How often have you heard the story about how cheap E-Types once were, esp. once the new XJS came out in September 1975? If you had bought half a dozen E-Types back then you would be rich now. :-)

Here are some classified ads from September 1975.

 

Yeah, but what wages were we young men on in the early 70s ? Not much in my case. I started as a management trainee on British Rail in 1971, and I think the salary was about £1500 a year.

 

In the mid-70s, in the West Los Angeles area, 60s-vintage E-Types were a very common sight on car lots.....for $2000-$3500. They were just "used cars".

Cheers
DD

 

In the 1970s I bought my 68 roadster for $2,200 and my '64 coupe (which was race prepped) for $1,500. Paid too much for that coupe as it had been trashed. But I was just out of high school and I really couldn't afford either car.

 

In the very late 60s I went with my friend to pick up his E-type from a London dealer down the Old Kent Road. He part-exed an MGB for it. It was a lovely red coupe but he didn't have it all that long before he swapped it for a white roadster. Then the need to purchase a flat meant the E-type had to go, but he was soon back with an E-type in the form of another coupe, Midnight Blue in this case, but not as good as the first two cars. As Doug says, they were just "used cars" ! I was into motorbikes at that time as I didn't really have much money.

 

In 1974 I was starting Community college at Merrit College in Oakland Ca. There was a guy trying to sell his pretty nice E type convertible for a grand. It sat in the student parking lot everyday the seller was in class. i remember it was for sale for weeks. It didn't get any attention from me at the time. I was into motorcycles and old Cadillacs at the time. Moral of the story? If you can stretch and buy something you really want right now, do it! Happy New Year!

 

My first E type, a 1964 3.8 FHC, was bought for £500 C 1972, kept for seven years and 217,000 miles, sold for £3,900.

 

Here's another one: I bought a 59 XK150 in 1978 for $2,000, spent 8 yrs of my spare time rebuilding the whole thing. Sold it for $15,000, and now they are worth ten times that. I should have stuck it in a barn for 30 yrs.

 

Currently the XJS seems to be in this hybrid phase. Project cars sell for $750 while a few top examples already go for $30,000. Time to get the barn ready.

 

Its all relevant, John Wyer was selling his GT40's after the 1969 season first to his drivers then to the public as they were not legal for the 1970 racing season.
I quote DAVID HOBBS a friend of mine........John came to us and said , you can have your old race car for only $5,000.
The race car drivers all replied......5 grand for a piece of crap that could have killed me!
I cleaned up the answer.
Now they are 15 million each in racing Gulf form.
All relevant!
I'm enjoying today because gas will be irrelevant in just a couple of years.....
Enjoy
GTJOEY1314

 

Hmm 1967, apprentice toolmaker take home pay 6 gbp/wk emigrated to NZ wages went up to $24/wk in 1968