Aceca prices

[Gus Meyjes]

1959 AC 16/80 ACECA GREEN w/ RED int. 6 CYLINDER 4 SPD., Original, unrestored, running, and driving specimen. One of only 316 ever built. Rare left hand drive. INQUIRE [More Detail]
   
   This is an ad from Northshore motorsports in Illinois, USA.
   The car is tired to say the least, but looks like it really needs a full resto. ASking price is $95.000. Looks like the Acecas are enjoying, albeit at a lesser rate, the same boom the Aces are experiencing. Makes me wonder why some of the car mags still rate an excellent condition Aceca at around 27.000 pounds. Does anyone have a more realistic handle on what current Aceca values are? They don't come up for sale very often.
   
   Gus

[Gus Meyjes]

quote:Originally posted by Gus Meyjes
   
1959 AC 16/80 ACECA GREEN w/ RED int. 6 CYLINDER 4 SPD., Original, unrestored, running, and driving specimen. One of only 316 ever built. Rare left hand drive. INQUIRE [More Detail]
   
   This is an ad from northshoresportscars.com in Illinois, USA.
   The car is tired to say the least, but looks like it really needs a full resto. ASking price is $95.000. Looks like the Acecas are enjoying, albeit at a lesser rate, the same boom the Aces are experiencing. Makes me wonder why some of the car mags still rate an excellent condition Aceca at around 27.000 pounds. Does anyone have a more realistic handle on what current Aceca values are? They don't come up for sale very often.
   
   Gus
   
   
   

[AC Ace Bristol]

Hi Gus
   
   Not sure what a 1959 "16/80 Aceca" is,  A 59 Aceca is the coupe version of the AC Ace, where as the 16/80 was a 1930s AC.
   
   This month there are 6 AC Acecas for sale in Classic & Sports Car magazine,  One partly restored the others all being major restoration projects.
   
   The AC Aceca been under valued for many years especially the Bristol engined version.  The cost to restore is far far greater than that of restoring a Ace,  Due to the Acecas construction e.g. additional metal skeleton and the timber frame construction  The cost to totally strip down and rebuild  has simply outweighed the value of the car.
   
   Being a every day tourer ( Even if somewhat exclusive ) they never really maintained value compared to the Ace.
   
   With Ace Bristols usually commanding approx 50% value of a std Road going  289 leaf spring Cobra,  Acecas pending spec have always substantially below a Ace.
   
   I know of a couple of AC engined Acecas which have Sold in UK within the past 6 months, they realised High £30K just below £40K.
   
   However a full 100 point Aceca Bristol would cost more than that to buy and restore.  There are a few on the market with asking price in excess of £65K, but what one asks and what one achieves can vary considerably.
   
   In theory Ace Bristols in Good Condition with matching numbers are realising £125 /£130K so a very good Aceca should at a guess be worth more than half as much.
   
   Gus
   How much did it cost you to restore your Aceca?  and what insurance cover, value have you on it for loss or Serious road accident damage, e.g. destroying front and rear and say creasing the roof.
   
   What would it cost to put right ??? £60K?,  £80K?, £90K?? Which is why we must have correct Insurance cover, it often costs more to repair than to buy some one elses cared for example.
   
   Seriously, a Bloody good touring car so under valued and more rare than a Ace.  May all those lucky Custodians look after the examples hidden away and not being used and enjoyed.......Such a waste !!
   
   Best people to ask re valuation would be the two AC Aceca Registrars and Brian Gilbart ; Smith one of the ACOC recognised insurance brokers.  Contact address and email addresses have been in circulation on this Forum many times so need to keep publishing.
   
   Keith
   
   Your comments and that of Aceca Owners

[hawk289]

Keith,
   
   I think your summary is spot on, I have just restored an Aceca, body off job. The total hours spent including my time, and quite a few mates was about 4000 hours in total, now assume I did the job via total professionals [e.g. a bit quicker] rather than me, then 3000 hours would be about right or £90K to fully restore from top to bottom.
   
   I did not pay anywhere near this amount, but an Aceca that needs body work, woodwork will cost a small fortune. I have both an Ac Bristol and Ac Aceca and the Aceca with the Zephyr engine is really good fun and quite rare.
   
   If anyone is going to the Goodwood Breakfast club, you may get to see the car! [if I fix the leak in the rad again!]
   
   I believe the Aceca is serious good buy in a good condition if no work is required. Has the Ace peaked in price?
   
   John

[Gus Meyjes]

I did not pay the equivalent of 90K pounds in Dollars. Although I went completely through the car. All of the drive train and suspension has been rebuilt, the interior has been completely redone and then of course the body/paint. I did not do a body-off restoration. All of the frame was in excellent shape. No pieces needed replacement. The wood was solid in most places. No rot or dry rot. Some pieces where latches strike needed to be beefed up or replaced because over the years just one too many a screw was put in. I replaced all of the interior paneling and the dash with aluminum instead of wood and I added a roll cage.  The previous owner had done a restoration (Keith sent me some pictures of) whom had sprayed the frame with the hardiest epoxy coating. Anyhow, very extensive rebuild. I haven't added up all my bills yet, but I am roughly guesstimating my cost for the project was about $70K. Could be a little more, certainly not less. I have a good arrangement with my insurance man. I insure all of my business and real estate through the same people and they agreed on an agreed value policy. Which is good, because I drive my car.
   
   I'm looking forward to this months Classic and Sportscar, I always scour the ads for AC's! 9 in all this time, that's amazing!
   
   Gus

[hawk289]

Gus,
   
   I'm now home, as I did some work and the experts I used help me with the hour rate, I recon, I'm quite close to your number, I believe if you went full professional then the total for a body off would be high. The wood was the easy bit [not much to fix, just the corner bits in the roof] and my body [well the car] was in good state. The real cost was getting all the new inner panels and I had a quick zephyr engine put in.
   
   Very interesting, so based on this I recon somewhere between £50K and £90K would be about right. So Keith your price is correct.
   
   John

[pjbowman]

If I could find Acecas for sale in the US for the equivalent of £30K -£40K ($60-80K US), I'd buy all I could find assuming they are in good gondition! There just aren't many for sale this side of the pond. That's why I had to get mine out of northern Canada!
   
   Prices from the only guide that is realistic here in the US (Cars That Matter) list a condition #3 as $85K, #2 at $106K, and #1 at $124K...and climbing!

[Gus Meyjes]

That's a list I have not seen before. Even Sportscar Market, a what I would think is a thorough mag, reports rather low values. To the point where I question whether they even bother to check the ads in their own magazine. This car in Illinois is offered at $94 K. With a rebuild of at least $70K, it would be more then it's worth. I'm looking forward to the next classic and sportscar to see what's in there.
   
   Gus

[hawk289]

Looking at UK prices, they range from $40K for a car that needs to be restored to $160K for a nice example but ex-Donald Campbell car. I also see that a number now range from $70K to $110K. But in the last 12 months the price has gone wild, I assume this is because Cobra's and Ace's are at high price and the Aceca is in comparison under valued.
   
   John

[pjbowman]

I don't bother with SCM or NADA prices, they are so far behind the actual market it's not funny. I try to refer to them when I want to buy something, because if I can get it for the prices in those guides I can immediately be in a large profit position! Cars That Matter really is the only guide that reflects accurate pricing (and I have no affiliation or interest in any of the price guide publications).
   
   Another example is Nash-Healey roadsters. NADA lists an'Excellent' for $55K! CTM lists a #1 at $256K. The most recent sale for a restored one (January at the Gooding auction) was $253K, right on the numbers from CTM. If anyone knows where I can buy cars for the NADA or SCM numbers, please pass aloing the info!
   
   Peter

[AEX726]

I am the prior owner of the car in Illinois.  An interesting discussion and quite honestly, with so few cars who can truly say what they are worth.  One thing I would like to add to the discussion is a different perspective on cars like this.  The assumption of a complete restoration is interesting in that there has been no discussion of the mechanics of the car which to me, as a driver, is as important as anything.  I owned this car for almost three years and following mechanical recomissioning which I performed myself and was needed after a long hibernation (not much work, which speaks well for AC's!) I drove this car very regularly, putting over 7,000 miles on it in less than two summers of use.  I would hop in an go as readily and with no further trepidation than I have with my every day car.  No mechanical problems during that time either.  Sometimes back and forth to work, sometimes on day long trips to various tracks in the mid west to watch some vintage racing.  This, to me, is the sign of a good car.  I am aware of the amount of work required for a cosmetic restoration on one of these cars and am not trying to comment one way or the other on the dollar value of the car which is obviously up to buyer / seller (and what the buyer has in mind for the car).  I will say that the attention the car got at gatherings was really something else and, quite frankly, most of the comments were in the camp of "don't touch it".  In fact, at a local british car gathering the car was parked next to a perfectly restored, real 289 Cobra, the Aceca garnered far more attention and throughly torqued off the owner of the "nicer" and more valuable car.  This all comes from someone who drove a 71 TVR 2500 as his everyday car in college during the early '90's for 4 years, 4 snowy mid west winters, and 80,000 miles (with no real problems to speak of either) - again, it's all perspective!

[pjbowman]

I noticed that Norhshore now lists this car as Sold, anyone in the club get it, or know where it went?

[pjbowman]

I happened to speak to the owner of Northshore this past weekend, turns out the car went to Germany. Sorry to see it leave the USA, not many here now, and getting fewer....

[tinnes]

There are two Acecas currently on eBay - AEX672 and BE575. The former was just displayed at the Amelia Island show this past weekend. The latter has been converted from its original Bristol engine to a 289. Both appear to have had extensive restorations at some point. AEX672 is listed as BuyItNow at $115k and BE575 at $65k.
   
   tom i
   
   oops - BE575 has been removed early from eBay - this car got quite a bit of chatter on the daily "Bring A Trailer" web-site.

[Bernie]

quote:Originally posted by Gus Meyjes
   
1959 AC 16/80 ACECA GREEN w/ RED int. 6 CYLINDER 4 SPD., Original, unrestored, running, and driving specimen. One of only 316 ever built. Rare left hand drive. INQUIRE [More Detail]
   
   This is an ad from Northshore motorsports in Illinois, USA.
   The car is tired to say the least, but looks like it really needs a full resto. ASking price is $95.000. Looks like the Acecas are enjoying, albeit at a lesser rate, the same boom the Aces are experiencing. Makes me wonder why some of the car mags still rate an excellent condition Aceca at around 27.000 pounds. Does anyone have a more realistic handle on what current Aceca values are? They don't come up for sale very often.
   
   Gus