Why are 3rd gens worth more than 4th gens? Options

[z28jeff]

I was doing an autotrader search for 3rd gen Camaros in the 89-92 year range and was surprised with the prices I was seeing. I only did a 200 mile search and got about a full page of Camaros in the 7k-10k price range. And a few of them were near 15k. Granted, they were the super low mileage garage queens. But come on, you can get a really nice low mileage LS1 car for that kind of coin. Most of the cars in the 7-10k range had between 25k and 50k miles on them. This is what struck me as odd. I bought my 94 Z28 6-speed hardtop last summer with only 28k in absolutely mint (and I mean M-I-N-T) condition for 7k. And as far as LT1 4th gens go, that seems to be the top of the pricerange.
Is this a sign of things to come? Is my car going to increase in value once the 5th gens come out? This doesn't make any sence to me.

This post has been edited by z28jeff: Dec 12 2006, 12:59 PM

[cccbock]

I was doing an autotrader search for 3rd gen Camaros in the 89-92 year range and was surprised with the prices I was seeing. I only did a 200 mile search and got about a full page of Camaros in the 7k-10k price range. And a few of them were near 15k. Granted, they were the super low mileage garage queens. But come on, you can get a really nice low mileage LS1 car for that kind of coin. Most of the cars in the 7-10k range had between 25k and 50k miles on them. This is what struck me as odd. I bought my 94 Z28 6-speed hardtop last summer with only 28k in absolutely mint (and I mean M-I-N-T) condition for 7k. And as far as LT1 4th gens go, that seems to be the top of the pricerange.
Is this a sign of things to come? Is my car going to increase in value once the 5th gens come out? This doesn't make any sence to me.

Going off experience, the 4th gens will probably go down in value temporarily when the 5th gens arrive. Its hard to say what market the 5th gen will appeal to, especially if they keep the independent rear suspension that was on the show car and the $30k+ starting price tag.

Cant claim to be an expert, but nice 3rd gens have pretty much crossed over the line into collector category.

1st gens are outrageous. 2nd gens close behind. That leaves 3rd gens for weekend collectors like me. 4th gens are still daily driver material, but even there, its hard to find nice 4th gens with V8's that don't have leftover holes where the nitrous used to be, a major mechanical problem or cigarette burns in the seats.

Whenever I see an Fbody for sale I pull over and look at it. The nice ones are getting harder to find (ie supply and demand)

I think it may depend on where you live as well. I bought a mint 87 GTA last year for $6500 (Florida) which I came across by pure luck. I have only seen maybe 6 or 8 3rd gens for sale in the past year that I would even consider buying. The rest are just one rod bearing away from being parked in the woods.

my $0.02

Bock

[axoid]

I think Bock is right. 3rd gens are more that likely going to be on a price upswing.

But I did a 200 mile search from here and found 40+ under 4 grand.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/searchresult...mp;keywordsrep=

[mitchntx]

The last 3 4th gens I bought, for CMC use all together totalled under $3500 ...

[z28jeff]

Yeah there are cheap ones all over the place. But what I was searching for were newer 3rd gens (89-92) with under 100k miles and in good shape. Good shape being no rust, good paint, minimal interior wear, and mechanically sound. I'm not even talking about L98 cars, just plain old 305 tbi daily driver stuff. I was expecting to find many of those examples in the $3,000-$5,000 range, but they seem to be worth much more. Mabey I'm just cheap. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/dunno.gif)
After I made this thread, I went back and did a search for 93-97 Camaros. Apparently, they're worth alot more than I thought too. I guess I got a better deal on mine than I thought.

[trackbird]

I was expecting to find many of those examples in the $3,000-$5,000 range, but they seem to be asking much more.

We don't know if they are getting those numbers or not, but they are asking that. I have a feeling that they are getting good money for many of them. If you had an '89 Turbo TA in great shape, you'd be sitting on a mint (it seems).

[robz71lm7]

When I was looking to buy an F-body I was originally looking for a 3rd gen. After seeing what a straight 3rd gen cost it made more sense for me to upgrade to a 4th gen. This was in '02.

[Joe Silva]

I saw the same trend when i last checked what my old 92'Z(traded up when i got my 97'SS) was worth. I was alittle shocked to see that my 97 had almost depreciated lower than what my aniversary car was worth!

[nape]

We don't know if they are getting those numbers or not, but they are asking that. I have a feeling that they are getting good money for many of them. If you had an '89 Turbo TA in great shape, you'd be sitting on a mint (it seems).

A member of a local Third gen club I'm a part of has a nice, heavily modded TTA and I think you'd have to pry it from his cold, dead hands. He also owns a nice, clean '92 (IIRC) GTA and a cool '91 Formula with a 383 and Vortec heads. He'll be sitting on a mint in a few years if he ever wants to part with them.

[CrazyHawaiian]

I don't understand it myself. The prices are going up for good condition/rare models but at the same time I see $500-$1000 POS junkers all over the place. But hey I'm not gonna question it, I'm getting ready to sell a good condition 92 B4C to fund my other projects. I'm hoping I can get a good price again, the last 92 B4C I restored and sold went for $7000 in '03/04, and that car wasn't even being advertised for sale.

[trackbird]

I think the deal is that once a car bottoms out at $1k or less in the Kelly Blue Book values (or the book of your choice), it becomes "worthless". At that point, it becomes worth more to a particular buyer than the book might suggest. For some reason, Corvettes never seem to bottom out like other cars do. However, other desirable cars seem to follow the Corvette pricing trend. It might also be a case of a car that you couldn't afford in high school/college but always swore you'd own one some day. Now, you have a job and the cars are "cheap" at $7k, even if it's an '89 IROC (and book says $850), you can afford it, so you buy it.

[patred]

Some of the people advertising on the thirdgen.org board seem to think their 3rd gens are on par with 1st or early 2nd gens. Your '89 Camaro with a 305 TBI is not a "classic"! There was a guy a few months ago trying to sell an ex-Players 1LE that was absolutely ragged to shreds. Basically an undrivable POS, but he wanted several thousand dollars for it.

There was one in the local Auto Trader last year (or maybe two years ago) -- GTA with no motor or transmission, and the guy wanted $4K for it. It was in the Auto Trader for a long time. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Pat

[trackbird]

True Pat, there's tons of overpriced "junk" out there. But, we've all seen a "time warp" 3rd gen that looks like it just rolled out of the showroom and has 25k on it that sells for something that seems insane at the time. Those are the top end of the cars I was speaking of. Then, there are the nice driver class of cars that still command good prices (from the right buyer in the right area) and then there's the junk that everyone thinks is worth the same money they saw a 25k mint IROC go for (Probably on the auction show on Speed Channel which already means it was overpriced...assuming they even do cars that new?).

Did you ever sell yours?

[patred]

Did you ever sell yours?

No. Hard to sell a car if nobody has ever even showed up to look at it.

Pat

[marka]

Howdy,

I think the deal is that once a car bottoms out at $1k or less in the Kelly Blue Book values (or the book of your choice), it becomes "worthless". At that point, it becomes worth more to a particular buyer than the book might suggest. For some reason, Corvettes never seem to bottom out like other cars do. However, other desirable cars seem to follow the Corvette pricing trend. It might also be a case of a car that you couldn't afford in high school/college but always swore you'd own one some day. Now, you have a job and the cars are "cheap" at $7k, even if it's an '89 IROC (and book says $850), you can afford it, so you buy it.

I also think that for a smart buyer, a very well maintained car is worth significantly more than a "normal" car... For instance, our '93 MR2 books for something insane (Just did it... $2195 private, $3281 retail). There's no freaking way I'd sell the car for that, since our car is in excellent condition and has stuff like a new motor, new motor mounts, struts, etc. etc. etc. I.e. anything worn out has been replaced and a car that old has a _lot_ of stuff that has worn out. And any other MR2 that someone has maintained very well is going to be similar.

So, if someone wants a nice 2nd gen MR2, their options are to:
1) Find an average one and semi-restore it.
2) Find a car like mine and pay me for it.
3) Find a car like mine where someone doesn't know what its really worth.

#3 doesn't happen enough to depend on. #1 is what you do the first time. #2 is what you do when you wise up.

Edmunds is totally out to lunch with this... They don't understand the enthusiast market in any way. Realistically, they shouldn't even put a value on cars that are 10+ years old.

Perhaps the same thing is happening with 3rd gens.

Mark

[Joe Silva]

I sold my MR2 for $6400 w/full Estock setup and 4.5 sets of wheels, it was in pretty good condition

[CMC #37]

Did you ever sell yours?

No. Hard to sell a car if nobody has ever even showed up to look at it.

Pat

The car is on the wrong coast, would not have lasted out West!

[trackbird]

Did you ever sell yours?

No. Hard to sell a car if nobody has ever even showed up to look at it.

Pat

The car is on the wrong coast, would not have lasted out West!

I'm potentially working on that..... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[K Shaw]

The prices for nice third gen camaros and fox stangs are going up at a pretty good pace. Around here nice cars are in the 3-7 range while the beat up high mileage cars are sitting right around the 1500 -2500 range.

kyle

[CMC #37]

Did you ever sell yours?

No. Hard to sell a car if nobody has ever even showed up to look at it.

Pat

The car is on the wrong coast, would not have lasted out West!

I'm potentially working on that..... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

Mmmmm?