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Looking for a second opinion on this one. I'm driving out to take a look at a 2001 SS Camaro tomorrow. Paint is Sunset Orange Metallic. It's a 6 speed with 45,000 original miles. Hardtop. 100% bone stock. No mods at all on this one.
The only issue is the paint on the hood. Car came from Texas so the paint on the hood is fading. Also the dash is cracked and the driver's seat shows a little wear. I did a vin check and the mileage checked out so I'm not worried about that.
I just sold my LT1 and I'm really looking to get into an LS1 and so far I really like this one. He's asking $8,800 but I think I can get him lower. Any thoughts? I'm going to use the paint and interior as leverage for negotiating.
Even with the hood paint and cracked dash $8800 is not a lot of money for a lower mileage SOM SS 6 speed. If it didn't have those flaws, and was a typical red/black car w/45K miles I'd peg it at $12K-$13K. For an SOM car with nice paint I'd toss in another $1K to get to $13K-$14K. Some might add more. Now, how much to subtract for the flaws? I'd guess around $3K. The only concern would be mismatching the hood paint such that it doesn't blend in well with the fenders. The car probably sat outside quite a bit in the sun. Are other parts of the paint showing sun damage? Repainting the entire car will cost a lot more than just a hood.
At $8800 or less I think you have plenty of room. SOM is a hot color, especially in the 6 speed. Even with the flaws it's still a neat car to tool around in where you wouldn't be worried about leaving a garage queen outside overnight. A removable dash cover could be purchased that would hide the cracking. Occasionally I see >100K mile SOM cars at under $10K. But you don't often see a serviceable 45K mile SOM SS under $12K-$14K. The seller has factored in enough of a deduction for the problems. Either that, or they are going by NADA or KBB and don't know the real value of these cars.....or....there's something major league wrong with the car that's not being disclosed. $8800 is a price I'd expect for a car that had major mechanical problems, not simply hood paint and a cracked dash....or needing full paint. Don't wait too long as someone is going to ****** that up unless the test drive and inspection shows it to be an obvious clunker.
The hardtop would make it more interesting to some and not to others. It's definitely much rarer as such. With 234 SOM M6's in 2002, figure approx 30 came as hardtops (13% of all M6 SS's that year were HT's). No worries about TTops leaking. But, if the roof paint bubbles due to sun exposure, you have an entire roof to replace. If the hood paint has problems you'd probably expect issues on the roof as well.
On autotrader, there are only 5 SOM cars advertised at <60K miles, 4 of them Camaro's. Of that group only one is an M6 SS. They aren't exactly easy to run across in your own area. None of them is priced anywhere near $10K, never mind $8K.
I imagine if he had the right marketplace he would have found a willing buyer at that asking price. In the ad he lists the color as "bronze" and "brown" so I don't think he really knows about the color. Also the guy selling it is doing so for a friend but he does have the title and everything ready to go. Not sure if that's going to help or hurt the negotiation at all being that it's not his car.
KBB lists the car for about what he's asking. I figured a safe estimate to have the hood repainted would be about $1,000 for a quality job and another couple hundred for interior TLC. Hopefully I can score it for somewhere in the 7-8k range...
KBB estimates tend to become very inaccurate on these LS1 F Bodies as the mileage drops under 70K. At 45K you can be sure the KBB estimate is pretty far off. And from what you've said above, the seller(s) aren't aware of that either. KBB values range from $9200-$9600 for good/very good/excellent. You typically can't find nice <50K mile 2001/2002's for <$10K. But, the owner not being available does create some doubt as to what other issues this car may or may not have. Current emissions? Where was it serviced?
KBB estimates tend to become very inaccurate on these LS1 F Bodies as the mileage drops under 70K. At 45K you can be sure the KBB estimate is pretty far off. And from what you've said above, the seller(s) aren't aware of that either. KBB values range from $9200-$9600 for good/very good/excellent. You typically can't find nice <50K mile 2001/2002's for <$10K. But, the owner not being available does create some doubt as to what other issues this car may or may not have. Current emissions? Where was it serviced?
The guy selling it says that the owner let him use it before he got his new car. And once his new car came in, he asked him to sell the camaro for him because "he's got too many cars." I'll try and see if I can contact the owner when I go to take a look.
Anything in particular I should look for when checking out the car?
I checked out the car today and it was pretty much as I expected. Everything was real indicative of sun damage but nothing I didn't expect. The hood was faded, interior was also a bit faded. The dash piece right above the steering wheel was cracked pretty bad. The carpet in the trunk looked worn from the sun as well. Had its fair share of dings.
Other than the appearance the car was solid. It sounded really good and drove great. Everything on the car was 100% functional. And when I say the car is all stock, it is completely original.. The exhaust, radio, it even still has the skip shift. It's a bummer the car was never garaged or covered, but then it probably wouldn't be in my price range
I'll probably pick it up for somewhere in the $7-8 range when I go back out this weekend.
09-10-2014, 05:28 PM
2001 SS Camaro SOM 45k miles 
