Three Manta GTE coupes for sale

[Rapierdave]

As the title says, three Manta GTE coupes up for sale at Mathewsons auction house on Saturday 5th June.

One is a Red GTE coupe in fair condition that needs recommissioning/restoration, guide £8000 - £9000

 

One is a White GTE Coupe in good condition, probably an older restoration that now needs some minor attention to one rear wheel arch & a door bottom. Overall a car you could drive away in. Current owner has had the car since 1990. Northern Ireland car.

Guide price £15000 - £17000

 

Lastly a Manta GTE Coupe that has been made to look like a 400 with wide arch kit etc. Looks ok but some corrosion to boot lid & car was running but now wont start.

Guide price £13500 - £14500

 

All cars can be viewed on Mathewsons website

I wonder if values will be affected as there are three to choose from although all are different.

 

 

 

[bris jas]

Will be interesting to see what these cars make, after the couple that sold last year for strong money, this will let us know where the market is currently at.

[Jessopia74]

Think figures are conservative. Maybe the demand is cooling off a little?

[TheRealExile]

Be interesting to see what they go for, so much cool stuff up for sale in that auction, I could spend a fortune if I had one of course 😁 

[mantasrme]

Well its such a nice day today i thought i deserved a few hours out of my workshop. So i went for a drive in my manta, and i've just been over to the Auction and looked at all 3 manta's. (lovely roads and weather but the amount of numpties just out for a drive is staggering for middle of the day on a wednesday!!)

The red coupe is probably the only one that is valued somewhere about right, the white coupe i would value similar to the red coupe maybe just a little more. But then the red coupe is original and unmolested in the majority where the white coupe has had previous work that can be seen in places, so maybe not higher . The 400r is harder to value but i would say about the same as the other 2 or a little less even as from a quick look under them all it needs the most work, but is a 400R a higher finished value?

Anybody thinking of bidding on these really needs to go and look at them in the flesh. They do all look shiney in the pictures but all 3 need paint, welding and mechanical work. None would pass an MOT as is from what i saw, all of them will need swan necks welding at least for that. But then if you buy a car blind you get what you get and have no one to blame but yourself.

They are all good projects, but the red ones have been sat off the road for a good amount of time (neither red one has been MOT'd since the system went digital in 2006) so they will need a lot more recomissioning to get them to safe driveable condition. The white one being Irish i don't know if there is history for, or how recent it was used on the road.

The 400 looks the crustiest underneath so its either been stored much longer than the others or there was some damp around (i think damp) The red coupe has been dry stored by the look but has suffered from time just sat there. The white one has had a thick layer of underseal underneath at some point so its harder to see if thats been layed up, presumably at the same time it had work/welding and paint in the past.

[chrisb]

Funny how many are surfacing out of the woodwork now that a couple have achieved good prices recently. But still think excellent cars will still command a premium and achieve a premium. Think prices might stabilise for cars such as these that need some work.

But who knows anything can happen if someone wants a particular car and colour 

[Jonathan Pounsett]

2 hours ago, mantasrme said:

Well its such a nice day today i thought i deserved a few hours out of my workshop. So i went for a drive in my manta, and i've just been over to the Auction and looked at all 3 manta's. (lovely roads and weather but the amount of numpties just out for a drive is staggering for middle of the day on a wednesday!!)

The red coupe is probably the only one that is valued somewhere about right, the white coupe i would value similar to the red coupe maybe just a little more. But then the red coupe is original and unmolested in the majority where the white coupe has had previous work that can be seen in places, so maybe not higher . The 400r is harder to value but i would say about the same as the other 2 or a little less even as from a quick look under them all it needs the most work, but is a 400R a higher finished value?

Anybody thinking of bidding on these really needs to go and look at them in the flesh. They do all look shiney in the pictures but all 3 need paint, welding and mechanical work. None would pass an MOT as is from what i saw, all of them will need swan necks welding at least for that. But then if you buy a car blind you get what you get and have no one to blame but yourself.

They are all good projects, but the red ones have been sat off the road for a good amount of time (neither red one has been MOT'd since the system went digital in 2006) so they will need a lot more recomissioning to get them to safe driveable condition. The white one being Irish i don't know if there is history for, or how recent it was used on the road.

The 400 looks the crustiest underneath so its either been stored much longer than the others or there was some damp around (i think damp) The red coupe has been dry stored by the look but has suffered from time just sat there. The white one has had a thick layer of underseal underneath at some point so its harder to see if thats been layed up, presumably at the same time it had work/welding and paint in the past.

Thanks for looking and giving us your opinion. We’re lucky you are in the area.

[®evo03]

So thats where we are at regarding price, value,  great base project cars, and not a easy task if they need rebuilt, alot of work and effort, question is will the effort be worth it, and thats what drives immaculate examples alot higher, which these in turn drag the working examples higher also,  .......well, they wont remake them, so these are a good start! 

Great to see a few different examples resurfacing, oh the LIB reg is a NI reg, if its been in the uk a few yrs and on the road, it should have a mot history! MOT system in NI will have a history, but its not published, interestingly its a 88 reg on a GTE? 

Any idea what time the auction starts or times etc, interesting to watch online! 

That TV show has done wonders for this company Mathewsons, some interesting cars, and nice format, picking the car up, auction and sometimes new owner interviewed.  Derek is the legend! Yep, yep! 

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by ®evo03

[starmist]

I'm staying up there next week for my 21st wedding anniversary, shame I'll miss the auction by a few days but I'll probably pop in anyway to see what they have.

[starmist]

Well those price's seem to have returned more back to normal...

Red 400 £9250

White GTE £9250

Red GTE £6750

All well below guide price.

[Rapierdave]

Not surprised when you have 3 in the same auction.

I did think the White GTE might have gone a tad higher

[Jessopia74]

comments are all about right, however, unrestored cars are a money pit and people know it. I had a conversation about the way manta prices are going with a chap who is making the switch from Fords and he definitely made two interesting points.
Firstly is something the club is already working on and the lack of panels . Fords have pretty much everything available.

Second was that the interest in the Manta Coupes specifically has been sparked. He thought it a great time to be getting into one.

I can't say if he means from a long or short term investment POV, but either way he was not a collector or Manta enthusiast and was looking at the £return rather than the car. This in itself is a worry one way, but, will help in others- like get parts manufactured again.

I guess it is a double edged sword. What is driving prices up, is also going to be the limitation in the values of ones needing work. It was like this 15years ago with the Escorts before they starting breaking prices, but Mantas in an unrestored condition are still cheap to some people's option - just a shame they are not enthusiasts.

 

 

[mantasrme]

I wonder if bid amounts were affected by people actually viewing the cars now rather than just going by the pictures like earlier auctions. Because they didn't look as good in the flesh as they did in the pictures for sure.

Also those bid amounts didn't actualy buy any of the cars, none of them met their reserves from what they said live. Although some of the sellers may decide to take the highest bids later. So we can't actually use those as sale prices for the price guide

[®evo03]

Is there an auction fee on the item not selling?

Or reacting its target, maybe its a auctioneers value of circa 17k, as one was sold earlier etc. And thats the bench mark?

Yep agree with all comments above, viewing is essential, rust likes mantas and visa versa, restoration is a long, costly, time consuming monster, not everyone can do it, pay to do it, or be bothered.

[chrisb]

All three Mantas are listed for sale in the next Auction in just over 4 weeks time.

See what happens then, not sure if they will achieve any more money.

[Ems]

From the car tax website the red GT/E has been off the road for 21 years, the 400r 18 years and the white one 3 years.  Also there were no pictures of the roofs!

[Jessopia74]

32 minutes ago, Ems said:

From the car tax website the red GT/E has been off the road for 21 years, the 400r 18 years and the white one 3 years.  Also there were no pictures of the roofs!

If that was 21years sat in a garage it woukd be good! But probably not likely 🙈😁

[mantasrme]

16 hours ago, Ems said:

From the car tax website the red GT/E has been off the road for 21 years, the 400r 18 years and the white one 3 years.  Also there were no pictures of the roofs!

Both red ones had dealer glass sunroofs and the white one was a nonsunroof from memory.

I don't think the huge amount of cars they had in the auction helped the prices, they really weren't spending that much time trying to get bids from people and if anyone was only interested in the manta's they were very spaced apart that people would have had to sit there for hours for all 3 to come across the block. By the end the auctioner sounded bored of it all.

 

The white one has had paintwork and a NSR arch/ lower quarter repair at least by the looks, there's a bit of filler to be found around the inner arch lip and lower quater as proof. Didn't look inside it as it was locked and had the door locks modified with security tumblers and i wasn't interested in it enough to go and try and find someone to unlock it for a good poke around. But from the pictures i think the engine bay has been painted to some degree and there is weaping showing along some seams under there of rusty stains. But the underside looks to have been recovered/brushed in underseal several times as its really thick under the floors so you can't tell whats hiding under there. But there are previous patches visible as well as bulged swannecks (as normal)

The 400 has been somewhere for a long time and its so crusty underneath that it was obviously damp for some of that time. I think its biggest issue is the rear arch extensions are blended into the body but the original arches underneath haven't been cut out. They looked like they had just had the lips cut off then slices into them to allow them to be folded slightly out of the way couldn't see those slices being welded up either! So thats going to be a chunk of work to redo right before you even get to what is found once its cleaned down underneath

Of the 3 i think the red gte coupe would be the best project. It does need work but its the most honest of the 3 and has been dry stored from the looks of it underneath. It only has a few previous welded patches on it and they are still solid but the one rail has blown through right next to an old patch so its rusty inside and pushing its way out. But compared to the last 5 shells i've had in to weld up it looks in way better condition than any of them did.

[Monaco Blue]

This red 87D GTE Coupe has just appeared on Ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/393383598177

If memory serves me correctly, it was on one of the earlier auctions this year.

Came across this photo taken Dec 2018: 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by Monaco Blue

[Mike.]

On 07/06/2021 at 11:44, mantasrme said:

On 06/06/2021 at 18:50, Ems said:

 

Both red ones had dealer glass sunroofs and the white one was a nonsunroof from memory.

 Interesting, How do you recognise dealer glass sunroof’s was there a particular manufacturer they used or a specific installation method?

[mantasrme]

1 hour ago, Mike. said:

 Interesting, How do you recognise dealer glass sunroof’s was there a particular manufacturer they used or a specific installation method?

As far as i'm aware there were a couple of slightly different versions of roof used as dealer fit. But they have a particular look and are all the same size. The Clio roof and some of the aftermarket ones are much larger panels

One of my old customers had a car he bought new with a dealer fit roof in it. Its the same as is in my hatch and that has the GM mark on the handle inside still.

[Jonathan Pounsett]

I’d be interested to know too. I’ve a Skyport roof - it’s great but could do with a new seal.

[Mike.]

59 minutes ago, mantasrme said:

As far as i'm aware there were a couple of slightly different versions of roof used as dealer fit. But they have a particular look and are all the same size

Does this look like a dealer fitted sunroof?

it’s colour coded with white perforated glass, works perfectly and brilliant in the hot days, 

this is the one I have in my polar white coupe, thanks 👍

[Exclusive Opel]

This is from a Vauxhall/Opel accessory leaflet. Handle looks if it could be the same.

 

[mantasrme]

On 12/06/2021 at 13:10, Mike. said:

Does this look like a dealer fitted sunroof?

Yes it does, the code on your glass is the same as on mine apart from the bottom line which on mine is "E1 DOT 39SGM450AS3" mine is in a c reg 1.8 hatch so maybe they are different editions of the same sunroof on different years?

My front hinges look the same but the rear handle on mine is slightly different as it has a surround against the roof (i've seen some with the surround and some without so i think it's optional or a model/year difference.