Sammio for sale
 

Another interesting listing ...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sammio-Mot...4AAOSwOuRZsuTp

Looks good ....one of Micky's ?

Yes , its the one Micky sold on ebay about 2 weeks ago . Looks like Richard at Nubodi bought it . He's obviously not feeling the love and is moving her on .
Luckily , he bought the only decent Sammio out there and it hasn't got that awful Triumph running gear undeneath it.

looks very smart with nice paint at sensible money.
Should sell quickly.

i saw that
:lie:

Well, the good news is that just adding a stripe and some racing numbers increases a car's value by almost £2k. :icon_wink:

Although, personally, I think more value has been added just by taking the car somewhere nice to photograph it. :cool:

Micky1Mo - £6,000.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ic...g=w477-h358-no

Richard@Nubodi - £7,995

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/DM...s=w500-h375-no

Or you could follow Mister Towed's example and park outside the Queen's house - £23,995

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zy...=w1094-h820-no

Anyway, I wish Richard well with the sale and can completely agree with the final line of the advert.

"It should be more money" :D

Cheers, Paul. :)

The deep gloss shine in the second picture certainly adds at least £2k in my opinion. Looks like a different car.

Totally agree ...the car has been much better presented .....the picture quality , paint finish and a hundred quids worth of decals has turned it around ... My only critique now would be those seats ...I know they are a classic bucket , but the headrests aren't doing it for me ...

I don't think it will hang around at that money ...it'll be interesting to see how the later running gear affects the interest in her ...

Humm.. this is an interesting compare-and-contrast sale taking the Triumph special approach that i'll be watching with interest!

I found it especially interesting to see that the asking price is in the same ballpark as what i got for my old Vitesse based Sammio a few years ago.

I just hope this is sold while it's still sunny (in some areas of europe!) and tbh i'll put 2P on this disapearing over to the continent!

It's a funny thing, putting a price on an item like this. Buying such a car is a decision you make with your heart, not your head. It's not practical, everyday transport and it's not going to be competitive on the track alongside a Seven at a third of the price of what I asked for mine.

Someone simply has to fall in love with the car and desire the whole experience of owning and using such a machine for the price to become fairly irrelevant so long as it's within their budget for such an item. It's exactly the same as the decision taken when buying art* - even if it's meant to be an investment, you should always buy pieces that you love.

To me, there do seem to be too many people who dump their Sammios on ebay for no money apparently just hoping to get the price of the parts back. Again making the comparison with art, don't forget that nobody looks at a Picasso original and says 'well, it's about fifty quid's worth of canvas, twenty quid for the paint, I reckon it took the artist about half an hour to whack the paint on, so that's another twenty and I'll throw in a tenner for the frame, so we'll call it a hundred quid for cash then?'
*see below on pricing art.

So, as with desirable pieces of art, a decent Spyder deserves to sell to someone who simply must have it because they'll lay awake at night thinking about it until it's theirs, not some chancer looking to pick up a bargain that they couldn't build themselves for what they offer.

As for setting the price, bear in mind that these are rare cars. Gary sold about 120 bodies of which probably half have actually been finished, and perhaps half of those were built to a good standard, meaning that there are probably less than 30 decent cars available worldwide, so it's rarer than a Ferrari 250GT SWB (176 built).

My reasoning for pitching my car at the price I did was based on a couple of things:

I was aware that at least three cars had sold in Europe for twenty five to thirty thousand Euros while two more were being advertised at a similar price, and I felt my car was at least as desirable as any of those.

About three years ago I found a rather unconvincing D24 Spyder replica for sale on a French classic car sales site, for 125,000 Euros. And it sold.

Years ago I completed a short University course in management accounting and the subject of how to price items in a small retail business came up.

The lecturer (a very senior accountant) gave us the following example from his own experience - A recent graduate from art school approached him when he was offering free business advice as part of his employer's scheme to encourage young entrepreneurs. The young artist explained that he had the opportunity to rent a retail premises and wanted to open a gallery to sell his own work.

The accountant looked at his business plan and told him that it was viable, but only if he displayed and sold work by other young artists on a commission basis so that customers had a wider choice of styles than just his own daubs.

The artist asked how he should price the pieces for sale and was told not to base pricing upon the cost of the materials and the time spent plus a mark-up as you would if you were making widgets, but to go with an emotional response and ask what you feel a piece to be worth.

Some months later, the young entrepreneur returned for an update meeting. He explained that things were going well and the business was beginning to make a profit. Then he asked what he should do when a piece of art didn't sell, should he drop the price?

The answer was no. The accountant told him that if something didn't sell he should remove it from the gallery display for a couple of weeks, then put it back on sale at double the previous price. The young artist was sceptical but agreed to give it a go.

At their next meeting the accountant asked the artist how his pricing strategy was working out? The reply was that it was going well, but that sometimes he had to double the price of a piece of work three or four times before someone would buy it...

I guess the moral of that (true) tale is that if you ask six or seven thousand pounds for a car as desirable as this, potential buyers with five times that budget for a weekend toy won't even notice it, and it'll end up being sold to some dreamer who won't appreciate what they've got.

Price it at a level that reflects the way the car makes you feel, then hold fast until the right buyer comes along and you will achieve a far more realistic price for what is, if built and finished right, a beautiful and desirable car.

Good words of advice there for sellers.

Its also worth high lighting the importance of the Gallery. A high end gallery with all the bells and whistles will attract the right people with all the money. The likes of the kit car press or Ebay will get lots of viewers but not always a serious buyer because those people don't go there to look, they'll be at Goodwood or Bonhams.

Also those same buyers will be looking at the best cars, well finished and ready to take away. Unless your car has a serious pedigree they won't consider rough or part built examples. Its worth going the extra mile to attract the best price.

Agree with the above, I had submitted an ad to Octane magazine and hadn't quite got round to writing up a shorter ad for the more classic oriented websites, it was just easiest to put it on an ebay classified first.

Mister Towed has it right! Good advice for all concerned.

Maybe an auction house such as Brightwells. Mid range vintage and classic car auctions. the next one is in October , they are currently inviting entries.

https://www.brightwells.com/classic-...-october-2017/

Mr Toweds response
 

What a fantastic response from Mr Towed he has summed up out cars brilliantly. I for one am amazed how the Sammios are so cheap your silver car and the two blue and green cars from Norfolk are absolutely superb. Like many people on this forum i have owned cobras GT40s etc and what luckily I own now but when you think what you can actually buy for what you sell your cars for in the classic arena it really is not worth selling unless you have to.

In many cases our cars are far rarer and look far better, I know a lot of people on this forum don't agree with me but what ever era your car should be living in for me that's the era your car should look like it comes from. As you have stated when i get out of my cars i want that less than perfect experience that's the thrill.


An guess what two days later I cant wait to get back in it!! That's what owning these cars should do to you. And i for one do think we do tend to under value our cars some times.

Mr T - Wise words that your actions and sale price confirm. :cool:

Another good place for a quality kit is a car dealer that sells both original classics and replicas.

For example the red DNA 250 is now priced at £79,995 here:

http://www.totalheadturners.com/deta...ari-250-233180

Does no-one care that the car on Ebay is a ringer & could be seized & crushed? Or if involved in an accident would not be insured & the driver personally liable?

What do you mean?

Why should anyone on this website care about that, even if it is indeed justified? What is your reasoning or evidence? I am always interested to learn.

Come on, what am I missing?