The Purvis Eureka Forum

Ok, I have been thinking about the prices of Eurekas and am wondering "why are they so cheap"?
Most projects seem to be around the $3-$4K mark with registered ones somewhere around $10K.
Why?
Holdens, Fords and Valiants from the 60's and 70's quite often appear for sale at $15K plus! Are we undervaluing our cars?

I agree. Perhaps now that more of us are starting to restore these beautiful cars it will help re-ignite their appeal and their price.  Whenever I drive somewhere a passer by always stops and chats and sees the car as something rare, special and expensive.  It's the owners in the end who set the price and sometimes I guess people need the money then and there and therefore sell it for less than its worth. Also all new comers always ask how much they are worth, yet we continue to quote prices which have been the same for the last 20 years so that becomes the expectation, so they search, wait and barter till they find one at that price (that's what I did myself!).

It's also partly due to it's a niche car in a niche 'class'. It's in the kit car 'class', but unlike most, it's not a replica. Go look at any number of 'replicars', and the prices of those are reflective of the original. A genuine Ford GT40? Millions! If not hundreds of thousands. The replica GT40s? Easily over the $100,000 if they're a good replica, like the Roaring Forties , and probably closer to the $200k these days. I looked into building a Lancia Stratos replica, almost a nut & bolt clone other than the engine/trans. The cost to put one of those on the road here in Oz? Not much change from $100,000.

Look at the Beach Buggies. If it's a genuine Manx, they're going for around the $30,000 these days if it's in micky mouse condition. But you can still get them for a fair bit less. But expect to spend at least $15,000 to $20,000 on a swb Manx.

And this is where our cars should be valued & compared to. A Manx. Why? Like our cars, the Manx was a kit, but didn't' try to replicate anything. And they're based on the humble Bug like our cars. As I said, our cars a in a niche within a niche. Our cars belong to a small collection of kit cars that don't try to be a replica of an existing car. They're their own thing. And as they're VW based, we're stuck with that 'it's a VW underneath' reputation. And then there are the VW enthusiasts who deride us for ruining a perfectly good VW chassis.

But one thing I've noticed in the time I've had my 'reek (10 years already!!), is that there are higher quality builds of our cars out there than when I first started looking. They're slowly appearing. I think that we're still a few years away before our cars have a second 'golden age', but it will come.   

Both make very good points. One reason I brought this up, is that a friend recently came over to look at my 'Reek project. He knew very little about them apart from what I had told him. I showed him one that was for sale recently, rego'd and in reasonable condition. His first response was, "why are they so cheap, is there something wrong with them"?
To him, a car that looked so good, should be worth so much more....

 Hi All,
 As a new Reek owner (12 months but have not worked on it much) and the owner of several beach buggies including a Manx the principles are the same, Everyone was throwing them  out years ago but now the buggies are well on the rise and the prices.
 Over the last few years barn boor Kombis were all the rage and at the last Valla people were saying they are on the down turn.
 Reeks should be prices right as the last few of my son and myselfs spare time has gone into a Beetle for the wife from a four piece floor to total car. NICE car now but the rebuild costs are in the $20k
 My two bobs  worth.
  Curly

If you want a guide on what your car is worth , use the following for base start.
Original purchase price.
+
number of hours you have done good, productive , work on your car (stuff ups, bits you want to redo etc don't count) X $10
+
costs of bit you have had done professionally


That becomes a base price for your car. So a $4K purchase + 500 hrs (about 80 6hr work days) + $3000 of mechanics stuff (redo brakes, new ball joints and wheel bearings, engine set up etc) makes it a $12000 car.
Its just a guide, adjust as you see fit.

Not a bad formula, that works out about right I reckon.

If the Eureka factory was still in operation, and we were able to purchase a new one, I think the price of a new Eureka built by the factory would be up around the $100,000 mark!

Back in the days of Alan Purvis, the price of a kit was around 1+1/2 times the price of a new aussie built car, so to say today a Holden Commodore costs $35,000, then that puts the price of a kit at $52,000.
And that price is just for the kit, not including the donor car and the time involved in putting it together.

So that said, I think that a Factory built car would fetch around $100,000 in todays prices.

Ive heard of owners spending $35,000 to $50,000 on restoring old Eurekas, so as a guide, you can say a restored example is worth around $40-$60 thousand.

A new Eureka, to comply with todays ADR's would require a lot of safety equipment to be included as well as a space frame chassis etc., and compared to other modern kit cars, the asking price is again up around the $100,000 mark. EG Roaring Forties GT 40, Robnell Cobra.

Seems ironic that if our cars were kitted out with a "lambo" body attached to the VW chassis, then we can be confident of asking $70,000 + for these in good drivable examples.

So in my opinion, I think a run down example, which would consist of full body, chassis, not running etc, should be worth a minimum of $10,000
An original unrestored example running and registered, but still in need of restoring, should be worth $20-$25,000
A fully restored and registered example, or older restoration, would fetch $30-$45.000
A pristine example with extensive restoration and rego etc should be worth $50-$65,000

I think we are our own "worst enemies" by under valuing our cars, I know many of us have had them for a long time, as I have (16 years now!) and we remember we only paid low prices.
As these are now getting rarer and harder to find for sale, I think we should be pricing them on that reason, look at old examples of Holdens & Fords, they are selling for much higher prices than some brand new equivalents.

There are probably less than 100 Eurekas left in existence, and because they are becoming rare, then if you want one, then you need to be prepared to pay for that rarity.
Not only that, these cars are totally unique, your not going to find a similar car anywhere with a lift up roof and the shape doesn't seem to becoming out of date.

That should put a few smiles on the owners who currently own one (or two or three of four!)

Thanks for reading!
Stuart

By the way, my car is up for sale if anyone is interested! Lets start at $50,000!

I totally agree with that statement, we are our own worst enemies & totally under value our Reeks. Just my 2c worth

 SPOT ON !!!!!

Hi all, on this topic what is a realistic price to value my car at for separation issues. If you dont know my car it is a F4 with a 2 ltre kombi engine fitted. This is not for someone to over price a car but a price that it could sell for reasonably fast.

$30k

I know this car and I agree with mr-guy99493. It's time these vehicles are priced correctly.

Mine owes me $25,000 minimum, and thats just my out of pocket cost.... and not what I've spent or gonna spend...

Don't sell it! Hide it in a mate's garage and tell her it was stolen and not insured! hahaha

Hmmmm.
                    A friend of mine was in a similar position and had 12 or so rare cars that valued well into six digits. Over a period of time he completely disassembled them before the property inspection. They were valued significantly less and were seen as parts, not complete cars.

If I were to put a value on my own reek going by the above formula, it would easily be in six figures. There must be thousands of hours in it. The parts list alone is close to the ton. I know I'll never get it back but I'm not selling it ever either. I build it to a standard for a purpose. Not to someone else's expectations.

Simon