Asking $2.5 for a Spit. A record ?

Using the UK Rate of Inflation index, £12,500 in 1968/69 equates to a current value of £189,000. A very good rate of return.

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Price of a fly away Spitfire just after the Battle of Britain film in 1969…£12,500.

Mark

About the price of a good four-bed house in the home counties, which might now be ,say, £750K (?)

In that respect (£ return) the Spit has performed well, though the house has the fringe benefit of providing 45 years worth of free accommodation :rolleyes:

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These are not the reasons why people bay $35 to $50 million for vintage cars. Not even close.

Kenneth is on the button: it’s why racers such as GTOs (with minimal history of note) fetch more than double or triple Le Mans winners: degrees of the ‘which one can you drive to the shops?’ statement.

Daft but true: Spitfires and other historic aircraft come in the same bracket as impractical historic racers (vs racers and other autos which are less impractical). As a rule, if you can use it on the road and has two seats or more, then it will cost more than a monposto, irrespective of the latter’s history. It’s one reason why Irvine Laidlaw got rid of a lot of his collection a while back – got rid of the cars he couldn’t easily drive on the road that is. By no coincidence, those which he retained just happened to be those that would have a high price tag.

…or perhaps it just might be that some of the top end cars, and aircraft, have proved to be damn fine investments over the middle to long term.

Price of a fly away Spitfire just after the Battle of Britain film in 1969…£12,500.

Mark

And what sort of people do you need to make them such ‘damn fine investments’ The sort of people I mentioned perhaps?

Wasn’t P9374 up for sale for about £3.5mil recently?

…or perhaps it just might be that some of the top end cars, and aircraft, have proved to be damn fine investments over the middle to long term.

Price of a fly away Spitfire just after the Battle of Britain film in 1969…£12,500.

Mark

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These are not the reasons why people bay $35 to $50 million for vintage cars. Not even close.

I would suggest the reason being that they have all got far too much money and don’t know what to do with it. Why else would you shell out millions for a metal box with a wheel in each corner?

– anyone can drive a vintage car and walk away from the experience alive without any further training
– you can keep it/them at home, and relatively little space is required
– hardly any red tape involved with operating a car

Cars are just so much more accessible and practical.

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These are not the reasons why people bay $35 to $50 million for vintage cars. Not even close.

And if you are so inclined you can take the other half shopping in a classic car. A slightly more difficult proposition in a classic aircraft unless you know a supermarket attached to an airfield.

Actually, they aren’t undervalued compared to cars. Classic and vintage cars are valuable because they have verifiable provenance. If you put together a 1750 Alfa, say, from bitsas and fabricated parts, you’d have what the cars guys call a replica.

I’d venture that there is much more demand – and hence higher prices – for vintage cars, because

– anyone can drive a vintage car and walk away from the experience alive without any further training
– you can keep it/them at home, and relatively little space is required
– hardly any red tape involved with operating a car

Cars are just so much more accessible and practical.

Going back to the auto comparison, I suspect that the ‘car vs aircraft’ disparity is much akin to the ‘race car vs road car’ disparity in auto valuations. Thus, a GTO will always fetch more than a Porsche 917, because despite the latter being a far more successful race car, you can drive your GTO to the shops.

(and yes I know there has been at least one 917 road car, but the point is well made I think.)

There’s a P51 up for sale for £650,000 on afors.

I saw that. Very cheap….. two million dollars would be more expected.

Afors have been troubled by a lot of scam adverts recently. Just saying.

There’s a P51 up for sale for £650,000 on afors.

His last sentence says it all.

That said….provenance does add to the marketability and thus the value. The current range for Spitfire values is roughly £1m – £2m, with earlier machines with combat history at the top end of the range, while Griffon engined and later machines are further down the scale. As Trumper says, some have been up for sale for a while which reflects the small number of potential buyers and the costs involved.

How many of these Spitfires have been on the market for quite a while and haven’t sold.Something is only worth what someone can pay for it.

As a keenly interested onlooker I bow to the expert opinion here but was also going to make the same observation WebPilot has. In a free market it is that, the market, which is the final arbiter of the price of an article from a classic aircraft to a pushbike.

dread to think what the back to flight costs would be

Its nothing to do with verifiable provenance, its all about the market. There are fewer people able and willing to buy a Spitfire than there are buying vintage cars, plus owning a Spitfire comes with hefty fixed costs and obligations. Thus the market value is what it is.

Compared to classic cars, you could make a case that vintage aeroplanes are undervalued, as prices for cars go to tens of millions.

Actually, they aren’t undervalued compared to cars. Classic and vintage cars are valuable because they have verifiable provenance. If you put together a 1750 Alfa, say, from bitsas and fabricated parts, you’d have what the cars guys call a replica.