Cliff Chambers takes a look at the cars we should have bought or are delighted we didn’t. If you have a One That Got Away, send your tale to uniquecars@primecreative.com.au
May 1996 – Brock Falcon EA
$19,500 then up to $22,000-$25,000 now
“Bloke’s got to eat,” might well have been Peter Brock’s response when questioned on why he was devoting his talent to smoothing lumps in Ford’s troubled EA Falcon. Brock, as almost everyone knows, split acrimoniously from Holden in 1987 and began racing a BMW before trying to extract some performance and handling from the EA. A reliable source says that just 126 were made, all of them based on the 3.9-litre Fairmont Ghia and S Pack. In 2023, a Ghia in excellent condition sold at auction for around $20,000.
February 1993 – Chevrolet Corvette 1961
$65,000 then up to $145,000 to $160,000 now
General Motors’ styling guru Harley Earl was responsible for plenty of memorable automotive shapes, and one of his best was the original Chevrolet Corvette. The car shown is the last of the C1 Corvette shape, with quad headlights messing up the nose and a reverse angled tail, but the rest is pure 1953. New C1s didn’t come here in big numbers and used ones in today’s market are mostly LHD. Authenticity is significant and a while RHD cars like this remain desirable, they are maybe 20 per cent less valuable than one that steers from the left seat.
August 1999 – Holden HX Monaro LE
$11,800 then up to $100,000 to $120,000 now
There have been a few of these rare Holdens sold recently, with even the cheapest of them making around $90,000 when sent to auction. For a long time after its heavily publicised launch, the LE was seen as a bit ritzy to be a proper Monaro and ignored by anyone who regarded themselves as a serious car person. That was despite it having the bigger of Holden’s two V8s, a very plush interior and wheels pinched from the parts bin at Pontiac. Only 600 HX LEs were made, and if you have a good one today it could be worth over $100K.
August 1985 – Jensen CV-8
$14,500 then up to $45,000 to $55,000
Jensen Cars was responsible for building early versions of the lovely Volvo P1800 coupe, but none of that car’s elegance rubbed off on the company’s own C-V8. As the designation suggests, this derivative of the earlier 541S used a V8 Chrysler engine and sold in limited numbers to discerning, mainly British, buyers. Despite being scarce, these UK thoroughbreds never became an especially valuable genre market and although the market peaked during the 2021-23 COVID-19 era, prices have diminished since then.
December 2002 – Ferrari 400GT
$55,000 then up to $120,000 to $145,000 now
Ferrari until the 1970s had been a bastion of front-engined V12 design, but by the time this big 2+2 arrived, demand for traditional Ferraris was being overwhelmed by the popularity of mid-engined models. The 400GT was launched in 1976 as a derivative of the 330/365 series of long wheelbase four-seaters and at one time was reasonably common in Australia. Now, they are quite difficult to find here so we look to the international market where most are LHD. A couple of decent-looking UK cars were recently auctioned at A$110,000-130,000.
November 1996 – Toyota 2000GT
$79,000 then up to $1.5M to $1.8M now
How amazing would it have been in 1996 to open your magazine and find one of the world’s most desirable collector cars being sold for the same price as a new BMW 320i. Almost 30 years later, if the Bimmer survives at all, it will be as Today’s Special in some backstreet caryard with $7999 now $5999 scrawled on the windscreen. And the Toyota? In 2022 a race-spec 2000GT set an auction record at US$2.5 million, followed a year later by a road version sold in Britain for £799,000 (A$1.64 million.) Did you buy this 2000GT?
October 1987 – MG Y Tourer
$19,500 then up to $28,000 to $30,000 now
The open-top MG Y is a rare car in anyone’s orbit. Just 877 were built from 1949-51 and back in 2017 this column found a car similar to this one from 1991 where it was being sold at $16,000. This one from 1987 looks to be in better condition and perhaps that helped justify its higher asking price. What would they be worth now? Australia pretty much sets the pricing for Y Tourers and one sold recently by a dealer for $30,000 is likely typical of their sluggish growth. Hopefully for these rarities there is still potential for appreciation.