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GN Car prices as of late ??

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ChrisF

New Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2001
Messages
227
Is it me, or are these cars not really fetching what they should be lately? I have been keeping an eye on Ebay's completed listings, and there are several nice 86 or 87 GN's with less than 100k having trouble fetching 8k?? Really?? A car that should be getting 10 or 12 k?

Opinions ?
 
its strange that u say that...bc ive noticed it as well...seems 7-8k will buy u the same car that last yr woulda cost u 11k
 
It's been this way for over a year. A great buyers market. Iv'e been "going to buy another" for a year. I'm like everyone else though. Scared to let go of any money. A nice low mileage car is now $10000 instead of $18000.
 
Lousy part is, it's not even worth painting mine @ this point, it's a nice car too. Reality is, if I want to cash out it's worth more in parts.
 
Lousy part is, it's not even worth painting mine @ this point, it's a nice car too. Reality is, if I want to cash out it's worth more in parts.

ya im in the middle of a full resto..and im wondering how much of the 7500 i have into the resto im gunna get back when i sell it.. car will look better then showroom after tho
 
well i agree im also restoring and im also seeing part decreassing in price as well. for in stance just bought a spolier set yesterday for 150. and the thing looks great. why are these car losing value or ar they just not really desired as much lately. well i heard a rumor yesterday from the guy i bought the spoiler from that gm toying with bring back the gn. with the release of the new TURBO T from buick in 2011. so maybe its that. i hope that once my cars done that the market for them will still be hight...
 
why are these car losing value or ar they just not really desired as much lately.

Prices got very over inflated before the economy took a dump. They are coming back down to reality now. Half of the problem is you look on Autotrader and some nut is asking $22k for a 100k mile car. Well the guy with a 50k mile car sees that and thinks his is worth $30k.

I'm sure if you looked at any other type of car (Camaro, Mustang, etc) they are all fetching less too.
 
It is a poor economist who buys a car for an investment. These cars should only be bought for entertainment. The money you will shell out (and you WILL shell it out) is the price you pay to put that big grin on your puss every time you get behind the wheel. The more exotic the car the bigger loss incurred by the builder. Look at GNBrett's car. That kid had close to 80K in the car, including purchase price, to make, maybe one of the top 10 turbo Buicks in the country. And he sold it for around 30K. I am sure he did not build this beauty for the sake of selling it and making a nice profit, but for the shear challenge and fun. I am sure he fully intended on driving it for quite a while. He was not under the illusion that this was a project of profit. Circumstances beyond his control, I am sure, is the only reason he does not still own it. If you buy for entertainment and not for profit you will enjoy these cars so much more.
 
Pretty simple, as a former President said, "It's the economy stupid!" When the general economy goes south it affects everything but what is affected most is high ticket "luxury" items like collector cars. The reason that restoring one is still very expensive is that individual items like a spoiler, gallon of paint, carpet, etc. is that the cost to make or find a replacement now is about the same or more than it was 3 or so years ago and the cost of someone with a lot of body/paint experience is still about the same. I'm sure there are some bargains out there on labor because demand is down, but most of the really good body/paint guys are staying as busy as they want to be on collision work from insurance companies. So it looks something like this: $7,000 to $8000 for a decent restorable car + $2,000 in parts + $4,000 to $5,000 in body work and paint = 13,000 to $15,000 (in my case quite a bit more) in a car that is now worth maybe $12,000.
When I budgeted my conversion / restoration, I knew that I would have more in it that what it's worth to SOMEONE ELSE, but that's o.k. I didn't build it for someone else, I built it for ME, and I love it. I have no intention of selling it but if and when I do, hopefully the value will be back up and if not, I'll consider the money "lost" as a better investment that going out and buying a new 2011 Regal for $35K, driving a car like anyone else that wants one can buy for a couple of years, then losing 15K to 20K when I sell it. That makes that 4K or 5K I will probably lose on my GN or TTA a "bargain".:biggrin:
Since my GN has been finished I entered it into 3 shows and have received 4 trophies, that is as that say, "priceless".:cool:
 
Back when i bought my car the TR market was at it's peak. If I would have held out and waited I could have just bought a nice car to jump in and drive. Instead now I have too much money into the car I won't break even unless it's finished. Now's the time to buy!
 
my father told me a few words of advice when i was younger and that was the sooner you learn that you will never make a profit off of cars the better off you are... buy it to enjoy it or you will never break out even
 
well im in the car buisness. i work for a dealership out in nyc. and currently the owner has wavied the dealers fee that we use to have. now if times arent bad i dont know what is. truth is these car still have value and they will increase to were they were once this econmy picks up again. take it from me i sold a 2008 ford mustang gt. for 13,777 2 days ago. and the guy didnt pay a dealers fee, he only paid DMV FEE AND NYC TAX. wow. what a bad place and time to live in. i just hope that when i pass my car to my 2 sons that it will be worth 3 times if not more when im gone.
 
Yep Yep...who cares about retail value...enjoy it!!!!...I look at my '87 regal conversion car that I bought in '04 for $2000. It had 187K miles (now 214K) and the car runs like a dream. So long story short I did a full Turbo conversion, which was quite expensive and the car has run consistant mid 11's for the last year.

The car runs great, is real quick, makes me smile, and that's all that matters. My conversion car has crappy paint and some rust, but ya know what,,,it runs the number and thats all that matters....:biggrin::cool:
 
It is a poor economist who buys a car for an investment. These cars should only be bought for entertainment.

Ditto. X 1000

I've had to sell a few of my project cars not because i wanted to but out of necessity...and I can tell you this....you almost never get back out of a project what you have invested.

My uncle even told me the same thing before I got into building cars....once you've done invested $XXXX into a car you might as well keep it for yourself.

That's why I still have my car....I'd gladly sell it so i can start investing in my other car....but no one will give me remotely what I have invested in my car...so piss on it I'll keep it and drive in circles around you, blow your doors off at the light with it...and make you wish you had one.

Why people have big dreams of flipping old cars for profit is beyond me. Not only is it a bad investment but it drives up the prices of old cars to where the real car guys can't afford them.

Now I won't say it's always silly to flip a car for a profit...once in awhile you'll run across someone that's dad/mom, etc. died and they happen to have left behind a non running 1970 Chevelle in the garage they'll sell for $500....because they're out of touch with what old car prices are...but they were told that's how much the junkyard pays for scrap metal...and it's nothing more than maybe a new set of points/tune up to get the car running again....then you might be able to buy, fix and flip at a profit...but this scenario doesn't happen very often. More often than not you have to spend big money to recoup somewhat big money.
 
You guys are right. I wasn't looking at mine as an investment necessarily, but what if I wanted something else? Cash out and move on? I have owned it nearly 11 years and have improved much. To get less for it today with upgrades vs what they were going for 10 years ago is a bit disappointing for such a special car. Moreover, I am seeing guys part them because they are worth more in parts, therefore making less of them left which might help my value later on, but that's just a shame.

I think the one guy was right, it's this damn economy.

If they do a 2011 version, maybe our values will come back up. I was hoping the cameo in the Fast and Furious movie would have helped...I have owned Corvettes and such too, and I know you have to pay to play. I just didn't expect to take a beating either. If that was the case I could have stuffed a 350 in a Regal, painted it and got 5k. It's criminal to see a lot of nice cars that cant even bring 5 or 6k on Ebay. Hell I bet you can get that for a nice IROC, and there is clearly no comparison to these cars.
 
When I was younger I owned a Pontiac GTO,then an Olds 442,a 66 Corvette Coupe, a 409 Chevy. Sold them all and watched the prices skyrocket AFTER they hit the 25 year old mark. Be patient. You are sitting on gold. I bought my 35K mile 87' GN new and still own it. It's a keeper......
 
GNs are way underpriced, at least by half. Yeah, I'll pay $25,000 for a nice 70 Chevelle big block, stock appearing, CLONE, :rolleyes: (a local example) and sell my GN for $10K. :rolleyes: You guys might as well forget about selling your turbo cars, so don't worry about what they're worth. Just know we have the better driver, runner, and looker.
 
I wouldn't mind seeing Buick have a renaissance, but I'm skeptical that anything truly special is in the cards. GM relegated Buick to the grandparents car in 1988 when they discontinued the GN. I always wondered why, almost without fail if you saw a Buick on the road that invariably it was someone older than 65 behind the wheel. (apologies to those of you who resemble that last comment). I have a theory that back in the day of post ww2 America that the status of someone who'd made it was someone driving a Buick... Well or a caddy I suppose. I dunno maybe Buick will try to make a run at the top, but I doubt it given that they just culled a few brands from the herd and kept those that were profitable and stable. Big business is scared as hell to take risks so I just can't see a drastic departure from their bread and butter operations. As far as prices go, if you want an investment buy... Well hell I don't know, but it's not a car and by all means don't change it from stock... Most people, strange as it may sound, don't want the car modified!!!! Gasp!!!!
 
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