I have friend who's mother died about a year ago and she had a 1970 XKE Roadster as her regular driver. She was about 94 when she died, so you can do the math as to how old she was when she bought it. She bought it new -- it was her second xke. It is low mileage, always been stored in a car port or garage, and probably hasn't been driven much in the past 15 years. Its never been in an accident, but has some normal "old person" dings. I believe the car is light blue, but can't swear to that. Its never seen salty roads and has no rust of any kind. Its all original. I should be buying it myself, but I don't have an understanding wife.

I know hagerty places the value at about $70k, but I'm thinking its worth more than that given the one owner and low mileage. I don't know for certain, because I haven't seen the car recently, but I think you could change the oil, put in a new battery, fill up the gas tank, and drive it across the US without any problems.

So what would be a good starting price on this car?

 

Hagerty will be a good starting point, but if the car went to auction there could be some crazy bidding up from there. Seems that original unrestored "drivable" cars are highly sought after. Not sure why, they still need a full going over checking wiring, fuses, replacing all rubber, brake lines, fluids, hoses, etc., before taking a semi-confident drive. Even when the car has a look of being rust free, it could be rotting from the inside in hidden areas, such as rockers and inside the front frame members.
Let us know how it turns out.

 

I don't understand either why "all original" brings so much, but it seems to. You're right.... Everything still needs to be replaced.

As for rust, I really doubt there is any. I knew the lady my entire life and she really babied her little jag. Her son and I went to high school together back in the 60s.

I wish I could talk my wife into buying it, but she'd probably want me to get rid of one of my MG's, one of which (the A), was the first car I ever bought 46 years ago.

Thanks for the reply, Alfred!