With Apologies : Market Data

No need to apologize. You have done some very impressive work here. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Just a couple of questions, if you don’t mind:
-Is “final advertised price” what the name implies or is it market analyst’s lingo for actual transaction price? It is my impression that, at least here in the US, the advertised price is never reduced – except perhaps on eBay. Instead, a lower price is negotiated in private at the time of the sale. Perhaps you do things differently in the UK. How were you able to access the final price?

-In Fig 1, is every red dot (initial price) supposed to have a matching blue dot (final price)? If a car is advertised only once, would it be shown as a single red dot? And what are the red dots doing on the horizontal axis (at the 0 price level), just serving as time markers?

Technicalities aside, most of the charts seem to indicate that we are well into a stage with a very forceful increase in price levels. Unlike the 1989 spike, which was very sharp and narrow, the current rise has a broader base and is supported by higher volume. It is also emerging from a rising baseline, indicating more staying power this time. Looking at Fig 1, you get the distinct impression that the price levels want to go even higher…

Most of us do not think of our Dinos as investment vehicles (ouch!), but the market price affects us all in very profound ways, whether we like it or not. I found your market data most interesting.
Thanks again,
Lars

 

THAT is SO awesome........hat's off to doing that project for the last 35 years!

Man, that's just beautiful to look at......

 

What was the song going like? Money, money, money,...

 

Great work, did you do any adjustments for inflation?

 

It's always interesting to see how the data is interpreted: Buyers see what they want to and owners similarly.[/QUOTE]

True, true. But I can see now that I did not properly convey that I was actually expressing alarm at the rising prices (as I see them). I am actually on both sides on this matter: I am in the process of moving back to Europe. Since my car is a very original and correct US version, I had planned on selling it in the US and then look for another Euro Dino in Europe. That is now pretty much out of the question. Prices in Europe are just too high, measured in our declining dollars. If I sell my car, I will never be able to afford another one in Europe.

The only one of your charts that was slightly ambiguous and a bit difficult to interpret – at least for me – was Fig. 5 showing the price momentum. It shows clearly the negative momentum during 2008, similar to the years after the 1989 peak, only to turn cautiously positive in 2009 (as I read it). Looking at it again, I am not so sure, now… Perhaps I am guilty as charged.

You state that the froth at the top of the market has gone. That may be true but the froth seems to be returning, at least in continental Europe. I noticed that on www.mobile.de the two highest asking prices are 179,000 and 200,000 Euros (US $265,000 and $296,000!). To me, that is froth. To us in the US market, such prices are simply astonishing.
But all this is just the interpretation and opinion of one amateur observer, and a worried one at that!

Thanks for the explanation on the red dots. It all makes sense now.

 

My (now deceased) mechanic used to joke about the maintenance, saying Dinos were expensive because "that's what they spent on them, over the years, to keep them from rusting into the ground"...

My uncle owned one when new, and nodded in agreement when told that statement!

True of ALL Ferraris, I suppose.....

 

absolutely. My 355 had rust under the lower windshield... I LIVE IN ARIZONA! we get like 2 inches of rain a year. That car has never even been in the rain. The car gets washed seldomly because it usually just sat in the garage... I was so proud of my car because it didn't have rusty door sills like the other 355s... then I changed the windshield...