'84 GTV6 with 16000 miles on eBay

This is the Carfax report for the above.(I have 30 days unlimited access - before I purchased my GTV-6 - which is still active):

It was driven 1,000 miles over a 12-year period ('92-'04).


12/14/1992 14,683 California
Inspection Station
Perris, CA Passed emissions inspection

03/24/1997 15,249 California
Inspection Station
Perris, CA Passed emissions inspection

12/16/1998 California
Inspection Station
Pomona, CA Passed emissions inspection

12/31/1999 California
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Corona, CA Title issued or updated

11/29/2000 15,548 California
Inspection Station
Pomona, CA Passed emissions inspection

10/05/2002 15,590 California
Inspection Station
Pomona, CA Passed emissions inspection

12/15/2004 15,637 California
Inspection Station Failed emissions inspection

12/23/2004 15,688 California
Inspection Station Passed emissions inspection

David B.

We see "nice clean" cars sell for 7-8-9K already! Fred Wright's car sold for around 12-13-14K and the buyer spent 3-4 grand on the car in due course. We see other 5-6-7-8K cars getting 6-7-8-9K in work without too much of a thought (some folks recognize the potential as these cars are going away fast!)

These are becoming 15K to 20K cars - why would a 16K mile car sell for anything less?

Another nice Seattle car just sold right around the 13K mark!

Patrick's car (listed here) is really clean - but a normal driven car no less - 8K is a no-brainer on that one...

Basket-cases sell for 1500 bucks. Average cars go for 4-5K.

I say this car sees 15K. I would pay that - not crazy about the colour - but if I had the money and I was looking, I'd pay 15-16 for this car. A smart collector - a real collector would pick this up for 20K (given the water-mark that it would establish for this model and given the miles and condition...)

I don't understand the timing belt decision either, but whatever...

TCL said:

What would you say the car is worth? If it's been sitting that long I wonder if it will reqiuire some rebuilding or replacing of the calipers and hydraulic cylinders in addition to the timing belt service mentioned in the ad.

Click to expand...

To me, and this is of course a personal point of view, it is not as desirable as some of the other GTV6s that have been offered on ebay, in the price range of $15k - $18k. Those cars looked stunning, and had very desirable performance upgrades which are not cheap to install. This question of value, and if it is even a valid perception to say that this car is not as good as those others, can really only be answered by inspecting the car in person, but I'll state how I see it.

A car that has been cared for, as a part of a collection, is normally a roadworthy car. This car suffered from "deferred maintenance" and was not roadworthy, as evidenced by the seller's list of items serviced. Furthermore, it seems to me that the seller had no interest in the car, except in the profit that it may represent. There's nothing wrong in making a buck, but usually that means that the level of service to make it roadworthy was done under the parameters of keeping the cost down. Then, some items like the tires, timing belt, A/C recharge, have not been addressed. Tires are cheap, and if it really only needs the A/C recharged, it's not that much either. As far as the timing belt, no one with any sense is going to believe it prudent to not change it. And the icing on the cake: the paint, which has stone chips, is dull, even though it has been "cleaner waxed." When I wax my car, with any wax, it looks stunning, so the "should be buffed professionally to bring out its best" sounds more like a disclaimer than a positive comment.

There are a bunch of "red flags" that I see. It doesn't mean that this is not a good car. Certainly an original GTV6 with 16k mi. is very special. It just means that this car will need work and $$ for it to look like what a 16k mi. GTV6 should. Without seeing it, it's a real crap shoot to throw numbers, but as a buyer hedging against the worst I would plan on few thousand $$ to re-do the paint and mechanics. $6k - $8k would be my estimate. I don't think that a simple buffing of the car will leave stunning or lasting results, and the labor to address the timing belt, A/C, etc. is not cheap. It is also prudent to expect other mechanical refurbishment. If I paid $10k for this example, and then spent $6k - $8k to make it into what one would expect such a low mileage original to be, I would have an investment of $16k - $18k. It would then be in the price range of the other cars with performance options. I don't think anyone would argue that with its low mileage it doesn't deserve to be in that same price range. Nonetheless, I would prefer the other examples so I would be reluctant to go over $8k for this one.

Best regards,

Some excellent observations. I agree with JJ about its collectable value. However, Enrique points out the obvious red flags, of which I also made a mental note. None of that, however, seems to be quelling the appetite of the current bidders, who have now bid it up to over $7k in but 28 short hours of "action."

I think I would change my estimate to $13.5k as to its eventual selling price, and that could be way low if one or two well-entrenched (shall we say) collectors decides he has to have it.

For my needs, this example would have been overkill. I feel like I very likely got an excellent example myself (for $5.5k), but my intentions are to upgrade the you know what out of it - RSR suspension, Giro Brakes, upgrade engine to 2.8 from 2.5 (for 200+hp), new paint, and many Momo interior items, while moving the ignition to center console - my buy had 62k original miles, always garaged, one owner and a solid Carfax. On top of the five-five invested, I expect to invest another $15k to get what I'm after (and in the end, probably more).

In this 16k original miles case, it makes much more sense to buy this example to make it completely OEM, and then spend the upgrade dollars to that end. In the very long run, a perfect, OEM model like this one might actually fetch more than a perfect, modded example like CCHAN's. I don't know.

Makes for an excellent conversation regarding the state of the model, and as JJ said they are disappearing fast, which is one reason I chose to act now in my quest for the "perfect" GTV-6. One of the things I have noticed about this model is that it seems when an example begins to go downhill, it goes down like the Titanic, unless serious measures are taken, stop gap measures really don't work on this model, it seems to me.

Anyway, this is a very interesting story developing. Curious to hear more thoughts as it unfolds.

David B.
1986 GTV-6
62k orig.