing indicators.
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Back to my original point, let's look at this £810 wonder. Apologies to older readers, but for the benefit of younger readers to understand what this is about here's a simple explanation about inflation:-
In 1985 I was 7. A can of Coke was about 20p, Mars bar the same. Each year the prices go up a little, so now it's about 65p each. That's about as easy as I can make it.
In 1985 that brand new boxed Sinclair (assuming it was bought list price) would have been £399 plus postage. That, in todays world, is Just over £1000. Now, think of finding somewhere to store that massive box for 27 years, let alone Ebay fees etc, and that £810 is actually a huge loss on what it cost them to buy originally! So where the investment? The price of accessories is going through the roof, but to buy that mint boxed C5 and keep it in the box for another 30years...? Do you think I'll ever make you a fortune?
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There is a very good chance, once the super rich collectors get to know that the boxed C5 is a very rare item just watch it take off. They wont be for the road but displayed in the super sized lounges as a talking point.
Just like Tom Cruise having a Vincent Black Shadow in his lounge, not to ride but just as an item of interest.
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A Vincent Black Shadow is a far more desirable item thsn a Sinclair C5. Even then how many people do you know with a motorcycle bolted to their living room floor.? Actually, I really knew one , with a fully restored Sunbeam S7 bolted to his dining room floor- it made the room look ridiculous. A Sinclair C5 would not improve the appearance of a living room.
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A Vincent Black Shadow should be ridden, not used as a piece of furniture ;D
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Sorry but I don't know any of the super rich. Just a quick question, how big is your living room? In the lounge from some of the super rich they could put your house on display.
A Jap gave out millions of dollars to catch a FISH, the reason being they are super rare. What the item looks like is irrelevant, it must be rare to be a point of interest, just 'look what I've got'.
A Vincent Black Shadow should be ridden, not used as a piece of furniture
What! Do you mean like a C5 bed? 8) 8) 8)
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When did you last see a Sierra on the road? In a museum? They're 80's, rare, and are still worth nothing. Now compare a Lada Riva. Seen one lately? A mint boxed C5 will never be worth more than it is now for one simple reason. There are too many of them. Sure, shoot me down and tell me parity of parts, but I'll dare you to show me one Lada in a museum. Spend years pumping a massive box, and in 30 years time when some 'rich collector' finally opens it, what will they find? Perished tyres, degraded plastic, and more dry joints than my gran. My point is that keeping a fully maintained one out of the box has a better chance than one in the box.
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In Finland ;D
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Blue_Lada_2107_at_the_Car_and_Communication_Museum_in_Finland.jpg/800px-Blue_Lada_2107_at_the_Car_and_Communication_Museum_in_Finland.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Red_Lada_2106_emergency_service_vehicle_at_the_Car_and_Communication_Museum_in_Finland.jpg/800px-Red_Lada_2106_emergency_service_vehicle_at_the_Car_and_Communication_Museum_in_Finland.jpg)
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The rich are not collectors as such, a box doesn't interest them, that'll be dumped, it's solely the rarity.
Perished tyres, degraded plastic, and more dry joints than my gran.
Everything deteriorates with time whether it be a painting or a C5.
In the 70s and 80s you could find loads of Merc 190SLs in fairly good nick in the scrap yards, until one day a Mag noticed that they were becoming quite rare. Then the price started to soar, within one year the price had quadrupled.
but I'll dare you to show me one Lada in a museum
Sorry but I don't find this to be a good example, I can give you a list a couple of miles long of things that are not shown in a museum.
I don't know about the UK but here the price for a Beetle is soaring, in Holland the Fiat 500, and yet a lot of super machines rot away. It seems to be a case of what tickles your fancy.
I've been collecting photos of the Fairey Rotodyne for years, not what one could call a beautiful or spectacular aircraft, and for a long time I never paid over £10 for a photo, now they are going for over £200. The same goes for plastic model A/C, I've seen bids for over €2,600 for a kit.
A Vincent Black Shadow should be ridden, not used as a piece of furniture
In a few years time there'll be no more Shadows on the road, the price is reaching the stage whereby no one will risk driving one.
Mind you, you may be right. If Chas keeps up the good work of stopping the rot the C5 wont become so rare. ;)
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If you had a TARDIS/time machine
Supply and demand.
Only if :( ;) :-\ ???
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I can think of a good UK example. The Mini. Ten years ago I used to see them in the paper for £100, now, you couldn't get a body shell for under £600 with a standard example now worth well over £3,000! But that's a Mini. A Mini, a Beetle and a 500 have two things in common, they're practical and they're cult items. The C5 has something completely different, which is novelty value.
Why do you own a C5? For the commute? For the pleasure of riding it? Or because they're unusual, rare, and because you love the looks from people when you take it for a spin? The C5 is something Joe Public remember as a joke... and I say that as a devoted owner. People remember it, not for it's innovation or style, but because it was a total commercial and resulted in one of biggest financial disasters of any inventor.
So, sure, you take your Vincent, Beetle and 500 and keep on about how they suddenly became worth a fortune, and now let me give you some other examples.
Betamax. Need I say more? Total disaster. If you had a Betamax recorder in your loft, mint in box, unopened, do you think it would ever be worth the initial investment it cost to put it there? It was a disaster, people will smile fondly when you say that you have a mint condition Betamax recorder, but that's where the fun will end, because outside of a museum it will never be worth a penny more than it is now. Novelty value.
Sony Minidisc Player Designed to rival the CD. Mint boxed MiniDisc player now? If ANYONE remembers them, which itself would be a miracle, it's something that nobody would actually want. Novelty value.
Laserdisc A rival to VHS that predates the DVD... never caught on. HUGELY expensive new. Value now? Next to nothing. Ever likely to be?
Apple Newton Predecessor to the PDA. One of Apple's first products. Clever, intuitive idea that never caught on and cost the company a lot of money. In theory if you had one you COULD use it now, but it's unlikely. Mint boxed one? If you'd have bought one new it would have cost a LOT of money. Now, next to nothing.
The C5's fun to own, and it's fun to see the looks on peoples faces when they see one, but as an investment? You'd be better putting the money in the bank and leaving it alone. My C5 I'm very proud of. I use it, I take it out on runs etc, and I don't expect to ever lose money on it, but a mint boxed one, while probably steadily increasing at the rate of inflation year on year will never be worth megabucks. Why? It's a novelty that you can't see because it's still stuck in a box.
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Oh and there's nothing wrong with a C5 as an indoor object either ;D
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/318077_485802458125305_1794773945_n.jpg)
It doesn't take up a ton of space in the corner of the dining room, the warmth indoors protects the electrics, and it gives visitors something to smile about when they walk in :P
I've got a spares on in the back garden though... my wife would only allow one indoors ::)
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The one, no two , good things about keeping a C5 in the house are, they don't smell of old oil like a an old motorcycle would, and when you kick it after tripping over it in the dark the polyethelene bodywork will just resume its original shape.
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I personally would love a mint boxed c5. Not to keep in the box as an investment but just to have a new one to keep in good condition. To use now and again for fun not everyday. Be really good to have one that is totally original.
When people buy things it's not just for an investment.
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I have just read of a '54 Corvette, the original 6 cylinder model, being offered for auction, with only a genuine 2500 miles on the clock because for 25 years it was encased behind a glass screen in a clothing store, and subsequently was KEPT IN THE LIVING ROOM of the store owner's daughter in Florida.
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Less than 1 hour to go on the new C5