Ur-Q collectability

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

In message <09f010054200e58UPIMSSMTPUSR02@email.msn.com> "Ian J Haseltine" writes:

> I upset (big-time) a 20V owner a few months back - we were
> discussing an ad in the UK newsletter that was asking 20K GBP for a
> 20V.

We have a particular problem with the UK Newsletter and 20Vs.

You might have noticed a certain Pearlescent White 20V being offered
for sale earlier this year, with a telephone number curiously similar
to the Chairman's.  This car has been the subject of much discussion,
but I am convinced that - without the Chairman's intervention - this
car would have been advertised in the newsletter by its original
owner at GBP14k.  The GBP20k price attached seems to include GBP6k
for the Chairman.

So far so good.  Insider trading?  Ripping off members?  You decide.

But the other aspect is that our dear Chairman is the owner of another
perfectly legitimate 20V in his own right.  How much was the GBP20k
price tag on the Pearl White merely greed for GBP6k - and how much
was supporting the overall value of 20Vs for personal interest?


> My opinion was (and still is) that a 20V isn't worth that sort
> of money, his reply was that it was the rarety value and that he
> had paid 19K GBP for his 20V only a year earlier, to which I
> replied "Bollocks" and proceeded to inform the guy just how many
> bricks short of a full load I considered him to be, pointing out
> the Performance car article that had a 20V for sale at around 8K
> GBP.

I've played with a few.  Technically, I prefer the 20V.  First - it
separates the cold and hot (fuel and exhaust) functions on different
sides of the engine bay.  I like that.  Second, the Motronic is a
_FAR_ superior control system to the MAC-12D - a true abortion.

OTOH - the 20V doesn't have that 'quattro sound'.  It just doesn't
THRUM THRUM - partly because of the cats, and partly just because
of the exhaust layout.

The 20V adds a _lot_ of odd convenience features - 1985 WR/WX owners
would be astounded by the gizmos fitted to a 20V.  Most are easy
retrofits to an MB.

Personally (not technically) I prefer the MB.  It's around half the
price, very close to the performance, and a REAL CHALLENGING BUGGER
to diagnose when it misbehaves.  Who needs all those Motronic codes?

The major delta is between the WR/WX and the MB.  The RR (20V) is
only a fairly insignificant running change.

--
 Phil Payne
 Phone: 0385 302803   Fax: 01536 723021
 (The contents of this post will _NOT_ appear in the UK Newsletter.)