Market Watch: Passing the Torch

By: Cliff Chambers, Photography by: GM/Prime Creative Media

Date: 25.03.2024

Nostalgia reigns supreme, but inevitably the time will come to pass on that old favourite

America has a love-affair with the '57 Chev.

Another year dawns, with new opportunities to walk rows of perfectly presented Display Day vehicles and chat with owners whose cars are the focus of their lives. 

If you are prone to doing this as well then quite likely we both have noticed that while cars hold their age impeccably, the humans tending them increasingly suffer the passage of time.

People everywhere tend to own cars that evoke memories from childhood and their early adult years. For many of us, that means memories which were forged half a century ago or more. 

That has certainly been the case in the USA, where that nation’s love for 1955-57 Chevrolets is said to have manifested because these were Baby Boomers’ family cars and the ones passed down to them as teens when they first took to the road in the early 1960s.

In Australia, your first car maybe was an old Holden, Morris Minor or VW Beetle, with objects of future desire influenced in other ways. 

Maybe you watched Falcons and Toranas doing battle at Bathurst. Or perhaps you recall, even after 50 years, the ferocity of being overtaken by a GTHO or GTS Monaro travelling at twice the speed of your family car. 

Perhaps, like me, you were so impressed by the leather and timber interior of a neighbour’s Jaguar that years later a succession of the money gulping Coventry Cats would file through your garage.

Once we have the car of our youthful dreams, it will likely be followed by the jackets, banners, books and collector models. But the fun cannot last forever. 

As people pass on there remains the question of what happens to any cars they might still own when the end comes.

Arranging a succession plan for your motor vehicles and other collectibles is a wise strategy, but doing so can be disconcerting unless death is absolutely imminent. 

Maybe you dreamed about a Morris.

If one or several cars is being transferred to family members or friends, try to make the change while the vehicle is still in your control. If a favourite goes to someone close, there is even the chance to occasionally borrow it back.

Tune in to an online auction and lots being offered to finalise deceased estates are common. Where there is no bequest or Will, or the proceeds of a sale need to be divided amongst several beneficiaries, a public auction can be the easiest way.

Leaving detailed descriptions of your cars, important spare parts or pieces of memorabilia is important for those entrusted with finalising your affairs. 

So you finally have your dream car and all those rare parts, just make sure you share your knowledge.

Verify (if possible) the distance travelled by each car and list major repair or restoration work completed during recent years.

Parts and collectible items like books, brochures and models can be valuable and the kinds of things best sold via an auction with access to a worldwide market. If an item is scarce, make sure somebody in the family is aware as well and can include details in the listing.

Check the costs involved with these types of sale and to save on fees perhaps look at grouping lower value items into lots rather than trying to sell them individually. 

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