Shifty, I need your help!
Second, I just want to say that I've been on Edmunds Town Hall off and on for quote a while (4 years or so?) and I've been extremely impressed with both your general automotive knowledge and especially your quick, logical, accurate assessments of present and future used and classic car values. I've lost track of the number of times I've referred people to you and this board when checking on car prices.
Third, I've got a big fat problem. Not so much a problem but a general disillusionment with the current state of affairs when it comes to used Mustang prices.
About 2 or 3 weeks ago I decided it was time to get another toy, having been without one for several years due to the financial oppression inflicted upon me by college. So now I've got a little money and I want to have a little fun. I decide I want something I can drive on the weekends and take to the local drag strip without being embarassed. I decide on a Fox Body Mustang because of their modability, low price, and the fact that I've helped two of my friends do complete teardowns and rebuilds so I know quite a bit about the mechanics, and they owe me some help.
So I start poking around eBay, autotrader, stangnet and the Corral. Much to my dismay I see most of the asking prices seem to have been decided on after a hard night of heavy illicit drug use. To put it bluntly, these people are on crack (Can I say that here?). Let me give you an example or twelve:
http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=134955
Problem 1: LX Hatches are probably the LEAST desirable Mustang
Problem 2:Who knows how many miles are on this car. Many people selling Mustangs seem to think if its got a newer engine and a coat of paint then it doesn't matter if its got 250K miles on it and a salvage title.
Problem 3: 347 strokers are notorious, as is obvious from reading the ad and one of the replys, for oiling problems and the extreme rod angles are considered by most to be a very bad idea for anything other than a purpose built drag idea.
And the guy is asking 10,500 dollars for it.
Heres another:
http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=139464
122K miles and its an ex-highway patrol car. The patrol car package carries a small list of desirable options but it also carries with it the knowledge that this car was probably beat to hell for 118 of those 122 thousand miles. Plus the damn thing still has the spotlight and the pushbar on it. Who in their right mind wants anything to do with those?
It gets worse:
http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132765
1989 5.0 Coupe. Certainly a nice paint job. Nice long list of repairs, which IMO doesn't really add to its value, just keeps it from being lower. Lower than average miles. Mostly stock. 10,000 friggin dollars!
Shifty, my wants are simple. I'm not looking for an ultra low mileage pristine one owner car. All I want is a 89-91 5.0 Coupe with a 5 speed in decent condition with under 100K miles for $4,000 or less. Preferably 3,500 or less. Am I wrong in thinking that that shouldn't be at all difficult to find? Or are they right and any Mustang that doesn't have a salvage title or over 150K miles is automatically worth at least 5 grand?
I've always been under the impression that the absolute BEST you're ever going to do selling a modified car is average retail plus 50% of the price of the parts, assuming the mods were done well and that you get back none of the cost of labor. And thats absolute best. In most cases its going to be more like 25%, if not less, if not negative in some case (I personally wouldn't buy any 302 stroker, or anything that has nitrous on it, or anything that has aftermarket forced induction, not that I really have anything against any of these things, I just think theres a good change that you'll be taking someone elses problem of their hands and paying them for it).
So what do you think? Am I wrong, or are they?
Please, restore my faith in the world of used cars.
Comments
My cousin races a 5.0 that has 250K miles. The engine has never been apart.
It was on the market for quite a while. The only serious drawback to this car was it needed a new top about $1400).
I was unhappy with the price I got but then again it's nearly 30% of what I paid for it in 1990.
That makes it the best used car I ever bought, FWIW.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
First of all, "asking prices" can be simply and clearly defined as this:
"Asking prices are an exercise in First Amendment Rights".
Other than that, they have little value in determining what the market really is.
It is ONLY the paid price that counts, and we, as spectators, often cannot know from the asking price what the car actually sells for:
So your question really might be:
Why do people ask so much more than published book values?
Two answers to that I think:
1. They expect the market to bail them out for money perhaps foolishly spent, or for lots of repairs they did.
2. They do not know the market, or don't care about the market, and may not even want to sell the car. If they wanted to sell it, they'd price it realistically. So they are perhaps trolling for naive buyers. Well, fine, it's a free country (more or less).
Another glitch in answering your question comes up when cars are heavily modified, because you can't really use the published price guides.
How well was the work done?
Are these quality parts and materials?
As you can see from the above, two modified cars of identical miles and year could vary wildly in price depending on how the work was done.
LAST of all, you are shopping for what everyone else wants--- a cheap, well cared for 5.0 that hasn't been beat to death. Given that most have, and given that even being well cared for these cars are not god's most durable machines in terms of body, trim, suspension (after all, they were not expensive cars when built), I'd say you have a long search on your hands.
With a car like this, my advice is always the same: find the best car you can afford and buy it. Don't buy a beater to fix up, you go to your grave trying to get your money out of it.
But people will always buy the best from you when it comes time to sell.
Anyway, I too would love to have a 5.0, but I'm discouraged by the prices I see. My thoughts are to look for a convertible. Oddly enough, they don't really seem to bring higher prices than any of the closed models, and they seem more common.
Also, the 94-95 cars are the same basic platform, as I'm sure you are aware. Prices for those cars seem to be still be set by the used car market.
Always remember: 5.0 Mustangs are not rare. Ford built a million of them (literally). Your car is out there if you're patient enough to find it.
There are a lot of parallels between appraising classic cars (as you do) and appraising commercial real estate (as I do). Some market participants just don't get it. I'll look at the listing prices of other comparable properties. But, what I generally hang my hat on is what similar properties actually SOLD for.
Also, some classic car owners will bring up their car's "insured value" as a basis for determining it's "market value". That's a false comparison. For most classic cars (at least the one's I can afford), these two terms are not synonymous.
The coupes are probably worth close to the convertibles because really the coupes are a much nicer car to drive. The 5.0 convertible chassis are pretty loose by modern standards and hitting a rough patch at high speed can be quite a shock. Welded in frame stiffeners would help (I don't like the bolt-in types).
But hell, if a tight clean one is $5,500 and a rattier car is $4,000, go for the expensive one even if the price seems high. It won't seem so after you've spent lots of money trying to square away a neglected car.
Mustangs of this era suffer the same fate as MGBs used to. They end up in the hands of young people without a lot of money except in those rare cases.
'63 Corvette Split Window Coupe
Mercedes Gullwing coupe
I think this trend will continue for certain types of cars once collectors become more and more aware that the coupe version of a particular car has driving advantages over the flip top.
In europe for instance, they do not usually vintage race the cabriolet variants, they race only the coupes, so there you may find higher prices for the coupes as well.
This was a clean, unmodified, adult-driven car with relatively low mileage.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
And anyway, there's nothing to say they are "paying" high prices, only that people are asking high prices.
88 Mustang 5.0 Coupe. 58K original miles. 5 speed. Newer paint. Fairly unmolested in terms of motor, its got some basic bolt on performance parts but nothing major. Paid $3700, a very fair price in my opinion.
Ran a carfax on it and everything checked out.
As for whether private sellers can be liars, well, Ebay tells THAT story pretty well I think.
Be careful and you'll be fine. Don't trust anyone in a car deal, not even me.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Car #1: It says that the car has a 347 stroker engine with 4k miles. Thats like getting a new car. This isnt just your average 302 but a 347 that someone probably put a lot of work into. Seems reasonable, Iam sure for about 8k it can be bought.
#2 Ex Police car- These cars are in high demand. Everyone wants to get of of them for their aftermarket parts. Shift kits, etc. That seems a little high in price though but not by a lot.
BTW, I have access to carfax so if you want, I can run a report on any vehicle that you might like. Just email me the vin @ amrant@yahoo.com
You can buy a GT 5 speed and with very little work and money campaign a weekend racer. The 5.0L is also fairly indestructable, and if you do blow it up you can get a rebuild kit or a rebuilt motor for pocket change.
It looks like the ads you saw were definately enthusiast cars. Which can have a bit of "I LOVE my car, so it is worth more", added onto the price.
Good luck on the one you have found.
No, it's like getting a used car with a rebuilt engine. And a rebuilt engine that is notorious for oiling problems at that. A car with a rebuilt engine IS NOT like a new car. Some people obviously think that, and thats part of the problem. You see people posting how many miles are on their rebuild and NOT posting how many miles are on the car, like it no longer matters. Like even if the car has 180K miles on it its suddenly worth the same as a car that has 50K miles on it just because its had the engine rebuilt. Newsflash, that ain't how it works. Theres a hell of a lot more to a car than its engine. Personally I'd rather have a 150K mile engine in a 30K mile car than a 30K mile engine in a 150K mile car. 5.0's aren't difficult or expensive to rebuild, so a 150K mile engine doesn't bother me. A 150K mile chassis, on the other hand, does bother me.
"I'm of the opinion that ex police cars are run down tired cars. You'd be better off just buying the aftermarket parts from someone else who paid so much for an entire tired car, seems to me."
Exactly how I feel about it.
Regardless, it doesn't matter any more. I got a cherry low mileage 5 speed coupe and I didn't pay a whole hell of a lot for it. Virtually nothing compared to what would have been asked for it on corral.
I police car HAS to be the best car to get. A police car would never be diven over the speed limit or in any wild, unsafe, or unlawful manor. ;-)
I agree, buy a regular one, upgrade it yourself.
Is there really much dfference nowdays on a police version??
You don't know cops that well. My mom's a cop, and her job is mainly supervising the beat cops all day, many of whom are my age (early '20's). Her department uses a mixture of Impalas and Crown Vics, and she handed out some very serious reprimands when a rookie cop issued a Chevy got into a debate with a rookie cop issued a Ford over whose police car was faster, and decided to settle the matter John Force style.
I've heard as a rule of thumb, for police cars, double the mileage on the odometer to get a rough "average" civilian car equivalent. My Gran Fury had about 73,000 miles on it, so that's about the equivalent of 146K miles out of a regular passenger car.
I probably put about 20-30K miles on it delivering pizzas too, which was probably every bit as grueling as what the cops put it through! It now has about 118-119,000 miles on it, with a bad water pump. I'm about to strip whatever goodies will swap onto my '79 NY'er, and sell what's left.
It's actually a pretty quick car for the era. In 0-60, it's about as quick as my '00 Intrepid, although the 'Trep is more responsive at higher speeds. I think the Fury will top out at a higher speed though...something like 125-130 mph, whereas I'm guessing the 'Trep would have a rev limiter. I don't know though...I've only had it up to 100! Excellent brakes, too.
Other problem areas on the Fury were power windows (both burned out on the driver's side), the fuel pump (every smallblock Mopar I've owned needed one of those, though), radiator (Richmond police must've run straight water in it for awhile), and valve covers, front main seal leak. The car was retired though, when the #8 camshaft lobe went bad. The place I bought it from threw a 318 out of a wrecked '88 Diplomat with about 75K on it. Supposedly, there was a run of bad camshafts in '89, that, if your 318 got stuck with one of the bad ones, it would fail between 70-90,000 miles. If it didn't get one from the bad batch, it ran until you got tired of the car and then sold it or junked it.
As for police cars nowadays, I don't know if there's much difference or not. I know an Impala LS, with the 3.8 V-6, has the same brakes as the police versions. They did this to save on redundant parts. Still, according to a recent Motortrend test that pitted the Impala up against a Taurus, Accord, Altima, and Camry, the Impala's disks were the smallest, at least up front. It was equipped with 11.0" disks, whereas the lighter Accord had 11.1", the Camry and Taurus had 11.6", and the Altima had 11.7". I'm not sure what size my Gran Fury's disks are. I've heard the benchmark was the old R-body (Newport/St. Regis/big Gran Fury) that had massive 12.75" disks.
The Gran Fury also sounds different from the Dart or the NY'er (don't have the Newport anymore) when it starts up. The others sound like they'll keep starting up reliably forever, but the Gran Fury just sounds tortured somehow. It also catches quicker than the others...too quick, it seems, sometimes.
Does this ring a bell? I was thinking Sunbeam Tiger, and maybe he had the date wrong. Or maybe an Allard with a Ford engine?
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The French car was a French Ford, I think called the Vedette, and later became the Simca Vedette. But they didn't make any roadsters that I'm aware of.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Another one was an old Gilmore Special racer from the 30s that had a hopped up engine from a 1923 Chevy!
These are the kinds of cars you usually only see in museums.
"Ardun" comes from Zora ARkus DUNtov, the guy who made the Corvette interesting.
Modesty forbids me from asking for credit for post #33.
If it's a modern car (new Mustang?) you may need to post this in our Repair & Maintenance Board, in "Transmission Traumas" topic.
This Board is only for "classics", in the loose sense of "old cars".
http://home.mchsi.com/~nkloper/P0003369.JPG
http://home.mchsi.com/~nkloper/P0003372.JPG
On a related note, I didn't realize what a pain it was to import a car from Canada to the US.
It is a pity that GM never built the late-model Camaro equivalent of the '93 and prior Mustang coupe. It seems to me that they have a superior drivetrain (even now) but the Ricky Racer styling is really grotesque (and don't get me started on Firebirds with that hideous scoop deal).
I'll tell you one thing...if I ever get one of those cars (not a bad idea really, I like the looks and parts availability), I'm going to see about improving the brakes.