The Aesthete reflects on selling old cars

The Aesthete's Fleet
The Lancia Flavia 1800 Coupe proved to be the easiest car to sell but was also the most difficult to own, causing the Aesthete a certain degree of cognitive dissonance. Difficult as there are only a few in the country and consequently few other owners to share hard luck stories with. One Christchurch reader sent a tip to a previous owner of my car who was very happy to be reunited with it. And so it was sold on the Monday following the blog issue. I seem to be more successful selling my own cars than persuading others to buy my recommendations so perhaps I am following the wrong path. If anyone has anything rare, interesting and difficult that they wish to part with, I am prepared to offer space on the blog for a modest brokering fee. 

The Lancia reunited with its earlier Christchurch owner.

1979 Citroen FAF. The intriguing acronym stands for facile à fabriquer (easy to build) and facile à financer (easy to fund) and was a French solution for getting the third world into vehicle ownership. Intended for the crudest of production facilities, the bodies were shaped with a sheet metal former and brush painted. Load carrying was restricted by the 600cc 2CV power plant and it says much about the economic condition of New Zealand under the Muldoon government that one was imported for evaluation to replace the Trekka. If you were wavering, the seductive catalogue image should help you decide.

For: We like a brave failure, don't we?
Against: No-one who does not already own a fleet of derelict 2CVs will understand.
Investment potential: 5/10 as you can fix it with a broken spade handle.

1934 Airflow Chrysler CU. Speaking of brave failures, few attempts to introduce advanced technology to the field of automotive design went as badly awry as the Airflow series. It so frightened Chrysler management that it retreated into deep conservatism that prevailed until the mid-1950s. At the time, however, there were few more modern cars on the road and driving one will permanently change your views on what a 1930s car was capable of. My personal preference is for the coupe version of the smaller De Soto but if you have 85K sitting about unused you could buy yourself a design landmark.

For: The bravest of all brave failures.
Against: A bit cumbersome in 8 cylinder form.
Investment potential: 2/10 with prices still oddly low in the US.

1958 Skoda 440. If you have any cold war fantasies about dashing around Prague in the 1950s with dossiers on the private preferences of senior political figures, here is the car in which you can act out that very role. Bring A Trailer had one listed earlier in the year for £11K so there are others out there who will be the Philby to your McLean.

For: Much better than you might think.
Against: Maybe you needed to be at Oxford in the 1930s.
Investment potential: 9/10. Yes, really. And it will be great fun.

1963 Studebaker Cruiser. The Brooks Stevens restyle of Studebaker's compact Lark range had a strong Lancia like sensibility, enhanced by a properly set out dash and tasteful trim.  The V8 in the top end models allowed decent performance and one feels that they could have given Holden, Ford and Chrysler some trouble in Australasia if the company was not so close to going phut.

For: This was a well studied page in my Observers' Book of Automobiles.
Against: Nothing. This looks like a treat to my eye.
Investment potential: 3/10 but not needing a lot to finish.

1950 Jaguar 3 1/2 Litre Drop Head Coupe.  This has been on the market for a few weeks now so the tendency has been to skip past it in the knowledge that it will probably be there when the next bog needs to be formulated. Is 108K too much? Probably here in New Zealand, yes, but elsewhere? Remember that it costs as much to ship something good as it does a valueless heap.

For: Handsome.
Against: Do people think of these as a spiv's car anymore? Does anyone know what a spiv is?
Investment potential: 2/10 but not around these parts.


On some faraway beach.

1965 BMW 3200CS. I urge you to drink in the details of this superb BMW which was the last of the truly bespoke grand tourers built around the 1950s V8 mechanicals from the odd looking saloon they called the Baroque Angel. The awkward drop nosed predecessor was a hard sell so this version was restyled by a young Giorgetto Giugiaro while at Bertone. Consequently it looks like a big Alfa, an impression carried through to the interior.

For: I know its expensive but look at it.
Against: A Maserati would be more usable.
Investment potential: 3/10. If it were Italian it would be five times the price.