Latest News
November 2023
As seems to be ever the case, the market for MX5 Mk1s is still all over the place though I reckon prices (of good cars) still appear to be rising, though at a slower rate. A quick look at the 'Car and Classics' website shows at least 15 Mk1s advertised for £8000+ and a fair number well into 5 figures. I still think that good Mk1s will slowly increase in value over the coming years. One factor that may accelerate that process is the popularity of Mk1s and Mk2s in the USA. There are a
number of companies who now specialise in breaking cars and sending the parts over to the US which may well lead to supply problems over here. Hard tops in a case in point: prices have risen thanks to the dozens of hard tops being shipped to the States every month. I have already exported a couple of cars to the US too and I expect to see more of that.
I have quite a few nice cars being prepared, ready for the busy run up to Christmas. People often tell me that I must be busy in the summer and dead in the winter but it just doesn't work like that. Potential buyers going on holiday mean that the summer can be quieter than you might think while Spring and Autumn are always busy. And the immediate period after Christmas can be fairly manic. I'll also continue to offer a soft-top fitting service though material prices have increased tremendously over the last couple of years.
As a result of the high work levels, over the last couple of years I have changed the way I work. I used to bring all cars back to my place in Berwick where they were prepared for sale but these days, I find it more time efficient to have the cars prepared at another location in conjunction with an MX5 specialist who knows the cars inside out. They take care of all the stuff I just don't want to do (the bigger jobs such as replacing clutches, suspension rebuilds, paintwork etc). The cars are probably about 90% ready by the time they get here and I can carry out final checks, take care of the smaller jobs and fine details ensuring the cars drive as they should and are up to my standard. Its a system that works very well but it means that cars may be in two different locations so I would urge you to call before you visit. It also means that I am increasingly having to plan much further ahead as I buy cars that may not be available for sale for 6 or 8 weeks.
The motorsport season is now over for another year and I managed to compete in a few events. Finally I feel that I'm starting to get the best out of the car and its actually quite competitive now. As ever, I still have a huge list of jobs/modifications that I want to do to the car and I know it could be so much quicker with a bit more work. Still very good fun though and you can read about it on this website by clicking on 'My Hillclimb Exploits'. I'm using the car out on the public roads a lot more this year which has been an absolute blast. We are within striking distance of some fabulous roads up here in Northumberland and I've been making the most of that and have a few good routes planned for next year.
As ever, I'm still using Facebook to give regular and quick news updates so please check out my pages on there: there are links on the 'Links' page here.
Steve
As seems to be ever the case, the market for MX5 Mk1s is still all over the place though I reckon prices (of good cars) still appear to be rising, though at a slower rate. A quick look at the 'Car and Classics' website shows at least 15 Mk1s advertised for £8000+ and a fair number well into 5 figures. I still think that good Mk1s will slowly increase in value over the coming years. One factor that may accelerate that process is the popularity of Mk1s and Mk2s in the USA. There are a
number of companies who now specialise in breaking cars and sending the parts over to the US which may well lead to supply problems over here. Hard tops in a case in point: prices have risen thanks to the dozens of hard tops being shipped to the States every month. I have already exported a couple of cars to the US too and I expect to see more of that.
I have quite a few nice cars being prepared, ready for the busy run up to Christmas. People often tell me that I must be busy in the summer and dead in the winter but it just doesn't work like that. Potential buyers going on holiday mean that the summer can be quieter than you might think while Spring and Autumn are always busy. And the immediate period after Christmas can be fairly manic. I'll also continue to offer a soft-top fitting service though material prices have increased tremendously over the last couple of years.
As a result of the high work levels, over the last couple of years I have changed the way I work. I used to bring all cars back to my place in Berwick where they were prepared for sale but these days, I find it more time efficient to have the cars prepared at another location in conjunction with an MX5 specialist who knows the cars inside out. They take care of all the stuff I just don't want to do (the bigger jobs such as replacing clutches, suspension rebuilds, paintwork etc). The cars are probably about 90% ready by the time they get here and I can carry out final checks, take care of the smaller jobs and fine details ensuring the cars drive as they should and are up to my standard. Its a system that works very well but it means that cars may be in two different locations so I would urge you to call before you visit. It also means that I am increasingly having to plan much further ahead as I buy cars that may not be available for sale for 6 or 8 weeks.
The motorsport season is now over for another year and I managed to compete in a few events. Finally I feel that I'm starting to get the best out of the car and its actually quite competitive now. As ever, I still have a huge list of jobs/modifications that I want to do to the car and I know it could be so much quicker with a bit more work. Still very good fun though and you can read about it on this website by clicking on 'My Hillclimb Exploits'. I'm using the car out on the public roads a lot more this year which has been an absolute blast. We are within striking distance of some fabulous roads up here in Northumberland and I've been making the most of that and have a few good routes planned for next year.
As ever, I'm still using Facebook to give regular and quick news updates so please check out my pages on there: there are links on the 'Links' page here.
Steve