I had been doing a search on B4Cs and noticed that a lot of people were for keeping their B4Cs all original. I have to say that with my '92 it's difficult for me to not keep it all original "Barrett-Jackson" quality anyway. In the past year I have had to replace the following: 8 injectors "only 2 were bad but I figured I'd replace them all since I was there;" intake gasket, cap and rotor, fuel filter, and the radiator cap. I didn't use genuine GM injectors, cap and rotor, or intake gasket set. Will this decrease the value of the car? These things are high maintenance items. When I got it, it already had a Dynomax cat-back, air foil, 185 degree fan switch, aluminum driveshaft, and K&Ns. Just looking for opinions.


I guess I find it high maintenance because I hardly drive the thing.


1992 B4C/1LE, 5.7L L98, white, full leather interior, and a whopping 7505 miles.

 

i wouldn't fret over it too much. it had to be done, right? well, as long as it LOOKS all original then i wouldn't worry over it, shouldn't hurt the resale value at all...

 

Strange that you only have 7500 miles on your B4C, must not have done any lenghtly police duty, supposetly these things were only sold to law enforcement, but a few probably got out. I don't believe using non GM parts will decrease the value, and any mods you decide to make should be reversible. When I bought my B4C I went through the brakes (very$$$) and did complete maintenance on everything so I had a baseline. My car has 97K on it and it runs perfectly, no smoke (except from tires) and no leaks. The only problem I had was the EGR valve and the power steering pressure hose. These cars will definectly go up in value judging by there low production numbers, 592 in 1991 and 589 in 1992 with the 1LE equipped cars being sought after. I always get offers on selling it so the interest is there. Just how much exactly they are worth is up to you and the individual wanting it, there is no real "Blue Book value" on these, they don't even mention an RS with a 5.7 TPI. If you really like the car I would keep it, they are fairly unique.

 

His car only has 7500 miles because it was one of the ones that did not see service and was ordered for a private individual. Of course it will not go down in value but it will take time before the price will really sky rocket. Maybe in 10yrs it will go up. Market sucks right now but S. you know its worth at least 12-14k. Just my opinion.

 

P.Haze92 is right, it was never in service. I was just looking for some different opinions. I just didn't want to worry about decreasing the value by burning off the original Goodyear Gatorbacks trying to reach my goal of running mid 13s with it. I would like to attain this with just bolt ons obviously, but I guess this topic belongs in another forum so I'll stop babbling.

Sean

 

any pics?

 

No pics yet, but I will get some. I have one of the lifter valley from when I had the intake off. I will get some of the car later and post if you'd like.


Sean

 

Nice internal shot. Did you find that marble i left in there!!!!!!!! LOL.

 

Haha, you so funny

 

:hail: 7,500 thats awsome I would love to own a car like that but I dont think that I would be as happy just looking at it, I love mine and shes old as dirt long way from tired though. I would need too have to one just to show&look at and one that I could drive. The funny thing is, is that my lifter valley looks just like yours (your int. ports are a ton cleaner) 90% of my car life was spent siting along the side of the interstate at idle this keeps oil temps up and deposits down. I will say that the only thing that the NSP really did for rutine mantance was a oil change every 3,000 miles. It still had factory cap,rotor,plugs, and wires when I got it at 137,000

did any of you guy's cars get taken care off?

 

i would at least get a spare set of rims/tires to burn off though. i HAVE heard of a car being worth more with original tires on it...

 

I have a '94 B4C as the driver/drag car (130k miles), I just wanted to drive the '92 around to help keep things running decently. The gatorbacks still stick good for 11 year old rubber.


Sean

 

But gatorbacks are all gone now. You better save them.
Send that car over here if you want it in the 13's. LOL

 

The answer to the question lies in predicting the likelihood that anybody else will ever care whether it's original or not. Personally, I seriously doubt that anyone will pay extra for an old cop car, just because it's "original". I would certainly not be concerned about it to the degree of driving around on 11-year-old Goodyears, which I felt were some of the crappiest tires ever to hit the pavement when they were brand-new (and I'm sure haven't gotten any better as they've dry-rotted).

But it's your car; do with it whatever satisifies you. If that means mod it to the moon, do it; if it means keep it so authentically stock that it could be in a movie about 1990 Gulf War Syndrome, then do that. I hope that if you decide to mod it, you'll do it in a way that brings credit and respect to these cars in the minds of people that see it; not a loud, obnoxious, jerry-rigged, no-A/C, wires cut everywhere, can't-keep-it-running POS like we see so many of. But, I doubt anyone else on down the road is going to care one way or another how "original" it is; and even if they do, that they'll pay anything extra for it because of it.

I don't foresee the price "skrocketing" for any of these cars. They simply didn't catch the public's imagination like the old 60s muscle cars did. That's especially true since the next generation of the same product is so much faster and all that, in stock form. These cars are the relic of a very dark time in automotive history; one of the first signs of recovery perhaps, but a long way from the cars from just a few years later.

Predictions that any given car will increase in value over time are notoriously bad; for instance, I recall back in the mid-70s, some one of the car mags "predicting" that in a few years, the F*rd Granada would be a sought-after collectible and hot-rodder's platform. Yeah right.

 

I think I will mod it enough just to run 13s, basically just bolt ons and call it good. I like to keep things looking stock.


Sean