<<Example: in today's paper there is a 78 450SEL advertised which cost AU$20,000 to restore and the seller wants AU$7,200 ono Given the current fuel prices I doubt that he/she will get the asking price.>>
I seriously doubt that the cost of fuel is a factor at all. Collectors do not buy cars to drive them, at least not with any regularity. In the case of the car mentioned, it will never be a collector car because there were too many produced and it is just too oordinary. No more collectible than a Buick of the same vintage. Come to think of it, the Buick is probably going up but the poor old 116 interests no one. I haven't seen any show up on the ramp at Barrett-Jackson. So, it's true that you have to buy something that may be collectible some time down the road, keeping in mind the cost and time required to restore it. And if it's drivable, sparingly, without degrading it's collectibility. As a good example I have had the opportunity to participate in the restoration of three very desirable Porsches, all of which turned out to be decent investments if you discount your time. My friend SJB's first project was a Porsche 904GTS, purchased for $25K (which included a spare new engine) and after five years work and an unknown amount of money was sold for $99K including it's transport truck to a private museum in Osaka. Two years later, 904s were bringing $750K and have now sunk down to around $400K. Then came a 1973 911 Carrera RS Touring, purchased for $22K and after five years was sold for $65K which may have been a wash, moneywise. Now a restored RS is bringing about twice that. Who knew? The last one was a 1956 356A Speedster, purchased for too much at $20K and restored without regard to cost, as they all were. Today's values for Speedsters like this one seem about to break $90K. It's not for sale. All three of these cars were disassembled completely. Luckily, the 904's four-cam engine had been recently rebuilt and the transmission was OK. As one little example, all fasteners were replated to the original finish and color. Some components for the 904 were recreated out of thin air. Such as the rear half of the wiring harness. And since it had been a race car, many of the fiberglass body panels (built by Heinkel) had to be recreated. The problem with cars that are restored to perfection is that they cannot be driven without periodic re-restoration of some components or finishes. So, after the car has collected a truck load of trophies, and in the case of the 904, raced in the Monterey Historics twice, what does one do with them. The answer is, and buy another project since it turns out that the restoration work is more fun than what comes after. Unless, of course, one has enough money and space to keep them all. Roger Ellingson/Seattle