Ex-works 8-port Clubman for 15 grand . . .
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 1:51 pm
. . . But you'll need a time travel machine to snap it up.
The front cover of this month's MiniWorld caught my eye. I stopped buying the magazine years ago but when I saw the red Clubman YMO 886J on the cover I thought 'I know that car' and so bought the magazine. And indeed I did know the car.
I last saw the car 40+ years ago when word got out that George Forbes - a Greenlaw farmer who friends used to service for in the Scottish Rally Championship had bought an ex-works clubman, the word was through his pal Andrew Cowan.
As well as the farm, George had a wee garage in Greenlaw so we motored down from Hawick to have a look. The car which we saw, sat in, and generally drooled over looked brand new (unfortunately we never gort a run in it). I don't know how much rallying it had done before it came to George (some history is provided in the magazine article) but it looked as if it just left the showroom. It was the attention to detail which left us seriously impressed.
The magazine article includes an advert from 1971 when George was selling the car for the princely sum of £1400 (for a quick sale!!). It had done a 'genuine 3460 miles'.
According to the National Archives 'what would it be worth now' currency converter that equates to about £15,000 of your hard earned money today.
What a snip. How much would the car sell for today? I'll bet George wishes he had hung on to the beauty.
Derek Douglas
The front cover of this month's MiniWorld caught my eye. I stopped buying the magazine years ago but when I saw the red Clubman YMO 886J on the cover I thought 'I know that car' and so bought the magazine. And indeed I did know the car.
I last saw the car 40+ years ago when word got out that George Forbes - a Greenlaw farmer who friends used to service for in the Scottish Rally Championship had bought an ex-works clubman, the word was through his pal Andrew Cowan.
As well as the farm, George had a wee garage in Greenlaw so we motored down from Hawick to have a look. The car which we saw, sat in, and generally drooled over looked brand new (unfortunately we never gort a run in it). I don't know how much rallying it had done before it came to George (some history is provided in the magazine article) but it looked as if it just left the showroom. It was the attention to detail which left us seriously impressed.
The magazine article includes an advert from 1971 when George was selling the car for the princely sum of £1400 (for a quick sale!!). It had done a 'genuine 3460 miles'.
According to the National Archives 'what would it be worth now' currency converter that equates to about £15,000 of your hard earned money today.
What a snip. How much would the car sell for today? I'll bet George wishes he had hung on to the beauty.
Derek Douglas
