For ages, eBay has been the litmus test of the value of the LE and most classic collectables in general. Over the last few years I’ve followed the progress of the occasional eBay LE monaro auction (and values) as folks have put their Monaro’s up for sale.

And, if you’re like me, you’ve probably got an eBay ‘alert’ set up to monitor any new listing of an ‘LE Monaro’ or ’Limited edition monaro’, ’LE coupe’ etc. 

The eBay alert system is very handy if you’re time poor, because you can visit a listing when it’s emailed to you, rather than scour ebay every few days. 

When I first bought mine in 2000 for $10K, I remember thinking to myself  that ‘maybe’ I’d paid too much. At the time, there was a really stunning, original LE with about 120,000k’s on the clock (which I read about in a magazine) where the owner had paid $25k. Even then it seemed like a RIDICULOUS amount of money to pay for a LE Monaro.

Six or seven years ago you could still grab an LE in reasonable condition for as low as $7.5 – $8K.

Today on eBay we’re seeing those same cars go in the mid 20′s at least.

Today (August 2007), we’re seeing pretty ordinary LE’s go for over 20K, and quite good ones go for more than $65k.

So of course it begs the question. Is it time to sell up, take the money and run? Or is it best to hang on for a few more years, hoping the ‘collectable car’ boom will continue.

I reckon the problem most of ‘us’ have is our emotional attachment - you know you’d love the cash, but to sell your car to someone else would leave an empty space that just can’t be replaced by a few dollars in the bank.