£25,500 - wow.. how times have changed

[tali]

Bernard Manning had one
Camargue also has distinction of having one of the , if not the biggest boot at 25 cu ft (VW jetta was next @23 cu ft)
I suppose the big boot was needed to carry all the cash around!

531 produced and only 186 RHD cars

"1975 Camargue is launched to the press in January, at Catania in Sicily. Price is announced as £29,250; at the time, a Phantom VI cost £21,352 and a Corniche £19,013. After first 30 cars have been built, Shadow-type twin SU carburettors are replaced by a four-choke Solex for extra top-end performance.
1978 Production of Camargue bodies is moved from Mulliner Park Ward to Rolls-Royce’s factory at Crewe. Rear suspension is redesigned to improve ride and handling, and reduce road noise; it will subsequently be fitted to the new Silver Spirit. Hydraulic fluid (used in high-pressure system for brakes and self-levelling rear dampers) is switched from RR363 to non-hygroscopic, non-corrosive HSMO type. 1985 A single Bentley-badged Camargue, with Bentley grille, is made for a customer.
1986 To mark the end of production, 12 Limited Edition Camargues are built for USA, all in white, with white Everflex roofs, and red interiors piped in white. Production ends in December, by which time list price is £83,122 (unchanged since 1981). A total of 529 Rolls-Royces, one Bentley, and four experimental cars have been made." - See more at: Rolls-Royce Camargue (1975-1986) | Buying guide | Octane

. "Andy Smith, the parts manager at specialist P&A Wood, tells us that bumpers are no longer available new, and there is just one headlight surround left (£161.40 plus VAT, if you need it). And these parts will be very hard to find secondhand: Peter Johnson of long-established RR and Bentley breakers Flying Spares says he’s never had a Camargue in for dismantling – ‘…and it would be sacrilege to do so!’ "- See more at: Rolls-Royce Camargue (1975-1986) | Buying guide | Octane

A body shell
Bonhams 1793 : Rolls-Royce Camargue Coupé Bodyshell
"Camargue body panels were last listed at £5,403 (bonnet), £2,957 (front wing) and £3,363 (door). "

A very early Camargue
1976 Rolls-Royce Camargue Coupé For Sale on Car And Classic UK [C272011]

One with 912 miles only
Rolls-Royce Camargue 912 miles only!! For Sale (1982) on Car And Classic UK [C322448]

The last one made
Rolls-Royce Carmargue - P & A Wood, Essex

One with very rare tweed/velour seats - and early
http://m.bonhams.com/auctions/14262/lot/477/

"1800TU" today
ROLLS ROYCE CAMARGUE RHD for sale - Octane Magazine

For comparison this Rolls cost the owner $31,000 in 1933 making it the most expensive car in the world built that year and over 50-percent more than the “Twenty Grand” Duesenberg created that same year - about $513000 today
http://www.rmauctions.com/CarDetails.cfm?SaleCode=MC10&CarID=r169

 

[MOCAŠ]

^ Excellent post. Thanks Tali.

 

[renault12ts]

I have my own business. Last tax year paid over 450k in taxes.

If you paid over £450k in tax...then surely you grossed about £1m? Or have I misunderstood you? Whatever...you aint poor by any stretch...but perhaps are buying houses in a very expensive area. Neither is proof of a decline in the country. You could spend more on your house and have a better one than your father...you choose not to.

 

[tali]

^ Excellent post. Thanks Tali.

I have a bit of a Camargue fetish! - i'm always trying to find out as much as i can about the RHD cars in particular - but the info is rather scant.The Lagonda is another fave but info on that is excellent with a full detailed database of all cars.
Camargue may not be the best Rolls and will never have glamour of a Corniche convertible - but it is the most curious and beguiling one.

 

[tonywashere]

In 1976 I bought a three bedroom semi in London for £11k, did it up and sold it three years later for £30k. So, I went from owning 10% to 66% with a bit of work but mostly inflation.
Governments are in favour of inflation because it reduces the value of the old debt, of course the foolish who have held that debt for years are repaid only the same number of pounds, dollars... not inflation adjusted.

 

[johnfromstaffs]

Fully agree with your comment concerning old debt, but the problem is that we currently have a heck of a lot of quite recent debt, and we don't seem to be generating the resource to pay it off.

 

[MOCAŠ]

A couple of shots of prototype D1 (MGY 50L), completed in July 1972:

US-spec prototype:

Z-2 prototype for the Silver Spirit with Camargue-like frontal styling:

One of the launch publicity photos:

 

[biturbo]

i meant 30 odd, im actually 35.
450k tax is made up of 240k odd of VAT, you can say thats a tax i collect but it isnt really. If VAT dropped to 5% prices from most small business wouldnt drop like they didnt last time. Neither when they went from 15% to 20% i couldnt put my prices up . 80k of rates and rest of co-orp taxes income etc.
Its my opinion and you may not agree, but i see a decline in a standard of living. It doesnt stop me working harder or trying to get better. That is my nature. It just makes me think if i did what i did now in 1980 id be alot better off than i am now in 2013, i think what with high inflation eroding most peoples debt. High inflation in salaries and rampant house prices just standing still most people got better off just through time.

 

[MOCAŠ]

One of the original Pininfarina sketches:

 

[WDB124066]

Love it! Where's Parker....??

 

[Charles Morgan]

The Camargue and the Fiat 130 coupe (both by Pininfarina) seem to have much in common.

 

[MOCAŠ]

The Camargue and the Fiat 130 coupe (both by Pininfarina) seem to have much in common.

A schoolfriend's father had a 130 coupé, and I'm pretty sure that's what sparked my love of Italian cars.

 

[Charles Morgan]

I adore Italian cars, although we had a Fiat 126 which did somewhat put me off. I loved my 16v Fiat Coupe (I learned that pulling away with both the aircon and the radio on did cause the car to stall, so my gearchanging technique included sticking my finger out to switch off the aircon when I was pulling away).

What I do love though is quite how many designer cars look so similar - the Bertone designed Alfa GTV is almost exactly the same as a Bertone designed BMW 3200CS, and earlier, the Carozzeria Touring's Bristol 401 design closely resembles the bodies it did for Alfa Romeo.

 

[MOCAŠ]

I adore Italian cars, although we had a Fiat 126 which did somewhat put me off. I loved my 16v Fiat Coupe (I learned that pulling away with both the aircon and the radio on did cause the car to stall, so my gearchanging technique included sticking my finger out to switch off the aircon when I was pulling away).

Such character! You wouldn't want one of those boringly efficient Teutonic cars, now would you!

What I do love though is quite how many designer cars look so similar - the Bertone designed Alfa GTV is almost exactly the same as a Bertone designed BMW 3200CS, and earlier, the Carozzeria Touring's Bristol 401 design closely resembles the bodies it did for Alfa Romeo.

Perhaps the most prominent example of this phenomenon was the blatant similarity between Pininfarina's designs for the Alfa 164 and Peugeot 405, but I suppose if you commission an Italian design house, you're going to get whatever happens to be on trend at the time. There are also persistent rumours (denied by Nissan) that the original Micra/March was a Giugiaro design for the Fiat Uno that Fiat rejected. (But then, Nissan also deny nicking the idea for the Prairie from Giugiaro's Megagamma...).

 

[johnfromstaffs]

Nobody copied the Ital.

I too liked Italian cars, but only the ones that showed a bit of originality. Having nearly been killed by a Lancia, I subsequently bought - a Lancia.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Nobody copied the Ital.

But that was styled in Longbridge. Ital Design's contribution was restricted to production engineering, but this was played up for marketing purposes. I still remember the advert now...

[YOUTUBE]mwZvWQyYSDM[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Charles Morgan]

Such character! You wouldn't want one of those boringly efficient Teutonic cars, now would you!

The first time it happened late at night driving through Deptford I certainly wouldn't have minded some boring Teutonic efficiency at that point! Once I worked out what caused it, it was a doddle.

 

[grober]

I know I'm going to get my head in my hands for this,but I never been sold on these coach built behemoths. Undoubtedly exquisite craftsmanship but is there really a virtue in building a car that has its construction techniques with origins in the 1920-30s. Hand Built implies individuality but I'm not so sure it implies efficiency or longevity. It certainly implies expense both in the building maintaining and repairing.As far as I know these cars still rust or corrode in the case of alloy or rot if they have wooden frames. They still have engine problems usually with their cooling systems. Ironically often their most reliable components were the mass produced automatic transmissions!
My personal favorites are mass produced cars that turn out to be classics , by design, but sometimes fortuitously to be greater than the sum of their parts in their driving characteristics or construction. They move the automobile owning experience forward with their design innovation, new construction techniques and sheer accessibility. Sorry.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Having driven a Bentley that creaked and groaned and rattled and rusted, I am not in a great degree of disagreement on the bodywork Graeme - robot built cars are emphatically better made. However any old car will have bodywork issues whatever the mode of construction, and don't I know it! My Allard has a Ford Chassis, engine and gearbox, and their build and metallurgy is of an exceptional standard, and when I had to get the gearbox rebuilt I was able to do so with new old stock Ford parts from 60 years ago - not something at all possible with a handbuilt car.

However, there are cars that are classics in every way, and ultimately I don't really care about how they were made at the time. Certainly a pre-war Rolls Royce engine is an astonishing piece of engineering, but you pay for it, and coachbuilt often means total uniqueness, which is something you are never going to get out of a Ford. Chacun a son gout.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

My current car cost four time what I paid for the house in 1970,

My current car cost over 12 (yes, twelve) times what I paid for my first house in 1968!! (Where's the GULP smiley?)