Thought I would share this
eBay Motors: Chevrolet : Camaro (item 4640484317 end time May-21-06 18:53:35 PDT)

 

Never registered and 1,400 miles on it... it is A LOT of trips around the parking lot

20,000 bucks, that seems to me like he got pretty good money for it.

 

I'll say

 

And then there are those that say the 3rd gens will never be worth anything and the values aren't going up!

 

Actually if you factor in inflation the original owner actually lost money on his investment. So what in for all intents and purposes is still a new vehicle the new owner got a steal, buying it for less money now then the previous guy did back then.

 

it suprises me to see how many extremely low mile thirdgens there are on ebay

 

20,000 For any decent car, especially a sports car with only 1,400 mi is a heck of a deal.

 

Considering everyone wants to pay less than $5k for a third gen says alot for that car. Here is the list price for his car in 88.

It had a retail value ranging from :
$13,490us - $15,025us.
The CAMARO IROC-Z (Coupe) is a 2-Door, rear wheel drive Coupe with seating for 4. It is available in 5 different variations with engines ranging from the 5.0L V8, 305-cid. - 5.7L V8, 350-cid.

I and you know it is worth way more but that is pretty good money for an 18 year old car. He should have held out for another 5 to 10 years and he would have gotten better money.

 

Yeah now is not the time to sell these cars. Another 10 years will certainly make all the difference.

 

Yea, not a good investment. If you figure generous and say it cost 13.5k in 1982 and figure today's worth, it netted all of ~1.7%/yr. Dont forget it wasnt useful as a vehicle, 1400 whole miles. Even a US Treasury bond will give you a bigger return than that with no risk.

 

New cars are not a good investment, period.

 

madmax,

Did you figure in car tags, insurance and sales tax? This will probably bring the return down into negative territory!

Someone needs to prepare a schedule showing the appreciation of a $15k thirdgen to $15k in the stock market and post it as a sticky.

Don't get me wrong I love my thirdgen, but they are not investments!
Some guys may make a buck or two buying and selling, but long term, they are financial losers.

 

Holy S**T!

I've only seen one Thirdgen nicer than that:

It was a 82 Trans am with 27 miles on it. for sale a couple of years ago.

 

A thirdgen member (LeonardS) has a '92 Z28 with 125 original miles, last car built at Van Nuys. (Check the thread "replacement injectors?"). Wonder what that's worth?!?!

 

I disagree that 3rd gens will not command premium dollars someday ... But I think the super low mileage ones will do the best. That's what I'm hoping anyway!

My '85 IROC has 3,780 miles. The '89 TTA has 1,206 miles. My lowest older car is an '82 Corvette Collector Edition with 450 miles.

They weren't good investments for the folks that stored them for 20 years, but I'm hoping they will be for the next guy ... ME!

Mike M

 

No, I didnt. Thats kind of a hard figure to gauge, tags and taxes vary by state and if its ever been registered at all, put on a non-op status, or whatever. But yes, that will make matters worse. I figured the best case scenario and even that isnt a promising number.

 

No normal car is a good investment. Anybody who buys one thinking otherwise is a dope. Take a 69 Camaro for example. They're one of the most popular cars out there, and excluding COPOs or Yenkos, you'll typically find nice ones for $40-100k. That's a major improvement over their sticker price of $3-4k until you think about a couple things.

First, chances are it cost them more than it's worth to restore it, but let's assume that's not the case, that the car is a surviving original. Even in that situation, if you put your $4k into the stock market in 1969, you'd have over $100k in cash now.

However, that has little to do with the fact that thirdgen values are starting to rise, and will continue to do so. We've already hit bottom, and now, although there may be less people buying the cars (i.e. demand), the quantity of nice cars is very low (supply), so prices will rise.

 

Yes they will and here is another good example.
eBay Motors: Chevrolet : Camaro (item 4648667520 end time Jun-18-06 18:01:27 PDT)

 

Hmmm ... That 1985 non-original paint/interior 10,000 mile car bidding that high makes me think I should run my 3,780 original (unmolested) '85 IROC to see what it might bring. http://mohotcars.com/iroc.html Maybe it is worth more than I thought?!

 

Thanks for looking that up. I agree completely.

Disagree completely. Lots of collectors buy a car because they admire it, but then they don't drive it much. That does NOT mean they get no utility or satisfaction from it. I don't drive my 84 Z28 much... but it gives me immense satisfaction to polish, look at and so on. So usefulness is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Jim, before I bought my IROC-Z, I was looking at 69 Z28s. I bought one in ok shape with a non original motor for $10k. The car needed work, but at the time, I was looking at around another $10k to restore what it needed to show quality. While looking for that car, I found frame off restored Z28s selling for $22k with the original 302 in it. I sold my Z28 because I couldn't see putting 10 grand into a non original car when all original restored was selling for the same price. I wish I bought the frame off restored Z. By the way, this was in 1999.

Here was what I bought....

 

Although the "investment" potential in cars over the long term isn't there, it's amazing how drastically the prices have shot up in the last 10 years or less, and that 69 Z28 is a good example. $22k for a stock, show quality Z28 in 99, and now you'd be lucky to nab one for under $40k.

I've always wanted a 69 camaro, but every time I improve my finantial situation, the damned cars keep staying out of my reach.

 

I guess if you want a 1 car museum then yea, its useful.

Cars are meant to be driven. I had a 70k mile car that everyone that saw it thought it was brand new. Miles doesnt equal worn out.

 

man that is the exact paint scheme ive always wanted in an iroc, that grey w/red. only thing i wish was diff is if it had the L69 305 HO engine with a 5 speed, someday when you sell, check me out. damn nice car man!

 

Joel, the HO carbed version (or even the TPI) would have been a better choice, but I couldn't pass on a basically new IROC in a silver on red combination. The buyer also specified an automatic, so it may be the slowest IROC ever made. But it sure is pretty!

Mike M

 

That car has ridiculously low mileage. Wonder where it was kept, and what the rust situation is really like.

 

Not to mention everything rubber on the car is probably dry-rotted, and it's probably got tons of oil leaks from dried seals...

Neat, but like said above, he's getting less than he bought it for... so what's the point?

What cost $15000 in 1988 would cost $24339.58 in 2005. I'd do 2006, but The Inflation Calculator doesn't go any higher haha

 

Cars are a Good investment WHEN:

Your not ONLY intestrested in the money, take a 5000 Camaro in 1967, and with inflation and a good mutual fund you would have more than $150,000 in an account today, without much problem. Buy that Yenko Camaro and still have money left over for insurance and Gas. The $5000 investment in 1967 cost you more than $20,000 in insurance too

A car is a good investment when you ENJOY the car, take it to shows, drive it on a nice day etc, the pleasure of owning a nice car is exilerating to say the least.

John

 

Most e-bay sales have slowed down but if you have one of these in great shape, time to list it, it seems like they are in high demand. WOW


eBay Motors: CAMARO IROC Z28 82-89 SHIFT SHIFTER PLATE MANUAL 5 SP (item 130005733188 end time Jul-16-06 18:53:19 PDT)

 

I think that people are tired of bidding on e-bay crap. What I have found is the parts that are perfect or near perfect bring in big bucks, but if its anything short of that they dont go for much. It used to be that a POS could sell well, but people are getting discriminating.

JOhn