I think we have to differentiate between asking prices and selling prices. We can all see asking price, but sale price is generally not visible. A seller can ask any price they like. But, if they are serious about selling, at some point they'll have to position their price where the market is prepared to pay.
Another point to note is that split bus prices are much higher in the UK than in the US (notwithstanding the anomalies that come out of Barrett Jackson and similar overblown auctions). There are a hell of a lot more split buses available in the US and there are large numbers of US LHD buses being exported to the UK. So comparing SA prices with US prices isn't really appropriate. It's a lot farther away than the UK and the cars are LHD.
I'm not as close to UK prices as I used to be, but I went onto the SSVC website this past weekend to catch up and it seems asking prices for decent split buses in the UK range between GBP20k to GBP40k. UK buyers are also actively hunting in SA, but I doubt any US buyer would even think about it; they have more than enough of their own LHD buses to choose from.
So the UK is a more relevant benchmark and will provide the answer why people think they can ask up to R700k for a split bus in SA. Sean gave the example of a neighbour who recently bought a restored split bus for R600k, so there are locals paying those sums; more of them than we might think. I don't see any of the regular restorers selling completed split buses for less than R500k.
And let's not forget the reason why prices have gone the way they have: in the past we didn't value our split buses as much as the poms or the aussies did, so we let them all be bought by foreigners or exporters. In the 1990s, when I started buying every split I could find, no one else wanted them, but the exporters were already busy. In the 2000s all we could do was bitch about exporters and UK prices (read the forum archives), but none of us showed up with the cash to keep the buses here. Now that we've lost most of them and the local demand is rising, it is inevitable that the prices will go sky high.
I noticed that in the 2000s, the poms were also buying up aussie buses until there were hardly any left in Oz. Now aussies are buying buses in the UK and prices in Oz seem even higher than the UK.
So maybe you're on the right track by thinking of importing Bruce. (Although I wouldn't want to try to import an old car to SA, for obvious reasons ...)
These days, I can't afford to buy VW buses, so I have to satisfy myself with buying Mercedes-Benzes!
