Investigation and optimization of evaluation systems for historic vehicles
Mr. Mark Scheil completed his bachelor’s thesis for his degree in automotive engineering at the HTW Berlin in July 2013. The topic we advertised was: “Investigation and optimization of evaluation systems for historic vehicles.”
Almost everyone knows them, the price lists for classic vehicles, in which the most diverse models are priced depending on their visual and technical condition. The approach of these lists is certainly commendable, because after all, classic car prices are also subject to the free market and you can use the lists to find out how much your dream car can cost or which classic cars are even suitable for your budget. So far so good, but unfortunately it can be seen that market prices are moving further and further away from the prices stated in these lists. Potential buyers increasingly have false ideas about what they can realistically expect based on these lists. Sellers and appraisers and classic car specialist companies feel the same way. Actually, everyone who deals with the subject asks themselves how these lists are created in the first place? Where do they get their information from, how are they maintained and how are the prices for the individual models in different conditions determined?
Another constant annoyance are the condition grades, which are based on a practically unattainable perfect condition. The so-called condition 1, if a vehicle can ever achieve it, is more or less equivalent to a student who graduates with Summa Cum Laude, i.e. who always gets top marks for everything throughout their entire course. There are geniuses like that every now and then, but no university would come up with the idea of basing their grading scale on the Summa Cum Laude standard, because then almost all the other students would fail. In the school system, it has therefore been agreed that someone gets an A if they have answered at least 80% of the test correctly. This does not rule out the occasional Summa Cum Laude, but it gives everyone else a fair and real chance. Only when it comes to the condition grades of vintage cars is the 100% perfect Summa Cum Laude car based on it. Isn’t it time to correct this shortcoming and adapt the description of the condition grades to reality?
Furthermore, the price lists used to date are exclusively concerned with the condition ratings, and in order to achieve a good rating, an object of daily use that is several decades old, such as a car, usually has to be restored. However, a restoration with the aim of achieving a good condition rating irreversibly removes all signs of wear and tear from a car’s life. Because fewer and fewer classic car enthusiasts want this, well-preserved and unrestored vehicles now achieve much higher prices than their condition rating would suggest. According to the currently generally accepted ratings, a technically perfectly functioning classic car, whose bodywork has never been welded and which is still in its original paint, would never receive a condition rating better than 3, and its theoretical market price would therefore deviate exorbitantly from the actual market price. So when the price lists are being structurally revised, the degree of originality should definitely be taken into account.
Vehicle engineer Mark Scheil, who completed his practical semester at Atelier Automobile GmbH, addressed all of these questions and, in his final thesis, his bachelor’s thesis, questioned the price lists and presented constructive, scientifically based suggestions for further development in determining the price of classic cars. He was able to integrate a previous bachelor’s thesis by Mr Küttner, who dealt with determining the degree of originality of classic cars.
You can download Mr. Mark Scheil’s excellent bachelor thesis here.