Hello, I have a friend that needs help selling his 1982 Recaro Trans Am. He puchased the car from the original ower in 1984. it has approximately 78,000 miles on the car.(speedometer is not working) It has been stored for the last 7 years and has not been started. Mice got into the trunck area and the headliner is loose but the car overall is pretty nice. Can someone give me an idea of the value for this car. I will try and attach a couple pictures so you can see the condition. dont hold your breath though cause I am new to this and it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to post this. Thanks

 

Well...for starters the wheels aren't original, but otherwise it looks nice. I would check out eBay for estimates to its value. Possibly try posting this in the 'History/Restoration' section...might get more interest there.

 

Thanks for your help. I spoke to the owner and he said he tossed the originla wheels because he thought they were ugly. Who knew?

 

Well, I agree with him, but those wheels are worth big $$ now as they are the correct Knight Rider wheels, so replacing them will be tough, for those who want a bone stock original car.

 

Hello, I am trying to help a friend sell his 1982 Recaro Trans Am. he purchased it from the original owner in 1984. The car has been indoors its entire life and has been stored the last 7 years without being started. The speedo does not work and the mileage is estimated around 78,000. Mice have gotten into the trunck area and tore up some of the carpet. The headliner is a bit loose where the T-tops come together. other than that it is pretty nice shape.
If you have any input on value I would appreciate it.

It is located in Minnesota.

Also, this friend did not like the look of the original wheels so he got rid of them. The rest is original.

Thanks,

 

I tossed some of those ugly original wheels to a guy in Germany... for $2,750

Do you want to buy it for yourself or to resell? The resell market for any car is very low due to economy... I saw an all black Viper with 5k miles go for like $35k on ebay...

Someone who is looking to do a KR replica may want to pick it up...

Raf

 

Yes, those Europeans LOVE these cars. I sold a set of TRASHED PMD's to a fellow in Switzerland....$800 USD by the time they were on the plane!!

 

I am not interested in the car myself I am just trying to help out. I looked at completed litings in ebay and there was one for 6K but nobody bid on it.

Does anyone think he could get $3000.00 to $3500.00 for it? I am just guesssing.

 

I just checked out the 6g one. Its not so hot. Other than wheels, yours look to be all factory and in at least as good a condition. Even with the slightly higher mileage, it is a better deal than that one, in my opinion. Its only factory once. You should post some more pics, but I don't think 3-3.5g is out of the question if it truly super nice inside and out...you just have to find the person that wants THAT car.

 

Put Knight Rider in the title and give it a whirl!

Raf

 

I think somewhere in the 2k to 3k range. If I were selling the car, I would put it on ebay at 2K with a reserve of $2500 and see what happens. without seeing it in person, its hard to say but not having the original wheels really hurts the value, Its going to cost $1000 just to replace those, if you can find them, assuming someone wants to buy it to restore.

 

A recaro that decent doesn't deserve to get turned into a KR replica. Those who want to build KR replicas should start with a base bird and turn it into a KR copy. Or even a base camaro for the sake of building one. I like the show but decent Early TAs are already hard to come by so don't do that. Anyway I say roughly 3500 easy.

 

No offense, but personally, I hate reserve auctions... case in point, reserve is $1000, but auction starts @ $100... no other buyer but 1 to jack up the price and the 1 buyer who maybe willing to pay $1500 can't bid past $100 cuz no one else has...

I recommend start the bidding at the least you are willing to take for the car... post on a Thursday nite, sell for 10 days, auctioin ends 2nd Sunday nite when statistically, most people are home bidding... go posts a few messages on the KR boards, free advertising...

As for a car not deserving??? It's got 80k miles on it... my 91 Formula has never had it so good with all the stuff I've done to improve it... It's not a museum piece...

Raf

 

Thanks everyone for your input. If you have any more information please let me know.

 

Here is another Recaro... minus wheels and maybe seats...(It says Recaro in ad), it's not even @ $3k... and it has a ton of new parts compared to the stock 78k car... Just as a comparison...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...3AIT&viewitem=

Raf

 

If I didn't have my money tied up into my '82 T/A project and '84 T/A parts car I'd hooking up the car trailer and heading to Minnesota!!

 

If the reserve is $1000 and the first bid is at $100 any bid put in at the reserve or higher, automatically will take the reserve off and the now second bid will be at $1000.........

So any bid at or above the reserve will take the reserve off and the item will be sold.

 

The link above for that 82 sold for about $3500...

As for reserve auctions... My point was that 1 person must bid starting bid (below reserve) & if no other bidders bid, that one person can't bid any higher because no other bidders are competeing & raising the price...

Case in point, Here is an auction for some hubcaps...
The "starting bid" is $1.
I checked the bidders, same guy twice, both opeining bids shown were $1. (we know technically that isn't true, because ebay won't let you bid same amount twice-& Ebay won't show high bid until auction is over)... Lets say the first time the guy bid $100. The second time, $200... Because no other bidders have laid down a bid, price stays at starting price of $1...

So I went and bid $1.25 (next increment up)...

As soon as I did, it said I was out bid, up to $1.50.

Nope, the other bidder wasn't there waiting to bid another .25 higher than me, Ebay did it on his behalf... It didn't use his high bid and say, "ok, his max bid is $200, we'll start auction there", what happened was that since his bid was higher than mine, it brought it up to the next increment of .25 to $1.50. (and so listed in bidders, because now his 2 bids show $1.50 insted of $1 it did before I bid).

Try it and see...

That's why I dont' like reserve bidding... He may be willing to pay $400 for those caps, but if no one else drives up the bid, he stays @ $1.... and can't win the auction...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...3AIT&viewitem=

Rafael

 

Even with no one else bidding once the reserve is met the price should go to the reserve price.

You should not need a second bidder once your bid reaches or exceeds the reserve.

If mronlybidder is the only bidder and the reserve on the set of four caps is $450.00 and bidding starts at $1.00

1st Bid of $100 ebay shows the current bid amount as $1.00 and time
2nd Bid of $200 ebay shows the current bid as $1.00 and time along with the above
3rd Bid of $300 ebay shows the current bid as $1.00 and time along with the above
4th Bid of $400 ebay shows the current bid as $1.00 and time along with the above
5th Bid of $500 ebay shows the current bid as $450.00 and time along with the above and now the $400.00 high of the 4th bid


So the bidder should see this and you would see his name with the **** in it.


mronlybidder(83) US $1.00 Feb-10-09 10:00:00 PST

mronlybidder(83) US $1.00 Feb-10-09 11:00:00 PST

mronlybidder(83) US $1.00 Feb-10-09 12:00:00 PST

mronlybidder(83) US $1.00 Feb-10-09 13:00:00 PST

mronlybidder(83) US $400.00 Feb-10-09 13:00:00 PST

mronlybidder(83) US $450.00 Feb-10-09 14:00:00 PST

 

I understand. So, what you're saying, if I had bid $450 out of the gate (or anytime for the auction), if the reserve was below that, bids would jump to reserve, regardless of anyone else bidding that high?

But "normal" style auction happens if 1 person or more bid below reserve? Where's the handbook for all this?

As you stated, see all the hoopla involved with reserve auctions?
Not to mention the seller watching, then lowering reserve if low bids, all the emails about "what's the reserve????"...

That's why I prefer a simple, "bidding starts here" auction.

I do use ebay quite a bit... 500+ Posetive Feedback...

Rafael

 

I found this out by accident.
I put a bid on a Non-Daytona 500 30th Anniversary Trans Am Jacket that might have been at around $100.00 and I put in my bid of $500.00 thinking it would go to $105.00 or so. When it went directly to $300.00 I called ebay and they explained it to me.

 

Just from what you have described so far, and the pictures, I'd say it might be worth about $3000 to the right person. Looks well optioned to me, with its power antenna, trunk hump carpet, power mirrors and windows, defrost, rear wiper. Those were all optional. My 3500-miler has just power windows and defrost, out of that short list, for instance. I can't see what other options it may have. Other things you have (like t-tops) were optional too, but standard equipment for a Recaro. If you have 4-wheel disc brakes, which you should, that is a good selling point for a 1982 as it's rare. Most Recaros got it, but not all. A potential buyer who wants to restore it will offer you significantly less money since you're missing the rare wheels and extra-rare hubcaps. Those wheels can be had for anywhere between $100 and $1000 and would need to also be painted gold on the outside surface. The hubcaps, you can almost forget it. There are 2 rough hubcaps on ebay right now in a hodge-podge set of 4, but the KITTsters are all over them. Other rare parts are of course the Recaro seats which I would treat with lots of TLC, the door handles, and a little more.

If your friend has any sentimental feelings towards the car and would like to see it survive intact with the next owner, I strongly recommend that you do not sell it with the keywords "KITT" or "Knight Rider", because if you do, it will be instantly chopped up and made into one of those fantasy cars, and its Recaro Edition value will vaporize into thin air. Consider that they made 116,000 Firebirds that year, 53,000 of which were Trans Am's, and only about 2,000 of which were Recaro Trans Am's. You have a top 2% car or top 4% car, depending how you look at it. I would try to sell it to a serious Trans Am lover, not a KITTster. If it gets hacked up into a KITT, that just raises the value of my Recaro a little more! Your car, your decision. Good Luck

kizz

 

The type of hubcaps you need (part 10017890) are shown in this auction (the ones with the gold stickers) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=170300347103

and the type of wheels you need (part 10017891) are shown in this picture, with and without cap installed:

 

& if the guy is not sentimental about his car he's selling and would rather put more $$$ on the table for food? Put Knight Rider in the title... Not every Kittster is chopping up their firebird... I paid $3500 for my Formula with 150k on the odometer... It has since had tons up upgrades to the suspension, Spohn subframe connectors, after market LCA's and Panhard bar, Poly bushings, wonder bar, STB, Bilstien Struts & Shocks, Jet Hot Coated Hooker 2055's & flowmaster 3" exhaust, GM Notchback, Pro 5.0 shifter & the list goes on...

I've got a list just as long of stuff in the closet waiting to go on it too, ATI Procharger, MSD digital ignition, APU1 system, all new GM weather stripping, etc...

Again, my car has never had it so good...

If you have 3500 mile car & want to keep it stock, I have no problems with it... but an 80k car... I'm sure it's being sold cuz the person would rather have the $$$... sell it to those willing to pay the most for it...

My dashborad, which is a work of art among the various sellers... cost twice as much as the car did... Some of us are doing a nice job on our rides...

Rafael

 

luvofjah: "so in addition to posting my own opinion, I feel I should take it upon myself to shoot down the opinion of the guy who disagrees with me, because my opinion is worth slightly more and it should be re-considered."

that's funny. Go ahead and make a KITT out of this rare Pontiac. You think it makes some difference to me? Nope. I would never buy that car anyway. It's easier to go KITT than it is to restore. Soon enough there will be no more to go around. "aay.. waaht haaappened!? all american cars look like japanese jellybeans!"

 

I wouldn't quite say that.... You made a general comment about Kittsters being chopped up, fantasy cars, etc...

I stated my car, A Kitt replica doesn't fit into your generalization...

& lastly, I was telling they guy how to make more $$$ with his auction... Go ahead, crucify me...

Raf

 

luvofjah, my measure of success as a thirdgenner includes trying to save some rare Pontiac heritage when the opportunity arises, and informing a newcomer to the best of my ability about what it was they asked about, especially about a car like the one canecesa has.

Perhaps your measure of success as a thirdgenner includes ripping off Europeans by charging them ten times market value on some wheels, and then bragging about it with a smile? Because that's what I saw further up this page. That's cool too.

canecesa, anyway I hope your friend does what's best for him. This car is rare for an enthusiast of Recaros like myself, but not as desirable to the open market as you might think. Most people just don't care about them. There are still many of these Recaros out there that show up for sale occasionally, some of them in better shape than yours and some of them in worse shape (usually in worse shape). You have an average Recaro Trans Am which could be restored to a great original car with some TLC and some time/money. Or if you want some quick bucks in this dismal economy, advertise it to KITTsters and kiss its Recaro-ness goodbye and enjoy your money. Either way I think you will get between $2500 or $3500 depending on how many pics and how much detailed info you provide in your for-sale ad, if the car doesn't have any major issues other than what you said. If you're looking for, say, $3000, then start your ad at least at $4000 and work downwards. You never know when someone will come along and just pay the $4000 without too many questions. Good luck,

kizz

 

My suggestion is the argument stops before the thread gets shut down..................
Anyway, I am sure both people have their points. I have a friend who found what I believe was a Recaro that was in terrible shape. He brought the car back but in his own way. It now has a 406CI V8 with a sportscar racing wing, C-5 rims, and is lowered. Basically, a race car for the road. If I remember he kept the interior as best he could. If I find the article, (it was in HPP) I will post it. It was nicely done, and he was 16 at the time and he took it to the strip running a 12.43 at 111 mph; I am not sure if he has improved on that. Better a thirdgen than another honda. I stand by my number of 3000-3500.

Here is a youtube video of the guy I am friends with and his car. There are before and after pics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UperMcPHFQU

And here is his car featured in HPP
http://www.highperformancepontiac.co...fications.html

 

The "value" of something is simply what someone is willing to pay for something...

As for your comment about me ripping someone off, I had an auction that started way lower than the finish price... the European bid by his free will... they were valuable to him, I didn't rip him off... It was his choice to pay what he did. 2 of the 4 wheels I sold were still in the box and 1 had the GM part number on it, so they were new...

I don't mind informative opinions, but the degrading ones I do...

Good luck on your sale.

Raf

 

I really appreciate all of your help with this. I think you will see the car on ebay in a couple of weeks. Thanks again!