The top ten thousand 50 years ago
03/09/2022
No, this article has nothing to do with a movie of the same name. It's about cars, of course. More precisely, about the cars of the upper ten thousand, after they had grown tired of them. You could buy these "used cars" "cheaply" at Auto-Becker in Düsseldorf back then. And for an ams story , Yörn Pugmeister took the rarities for a test ride, e.g. the Ferrari 330 GTC from 1967 for DM 18,000, the Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ from 1966 for DM 10,000, the Jaguar E-Type from 1968 for DM 13,950, the Maserati 3700 Frua from 1965 for DM 14,500 or the almost cheap Iso Rivolta IR 300 from 1966 for DM 6,200.
These were all three- to six-year-old "second-hand" cars, for which the perhaps illustrious previous owners had already made extensive write-offs. At that time, hardly anyone thought about increases in value.
But they certainly did. We have tabulated the six cars and compared the used prices at the time with today's classic car valuations (according to Classic Data condition 3):
| Make | Type | Year | DIN HORSEPOWER | New price DM | Mileage | Used DM | Today EUR approx. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfa Romeo | Giulia TZ | 1966 | 112 | 22'000 | 25'000 | 10'000 | 350'000 |
| Ferrari | 330 GTC | 1967 | 269 | 58'000 | 50'000 | 18'000 | 369'000 |
| Iso Rivolta | IR 300 | 1966 | 270 | 40'000 | 85'000 | 6200 | 83'000 |
| Jaguar | E-Type Convertible S2 | 1968 | 210 | 29'000 | 29'000 | 13'950 | 57'400 |
| Maserati | 3700 Iniezione | 1965 | 245 | 55'000 | 50'000 | 14'500 | 83'000 |
| Pontiac | Firebird | 1969 | 254 | 26'000 | 22'000 | 15'000 | 20'300 |
Together, the used cars at the time were worth DM 77,650 in 1971, which would later have been converted to EUR 39,800. Today, the valuations according to condition 3 add up to a total of EUR 962,700. With this portfolio, you would have increased your money by a factor of 24. However, the majority of the increase in value would have been generated with just two cars, and for these two even 50 years of maintenance would have been worthwhile.
However, very few people have kept such cars, which they may have bought relatively cheaply at the time, for such a long period. If they did, then today we speak reverently of "for sale from long-term ownership" and pay an additional premium.
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