Need help pricing my Austin Healey

Hello Everyone, my father-in-law passed away last month and left us a few cars. One of them is a 1962 Austin-Healey 3000 Mark III kit car. We want to sell it but have no idea what to price it at. I see from other posts that a hooded scoop is sought after and this has one. Are there any other things I should be looking at to price it? We are in San Diego County, CA. Thank you!

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Welcome to the forum! And ooooh that's a tough one because this car is so unique even within our little bubble.

There's a lot here to like, and yes you're right that the scooped hood is desirable, but it was stock on the Saxon (healey replica without flared fenders) while an expensive option on the Sebring (healey replica with flared fenders).

It's rare to see a Saxon with a 302 V8 - most of them were built with V6s. I can definitely see some hints that the build quality is good, and a some nice options too like the luggage rack, wood steering wheel and Panasport or Minilite wheels. This is probably one of the better Saxons I've seen over the years.

Being from Canada, I'm going to let my American friends weigh in on value because the exchange rate does my head in. However I will say that it will greatly depend on how quickly you want to sell. These cars are "underappreciated" in the sense that the average classic car enthusiast isn't looking for one specifically. If you're looking for a quick sale you can probably expect 15-25k at an auction site like the Bring-a-trailer website depending on how it's presented, but there's no way someone could build a similar one for that price. If she were mine there's no way I'd let her go that low either. Waiting for the right buyer could probably get you a good deal more, but that could take a long time.

Sure you don't want to drive her?

Hi Matt,
WOW, that looks like a VERY nice build. Someone loved that car. Unfortunately, they don't command a high price.
From pictures and description, I'm thinking about $25k would be a realistic starting point. Average V8 cars are about 20. Yours appears above average. V6 cars about 15 and VW powered about 10. Opinions will vary, but that's a pretty accurate guess based on 30 years of observations. Yes, asking prices we've all seen over the years have been crazy, but that's my .02 cents.
Would very much like to know how it goes.

David V. wrote:Welcome to the forum! And ooooh that's a tough one because this car is so unique even within our little bubble.

There's a lot here to like, and yes you're right that the scooped hood is desirable, but it was stock on the Saxon (healey replica without flared fenders) while an expensive option on the Sebring (healey replica with flared fenders).

It's rare to see a Saxon with a 302 V8 - most of them were built with V6s. I can definitely see some hints that the build quality is good, and a some nice options too like the luggage rack, wood steering wheel and Panasport or Minilite wheels. This is probably one of the better Saxons I've seen over the years.

Being from Canada, I'm going to let my American friends weigh in on value because the exchange rate does my head in. However I will say that it will greatly depend on how quickly you want to sell. These cars are "underappreciated" in the sense that the average classic car enthusiast isn't looking for one specifically. If you're looking for a quick sale you can probably expect 15-25k at an auction site like the Bring-a-trailer website depending on how it's presented, but there's no way someone could build a similar one for that price. If she were mine there's no way I'd let her go that low either. Waiting for the right buyer could probably get you a good deal more, but that could take a long time.

Sure you don't want to drive her?

We sure will be enjoying her for a bit. Yeah, my dad always preferred cars that weren't the usual car show cars. He also left us a 62 AMC Rambler convertible and a 73 Challenger. We're keeping the Challenger as that's the car he built for my wife after she complained that he never built muscle cars like she likes. I wish we had the garage space to keep all three but as it is we have the Rambler in the driveway right now and I need to get that in the garage too. I really appreciate the response!

Well now, that's a car problem few of us have ever had.
Nice variety to choose from. The Challenger is definitely the one that will rise in value. The most important point in owning a toy car is to have one that makes you smile.