John Webber
John Webber
11/16/20 8:30 a.m.

Attention, class. Let’s review those basic yet elusive design elements that make a car a ton of fun to drive. Follow along and repeat: 

  • Keep the thing as light as possible. 
  • Slide a powerful engine way back in the chassis.
  • Install a race-proven suspension and brakes.

Now, was that so difficult? But here’s the really tough question: Why are these …

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Cactus
Cactus HalfDork
11/16/20 8:48 a.m.

Shush, the fewer people know about this, the more likely I am to find one I can afford.

Dieselboss15
Dieselboss15 Reader
11/16/20 3:13 p.m.

In reply to Cactus :

judging by BaT these things don't go for much. it depends on your definition of "afford"

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1991-maxton-rollerskate-3/

BoxheadTim (Forum Supporter)
BoxheadTim (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/17/20 8:35 a.m.

Yeah, depending on condition they seem to go from low teens to maybe $16-18k for a really nice one. There aren't really any grotty ones about that are cheaper - they seem to be condition 3 ish at the lower end and then up to really nice restored ones.

AFAIK two sold this year, one in the low-ish teens (that would be this one) and one somewhere in the 16k-17.5k range. The latter was in really nice shape with a very recent repaint and IIRC a bunch of work. It doesn't look like prices have moved much in the last few year, they certainly haven't gone up the same way Caterhams have.

As to light weight, well, they're lighter than a contemporary Miata (by approx 300lbs) with fairly similar power depending on what engine you have in there, but they're also not at lightweight as a Caterham. OTOH they have a few more creature comforts.

slowpoke30
slowpoke30 New Reader
11/18/20 6:35 p.m.

To my knowledge there have been four sales over the past year - # 30 featured in the article, # 43 to BoxheadTim, # 7 to Milton Studer and my purchase of # 16.    An interesting non-sale was # 8, which was advertised as a never-registered under 500 mile as-new unicorn with asking prices as high as $30k before the owner pulled the ads and dropped out of sight.

slowpoke30
slowpoke30 New Reader
11/18/20 6:36 p.m.

In reply to BoxheadTim (Forum Supporter) :

I believe that's the first time I've ever seen "creature comforts" mentioned in a Rollerskate description! wink

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