Sanity Check - Pricing on a 1995 Grand Prix GTP

[SrN95]

So it might just be the nostalgia kicking in, but I've found a low miles (~50,000) GTP for sale for a whopping $6500. It looks to be in close to mint condition. My first car was a white 95 SE, and seeing a white GTP with such low miles and in great shape all these years later has me seriously considering checking it out in person. The issue is the price, I mean $6500?? Realistically what is the car worth, nostalgia not being a factor? Someone hit me with a dose of reality!

[Schurkey]

Call three banks, ask what they'll give you for a loan on it.

[digitaloutsider]

For the average buyer, $6500 is a lot of money for any first gen W that isn't a Cutlass Convertible or a really nice Turbo Grand Prix/Turbo STE.

That being said, we're far beyond the point where blue book (or bank black book) values really line up for these cars. They're too obscure to have collector prices, so it really does come down to what the buyer is willing to pay.  Nostalgia factor is a big thing, and I can understand.  There's entirely too much money bolted to and under the hood of my '01 Regal.  Is an '01 Regal worth dumping thousands of dollars into? No. But one of my earliest cars was a '98 Regal, and I had the high school nostalgia hit and I wanted to build the car I aspired to have as a teenager. 

That being said - For me personally, if I wanted a 94-96 GTP and was entertaining that price, it would have to be SO incredibly mint. Like nearly showroom fresh. And also personally, I'd much rather have a '96 so it has OBD-II and the slightly improved engine (better intakes on the 96-97 LQ1). 

[SrN95]

8 hours ago, digitaloutsider said:

For the average buyer, $6500 is a lot of money for any first gen W that isn't a Cutlass Convertible or a really nice Turbo Grand Prix/Turbo STE.

That being said, we're far beyond the point where blue book (or bank black book) values really line up for these cars. They're too obscure to have collector prices, so it really does come down to what the buyer is willing to pay.  Nostalgia factor is a big thing, and I can understand.  There's entirely too much money bolted to and under the hood of my '01 Regal.  Is an '01 Regal worth dumping thousands of dollars into? No. But one of my earliest cars was a '98 Regal, and I had the high school nostalgia hit and I wanted to build the car I aspired to have as a teenager. 

That being said - For me personally, if I wanted a 94-96 GTP and was entertaining that price, it would have to be SO incredibly mint. Like nearly showroom fresh. And also personally, I'd much rather have a '96 so it has OBD-II and the slightly improved engine (better intakes on the 96-97 LQ1). 

Thanks for your insight! I'm just at the early stages of looking, I've finally got the garage space and cash to entertain the idea of getting GTP as just a fun weekend car. I'm not well versed in the minor differences between the 94-96 model years so the bit about ODB-II and intakes is very appreciated. I think I'll pass on this deal, they seem pretty firm with that price unfortunately. Definitely will continue searching! Thanks

[digitaloutsider]

Thanks for finding us and dropping by, anyway!  If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.  Good luck on your search.

[Psych0matt]

The issue imo is two fold, because I completely agree that it’s overpriced, I would think 4K is more realistic if not the ceiling of what it’s worth. However, that being said, when are you gonna come across another in that shape?

 

To put it into perspective from my POV at least, I don’t think I could be convinced to sell my gtp for any less than 3k, even though it’s probably not worth it. If someone offered me 4K I’d have an incredibly hard time not accepting. Now my gtp isn’t perfect, but it’s in amazing shape for the year, other than could use a fresh paint job and some minor body work (dings and whatnot, it’s 30 years old). But at the same time cars are meant to be driven so minor stuff like that doesn’t bother me, it’ll never be a show car, I enjoy driving it! But I digress...

 

 

[SrN95]

32 minutes ago, Psych0matt said:

The issue imo is too fold, because I completely agree that it’s overpriced, I would think 4K is more realistic if not the ceiling of what it’s worth. However, that being said, when are you gonna come across another in that shape?

 

To put it into perspective from my POV at least, I don’t think I could be convinced to sell my gtp for any less than 3k, even though it’s probably not worth it. If someone offered me 4K I’d have an incredibly hard time not accepting. Now my gtp isn’t perfect, but it’s in amazing shape for the year, other than could use a fresh paint job and some minor body work (dings and whatnot, it’s 30 years old). But at the same time cars are meant to be driven so minor stuff like that doesn’t bother me, it’ll never be a show car, I enjoy driving it! But I digress...

 

That's my current dilemma... Searching nationwide I can't find anything even remotely close to one in that kind of shape. Love the pics you have of your '92! Such an underappreciated car in my opinion.

[Cutlass350]

A few questions:
How long have you been looking?
Imho, if under 3 months, that's nothing.
If under 6 months, that's so-so.
If ~1+ years, then you know the market pretty well.

Imho, most important of all, how very well do you know of "all of the common problems/issues" with  that exact year, model, engine, tranny, etc?
Remember, parts/things fail because of usage, and age.
For example, the LX5 engine that I have is a knowN POS.  There's a good chance of the head gasket failing.  And, it's a MASSIVE pita/expense to replace.
When I got my 2000 Olds, a 100% factory brand new engine where still available, and for a "reasonable" price!  So, I bought a brand new engine, and had a replacement engine already.  I did buy the new engine, knowing that there was also a probability of the original engine lasting a long time.
I put in the new waiting replacement engine, many years ago, after the head gasket went on the original engine. 

For my Quad4 engines, those are known to blow head gaskets at 60K or 8+ year miles - just because.
But, it's not a "horrible job" to replace, if someone has done a head gasket/etc before.   And, the newer head gaskets "help".    The head bolts/clamping are still under-designed.  Btw, I now have over 100K miles on the updated GM head gasket on my Quad 4.

So, knowing the potential issues with a model, year, engine, etc is important.

One of my first pets was a Mastodon .
So, I've been around a while.
I've seen plenty of posts about people finding their "dream car after a few years", then not buying it because it was $500-$1000 "over what they wanted to pay".
Uhm, ok.  People have to decide what to do with their money.
 

Fwiw, my story:
For various reasons, I started looking for a "unicorn" car - especially since I wanted a little/no-rust and low-mileage, and hopefully within driving distance of "New England".
After ~18 months, during lunch, I looked on the various sites.  I found a potential car!
That poor owner had to put up with many texts from me before I say the car, after I saw the car, and on the day we were going to meet at the bank to sell and transfer the car.

After I first looked at the car, I mentioned to the owner that they were asking at the top of the market value of the car.  I could see they weer getting ready to haggle.  Then, I offered $500 more than the asking price, with $300 more if we could do it that Saturday (in two days).
My Big Regret after many years?  Imho, I was too low on that price.  Looking back, if I was a second buyer, knowing more about the likely-hood of finding that unicorn car, I would've gone $1,500 to $2,000 over the asking price.

The thing is many "unicorn cars" are worth between 1/4 of the typical price up to 3X the typical price.
It depends on of there is a buyer looking for that unicorn car.
A good example is a car with manual tranny.  Those have a very very very low appeal to 99.9999% of the car buyers.
So, someone might be able to pick one up in good shape for cheap, because the owner is sick and tired waiting for the car to sell.
On the other hand, if there's another person wanting the same unicorn car at the same time, they can come in and offer not only the asking price, but a little more.
So, it's a gamble when looking for a unicorn car.  Especially is one is found that "is close".
For me, my unicorn car hit every "must-have and want".

Again, it's up to each person.  They know their financial plans.
For me, it meant that I'd put off getting my Mustang painted for a few years, while I concentrated on doing a minor rebuild and refresh on the mint engine with 85K miles on my unicorn car.  Why?  I was doing/adding other items - brand new supercharger along with professional porting, etc.
I didn't want to put $$$$ of parts into/around a tired engine.  Hence, why I wanted a low mileage, dealer maintained engine.
 

So good luck.
I hope that car is what you've been really looking for.
If not, maybe wait, maybe don't wait.

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Cutlass350

[Psych0matt]

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