It seems that on autotrader, a lot of 3rd gens are selling for more than 4th gen LT1 cars these days.

Makes me wonder what my car is worth. Judging from autotrader prices I'd say my car is worth about $5,000 or so...what do you think? Any good websites that offer "classic" car prices other than nadaguides.com?

1991 z28, 123,000 miles, 350 TPI. Pretty much all original (no mods).

 

I think it's just your car...lol! For real though I am searching for a 90 to 92 350 TPI camaro and they are real hard to find a decent one. I can get GTA's anywhere from $1500 on up I seen a pretty clean one for $3500 but the camaros are all over $5000 for some reason? I think I might just get that GTA and call it a day!

 

I just did mine and its 700 more than last year, wtf, lol

 

Classic car values are actually dropping, if you look at at the trend as a whole.

I wouldnt pay more than $1500 for an original F-body, unless it was a rare GTA or IROC convertible. i think the price hike you are seeing is justfied by the investment thats in it.

More people are modding these cars up highly and selling them. Also keep in mind, the prices you see on autotrader are of the cars that DIDNT SELL. You dont know the real value of the sale. When was the last time you paid full tag price on a used car?

 

As a Camaro and Firebird guy I have to say they still ain't worth crap! Check eBay and the trader magazines, you can list it at any price, but it all counts on who is willing to pay what. Look at how many have been for sale and not sold, check the red 1991 Formula 350 on here, nice car and the poor guy can't give it away for 4200, that is a damn bargain! Andrew

 

I've definately noticed the prices of 3rd gens go up. $3500 used to be the average list price, but it is up around 5k from what I've noticed. I would say depending on the mods and condition an all original car will bring bigger money. When I sell a car I usually set the price a little high just to see what kind of response there is, as long as I'm not in a hurry to sell.

 

I purchased my car 3 years ago for $3,000. There were quite a few 91-92 z28's on autotrader during that time, most of them for sale in the $5,000 - $3,000 dollar range as I remember.

As I look today on autotrader, there are very few 91-92 z28's for sale, and most of them are priced over $5,000. Seems like the price has went up to me.

 

I dont know about f-bodies as a whole but I do know that TTA prices have been going up in the last few years and we've had record sales to back that up.

I took a quick look and there seems to be alot more clean Irocs/Z28s for sale than clean Trans Ams/GTAs, and I dunno where you find clean GTA's for $1500 cause I'd buy a whole bunch of em. A quick look at Autotrader found 2 GTA's for under $2K, one was a project car in need of body work and the other has 186K miles All of the nice clean ones with less than 75K miles are advertized much higher.

 

Yahoo autos...I found one with 40k original miles for $4500 very very nice...I seen a few for $1500 but they had a billion miles on them but the bodies and interiors was very nice, good project cars! On average though I see them for about 3 or 4 thousand with under 100,000 miles...I cannot find a nice camaro with the L98 for under $5000 no matter how many miles are on them!

 

what do you think a 92 Z28 T-Top, HO car with 56,000 and some change (original miles) would go for

Thanks

 

$4500 is quite a bit more than $1500, and yahoo autos is done by autotrader so same cars. From a quick search there seems to be about 5 times as many 87-92 V8 Camaro's for sale right now than 87-92 V8 Trans Am's, but more of the Trans Am's have 5.7L engines. I personally wouldnt buy any of the Trans Am's and GTA's for under $5K but there are some nice ones in the $7-10K range. There are however some nice Camaro's under $5K, including a clean 1988 IROC white/grey leather, LB9/auto, t-tops, and 67K miles for $4900.

If your really looking for a 5.7L Camaro for under $5K I found two, the second one has a salvage tittle but looks nice and priced at $2700.
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...Id_search=true
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...Id_search=true
There may be others but you'd have to contact the owners scince alot of people dont list the vin numbers.

Steve

 

check on craigslist.org they go for practially nothing check out this 89 formula
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/m...502806855.html

 

There are definately some deals on craigslist check this out, high mileage, but pretty much the drivetrain every 3rd gen'er wants.
http://baltimore.craigslist.org/car/490476006.html

 

the prices go up and down all the time. right now any used car is over inflated. the prices are slowely comming back down. remember a few years back you could find nice 90% rust free runners with just over 120000 MI with bald tires, bad brakes (nothing major though) for under $1000.00 now these same cars are getting 3000.00 some times more

in the past few weeks or so they have been going back down though.

but as you can see 98/97 grand am's are getting 3000.00 or more (very bad shape) it just shows how little value the muscle cars have

 

ThirdGens have been selling higher than 4th gens for a couple years now. The Value of any SOLID ThirdGen has gone up significantly in the last couple years.

Most of you are taking about the most highly sought after cars,........ GTA's, 91-92 Z's, Ect. Of coarse these cars are going to sell for a premium. This body style has turned "Classic" in the eyes of serious car collectors and restorers. They were brought up in the back seats of these cars and have MANY memories - like the current buying public. The 80's Camaros and Firebirds represent something to that generation and those people are Willing to WORK and PAY to get it back.

With all that in mind - a car is only worth what someone is willing to give you for it. If your willing to sell out 3500-5000 you will find a VERY nice car. If you will not pay more than 1500 than be thankful if it has a valid inspection sticker, If you found a Z for 500,....... you got lucky.

Here's MY perspective: I work on a LOT of these cars. I Live in the northeast. In past years I could pick and choose what car I wanted to rebuild or crush. These days I'm lucky to find a car WORTH restoring. Junkyards used to have more parts in them than I could carry out....... Now I'm lucky to find 2-3 'clean' parts in each car. (IF they have ThirdGens at all.)

Good Luck everyone !

 

I like that.

 

Thanks and you mean $4k.

I had it on Ebay and it only got up to $2800, I know cars always go for low on there because of being sight unseen but gimmie a break!

If I had another car to compare it to I would... but this past month there have been no 91-92 Formula 350's for sale in the Autotrader in the country..there are currently 15 Trans Ams(some 5.0) with an average price of $7188
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/search...sfyc=&systime=

I find it hard t believe someone is going to pay $7k for a 5.0 T/A while my Formula 350 sits in my driveway for $4k.

 

KBB says your car is worth $2600
http://www.kbb.com/KBB/UsedCars/Pric...uizConditions=

I take it you don't agree with that?

 

To be frank, yes the values are going up here is why:
1) Inflation: as the dollar goes down the government gets richer because their debt is lower, What we have is worth more in relationship to the dollar.
2) Supply: The supply is decreasing slowly and surely, the nice examples are getting snatched up the rusty ones are getting turned into parts cars or getting scrapped.
3) Demand: As the supply goes down the demand goes up because even if the number of interested people stays at a constant the number of availability goes down therefore the demand is going up.
4) Nestalgia: Many people who owned one or wanted one in the 80's are wanting another, there is some instance of this.
5) Asking price: Even if a car does not sell at an inflated price, an inflated price does artificialy increase the value of other cars. Two scenarios: For example: There are 20 3rd gens avaialble in your area (wtihin 50 miles) and the highest price you see is $10K you really don't want to spend that much but there are 19 other cars with a lower price, so why waste your money on a $10K when there are plenty of others going for much less. OR you see a nice GTA where someone is asking $20K you know its not worth that much, but in your area there is only one other car that is anyting similar to what you really want, and they are asking $10K. The $10K looks like a steal.

here are some interesting NADA figures for you:
1982 T/A $7750 --- (Recaro) $8060 --- (Knight Rider ED?) $7700
1983 T/A $9438 --- (Recaro) $9815 --- (Daytona) $21,000
1984 T/A $9180 --- (Recaro) $9563 --- (Anniv) $17940
1985 T/A $9500 --- (Recaro) $9978
1986 T/A $8200 --- (Recaro) $8500
1987 T/A $6700 --- GTA $7000
1988 T/A $3800 --- GTA $4075
1989 T/A $3925 --- GTA $4300 --- TTA $18725
1990 T/A $4225 --- GTA $4600
1991 T/A $4825 --- GTA $5225 --- T/A Vert $5725
1992 T/A $5325 --- GTA $5675 --- T/A Vert $6050

THats an "Official pub"

I remember a year ago the 1987's were right where the 1988's are now... As the cars age they gain some collector status. Looking at the numbers I do not know many poeple that would take an 83Daytona or an 84 Anniversary car over the 1989 TTA, so the accuracy is probably not 100% but its all we have and its more accurate than KBB.

John

 

Looking at the NADA site, one option in the list, not standard on the 1983 Daytona Pace Car would be the Sunroof (T-Tops). If this is the case then it would max out at $17,010.00 (IMHO). If this is true then the 1984 15th would max out at $13,800.00 since the T-Tops were standard. Just doesn't make sense that a 15th would be worth less.

These values are more of a guide for insurance puropses than an actual selling values.

A 30 mile CFI/Auto DT500 went for $26,400.00 at auction and the 159 mile CFI/Auto was bid to $33,000.00 and was a no sale. I would think a hardtop car would be worth more than a T-Top version like in the case to the TTA's.

The South Dakota 15th with 500 miles can't even get a bid of $15,000.00 on e-bay. Go figure.


Check Applicable Options and Equipment:
305 V8 Engine (came standard)
4 Cylinder Engine (N/A)
4 Speed Transmission (question manual or automatic)
6 Cylinder Engine (N/A)
Air Conditioning (came standard)
Diesel Engine (N/A)
Sunroof (option)
Trans Am Recaro Package (came standard)

I am one of the few to rather have my 83 DT500's and 84 15th than my 89 TTA that I sold in 1991. To each their own.

 

Classic cars are holding their value pretty well, I can't think of a better time than now to get in the classic car market in my opinion. You will always find someone who wants a particular car if it is in good condition. If you are talking about daily drivers, then yes, they will go down in value. Take a Firehawk for example, if you used it as a daily driver it would be worth substantially less than a Firehawk with 150 miles on it, but the Firehawk may be worth more than a really clean Formula or base model Firebird because of what it is. Prices for cars will naturally rise and fall for various reasons:
1. Supply and demand (how many made and how many are still around)
2. The type of car it is (is it a base model or top of the line?)
3. What options ( is it rare?)
4. Color (certain colors can have an effect say black because of Knightrider)
5. Culture shifts (Novas were economy cars and are now very desirable)

Third gens are slowly disappearing as a whole and the kids who saw them in high school are grown up and have decent paying jobs now... say about 8 to 10 years ago you could get a Third gen that was clean for about 3 to 4 grand. Now there is a demand for rwd V8 cars and we have 'em. They wont be $50K cars for a while, and when they do, you will have spent that kind of money for maintenance, storage, etc. on it. You will never get rich on cars but if you play your cards well and make good sound decisions, you will find that your hobby won't cost that much after all.

 

1982 T/A $7750 --- (Recaro) $8060 --- (Knight Rider ED?) $7700
1983 T/A $9438 --- (Recaro) $9815 --- (Daytona) $21,000
1984 T/A $9180 --- (Recaro) $9563 --- (Anniv) $17940
1985 T/A $9500 --- (Recaro) $9978
1986 T/A $8200 --- (Recaro) $8500
1987 T/A $6700 --- GTA $7000
1988 T/A $3800 --- GTA $4075
1989 T/A $3925 --- GTA $4300 --- TTA $18725
1990 T/A $4225 --- GTA $4600
1991 T/A $4825 --- GTA $5225 --- T/A Vert $5725
1992 T/A $5325 --- GTA $5675 --- T/A Vert $6050

wow those prices are a freakin joke.. an 82 ta worth almost 8k? lol I wouldnt pay more than 1500 for a perfect one.. I wonder where who ever made these prices up gets their crack from.. must be good.

 

1) EBAY is NOT the final word on the value of ANY car, its an insult to anyone to suggest that a car sold for so much on ebay therefore its worth that amount. The reason is VERY simple, as mentioned before ebay cars are 99% sight unseen, the buyer has no idea what they are buying anyone who thinks that buying ebay cars is OK might be in for a shock when they are taken for a ride. MOST people are smart enough not to buy ebay cars for this reason...
2) THe prices I got from NADA are probably a few things.
--- NADA prices like any other book price is a Generic estimate they take the car its age, its inital value, and then look at recent sales from dealerships and also recent sales of similar cars and then crunch them into a formula to get the book values. In all honestly I would be very interested to find out exactly how they calculate the values.
--- The prices are probably not private sales, we all know that a private sale typically has nothing to do with what the car was sold for. I know too many people who will buy a car for an amount and then report to the Secretary of State that they bought it for less to cheat the government. By using dealer information they can actually geta better feal for what the car is worth because they can look at actual sales prices.
--- NO MATTER WHAT we think about the prices in the book it is a true indication of what things are, even if they are over inflated the price of the cars will eventually reflect the artifical price because of the fact these are published numbers from a respected source.
--- The prices I listed were ALL the HIGEST number I looked at
--- THe fact that some cars have engines and transmissions which were not available to the car is only an indication that someone was sloppy.

3) A Firehawk or a TTA at this point will almost always outsell a regular Camaro or Firebird at this point they are too scarce and sought after not to.

John

 

And the v6 cars are worth next to nothing... I got my (clean) base model 3.1 1992 Firebird with 98k for $800!

 

Everybody says demand is what drives prices up,and how RARE a car is, My GTA is 1 of 1,659 BLACK GTA,s produced in 1989.It is 1 of 1700 that had GREY LEATHER.Only 8,470 produced total that year,cost was $20,778 that year for a GTA.I have $25,000 invested in the car after buying it ,restorying it for 7 years.TRYED to sell it on E-BAY,RACING JUNK.COM,several different sites,for $15,000,everybody wanted to trade stupid stuff,so I decided to keep it untill it rust to the ground.
People dont care about 3rd gen FBODYS(EXCEPT FOR SITES LIKE THIS),all they care about is how CHEAP they can get one,And you guys know this is true.
The GTA,s,there was fewer built,but the price is low on these cars,because of Quality that GM put in them.They will never be worth what a 1969 CAMARO will be,and you know this is true.
By the way,my car started out 7 years ago as a car sitting in weeds,completly striped to the bone,Only thing that was left was the RPO sticker in the console and the dash ,no glass,didnt even have the doors,I found every stock part to put it back to a GTA and still couldnt get what it was worth!!! And out of 1,659 that was black,and had GREY leather(Beechwood Leather IS MORE COMMON),how many are still on the road? IS that rare enough?

 

I just Kelley Blue Booked my car and it came up $200 LESS than last year when it was worth $2600 which is what i bought it for. Now its worth $2400 but I have over $3000 into it. So I'd say I can get around $3-3500...but I WILL NEVER SELL MY CAMARO....EVER...ILL LIVE IN THIS CAR BEFORE I LET IT GO...that being its my first car I bought...and I always told myself...I WILL NEVER SELL MY FIRST CAR.

 

i have been offered ALOT more than what i paid for mine back in 2002, i have put some $$$$ into it getting some OEM parts, but i paid right at private party blue book for a low mileage fully loadaed 89 RS, probably was in less good condition when i got it than it is now, but either way i been offered more than i paid for it, but as I H8 WWD said im not selling mine, it may not be my first car i ever owned but i know all of yall know talking to your dad or some older fellow, they will say, "if only i did sell that car i had when i was you age" well there is my reason not to sell, but it seem that an all original low milage exelent condition or restored 3rd gen can go from 4k up to 12k i have seen, but like said before its all about what the car is worth to the buyer, some classic cars sell on auction for dubble or tripple the blue book.

 

I bought a 1989 iroc-z conv. on ebay in hope of the value going up in a few years i paid 10k for it but it only has 45k miles on it and the paint is perfect and same with the interior im going to hold on to it for a while still but someday i hope i can sell it for more

 

I paid 8000 And was offered 12000 1 year later ....

So what exactly does that say?

JOhn

 

i buy mine to enjoy, not to sell later. Nice to know that it will go up in value and not down tho

 

i have many times more money into mine than it could probably ever be worth unless i won the lottery and i havent even really begun yet so it will never be sold or junked or anything, i will just meke it into a DD, i only need headers and pipes now, to drive it. any vehicle is worth whatever someone will pay for it

 

On the birds

From what I have seen '92 Cars are increasing in demand and value.IMO its due to people "Waking up" and "Smelling the coffee" scarcity of Formula's and Trans Am's on that low production year.

And with the '82-84 cars dealers and private parties have been asking around NADA value for nice examples.It's not strange for me to see a nice original 82 T/A with a asking price around $5000-8000

For exampe:While in Chicago earlier this year,I remember seeing a nice Non-W82 Black/Gold 84 t/a with 65K miles at a Pontiac dealer and they were asking around $8000 and sold it a few weeks later.


Dave

 

I have a original 85 IROC TPI about 95 percent rust free...rebuilt stock engine and transmission and new tires..what do you guys think its worth? also she has 135k miles

 

RARE does not mean DESIRABLE. Being one of XXXX w/ some option doesn't make it worth more, unless it is something to be desired.

Verts, 1LE, B4Cs, LC2 (TTA), Firehawks (can't remember the RPO code), Y84 (sort of), and a few other RPOs affect price. Interior color/material (outside of the cloth TTAs) really doesn't affect price much. A CLEAN interior is where the value is.

I don't believe demand is rising all that much. I think there is a slight rise, but I believe supply is what is affecting the pricing more.

 

 

If you marketed your car on carsonline.com I'm sure you'll have no problem getting 4k or even 5k.

I sold my 91 GTA for 7500.00 fairly quick.

 

how many miles and condition was your GTA? some guy came and looked at my Formula Friday and wanted to steal it for 3k, because "he wasn't expecting it to be that nice and that's all he had"

I told him

 

I buy and sell cars for a living. In order to do this I had to realize that these guide books are only a starting point. I use NADA and GALVES and sometimes i buy a car for thousands of dollars less then the books say I should pay. There are just way to many factors involved for these guides to be dead on. For instance get the value of a 07 Expedition from Kelley Blue Book, NADA, and Galves. Now try to sell it for anywhere near the value. I do love my job though. I got my 1992 Camaro RS 305 TBI for free! Just sitting there wasting away in a dealors back lot. Nobody wanted it because it doesn't have a title. I was nice enough to remove it for him and it went straight into my driveway.

 

F & Y bodlover has a dam nice car and a 350 engine and he can't get crap, what does that tell you? That thing is way better than most new junk out there for 30k.

I had my '91 Formula on eBay twice earlier this year with 40k original miles and in very, very good conidtion. On top of that I had the Ronal R15's on her and I could not get a single bite for 8k, that is sad! Andrew

 

People don't like 91 Formulas?

 

But I do! I love these cars, I would want one in every color and restored to perfection if I had the money. Also they would have to be 350 with manual. Andrew

 

I have the front and rear bumper to clone my car into a 91, But I dont really like the way they look too much. I might do it to be different though.

 

So this is your car? I had that pic and didn't know that was you.

I don't understand it either, IMO 91-92 Formulas(especially Red) would be easier to sell than most thirdgens, I mean how many thirdgens can you say with a set of wheels and tires look like a $40k car? 91-92 Formula's are sleepers.

 

I wouln't do it unless you plan on painting the whole car solid instead of the two tone...wouldn't look right.

 

Yep, I also, think it would be ugly in white. If I use the nose and rear bumper cover, It will be painted Bright red, Dark blue, , almost anything but white.

 

Yellow

John

 

I want to get a yellow '92 and put the Ronal R15's on it with the yellow trim. One day, but don't worry as I will post the photos the day I get one.

Back on this thread, these car's are still too new for the price to go up. It is 17 now and I say in maybe another 8 when the 25 mark hits we will look back and cry when we see how cheap we could have gotten more to stash. Andrew

 

I Definatley have seen that within the last 2 years even. I can't find anything under $3,000 anymore even though i live in the camaro/firebird capitol of the world haha.

 

I think we should keep in mind that its like a spring, THe less expensive cars, like the V6 cars and the I4 cars or the Base V8 cars are on the bottom, The more desirable cars like the L98, Convertibles, TTA, & Firehawk are on the top. When the Values of the MOST desirable cars (TTA & Firehawk) go up then the cars on the bottom are stuck in Molassas, they move up a little too but not as quickly. The gap between the most desirable and less desiarable will widen faster than a simple percentage calculation...

I know around here in MI finding anything with a 350 (originally a L98 car) less than 3000 is darn near impossible.

John

 

I dont plan on selling my car, so value isnt an issue, but i would like to see it go up, people refer to these cars as dime a dozen. Beings that thousands are abused/destroyed there arent many nice ones around, i think that should justify value going up on the ones that are around.