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Re: with these prices, the future?

Posted by Ron Henry on Mon Oct 28, 2002 09:39:58 AM

In reply top Re: with these prices, the future? posted by Christer on Mon Oct 28, 2002 05:57:24 AM

: Cees,
: I?m not qualified to to even speculate what wealthy people
: might want to do with their money. I think that it will b
: e more difficult to convince someone of the good cause for
: sponsorship in the future. It will probably take some gen
: uine warbird interest to prompt these investments or heavy
: expenses, whichever way they are regarded.
:
: In one of his posts Peter pointed out that if the value of
: the warbirds actually equalled the expenses for rebuild,
: then that would be a motivator for investors.
:
: If I?m not totally wrong, Sea Furies sell at $500,000 or b
: elow. Should you find a project somewhere and haul it to a
: rebuilder you?d be looking at over $1M.
: In the light of that it doesn?t surprise me that there?s n
: o hurry with the Tempests!?
:
: I know one thing for sure though, in the sixties, had I kn
: own what I know today and had my weekly allowance been sli
: ghtly higher, then I wouldn?t have collected plastic scale
: models!
:
: Christer

Yes, Christer, had you known what you know today...... !!

Way back in the early 1960s interest in old aircraft was much less, and the pool of enthusiasts was much smaller. However, amongst us enthusiasts it was well known that there were nearly 20 (IIRC, it was 18) Sea Furys in outside storage at the Royal Navy's Air Station at Lossiemouth in Scotland. They really were there - I saw them myself. By 1965, they had all been sold for scrap.

Then came the 1970s and 1980s and the warbird thing really took off in UK. A friend of mine who'd also seen the Sea Furys used to reflect on them and say "If only I'd had the money to buy the SFs and store them - I knew they would be worth a fortune." I think he was kidding himself - Brits with his alleged foresight then were extremely rare indeed. It's always astounded me how the UK warbird scene has grown during the last 30 years - in the 1960s, I was convinced that the dead hand of the CAA would never allow it.

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