I’ve owned my Mk1 Harvard for 8 years and I am trying to get a sense of its current value as I don’t see many for sale and prices vary widely? Registered in 1997 it has done 95,000 miles. I’ve kept in good working condition, redone seals and added a new vynyl hood. If anyone has thoughts it would be appreciated?
You will need to post more information and photos. Reg no. required to check the history and any comments regarding underbody corrosion before anyone can give an idea of a valuation.
Thanks for your response. I have posted photos below. Reg is R962SRV. I had some corrosion treated when I redid the seals so I think its pretty clean. The car has been garaged since I bought it. In addition to the new roof I also upgraded the springs. Hopefully this is helpful?
Are you after a value for agreed value insurance, sale or just curious?
Curiosity but may consider selling at some point.
The value will be nothing to do with it being a Harvard , a late car, a 1.8. Its about condition, originality and provenance. A UK special edition might attract a bit of a premium, but only if the trim (the bits that make its a special edition) are A1. Your driver’s seat is not A1, and it will be near impossible to restore to how it was. Factory parts are not available for the seats, because 27 years ago MCL sent the seats to be recovered by some long shuttered autotrimmer.
So you need to decide where it sits on the spectrum of Mk1s.
Hagarty gives the same values for any year Mk1
Fair (basically solid cars); £2800
Good (could do with paint, maybe interior repairs); £4500
Excellent (typical car show winners): £7500
Concours: £11000
Yours I would call good; 2007 it had near side sill rot, which came back in 2014. Fairly typical. The drivers seat has wear; it might respond to a feed, and some leather paint. So maybe around £4500.
Some raw data, which I extracted for all the sold vehicles (about 70 since 2014)
Its a small sample set. But there are indications, a more narrow range of values is coalescing as people understand these more. Mk1s aren’t investments. A typical price for anything half decent is £3500-4500 . Perhaps values have peaked. There will always be unicorn cars that reach atypical prices.
So ask £4000, accept £3500.
Thank you for the information and insights.
The chart posted by @ast looks very interesting. There appears to be a peak in values achieved in 2016-2017. That’s just after the ND was released. I wonder if the ND launch created renewed interest but some of those tempted decided to go for a classic NA rather than a new ND.
Its about the spread of values. 2016 saw a lot of chancers thinking they were sitting on a NA-shaped goldine. Also, there may well have been a genuine release of lowish mile, lowish owner NAs onto the market as they changed to a ND. The ND was pushed in marketing as the NA to ND transition car. Those low mileage cars might well have been a one time deal. There is not likely to be a single event, besides death, that will now persuade low miles NA owners to put their cars onto the market. Even 2035 won’t cause that, because these are quite simple cars to keep on the road.
Although a small (auction) dataset, the narrowing of values indicates maybe the trade is wising up, and getting a better idea of the worth of these cars. Utimately, they appeal to much of the same market who buy MGBs and Spitfires; within that market, there are the show winners, concours, which will get good money, but there will also be the semi-daily run arounds, something quite cheap, simple, cheap to own that satisfy that top down, traditional roadster feel. The MGs and Triumphs, adjusting for inflation, are very accessible classics.
A usable Spitfire, MGB etc is about £4000-5000, ie something with a MOT which will pass a MOT. And MX5s are getting there; the general spread is about £2000-6000. £4000-6000 is probably something where you won’t be nervous about rust, the mechanics are solid etc, paintwork average (repaint or original patinated paint). £2000-4000 I would be a little nervous of rust, and getting out the magnet.
Going forward, adjustments will be just by inflation, but long term decline in values, as owner cohorts disappear.
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