Just imagine with today's income…

Before the BoB film the going rate for an airworthy Spitfire was £6k. In July 1970 after the film I purchased TE308 /G-AWGB on behalf of Don Plumb in Canada…£12.5k.

Mark

That’s right, but nobody really wants a two-seat Spit anyway. Quite the ugly duckling………………

Fast forward 50 years, and they can’t make them quick enough!

At about the same time, there were two flyable Irish Spitfires advertised for sale in Flight. I forget the exact price, but it was something like £1,500 each.

Wonder what it would be valued at 35 years after the Christies Auction?

As they say, “nothing is worth more than someone is willing to pay”!

the appreciation over 18 years from £4.000 to £260.000 was impressive.

Wonder what it would be valued at 35 years after the Christies Auction? £1.5m? £2m? More?

I was wondering if it could have been MH434, seems unlikely.

I dug out my copy of the “AIRSHOW 86 – FlyPast SPECIAL” which had an article “Year of the SPITFIRE 1936-86”. It states that MH434 was bought in 1983 by Ray Hanna in auction for £260,000. I think it was at Christie’s and MH434 was in flyable condition. If the ad was published in 1965 (25 years after the BoB), the appreciation over 18 years from £4,000 to £260,000 was impressive.

EDITED: The article also states that MH434, acquired by Tim Davies, was flown to England in June 1963, becoming G-ASJV.

From ‘Flight International’, the 26 March 1965 edition. I also posted this image, if only we could go back and do some shopping…

https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?75858-Old-aircraft-for-sale-ads

Mk 12 wrote..

”It is MK297/G-ASSD.

Both ‘SSD and ‘VDJ were painted in the 2nd TAF Invasion Livery for the film ‘The Longest Day’.

‘SSD had a distinctive vertical light bar on the engine cowling camouflage and that can just about be seen in the newsprint image.

Mark ”

I was thinking that it was probably the one that Cliff Roberson ended up with, or MH415?

Steve

Would it have been MK297?, how can you tell?

It’s just a guess, Film Aviation Services (John Crewdson) had the aircraft for sale around then. I was wondering if it could have been MH434, seems unlikely.

That some would be about £65,000 today, so certainly cheap.

Compared to other assets like property, your £4000 1964 house could well be in excess of £700,000 now, so the Spit still looks like a sound investment, though in 53 years ( if it has been a flyer ) it will have eaten a HUGE amount of money, and you cannot live in it !

Not many private individuals have stashed away a Spitfire for 45 years, infact apart from Connie Edwards I can think of no other.

Yes , putting the price into context you could get a useful country cottage for less than that, but still cheap. Would it have been MK297?, how can you tell?

I presume that was MK297/G-ASSD?

I see it was destroyed in the CWH hangar fire at Hamilton – I take it nothing significant survived for a potential restoration?

Yes, to have a time machine and a modern credit card…:)
To keep things in perspective, a new E-type then was £2100-2200 (in 1961) and that was far beyond the budget of most families.

Also, I recall reading that George Martin, producer of the Beatles records, received £75 a week.