Not many posts here and I've about given up myself after looking at the ebay listings this morning. After looking at the 2000 - 2002 Trans Am prices I have no idea what they are actually worth. The lowest priced T/A listing was $18k out of all 3 model years. I didn't look at the 1998 or 1999 models. Maybe it's inflation or 'wishful thinking' owners or salesmen. I honestly don't know. These are not all low miles cars, with many having 80,000+ miles readings. I still have mine insured at $16,500 but I sure won't be able to replace it with that money apparently.

 

I don't know if anyone is actually paying some of these prices, I think there is a lot of fluff factored into many current asking prices as sellers have come to expect folks to "low ball" them, so they start stupidly high in some cases. I refuse to even play that game when I'm car shopping, so if a price is totally out of line I just ignore the car - it's the seller's loss IMO as I'm a serious cash buyer when I'm in the market, but if a seller starts with a price that makes them look mentally ill (like that $130k '00 Trans Am you posted from Ebay) then I won't even contact them with a "reasonable" offer. Not worth my time to deal with insanity.

There are still some deals out there though. I've mentioned before that we always have some really good deals on nice Convertibles here in the Midwest/Great Lakes region, every year like clockwork. I guess our weather patterns make convertibles pretty undesirable here, so even the nice ones (which most of them are as many are usually stored during the winters) don't bring big money unless they are something really, really special. Here's a good example; 2000 Trans Am 'vert, A4, 72k miles for $13.5k:

https://dubuque.craigslist.org/cto/d...853238953.html

Only one picture, but it certainly doesn't appear to be junk by any means. At first glance, my gut reaction is that it's probably a pretty nice car (certainly not as nice as NC01TA's, but his car is a rare exception at that mileage). If I wanted an LS1 TA 'vert, I'd definitely check this one out.

 

In my area, most are listed in the 20K range. Very rarely I'll see a decent one listed at 15K.

 

The LS1 WS6's are now cresting $30-40K for a low mileage well kept vehicle.

They are going past C4 ZR-1's, C5's and C5 Z06's and are creeping up on C6 Z06's. They are not better cars but they are pretty simple, parts are easy to get for them and you hardly see them anymore.

Here is a Navy Blue Metallic WS6, 8,000 miles, $44K, not a dealer

Used 2002 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am for sale in Lakewood, CA 90711: Coupe Details - 750313729 - Autotrader

A Bright Red WS6, 25,000 miles, $36K, a dealer

Used 2002 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am for sale in Peotone, IL 60468: Coupe Details - 750028284 - Autotrader

 

There are much fewer stock WS6's with lower mileage, 20-40,000 miles, for sale this year than I have seen over the past 10 years.

Are people that have them in good kit keeping them?

Are they driving them until storage rears its head in October/November?

Or are they slowly diminishing in numbers?

 

The offer for these cars is just that. An offer. Are they trading at these prices? I wish I knew. Is there a place to see transactions? I own a C5 Vette and am surprised they are cheaper than a T/A or a Z. I owned a Z/28 new in 1996 (M6). Great car but it's not a Vette (maybe that's the key?).

My opinion is that when inflation cranked up in the last admin, AND people had crazy money to spend post covid, folks thought all of a sudden they could sell their absolutely garbage fixer uppers for BIG money! We've all seen the ads. Some are funny and some are ridiculous. Like 10k for a 64 Grand Prix in a basket. Please.

Once again, are these cars actually trading? One would think the car that cost 45k new would be trading higher than the one that was 26k new.

 

Auction prices for WS6 cars is varying between 30K-65K depending on mileage. And the GMMG cars are over 100K in most cases.

 

Corvettes are almost always toys or "second" cars, they are rarely a primary transportation source (except maybe in really nice climates), so most of them survive and stay in nice shape for quite a long time. This is less true of any comparable generation of F-body; those are often beaten/abused, used up by bad weather, etc. It's harder to find nice F-bodies than a nice Corvette of the same generation, hence the flipped value as they age due to supply and demand. Obviously there are special Corvettes that will be the exception to this rule, but not really the base model examples.

 

And the death of Pontiac probably plays a price factor as well.

 

LOL! At the end of the day it's still a T/A or Z. Maybe there's a nostalgia angle to this. I really liked my Z/28.

I wonder if these cars are trading or if they are just offered?

 

The same trend exists with 3rd gen F-bodies vs. C4; look at the prices of a really nice IROC or GTA vs. a comparable L98 C4. Dynamics are the same with base C5 vs. 4th gen F-body IMO.

 

When you say, "Prices", I think you mean sales as we could all offer our stuff at pie in the sky and get nothing. On fb mktplace this morning and there's a GN listed for 75k. Yep, 75k. It has 15,000 miles on it. 75k. Another a 1970 plain jane Pontiac two door with a 400. 15k. lol!

 

F***book is worse than Craigslist for pricing.

You can watch auction data to see what cars are actually changing hands for; BaT, Ebay, Mecum, etc.

It's been pretty well known for quite some time now that desirable trim levels of 3rd gen F-body are more valuable than garden variety C4s. Same thing has been happening with 4th gen vs. C5.

 

The market for these cars has been wild for at least the past five years. By the way, the whole site feels noticeably quieter lately.

 

***** just way too hard to price these days man. Not to mention people are being tight with finances these days in most areas of the country.

Sold a 2000 WS6 6 speed last year for 10k on the nuts. 135k on it. Was in great condition for the miles, i dailyd the fk out of it. Had borla on it and a nice deck. I think i slammed an MGW in it too.

Just gotta slap a price on it and see if it sticks.