You know that one strong or weak sale doesn’t redefine a models pricing, but it does provide supporting evidence alongside other similar results. Take the 1973 MGB GT V8 that SWVA sold for a meaty £34.5k recently, a low-mileage example with plenty of supporting paperwork, it was always going to do better than the more numerous high-mileage cars with thin history files and OK but sub-perfect restorations.
The trend that it does support is a 6.7% increase in value for the chrome bumper models built from 1973 to 1974. That brings the best examples to an average of £24k, fault-free cars to £16k and tidy drivers to £7.5k. The less-fancied plastic-bumpered cars that followed, and that everyone calls rubber-bumper models start off a little cheaper at £3.25k, rising through £6.5k and £13k to £18.5k respectively. So the gap get wider, the better condition you’re chasing.
Price Guide Movers is part of 16 pages of buying tips and advice, including Quentin Willson’s Hot Tips, Ads on Test, the Buying Guide in the latest issue of Classic Cars.