[V8] Steamboat Springs, or perhaps, the value of these old cars

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Tony and Lillie said: “For me, as long as the personal experience value exceeds 
the cost of repair, etc, I'll keep it.”

I think this is an extremely good  point.  Modern marketing has convinced us that it is important to trade in whatever it is before it “nickels and dimes” us to death.  I think this is pure fallacy and I for one in the past have been planning on the “next” car.  When Mercedes brought out the 300D-turbo in 1987, I had just bought my 190D-turbo, and immediately planned on making the trade in a couple of years.   It didn’t happen for a lot of reasons, but that was my mindset even though the 190D-T would have rolled along for hundreds of thousands of miles, way beyond its market value.

Now I am planning on a cosmetic restoration of our 100CS Avant Quattro.  By the time it goes to the body shop (probably next winter), it will likely have more than 180,000 miles on it.  What will be done to it then will be replacement of all the side moldings, repair of the tailgate, and perhaps a total repaint of the exterior.  There will be no mechanical work completed on the car as none will be needed, although we will examine the timing belt.  (The timing belt was checked at 165,000 miles when a new thermostat was installed at the same time that the heater core was replaced.  The wrench thinks a timing belt and water pump is not indicated by inspection now.  We’ll see.).  

If the car is repainted entirely, the bill will be around five grand.  This is in excess of anyone’s book estimate of the cars market value.  The comment was made here that I can buy a ‘99 Avant, or even something newer for the same money. That car will have one half the miles.  The inference is that this is a better “value” than putting five grand into an eighteen year old Audi.

I disagree for several reasons.  While it is theoretically possible to buy the six, or perhaps even eight year younger vehicle for the restoration dollars, all I will likely gain is a vehicle that will cost more to insure and cost more excise tax each year.  I have spent quite a lot of time looking, and most of the available cars have in excess of 80,000 miles, rarely less, often more.  What I know will happen within a very short time of purchase, or perhaps even before I can register and inspect the car here in Maine, will be the replacement of brake lines, perhaps fuel lines, and very quickly, shock mounts and struts.  This is assuming there are no other areas inside the car or beneath it that might require attention within the first year of ownership.  This is certainly true of any car that has enjoyed its life in northern New England where liquid salt is poured on the roads at the slightest sign of a snowflake.  

About three years ago, the Audi dealer in Wheeling, West Virginia was advertising a 100CS Avant Quattro like ours for sale. They had bought it from the estate of the original purchaser. The car had 39,000 miles from new, had been serviced at that dealership since delivery and was the “real deal”.  We thought of buying that particular car, since we were about to leave on a trip to North Carolina. Our thinking was to rent a car and drop in in Wheeling, picking up the “new” Avant enroute.  The car sold for just under eleven grand, and we were out of the bidding long before that. The reason is that less than half that money makes the car we have like new, and we already know everything about the one we have mechanically.  

Right now, I think we’ll reassess the situation at a quarter of a million miles.  Unless the transmission or engine falls out before then, so far I see little reason to look for something else as the true value doesn’t seem to be there.

Roger

P.S. There is ONE alternative that I am going to explore later this spring.  My mechanic was given a ‘97 A6 Avant a couple of years ago.  The car had been left under a pine tree, the cowl vents allowed to clog and the resulting water damage killed off the computer. The car has less than 75,000 miles on it since new, and for a few bucks could be made new.  He has talked about doing the restoration work, and last time I talked with him, he said he was thinking of parting it out.  I may approach him with the idea of doing a restoration of that car, because it might well do very well with some time, money and patience.  Then again, the enemy we know is always going to be the enemy we don’t know....