Western Members - Is it me or are ls1 fbodies are finally gaining value?

So in the past ive owned plenty of ls1's...

Once in a while i browse clist for fbod's like many on here do... From browsing i can never find a descent trans am with somewhat lower mileage for a good price anymore. Everyone wants 10K plus for an 90K+ ls1 t/a (a4, and m6) from what it seems... Its not a bad thing to me by any means (since i own an fbody )!

Hell, i even see some clean tpi third gens (both camaros and t/a's) for for at least 5 grand...


Is the market finally going up for these cars or what? Personally, i think that it is! About this time last year i remember reading threads about people complaining about how the fbodies were dropping down in value drastically... hmmmm

Just a quick reference...

I bought a 99 trans am back in 09 with 140K miles in great condition for 4000 and another one for like 4200, in 2010... Both A4's

So does anyone else notice the same thing?
__________________

Depends, I see the LOW mile ones selling for cheap. The medium mile ones with tasteful mods for excellent kbb. And the high mile ones, pretty cheap. People maybe ASKING a lot, but i keep seeing those same ones on CL over and over. Most people are still looking for a killer deal tho, so I think that makes people post high so they can come down more.

Just my .02

Depends, I see the LOW mile ones selling for cheap. The medium mile ones with tasteful mods for excellent kbb. And the high mile ones, pretty cheap. People maybe ASKING a lot, but i keep seeing those same ones on CL over and over. Most people are still looking for a killer deal tho, so I think that makes people post high so they can come down more.

Just my .02

lately (6 months ago- present) i just see high mileage fbodies (mainly trans ams) being asked a fortune for what they are actually worth... I see supposed "ss" camaros being asked for 5500, but they have high mileage and 22 inch rims.. :nono: pass on that right away...

Hell, in 2008, i sold my 02 black t/a m6 with 58K miles in great condition with some mods and a proper dyno tune on here for 10.4... There is no fucking way i would pay 10-12K for a 98 ws6 with "corvette motor" that has 120K miles and an a4.... some people need to get their heads out of their asses i think

I think we're just clearing the "bottoming out" period, where the cars have been out of production for a while, a lot of the original owners have traded in, and they are no longer considered "almost new" used cars anymore. Over time, more get crashed/totaled or get high miles put on them. This makes the remaining low miles cars in good condition harder to find, and the people that have them more reluctant to sell.

Unless you want to drop $25-40 on a new mustang, challenger, or Gen5, what else can you get with an easy 300 rwhp under 4000 lbs and less than $10k?

Still, I would never look at a car as investment. Treat them as a hobby or an appliance. You will almost never make money holding on to a car if you calculate all the costs over time of storing and maintaining it, even if you sell it for more than you bought it for.

I agree, after a big drop they are leveling out, maintaining, or at the very least only dropping down much slower. If you bought really cheap when they hit bottom, it appears they are "gaining" value compared to what you bought it for. But don't confuse that with the F-Bodies as a whole going up.

Additionally, people can be delusional and ask for >$10k for their F-Body, but those are the guys who are still trying to sell it years later. What they ask for does not dictate value or sale price. It is rare now that a 4th gen would sell for over $10k unless it fits some low mileage rare model category.

It will happen, I am sure we will see them hoover. I don't think our cars will gain value till we are old lol.

I haven't seen them go up, though it wouldn't surprise me. It seems like everyone time I look at the classifieds, theres are half-a-dozen of these cars getting parted out. Most of the time, it's because the seller can get more for it in pieces than as a complete car. While GM did make a bunch of the LS1 cars, especially in '98 and '99, they didn't build THAT many. It's just sad to me.

Eventually, they're going to be a bit more scarce and that's when the value will go up.

I don't work in car business, but I watch enough Meacham and Barrett-Jackson on Velocity Channel to put forth a few observations. :D

What makes a car have collector's value?

1) Being the "badass" of it's era. The 60's muscle era started in about 1964 and lasted about 10 years, peaking in about 1970.

2) Being part of a limited edition or subset. COPO, Janko, etc. In the modern era, SLP, SVT, Boss, etc. Also having the most factory options that were available, even stupid ones.

3) Staying as close to stock as possible. Even good resto-mods don't command the price of a car preserved in original OEM condition.

4) Evoking sentiment in old people who now have lots of money, but probably didn't when they were little kids looking at these cars when they were unattainable.

So, if you're willing to wait until you're near death, put your car on jackstands under a tarp with the engine fogged, and never mod it, in a nice climate controlled storage area... or keep it nearly stock in mint condition as parts become more scarce, you MAY make out well.

I'd say the early LS variants are sort of in the later part of the early stage of the 2nd great muscle era. One could kind of argue it started with the LT1 cars of the mid-90s, got better with the LS1, and I'd say we haven't peaked yet as HP numbers keep getting bigger and more and more special factory editions are becoming available. I'm not sure when the peak will occur, I honestly thought fuel prices or insurance rates would have killed them by now, as they did last time.

If Direct Injection is not a huge power improvement, then I'd we're almost at the peak, and go get yourself that COPO Camaro or Boss/Shelby whatever, if that makes you happy. As for 98-02 F-bodies? I'd say they may qualify in the 4th category I listed, as a versatile platform that people liked to upgrade, but born too early in the era to be a "must have" collector car.

most fbodies for sale are over priced. most fall in between 4-6k. low miles ss-ws6 6-8. rare ones 8-15k. high miles $2500-4000 like 160k+

most fbodies for sale are over priced. most fall in between 4-6k. low miles ss-ws6 6-8. rare ones 8-15k. high miles $2500-4000 like 160k+

What he said

I hope this is the case b/c my car will be for sale soon , right after new injectors and full dyno tune

This is a question I asked myself when I got my mint condition 98 WS6 with 30K miles on it.
They made 1800 that year, how many are not crashed, still stock and low miles I don;t know. I do know that they won't go up in value for a while. I finally decided that I was going to go ahead and mod mine as reasonable as possible to enjoy it for those 20 years rather than looking at it as an investment. Anything you do to not make it stock even if it is better will lower a collector value. If you can save parts and return it to stock you may have future options. Major options that can't be easily undone seal your fate. I love the body style I have but would also like a newer hot car but can't afford one. I won't get my money back on the mods in cash for sure but perhaps in a smile on my face as my daily driver.

Lol, they're only 10 years old or so...they're no collector cars yet.

What you're witnessing is people who bought them for $15k or so 5 years ago and even though they have 100k miles on them now, they think they're still worth $10k.

People just want top dollar for their stuff in the poor economy for the most part too.

i'm not selling it, but lately, i've been getting approached with offers for my car. i tell people to go search around and buy them for cheap. if they keep pushing, i tell them what i'd really sell it for and they go away.

for some reason, people want these fucking things. i'm guessing they're probably current or previous fbody owners looking for ones in decent condition.

I think we're just clearing the "bottoming out" period, where the cars have been out of production for a while, a lot of the original owners have traded in, and they are no longer considered "almost new" used cars anymore. Over time, more get crashed/totaled or get high miles put on them. This makes the remaining low miles cars in good condition harder to find, and the people that have them more reluctant to sell.

Unless you want to drop $25-40 on a new mustang, challenger, or Gen5, what else can you get with an easy 300 rwhp under 4000 lbs and less than $10k?

Still, I would never look at a car as investment. Treat them as a hobby or an appliance. You will almost never make money holding on to a car if you calculate all the costs over time of storing and maintaining it, even if you sell it for more than you bought it for.

That's why I have 2 of them :devil:

they are worth whatever people will buy them for. A lot of that also has to do with the area. some areas have lots to choose from, and I doubt you can get top dollar for them, but in areas with few to choose from, people get more desperate and pay more for less desirable cars.

I sold mine for about $13k if memory serves, and that was just over 2 years ago. no way I would pay that much for another F-body, but then again I dont want another special edition or low mile car.

[QUOTE=fast01z28;16500358]they are worth whatever people will buy them for. A lot of that also has to do with the area. [QUOTE]

completly agree with this .... :D

I hope this is the case b/c my car will be for sale soon , right after new injectors and full dyno tune

why are you selling it??

it seems that (as usual) people want the performance, but don't want to pay for it. I'm happy to own a couple LS1 f-bodies: good old-fashioned American horse-power, for cheap


Posted from LS1Tech.com App for Android

I sold my 02 camaro ss A4 with 43k miles , the bad was it had a chipped winshield , no back seat and like 3 scratches very tiny ones for 12.5k I am not sure did I get decent money for it ? Or get taken ? Or good deal for both ends?

I am hunting for a f body M6 , 9inch rear , low miles, clean car so if anyone wants money I am looking guys !!

why are you selling it??
I need to take the next step in my life, gonna pretty much sell everything and start a new path, hopefully this path can lead me to a financal standpoint where I can build simething bigger and better later on
The camaro will be the last thing sold and if I play my cards right I may not need to.

Well here is my two cents worth...

Save for the cars that are still like new these cars have depreciated greatly from their original price and from what I see are now stable, assuming mileage and condition are consistent too. For example I bought my stock nice condition 98 WS6 with 30K miles on it and fairly new GSD3's for $10,000. It took me a long time to find this particular car. I was either finding cars with much higher mileage on them for much less money or very low miles for much more. I searched for about 8 months before running a reverse "wanted ad" so mine was not advertised and I thought a good deal at the time so bought it right away. It has probably maintained that price, not gained in value but not appreciated either. Still not bad IMO for a used car. I have also found the KBB and Edmunds used car pricing is not the same as what the cars are actually selling for, certainly this is the case in the market around where I live.

Perhaps in the future, perhaps 20 years (arbitrary figure) it might be worth more than it is now assuming it was in the same condition with the same mileage, meaning I would not be driving and enjoying it. My reasoning is based upon the traditional muscle car market and because of the low production numbers of the WS6 cars and the fact that no more birds were or will be made now that Pontiac is gone. However if one looks back on the various years of Trans Ams some years have skyrocketed in value while others have not. I think this last gen WS6 or rarer models have a decent chance among birds. The performance is decent, and the styling nice looking. I think a WS6 still looks good today vs newer cars.

How much they might increase though is very difficult to predict. Also if one were to take that same 10 grand (or whatever was paid for your car) and use that money in a conventional investment you might very well end up with more money at the end of that period of time than the car ends up being worth. The advantage to having the car is you get to enjoy your investment by driving it, though as you drive it and add miles and wear so the value will decrease.

With technology increasing and other even higher performance cars depreciating in value they too will become great bangs for the buck. What the prices are for those vehicles and how they depreciate is an unknown but I think important factor. There may be some even better good "bangs for the buck" cars during that period of time. That is what I think our F bodies are now, a great bang for the buck.

So increasing in value now I don't see happening in my area and I do see values differing according to location. So do the book values from State to State.

IMO an ideal situation would be to have a stock low mile limited production model to keep as your "investment car" and have a second F body to modify it as you like, one that can likely be purchased for far less money especially if a lot of replacement parts are planned. Cars that are modified rarely get the amount invested in performance upgrades back when the owner goes to sell the vehicle. It certainly makes it far less attractive to the collectors market. Those modifications we like to do make our cars a lot more fun to drive though.

I finally decided that since I did not plan to sell my car anytime soon I would rather go ahead and make some modifications to enjoy as long as I own the car. That is something this is within our power, to make modifications to improve the cars performance in the areas we are interested in. Then we can for sure enjoy our Fbodies to their fullest regardless of what happens to the value. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I am counting on enjoying the improved performance of the car more than the increase in value. That is the ultimate decision I made.

Again, just my personal opinion and much based upon 60's and 70's muscle cars and what has happened with them. Even older muscle cars are not a given as to having huge increases in value. A 1969 Z-28 or Corvette L-88 for example have really got to be some very high dollar rides. On the other hand cars that I think are cool, say the 1971-1973 Mustang Mach 1 is still available for FAR less than those two other cars. Check out the special version used in the James Bond Movie Diamonds Are Forever. That car was not just in the movie but had the very trick 429 Cobra Jet Ram Air engine etc.. The auction peaked at $23,000 and the car did not sell. http://commanderbond.net/2438/diamonds-are-forever-mustang-mach-1-showcased-at-l-a-auction.html

I don't have a clue as to what our cars will be worth down the road sometime in the future but those are some things I would consider. I also don't think we have turned any corners and are going to see cars jumping up greatly in value anytime soon. Again...just my two cents worth...