With respect, the rule of thumb applies to Aston Martin's as well as Jags only the costs are vastly increased. Hence your £80k car will cost £80k to restore. The chances of coming across a DB5 for £700 are pretty much nil.
ralph (vadas1)
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* If it ain't broke fix it till it is *
I've poured well over 20k into my car and I wouldn't consider it a "well sorted" restored version.
Thats even if you exclude a few of the high bills from robbing b*stards pretending that they are some kind of specialist....
Paint and leather still need doing. Fact its probably only worth 6k makes the arguement for a business an interesting one...
If someone spent 30k odd on my car before I bought it saving me the hassle and expense and sold it to me for 6k, my wallet would be a little fuller these days..
Steve
__________________ "If it breaks again.................. I give up."
Agreed Steve, I'm too scared to actually add up the bills for my car but it must be over £30k and I've still got the jacking points to rebuild, the interior to sort out and get the bumpers repainted due to the poor efforts of Blind Pew who must have painted them the first time round.
I can't see that there would be too many people prepared to pay that sort of money at the moment.
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'90 E34 M5 3.6 Sterling Silver
'03 E39 540i Sport Touring Mora Mettalic
'05 KTM 990 superduke
Not many people imagined that an e30 m3 would be going upwards of £40,000 today (even though some still go for around £10,000) or the e28 m5's going for £15-£20000 at least not in 99' anyways even the regular e30 325i sports are now fetching good money. I mean even e12's or the e28 m535 are now commanding good money steadily. I think its worth giving serious thoughts b'cos no one person can categorically say what values will be in another 10yrs from now, n i am certain not many people (even on this board) will still have their //m's then anyways. Time will tell.....
As for "Munich Legends" the reason they no longer exist Who knows. I am no business guru but good service, realistical prices and good customer service treatment n checking on feed back will always help a business cause amongst other things.
Agree that for it to work you would have to offer the service to a lot of models. M and alpina from the CSL, 2002s to the e60 and e90 models.
one of the key words is "links" IE; B trim for the interiors Lepsons for the alloys etc etc, not in house but out sourced, so not as much as a risk for those services
The property would have to be quite large and you have to remember from a customers point of view, once you have the trust of a good technician you want them to look after all your cars. I remenber taking my 944 to a specialist back in 93 and seeing a volvo there and he was doing just that.
I know that if i didnt have the BMW warranty Faz would be taking care of my e39 as well as the e34.
Also mentioned "restoring"
Would that be a full restoration or getting the car "sorted" ie not a concours example but a stunning one all the same.
and why "all the 3.6s and a few 3.8s" ??
I for 1 when looking went for the facelifted 6sp 95MY and if i had shed loads of spare money i would want the same car.
Why have a fully sorted 3.6 with 315bhp if there is a fully sorted 3.8 with 340bhp and floating brakes and 6 forward gears?
Not dissing the 3.6 just pointing out that if you have the sort of money to have the best of something you would want what was seen as the best when it was released and still seen by many as the best M car ever!
Richard, you mentioned not aiming at mass profit just a good service and it could be just that but agree it will need a substantial financial input to get going. Starting a business takes time to build a customer base and only then will you start to make any profit of which you will have to have to be able to help the business cope through the dry spells and promise you there will be some.
Either ways richard good luck
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Steve Mac
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If knowledge is power,,,how brainy are my Baby`s
2001 Le Mans beast ///M5
1995 Fjord grey M5 she's a lady
2002 Black Beauty 320i Sport!!
Hey, its only wrong if you get caught
Thank you all for your thoughts. The size of the premises is not an issue. For servicing there will be FOUR ramps with space for upto a dozen cars all under cover. For sales / detailing etc there will be a separate facility combining a classic feel with a modern twist. If somebody is buying a unique car we want to make the whole experience of ownership feel special.
The servicing area and the possible performance enhancement 'ofshoot' are self financing already and both are growing month by month. The sales / restoration business is where the number crunching is vital.
Buying a £4,000 car and spending upwards of £5,000 bringing it back to life is not a daft idea and does make economic sence. But buying a £7,000 car and spending £5,000 is not such an attractive option. Sourcing good vehicles is an issue, getting sympathetic restoration work undertaken, be it welding, painting, re-trimming etc will not be cheap, and it will NOT be doneon site, this will be outsourced.
Marketing and advertising will be organic and not extravagant initially, but we will launch the concept with well placed adverts.
I believe in a post 2010 economy people living in a digital driving age will always want to enjoy an analogue vehicle. We are NOT looking to sell or service rubbish, but we are also not looking to sell only concourse vehicles. The whole ide is to rovide a variety of cars for a variety of customers at all budgets. There are people willing to spend £30,000 or more on a CSL or an E30 M3. Likewise there are people who will want to spend £8,000 on a tidy E34 3.8 that had had the usual problems cleared up, and we all know what these are.
Yes making money may be tough, but this idea is to keep these cars alive, to create a place where M Cognosci can come for information and to discuss ideas. We hope to promote all specialists, not steal business but to help existing owners understand what costs they may face when improving or restoring their cars as well as introducing a new generation of buyers into the world of the M or Alpina ownership.
All good ideas need passion, belief, stable outgoings and a professional approach. Too many businesses do not have a year three or beyond model. Ours is currently a concept, the belief that by bringing together specialists, those with a passion for performance, a knowledge of engineering, electronics, value, workmanship and timeliness in addition to an eye for detail and moving with the times is what the discerning buyer and owner currently lack from a market which is too fragmented!
We would like to work on E30's, E28's E34's, E39's....and improving the performance of these later models. M Coupe's are fast appreciating, E31's if any still exist and all Alpina's from the mid 70's until around 2003.
Looking after newer cars will not be so simple, why because too many parts are just replacements and dealerships are now making it very hard to take cars out of the network system. Just look at E60's and the new M3!
Anyway as and when ideas bear fruit and we actually have the foundations to our concept please support us in any way possible.
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"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn-out,shouting, 'Holy sh*t! What a ride!'"
At the end of the day it depends on if you want to survive or if you want to make a living out of it. After speaking with DavidOli there is a thin line on doing work and making profit. You need a name and reputation to be able to bring in cars from afar, just look at some of the Porsche specialists that are well known who have their customers travel far and wide to buy cars and restore cars, Paul Stevens springs to mind for a start.
The other problem as have been mentioned is the costs, we all know how much these car can cost to run and keep in tip top, most of us pay the money due to knowing that it is worth it, but the problem is the prices of cars at the moment, our cars are worth more in LHD drive form (Cars in Europe) than the RHD form over here. It could be worth it but only when the E34 starts to see similar prices to that of Mint E28 and E30 M's, but when will that be.
Go for it, if you want to do and think it will work then do it, if you don't try it then you will never know. But just makesure you take the risks into account. Maybe starting off slow and building up?!
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Remember you can't race your house, you can sleep in your car!
. Nice
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