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Big Bucks for Fastbacks?

Alpine Addict

Alpine Addict

Platinum Donor
Platinum Level Sponsor
NADA are way off their price for average retail on a series 5 Alpine is $17,650I have seen some good cars go for way less than this recently.
 
6

66Tiger

Donation Time
If the car is as original as the seller says and a bidder likes the car, then I don't think the price is all that out of line.

It probably can be had for less after the auction draws no bidders, and to me could be a good buy.

I don't have $15K sitting around but if I did live in that kind of world I would consider it... as I like to say, in my next life I will wealthy not handsome. :D

But then again I also think nice Alpines should sell for more...

Paul
 
64beam

64beam

Donation Time
Hi

I don't think it is over priced either. My family has one of these fastback's in concours condition and paid half what the seller is asking (more miles on it though and not a huge following for them). Hopefully the seller will find a buyer, but with the current economic times it is not a good time to sell and expect those dollars. Typical seventies colour ;) .

Regards, Robin.
 
Sownman

Sownman

Donation Time
My view is that if I had $15K to spare there are lot's of cars I'd rather spend it on than a Chysler Alpine. Theres been a Venezia kicking around for less as well as many older much better condition early Alpines for less. Then of course theres a whole world of Triumphs and other non Rootes vintage cars available for less than $15K.

Your mileage may vary

Steve
 
65beam

65beam

Donation Time
fastbacks

my wife and i were discussing these cars this evening and we agree that the asking prices are high for what you would get . we probably own more of these cars than anybody in the states . knowing the problems with these cars i can tell you what is involved in restoring one .i also can tell you that to do what we did took more than they are asking for these cars . i may sound arrogant , but i would put my white car up against any out there . a lot has been done to it since i had it at the invasion ,including currently having a new wood instrument panel built .i went to pa. last week to pick up some chrome work for the 69 and stopped by the wood working shop outside of hershey to see the progres on the dash . it's fantastic ! my point is that to have a shop strip a fastback down to bare metal , replace or rebuild everything to the quality of our car and bring it back to the concourse shape of our car would add another 25k to 30 k or more to the cost of these cars . in my opinion the only car of the three on e bay worth fixing is the red one and i can tell you it would take a lot of work . i know this since my car set in a garage for 32 years and the big problem with these fastbacks is the paint . the body shop started to sand an area and the paint started to peel off .i think they started peeling coming over on the boats . chrysler's quality of build left a lot to desire .i gave 300.00 for my white car on e bay and it was a complete all original 39000 mile car which meant we could afford to do a bunch of work . two of these cars should become parts cars . buy the red car for a 1000.00 and spend four times that to get it drivable and safe . keep in mind that there aren't many parts on these cars that are the same as the series alpines with the exception of the internal engine parts since a 1725 from a series 5 can not be set in these cars .they're in a whole different world . that's my opinion based on living with these car for so many years . if you have questions about these cars ,feel free to ask. i've learned a lot about them since the early 80's .
 
RootesRooter

RootesRooter

Donation Time
I didn't expect anyone, let alone several people, to defend the $16,500 Buy it Now price for the fastback Alpine GT I linked.

The most I've ever seen a fastback go (in the States) for was on eBay about 3 years ago. A low-mileage, dark blue Coupe in like-new condition went for around $6,000-7,000. Recently, a pretty nice white GT up in Vancouver, BC languished thru repeated auctions, finally going for around $3K.

But hey! If people think these cars are suddenly worth a whole lot, who am I to fight it? Let's see....a Mk II Tiger grill went for $1200 bucks on eBay the other day. I have a nice, straight fastback Alpine grill in storage. I'll let it go for only $500. Such a deal!!! The line forms to the rear, please.
 
65beam

65beam

Donation Time
fastbacks

again,a car is worth what a buyer is willing to pay .the red car is said to be a low mileage car . to many folks this is a big factor to consider when buying . the seller has no knowledge of these cars . i would not sell my car for what he's asking but this car may sell due to the mileage . who knows ! it appears to be a nice car and would be a good driver without too much work .i have seen alpines sell for high prices to folks outside the sunbeam world . maybe that tells us something . why is it that a lot of people think our cars and parts have to be worth a low price ? if this were a low mileage TR or MG would it sell for what he's asking ?
 
Jim E

Jim E

Donation Time
I would rather have a H120 out of the UK that or an Avenger Tiger. None of these cars will ever pay back what goes into them. The smart money would be spent on a nice first series Firebird which are a real good value at the moment.
 
A

agmason

Donation Time
If it had a nicely installed Ford 260 V8 with toploader trans it would certainly be worth $15,000, or maybe more!
 
65beam

65beam

Donation Time
fastbacks

i think a lot of folks forget that it costs as much if not more to restore an alpine as it does to restore a tiger .the big problem is that parts other than engine parts are not readily available for the fastbacks . this runs cost up. i have more than 15000.00 in restoring my 69 and have turned down an offer of 15000.00 for it . i could not do another car for that cost .when the tigers are setting along the road belching their radiator contents, my alpines pass them by . why would i want to spoil my alpines by stuffing in a problem under the hood ? do overheating , steering and other problems make a car worth more ? so why spoil a good running , good riding car like the fastbacks ?
 
B

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
65beam said:
i think a lot of folks forget that it costs as much if not more to restore an alpine as it does to restore a tiger .the big problem is that parts other than engine parts are not readily available for the fastbacks . this runs cost up. i have more than 15000.00 in restoring my 69 and have turned down an offer of 15000.00 for it . i could not do another car for that cost .when the tigers are setting along the road belching their radiator contents, my alpines pass them by . why would i want to spoil my alpines by stuffing in a problem under the hood ? do overheating , steering and other problems make a car worth more ? so why spoil a good running , good riding car like the fastbacks ?
Click to expand...

I agree totally.
With all the crazy stuff I have done to my car, it suffers from none of the problems associated with modified cars. After we finished the "run" at the recent Invasion, Joel was complaining about the bad road we had used. I had no idea what he was talking about. Turns out he was grading the road with his headers. NOT WORTH IT.

Bill
 
Jim E

Jim E

Donation Time
dude234 said:
If it had a nicely installed Ford 260 V8 with toploader trans it would certainly be worth $15,000, or maybe more!
Click to expand...

It has been done and there use to be a site on the www about the car and the V8 install. Seems like it was a Rootes worker and he got a new shell and figured out how to stuff Tiger bits in it. Or at least that is how I am recalling it and I may be wrong.

http://www.sunbeamcarclubofnewzeala...m-rapier-fastback&catid=38:articles&Itemid=56

There it is the link that is.
 
Nick Farrow

Nick Farrow

Donation Time
The Fastback must be a very rare beast in the US if they want that much for it! Here in the UK they very rarely sell for anymore than £3500 for a good one and certainly no more than about £5000 for one that's top notch and probably an H120. They are pretty much forgotten over here and as such values are very very low indeed!
 
65beam

65beam

Donation Time
fastbacks

nick,
there are several out there ,but they really didn't sell very well. i think they rusted so bad coming over on the boat, that not many survived . one that i just scrapped out had rusted so bad that the only thing keeping it from breaking in two was the top . the doors actually were hard to open . parts for them are hard to find here also .
 
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