PAUL S

iTrader: (8)

Its like any market, you need to catch it at just the right time, and its more luck than judgement.

There were some very very nice 500s around say 6 to 8 years ago for under 15k, that would now easily fetch probably 35k plus now. I missed a one owner white 500 with 8000 miles back then for under 16k as I hesitated and it was gone, that car would now be £45 to 50k.

Its now knowing when they are going to peak, my guess could be a year or so after the 25th anniversary as things settle down again, but if the historic race series happens then they could continue to climb, but also they are now being bought by people that are not show goers or grass roots enthusiasts and they value them on the cars superb race history and relative rarity, and not what you used to be able to buy one for, which is what most of us do, and this has traditionally kept prices down.

If there is one modern classic Ford that can happily sit in a collection of exotica of far far greater value then its an RS500 even more so than the RS200 as the 500 is a practical easy to use car as well.

I listened to all the advice out there, weighed up all the options and made the leap, but was also very concerned I could be buying at the market peak and over the last few months I think I made the correct decision, as they have continued to grow in a very slow summer for sales of any kind in the UK.

I bought one as I love them, so as long as if required I am able to recover my investment Im content, but if it pays for itself and then some, then thats a nice bonus if and when it moves to the next owner.

PAUL S

iTrader: (8)

meant to add, if your loan to value was 75% or more then probably not wise to borrow against your property as interest rates will rise soon enough but if its a lot lower then all you are doing in reality is releasing a bit of your hard earned equity that you wisely tied up in earlier years.

BRAMMER

iTrader: (23)

Mental thread, who in there right mind would re-mortgage to buy an RS500 lovely car but taking £30k ......................... and pay back over £80k.

PAUL S

iTrader: (8)

Brammer, but thats assuming you keep the car for the full term of the mortgage, say 20 years, most people would keep it a few years, realise the dream, sell it on, and reduce the mortgage again. Cost of finance just a few k probably, and you have an appreciating asset that can be easily sold as and when required.

The common sense thing is for us all to drive £200 shitters and plough every penny we earn into paying off the mortgage but you only get one lap of life - enjoy it while you can.

My attitude to finance has changed over the years, I never used to borrow money, saved up until I could buy an item for cash, never had an overdraft, never went in the red and I was in the lucky position of paying off my mortgage a few years ago, had a nice house, car etc but I found being mortgage free did not make me any happier or content.

So I sold up, bought a place in the country with plenty of scope to improve, took on a fresh mortgage, rebuilt it and now have a cracking place thats still affordable, I could not have done that under my old cautious ways.

Everyones circumstances are different so its not going to be the sensible thing to do for many people, but the OP seems to very much have his head screwed on financially.

james kiely

iTrader: (5)

chris would you remortgage to build on a conservatory or a extension ,or would you save the 30k in cash to do so .

cheers paul,you seem to appreciate where im coming from ,i built my own house[s] and have a loan to value of about 20% which isnt to bad ,but this is only because i spent nearly every penny i had building my home,which is a family house not an investment in my eyes as it will never be sold.

BRAMMER

iTrader: (23)

No dig to those that would as each have there own preference but me Personally no James it's something i wouldn't do, plus i bought a house big enough to start with so we didn't have to tamper with it.

Saving up is the only option for me, I have spent in £££ notes out of my own pocket near to £30k on my 3dr since 2008, going off the figures being thrown around this thread if 500's reach £100k then my old 3dr will break even at some point

Big Will_

My apologies for not seeing your reply sooner Rod, i've only just had time to 'catch up' with this thread!

What I meant to say was, last year I received a sum of inheritance money and having looked around the market as to where best to invest my money for it to give maximum return I didn't end up at Abbey, Santander, HSBC, Natwest or any of the other banks or building societies - I ended up on Mr Linfoots doorstep!

The increase in value that i've seen in my 'investment' far outweighs anything I would have seen had I ended up on the high street and to be honest, the pleasure it has brought to me can't be priced up.

My mother actually went halves on the car with me and this year was her 60th birthday, I made a big effort to prepare the car mechanically, restoring a lot of 'aftermarket' parts to original etc. Taking her to her birthday lunch in the 500 was an incredibly special day for me and for her, plus it was the talking point for 90% of the guests!

Money in the bank or money in a 500? I'm glad I put mine where I did

art411y

iTrader: (1)

its a total yes for me!.ive hopefully just beat the cancer thing and thought while in the uneasy times why didnt i do this why didnt i do that.im at this moment thinking of a spot of remortgaging to buy a gt3 thats going to loose money hand over foot.to all the people saying" dont do it and save up for it".why have you got a mortgage then why didnt you just save up and buy the house cash?

PAUL S

iTrader: (8)

The re-mortgage to buy an RS500 thing is a bit of a red herring.

Basically if anyone has a mortgage and does not put every spare pound they have into reducing the total, then that spare pound will have cost them £3 over the mortgage term regardless of what they use that spare pound for, unless they tie it up in a high interest account or use it to add value to the property.

So every holiday taken, every car bought regardless of what it is, every pint they buy, every pair of jeans or shirt they wear will have cost them approx 3 times the initial purchase price for as long as they have that mortgage as well, and dont pay it off instead.

Probably the worse thing you can do is buy a new car, as the pound you put in it will only be worth 60p after 3 years and if you keep doing that over the mortgage term then each pound invested in a new car will have cost £3 but the asset purchased will be virtually worthless.

So the sensible thing to do is run a banger, dont go on holiday, wear clothes from the charity shop and get that mortgage down to nothing and then be the richest person in the graveyard, and the relatives will have a lovely inheritance to waste on fancy holidays, flash cars and designer clothes

carlo

iTrader: (4)

I have never been in debt for a car yet & would never put my home at risk no matter how bad i wanted a car if you need to nearly live beyond your means to buy a car its not worth it.

PAUL S

iTrader: (8)

I seem to have taken over this thread, so will sit back after this reply and let others add advice.

I bought mine for cash as I had to act fast, and finance/ add to the mortgage etc were not options anyway given the time frame I had to make a decision and purchase it before I lost it again. Its the same with most 500s these days as the good ones sell so quickly.

But in theory as I do have a mortgage, allbeit a sensible and affordable one, I have now affected my overall financial situation, as I no longer earn any interest on the money I laid out (which was buttons these days), and I could have reduced my mortgage sum instead with the cash I used, but I have a tracker mortgage which also costs buttons at the moment so it would not have saved me much in mortgage interest payments either.

I weighed it all up and the risk was not great in my situation so I went for it, and your situation James sounds similar with regards to affordability.

I know I can sell it on fast if needed and I cannot see that changing any time soon, unless we have another 9/11 or global disaster etc but even then things seem to get back to normal quite soon.

Would I buy one of the 8k miles, big money cars at the moment, probably not unless I had a hell of a lot of spare cash, if mine had not come about then I would be looking for a mid range car, say 50 to 70k miles with scope to improve over time, and try to get it as close to standard appearance as possible by hunting out the parts on ebay etc even if you dont fit them.

The white one on ebay recently is a good example at circa 20k, and a few sold on here over the last year for similar money. Basket cases I would avoid as the big parts are hard to find and expensive. A reshelled car using a 909 1989 spec new shell - not an issue, attitudes are changing fast, I know of over 25 reshelled 500s these days and all nice cars with happy owners.

If I spot any decent ones for sale I will drop you a pm

Good Luck with your decision.

dawesy1700

suppose it comes down to whether you can afford it, but more importantly, can you live with paying a higher mortgage with nothing to show for it? if the car gets stolen/crashed/destroyed etc etc?? at least with a 30k extension its adding value to the house and nobody's going to steal it or torch it out of jealousy, im only 25 and i'm just about to move into my 1st house in 2 weeks, i have a mk2 escort thats cost £8k over 6 years, if i need money, as i do now, i deliver for a takeaway,14 hour days but doubles my income till i've paid for/bought what i'm aiming for, but you only live once so do whatever you want,

james kiely

iTrader: (5)

cheers for all the replies guys ,its great to see the different views out their and they all have merit intheir own right.
I put this thread up a year ago nearly and things have changed considerably in that time for most peaople with the reccession ,so at this moment it will remain a dream. I would never ever jeoperdise my home/family for a car no matter what it was .
the rebuilding of my 2wd saff g88 is ongoing and using up any spare cash i have at minute[which is quite a lot.]
The whole thinking behind a remortgage /release of equity ,was not to finance a car over 25 years ,but to avail of the low interest rate s for mortgages at the minute,which i realise will go up at some stage so that would have to be taken into account .
the only successful way of making this work for you is to pay it off as quick as you can,and pay as much as you can monthly to bring the balance down .

james kiely

iTrader: (5)

thread bump

i cant believe this thread is 8 years old ,but thought i would look back at peoples views then and now

firstly

i fooking never did buy that 500 or remotgage ,but i wish i bloody did lol

Adam-M

I met a guy that says he remortgaged his house so he could buy 2 rs500's

charlie luciano

iTrader: (3)

I remember seeing a sierra 500 in 2006 which needed a bit of work i.e. It wasn't mint but nevertheless it's a 500, it was up for 11 grand, I had the money round me at the time and I wish the Christ I had bought it, the money I had I got from a couple of saving policies I had running since 94 and they matured in 2006 giving me 13k which I eventually spunked away, (that happens a lot with money)

I hummed and harred but the main thing was I had no where to put it, I had my Sapphire at the time but hindsight says I should have bought it.

But to answer the original question, would I remortgage my house to buy one or any car for that matter absolutely not, remortgage to buy another property or put it into a business venture yes but to buy a 30 year old car that every scum bag thief wants to nick no fucking way

Rod-Tarry

20k to 115k in 30years is 6% compound so a good return although storage cost must be high to keep a car pristine for 30 years. 90k if you put 20k in a Building Society in 1987. Property gain is regional but London & South East would have beaten that. However you can remortgage a Property as many times as you want & be sitting on a Million+ property by now if you live down here. So I guess the answer is I would not remortgage for a car only an upgrade in property.

martynhomer01

iTrader: (1)

I agree with rod to be fair, property is a much better bet than remortgaging for a car. The ass could drop out of cars much quicker than it could property

Mad_Mat

Dammit if I had my crystal ball 15 years ago I would have a f355, rs500 and 964rs tucked away right now but unfortunately as a yoof I was to eager to spend it clubbing and chasing skirt. Missed the boat on all 3 of them.
As for property before cars erm well nah, as a self confessed petrol head I dont entirely agree but you do need to strike a balance between the two.

Edit still might get a Lotus Carlton though.

It's Czech Mate

7 years on and interest rates are still the same

dojj

iTrader: (3)

you were a few years out

It's Czech Mate

Its way more than 6% compound as you could pick up the best for £25k 15 years ago....... try doing your sums over 15 years.


Nowt wrong with investing in cars over property, its all a question of timing, when to buy, what to buy and when to sell. What to buy and When to sell being the important bits......

PAUL S

iTrader: (8)

True! my crystal ball appears to be faulty as my ex RS500 is also worth at least £30k more than I sold it for now

The Youth.

iTrader: (1)

The reality is that the original question back then was would you remortgage for an rs 500 the answer in hindsight was yes it would have earned you far more in increased value than you would have paid on the mortgage..


Steve

gingeRS

i've made approx £150k equity on my property in 5 years

property is still a good investment and much easier to negotiate with the mrs

also my house will not rust or fail an MOT

It's Czech Mate

Capital Gains tax on that...plus if its your only house then unless you downsize you cant realise it as most other houses will have followed the market trend....

Cars don't attract CGT

Ebonycossie4x4

iTrader: (4)

I think if we had a time machine we would all buy some of these cars, the opportunity to buy a 10k car is far easier to realise than even a 100k house.

And its not just fords I personally think Porsches are fairly ridiculous now, also there was a time that an F430 was 60k now they are 100K and rising...

If i could rewind I would have remortgaged to buy a couple, fact was i didn't need to remortgage i just needed to keep hold of the cars i had!!!

What an idiot lol.

james kiely

iTrader: (5)

nail on head steve

Staffi

iTrader: (1)

When I think I sold my E30 M3 Evo Sport with just 13k miles on it back on 1999 for 18k. Lol, they're now 120-130k and then my 22B I sold with just 11k on it for 28 grand and countless cossies etc etc,