DO you think GN's are going

[Red Regal T]

Originally posted by TurboDiverArt
Hope that slow a$$ 396SS comment wasn't aimed at me?

I was going to say 427, but remembered a friend who sold his 67SS 396 Chevelle CLONE (ran at least 15s) for $17,000. Not aimed at you. I'm an equal opportunity chevy owner offender.

Hemi Cuda's don't have bowties? That's true but doesn't have any effect on me selling a Buick either.

 

[87_WE2]

There have been some really excellent points made in this thread. I, for one, don't believe TRs will ever command the $$$ of the late 60s/early 70s musclecars:

1. Still a fair number of very low miles examples owned by folks who would otherwise be collecting butterflies. This inventory is not likely to be depleted anytime soon.

2. The 80's sucked large, so who wants to remember them?

3. Turbo V6s have limited appeal. They really are an odd, niche car. For example, don't expect HEMI collectors to jump into TRs anytime soon.

So, my advice is, drive 'em and enjoy 'em. Don't put them in a mayonnaise jar, and don't gut them for racing. Drive them and enjoy them - which is the essence of their appeal anyway.

Couldn't of said it any better. Cause that's what I bought mine for to enjoy. Miles = Smiles!!!!

 

[TurboDiverArt]

Couldn't of said it any better. Cause that's what I bought mine for to enjoy. Miles = Smiles!!!!

Damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where you'd dig this thread up from? 5 years is a long time bro! I had long forgotten I'd even posted in this one.

Art.

 

[batmansbuick]

Let us not forget our cars have the tagline "Fastest US production vehicle in 1987" something we take for granted and now that I think about it, haven't really seen in print in all the articles about TR's in the past year.

Anyway, I think this is the hook. Thats why I wanted a GN after high school. And I think its something other similar cars don't have (Impala SS, Monte). I think that fact will help add value to our cars.

 

[notacarlo]

"oh I remember those" is going to become very familiar in the next years. Maybe the value will not skyrocket, but I do see them "holding" their value well.

I have heard many times, from Monte, Cutlass and base Regal owners that the TR is what they really want.....too expensive, can't find one....etc.

Gimmie 10 minutes, I can find you a TR in good shape. So I think it was a "in the moment" comment. When you stand next to one, you want one. If you don't ever see them, you don't want one.

These cars are reserved for people in the know.

My $.02

 

[TexasT]

I have to say, I don't care what the 'value' becomes. I'll never sell mine. I'm the guy with it stored. I bought it new, drove, raced, and thrashed the pi$$ out of it from the day I took delivery. I truly love the car but life got in the way.

I do think that it is a car with "Legendary" status. Even the young guys I know with the Evos and Subys know what it is. As time progresses inflation moves on and things become more/less desirable. As the income level of the people that grew up in the 70-80's rises, and produces some for discretionary spending. Things they want will get out of control by our standards. It's all about perception. Only time will tell.

 

[t-topflyer]

I may have glazed over it reading through this thread which has a lot of good points. Where would the mileage cut-offs be for these cars? In other words, what is considered ultra low mileage, low mileage, average mileage, high mileage, etc?

 

[acoen]

In the 50's, my brothers used to buy model "A's" at a nearby auction for between $40 and 75, then sell them at a small profit. As I grew older I saw those old cars being bought by guys older than me. Guys that got laid for the first time in one of those back seats Guys with memories that these cars brought back to them in their middle and old age (when they had the bucks to build a hotrod or restore a vintage car their folks used to drive.)

A few years ago those pre 1940's cars were selling for very high prices. Now, they are not bringing half what they brought. Why? Because those guys are rapidly dying off. I don't share their memories with the cars and couldn't care less about owning a pre 1940's car.

We are in the hayday of interest for the post 1950 through early 1970's cars right now. Interest will wane for all but the most sought after cars of that group. Guys who lived their teen years in the 1950's and early 60's have high interest in the 1950-1973 cars now. When their mid life passes into old age, these cars will peak in value just like the model A and model T did.

I expect the same cycle of depreciation, and then, a renewed interest in our TR's and TTA's as a younger generation hits middle age. When you see interest wane a bit on the pre 1980's cars is when interest will peak for our cars. Its a few years away....

My two cents on this issue.

Dead On!....My thoughts exactly. My buddies often talk about how long the muscle market will continue to grow. The 60 and 70s cars will be going strong as long as there are Baby Boomers able to drive them....Many Gen Xr's also have a love for the 60s and 70s cars but they also drooled over the the 80s GN too. The Gen Y folks will be the ones that kill the Muscle car as we know it, much like the Gen Xr's and younger Boomers have little interest in the pre 50s cars. The GN will have its day in the sun...Just give em' a few years.

 

[Epitome]

Aren't lowish mileage 1986-1987 GNs already worth more than their original sticker prices? I know of one that sold for $35k with 85 original miles on it and that was over a year ago.

 

[87GNSteve]

I think part of the current GN ressesion is due to the G body DUBS/Giant wheels fad.
This will in time reverse itself when the fad dies and the cars are more scarce because alot of the examples are being used as daily drivers and highly customized.
The fad is renewing popularity, but dropping values because the average John Q Public dosent know a turbo car from a carbed 305.

 

[GNVYUS 1]

GN's are going up, with only 26k total GN's made from 86 and 87 they sure are not going to go down in price. The T Type guys already know they are not going to see the same $$ mile to mile as the GN but they are also seeing a nice increase in value.

Take care of it and it will take care of you. I just got mine appraised for $26k with about that much in it ( not including purchasing price of $8k ). I won't see $26k from the sale right now but it would be higher than $18k like in 87.

Can't say much for any other car from the 80's.

And though I do own a 69 GTO because it is cool, one reason why people go nuts for those cars is because they never could afford one when they were younger ( youth revitalizer etc ). 40 years after the 86-87 GN's came out will probably have the same type of people trying to gobble them up. Not nearly as many, but the same principle of why they must have it. ^^^^ Goes the price.

 

[turbofish38]

Personally I dont think you can compare a TR to a 60's era muscle car as far as price and value go. First off the market has been whored to heck from the"more money than brains" crowd.(code word Barrett-Jackson). I can remember complaining to a certain "Muscle Car" magazine about the lack of coverage of Reagan era hi-po cars. The response I got was, who gives a chit about a computer with a cat.converter! People who spend 6 or 7 figures for a Hemi dont give a damn about anything else. It's their game and we weren't invited to the party. More or less with those words and that tone. As we all know rarity dont mean chit in a world dominated by Chevys. Why have a 1 of 1035 turbo Limited when you can have a 1 of 140,000 MCSS with a stroker 383 and NO2. Dont tell me "its worth something because it's rare". You're looking at Mr.Rare. I've got 2 of the @3500 Cosworth Vegas made. I've got 1 of the 1000 or so 82 GS1000SZ Katanas made. I've got 2 Wankel powered Suzuki RE5 motorcycles. I've got a 1 of 5,512 86 GN. Rare yes. Unique yes. Worth anything? To somebody stuck on whats hot and trendy or mainstream, no. I'll be damned if I let some "outsider" dictate what my cars are worth. To much blood,sweat and gears put into them to really care about anyway. I plan to take mine to the grave anyway. If anything the prices increase due to attrition. One of those you just dont see them anymore type of deals. Every 20 year old car is like that.

 

[regal-nut]

I thank that we all look at things a little diffrently but, this is the way i see it.I thank that we got to look at the facts and compair.
1 Olds
2 Buick
3 Pontiac
4 Chevy
Now they all made a G-Body of some sort. Olds-cuttlas Buick-Regal (all types) Pontiac-Grandprix and Chevy-Monte Carlo. All good cars. Nice body styling.I dont think that it is fair to compair to the 60's and 70's street rods. We need to look at things this way. For instense you have a Pontiac Lemans and the GTO. Well no one wanted the lemans and saved the GTO now every one wants the lemans. (take 2 asprin and good luck) I think that it is the same way with the Regal and the Cuttlas and all the G-body's . So that is my 2 cents for now.

 

["Turbo-T"]

In the 50's, my brothers used to buy model "A's" at a nearby auction for between $40 and 75, then sell them at a small profit.

A few years ago those pre 1940's cars were selling for very high prices. Now, they are not bringing half what they brought. Why? Because those guys are rapidly dying off.

Man I hope you are right, I'd love to be able to afford another classic muscle car.

Who would have thought that the first gen camaro's would be so valuable, and what makes them so??? It's certainly not due to limited numbers. Chevy made them by the millions!!! and there are still 10's of thousands of them around, but they're still fetching high $$$ compared to their orignal cost (which was relatively low even for their time)

Like the LS6 Chevelle's. Saw won go over the auction block a few months back for over $140,000 Give me a break! There just aint no Chevelle in the world worth that kind of money, but somebody just had way more money than sense! Course, the pretty girl hanging on his 60+ year old arm, egging him on probably had something to do with that

Dave, I've always thought the reason the 69 Camaro and the 70 Chevelle are so expensive was because the Camaro in '69 and the Chevelle in '70 came with the largest engines and the most HP, the Camaro being offered with a COPO 427 or the ZL-1 aliminum block 427 and the Chevelle with the 450 hp 454.

Otherwise notice none of the other years had that much power and aren't selling for as much.

Bottom line, if you are going to restore a car, restore it cause you love it, not to make money (cause you probably won’t make as much as you think)…

Ditto, but try and tell those who think there's a fortune to be made off of restoring them for profit.

In the early 80's you could get almost any 70's muscle car dirt cheap, now you are seeing that same trend with 5.0's, iroc z's and TR's but for a different reason. people didn't sell off their muscle cars cause the didn't realize potential. It was the gas prices. I don't think the two situations are comparable. The cars aren't getting cheaper cause of fuel prices cause thats not a big issue with Fuel injection cars.

I thought the 80's were when gas stabilized.....???? Now in the mid 70's, yes the gas crunch caused people to ditch their muscle cars in favor of Pintos and Vegas. Now with gas at $3 a gallon I'd think a TR would start looking better in terms of something that doesn't require a daily fill up at the pump, like most muscle cars require.

They (chevy sheep) all think they're Monte Carlos.

Hey now that's not necessarily true. I'm a Chevy guy myself but I know a Monte from a GP from a Cutlass from a Regal. It has nothing to do with if you're a Chevy guy but more the less "do you know what it is when you see it" guy.

 

[dgoodhue]

One thing different about Muscle Cars and GN (this applies to some of current collectible vehicles), is not a lot of people stashed away Muscle Car with low miles. Some end up that way but not in the numbers like GN's were collected. A lot of muscle cars were daily driven, raced, and not a lot of them were kept factory original. A lot of time the low mile vehicle were the one heavily raced, because they were a bear to drive on the street regularly, so they ended up with low miles.

Suposedly the 78 Corvette Pace Cars was one of the first new car that was collected when it was new. I think this in someway this ushered in a new era of collecting. Mint factory originals are more desirable than restored version, but in the case of most muscle cars their isn't much supply of mint factory originals. I think the focus in newer collectibles has changed towards mint originals because of the supply.

This has also increased the supply of GN, because less % of GN were lost vs most muscle cars which were not initally collected by a majority. GN have been heavily modified raced so that has reuce the number of mint originals, but their are still a fair share of these examples. For the 86/87 GN They may have made 27,000 of them, but the number left after 20 years is probably a lot higher than most muscle cars of the 60 and 70's with similliar production numbers. Ofcourse rare doesn't equal desirable anyways.

 

[regal-nut]

As for as the 60's and 70's street rods go i hope that GM does not do what they are doing now. That is the repop of the 67-68-69 camaro. From what i understand that this is going to hurt the prices of the oringinal cars. The cars will and are to have a title stating the it is an 67-69.So who is to say that it is a TRUE 67-69. I just hope that GM will not do this to the G-bodies. I thank that if they do it this will kill the prices.

 

["Turbo-T"]

I will agree with Regal nut, the new Dynocorn bodies are nice but IMO hurt the value because you're not buying an authentic 69 Camaro, but rather a phony.

The only nice thing is you can save yourself a ton of work and labor by buying a fresh new body to start with as opposed to trying to perform surgery on a cancer car...or better yet, having to pay to have your body work farmed out.

They should somehow make the dynocorn bodies somewhat slightly different to the point of where you have to know where to look to determine if it's a real 69 Camaro or just another kit car 69 Camaro.

Because as I see it, this is already introducing a whole new way of cloning one of the super cars (Z/28, SS, Yenko, COPO 427, etc.) and then passing it off as the real Mc Coy.

 

[regal-nut]

, having to pay to have your body work farmed out.

_____________________
How many people like us that like to do body work as a hobby and get a little bit of cash . Uncle Sam dose not get a cut for a person doing it as a hobby. :tongue: How many people will get to say hay i got to the work and bragg about it. That repop crap is got to go.

 

[Agent86]

These cars have a lot of appeal alright. To the African Americans as well!!! Black people love these cars, and I think that that's what is the big difference between our cars and the 60/70's Muscle Cars. Yeah, Black people also love the older Chevy Impalas/Chevelles etc, but this is why the Turbobuicks can't be driven anywhere easily without having to babysit, or really keep a good on these cars. They have an appeal for 20-24 inch rims, and this is what helps me sometimes look at my car and think that's it's worth as much as it means to me, as the Brothers too- Hey, I'm not predjudice at all, just telling it like it is.

What also makes these cars not worth so much are the following-

-Too many people put too much performance parts on these cars and beat up on them. Alky Kits, Heads, Bigger Turbos, Front Mounts, Gauges, Screwing with Wiring, Not installing Gauges Correctly,
-Not having Speedometers working right or calibrated at all, due to much higher Stall Converters, and Bigger Tires.
-Overtuning these cars, (not really knowing how to tune these cars in the 1st place)
-Putting too many miles on these cars in the first place
-Rollcages and cutting into the frames
-Personalizing these cars too much, then selling them for cheap devalues the Turbobuicks

So many people have these cars turned into racing cars and many people don't even race these cars. PUT THEM BACK TO STOCK if you want them worth something!!

Keep these cars! Yeah, that's right, keep these cars. There's way too many of these cars floating out there, and people constantly are selling these cars. Many people let go of them for way less than they thing they're worth, or what they're truly worth.

And some people overvalue these cars too. I feel that the lower mileage cars are worth a pretty penny, but then again, make truly sure that they truly are lower mileage Turbobuicks in the 1st place! There's a lot of scammers in the Turbobuick world. Some people even sell these cars for lower mileage after they've turned over 100k! Ouch!

 

["Turbo-T"]

These cars have a lot of appeal alright. To the African Americans as well!!! Black people love these cars.