Original Stratos price variations

[Matt No VAT]

I have always kept one eye on the price of original strati, for obvious reasons, but I'm somewhat confused by the huge variation in prices.

I've followed a number of original Stradales over the past 18 months or so and the price seems to average out at about the £60,000 mark for private sellers. Yet last year an original stradale was sold at auction for something like £34,000.

1. Is this down to sellers generally looking for unrealistic prices, and not accepting what has happened to the classic car market?

2. Sellers trying to recoup the majority, if not all, of any restoration costs?

3. Demand for these cars in Europe/USA is higher than demand in the UK? (personally I'd go anywhere for the right car)

I know overall condition plays a significant part of what the cars are worth at the time of sale, but I cant see the reason for such a variation in prices.

£34k is obviously significantly easier to find than £60k, and I know from personal experience that what you pay for a restoration normally far, far exceeds the actual re-sale value of the car once its restoration has been completed.

I see the yellow stradale on the new website has no pricetag. Anyone know where the bidding starts?

(Personally I think these days POA no longer stands for Price On Application, it actually means "I've spent a fortune on this car"!!)

[Stratos]

Matt,

I have also kept an eye on prices of original Stratos.

I can't give you a reason why, but cars at UK auctions always seem to go for less than they are 'advertised' for in Europe.

The 'advertised' price is rarely the selling price, which may vary either up or down.

Don't forget that the £34k that Don Pithers car sold for at auction in Decemeber was before VAT and auctioner's premium.

I believe the Yellow Stradale on the website (the car featured in the recent Auto Italia article) is priced at about Euro 100k. It's a one-owner car in fully restored condition.

UK prices might rise soon. There are a number of people who are looking to buy original Stratos to use in the new Classic Rally Challenge for 2004. So they will be watching for cars at auction.

[Matt No VAT]

Hi Dave,

I was just wondering what other people thought the reasons might be. I too have thought about the remortgage and an original Stratos to go in the garage, (no wife to persuade either!)

However, given the amount of money I've spent on cars over the years I have to use a little common sense! Oh and finish the extension!!

Are there any figures on how many originals are in the UK?

A friend of mine in Viareggio sends me some of the italian version of Auto Trader and theres usually a Stratos in there up for grabs.

I think thats the way I'll go if I cant resist anymore! Or my lotto numbers come up

:D

[mogul_x]

Seems like I 've seen a few original cars for sale in the $75,000 - $100.000 range, (£50,000- £67,000) here in the 'States. Not quite as much of a variation in price, but still a decent spread. I think an orginal Stradale sold last year on the low end of that range, but I may be mistaken.

Dennis McCann had a couple of cars available for a while. Looks like he sold a fully restored Stradale for about £68,000. He still shows a '76 Gp. 5 car available, asking about £89,000. See the link below for the ad:

http://www.allferrariparts.com/cars/mccstrblu.html

This car's been listed for years, so the asking price may be higher than anyone's willing to pay. Dennis claimed to have a line on a $40,000 Stratos at one point, but I never saw any evidence of its existance. Even if it were true, I'd imagine that a car at that price would be in pretty rough condition.

As to why there's such a variation in price - I think a lot of it has to do with the seller's mindset. I've seen a lot of cars (non-Stratos) listed at prices far higher that what they're worth, mostly because the seller is trying to recoup at least a portion of their investment. As long as they can find a buyer willing to pay the price, it stays up. More motivated sellers probably start lower, since they might be willing to take more of a loss in order to make a quick sale.

[Matt No VAT]

When I was about to purchase my Lancia Integrale Evo 2 (in 1999) from Milan I was offered a Lime green Stratos stradale, in need of restoration.

I saw a number of photos of her but didn't visit it in the flesh, poor thing looked a bit sorry for herself and I was told it hadn't been started for 4-5 years and they were asking £25,000!! (I think the guy was pretty genuine so I dont think he was BS-ing me)

I had 40 million Lire on me at the time (approx £14,000) and thought about it for a brief second but I as didn't have the other £11,000, plus I needed a car that I could drive back from Milan to the UK in - I opted for the Evo 2.

Oh well back to dreamin......:)