A new wave of bargain classics is heading to the UK from Australia. So what’s going on?
Demand for good right-hand drive vehicles combined with currency fluctuations has seen a flow of classics return to the UK from Australia.
Sydney-based classic dealer Supercar Secrets said it originally built its business by importing cars from the UK for Australian buyers. But over the past year, it has sent both barn finds and fully-restored cars in the opposite direction.
Mark Haybittle, co-owner, said: ‘All these classics have barely any rust and low mileages because they tend to be used at the weekends as fun cars, and because of the market conditions they’re proving very attractive to UK buyers right now.
‘It’s very similar to what happened with the Californian cars. We’ve had a few enquiries before, but as the dollar has really dropped in the last year, there’s been a lot more demand from Britain.’
But a more international market, and the ease of overseas bidding, is also making a huge difference. ‘Tiny’, a member of the sales team at the Sydney-based auction house Shannons, added: ‘We have noted increased demand from overseas since the introduction of online bidding. The demand has come from all over the world – a Sunbeam that recently returned to the UK is a good example.
‘It’s as much about online bidding and the rarity or quality of the particular vehicles that’s driving this demand as weaknesses in the Australian dollar.’
Simon Purdue of Cosmopolitan Cars, North Hobart, Tasmania, reckons that although top-end cars feature in the list of cars coming to the UK from Australia, it’s not exclusively so.
‘A friend of a friend recently sent a 25,000km out-of-the-box E28 M5 to Munich Legends in England. The seller was willing to accept A$50,000 (£27,000) here in Australia, but could not get a buyer to settle on what seemed like a lot of money. Munich Legends sold it for £56,000.’
Purdue currently has a Porsche 911 Turbo in stock that has two owners, with 90,000km on the odometer, and is ‘totally original’. He knows of two similar cars that have sold for A$93,000–95,000 (£50,000–51,500). He believes his 930 could be tempting for a UK buyer.
Supercar Secrets’ Haybittle added that 1970s and 1980s supercars, including the Porsche 911 and Ferrari 308GTB, were proving the most popular. He has also exported Jaguar Mk2s, Triumph TR6s and Rover P6s back to their country of origin.
Kristian Appelt, Director of Adelaide-based Iron Lady Imports, thinks people moving to, and leaving, Australia is also having an effect: ‘In the past we mainly shipped cars from the UK to Australia, often for ex-pat Aussies returning home.
Now traffic for cars from Australia to the UK has increased to the point where it is a fairly even split. Demand is definitely up and the closer the exchange rate approaches 50p to the Australian dollar, the more demand increases.’
He added: ‘We’ve seen an increase in people travelling to Australia for work, taking cars back with them, especially “cashed up” ex-pats with highly paid roles in the mining industry.’
The message is clear – if you’re looking to buy, don’t discount Australia.
David Simister, with additional reporting by Brett Nicholson and Jack Yan