What's my car worth? Selling.....

[zactek]

The time has come…….

I’m seriously considering selling my Starion , I have a baby and need something bigger. I can’t keep 2 cars because of space and monetary reasons. Looking into either a Subaru Outback XT or Legacy GT wagon.

With all the mods listed, how much do you guys think the car is worth?

1987 Starion LE Flatbody Mods:

 

Engine/Drivetrain:

 

Shaved/lightened block inside and out, never bored, deleted balance shafts

Balanced rods with ARP rod bolts

New stock Perfect Circle pistons with Hastings Chrome rings, King main and rod bearings

Lightened one-piece ’83 crank pulley, entire rotating assembly balanced

Clearwater NJV head, ported, 1mm O/S SS valves, 3-angle valve job, intake rockers lightened, ARP studs for intake and exhaust, ARP head studs, shaved and powdercoated valve cover, Schneider 274 cam, powdercoated timing cover, EGR passages welded

14G turbo, ported and Swain-Tec coated turbo housing , stress relieved, shaved, ported and Swain-Tec coated exhaust manifold

Braided oil and water turbo lines

Braided oil cooler lines

2.5 Stainless MK1 turbo back exhaust, Dynamax Ultraflow ‘6 in. round SS muffler

Custom hardpipes all the way from turbo to TB, silicone couplers and T-clamps, HKS racing BOV

52mm TB, ported injector housing. Ported and powdercoated intake manifold, EGR passages deleted/welded

FIP TB-Pro2R standalone fuel management (sensors, harness, injectors, fuel rail) Walbro fuel pump, braided fuel lines from firewall up, Russell fuel filter

Mallory 6A ignition box, MSD tach adapter, Magnacor wires, MSD coil

Optima battery, 2 gauge ground cables, 110 amp alternator with circuit breaker and 2 gauge charge cable, fuse box instead of fusible links

Silicone vacuum hoses

KrankVents

Custom throttle cable linkage

Custom battery tie down, firewall blockoff and turbo heatshield

Aluminum BeCool radiator, flexfan, aux. rad. Fan, silicone heater hoses

HD rebuild on auto tranny, custom valve body, Level 10 3200Rpm stall converter, bigger cooler with braided lines

Over $300 in SS metric bolts in engine compartment and throughout car

 

Suspension:

 

4-to-5 lug conversion, bigger Cross-drilled and slotted rotors, painted calipers F/R with Speed bleeders installed, SS brake lines F/R

’88 rear end and 6-bolt axles. 7in rims front, 8in rear. 205/50 Falken tires front 225/45 rear

KYB struts F/R

S/T springs and swaybars F/R

Cusco camber plates front, Anti-M power camber plates rear.

S&M triangulated strut bars F/R

All polyurethane bushings in front suspension.

Manual steering conversion, welded coupler.

 

Interior:

 

Freshly upholstered front “88 seats, Corbeau driver harness, non-auto seatbelt driver trim.

Custom dash lens with insert and side blockoffs, Bride 320mm steering wheel

Autometer fuel press. and boost gauge, Halmeter af30 A/F ratio meter

’88 black HVAC controls, cupholders in door panels, custom rubber diamond plate floor mats, racing pedal covers, fire extinguisher in trunk , Pioneer speakers

 

Body:

 

Supra style hatch wing, deleted auto antenna/roof mounted Hirschmann amplified antenna, LED bulbs throughout the car, Silverstar headlights, clear foglights

Custom hood vents and custom hood lifts

Cut and re-welded front bumper support, custom bumper and front spoiler for larger intercooler opening

Lots of stuff removed/lightened, sub 2800 Lbs. Plenty I probably forgot, lol

The bad? Will need wheel bearings soon and some minor body work, otherwise the car is solid and lots of fun/great sleeper with the fading paint

So, whatcha think? What’s a reasonable amount I should be asking?

 

Thanks, Zack K.

http://imageshack.us...dpics078fv9.jpg

http://imageshack.us...dpics002bu7.jpg

http://imageshack.us...dpics030wq3.jpg

Edited March 19, 2013 by zactek

[Crazy Quest]

CAR IS CLEAN.

 

and my favorite color.

 

I would think that the car is worth probably 4-5k

[Blue]

I would LOVE to see this car sell for 4-5k, seeing as that would open the door for our value to go UP. I would pay it if I had it. But the problem is that most of the SQ guys are not going to want to spend that much, regardless of mods. I would post it on CL and try to trade it for something more like what you need, unfortunately that seems to be the best way to get any money out of these. :'(

[natallica]

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff408/n8tallica1/dr-evil_zpse46c4b42.jpg

 

-N8

[86silverstarion]

One of the only flatty's I've ever liked man. Thumbs up

[screemin eagle]

I'm in the same boat as you zack. Only I'm just getting tired of my car. Good luck buddy.

[zactek]

I'm in the same boat as you zack. Only I'm just getting tired of my car. Good luck buddy.

 

Thanks I thought you had a nice-sized driveway, I would keep the Starion and just sink more money into it!! Still loving those seats, hehe

 

86Silverstarion: If you like it that much, why don't you make me an offer! IT IS for sale!

 

Thanks, Zack K.

[jszucs]

My formula has always been (for cars other then the main stream collectables) Take the money you have put into it, and if you or you paid for good work to be done devide by 2-3 If you suck at work or didn't pay for good work (does not look to be the case here) take the money you put into it and devide by 4-6

[FijiPhil]

I've always thought you had an awesome flatty. I'd think you could see 4-5k for your car, like others have said. Also, I can tell you that you will love your legacy gt/ outback xt! I love my legacy gt sedan. It seems to be a trend for sq guys to get a legacy, I've seen like 4 or 5 sq owners on the legacy forums haha

[IntercooledFlatty]

it's worth every penny of 5k, BUT, around here you will be lucky to see $2500... just saying

AWESOME FLATTY dood

[zactek]

I've always thought you had an awesome flatty. I'd think you could see 4-5k for your car, like others have said. Also, I can tell you that you will love your legacy gt/ outback xt! I love my legacy gt sedan. It seems to be a trend for sq guys to get a legacy, I've seen like 4 or 5 sq owners on the legacy forums haha

 

Wow, 4-5K I got more than double in it. I've done all the work myself (with the exception of block maching and balancing, and the tranny, which was $2700 by itself)

The lowest I would probably take is $6K. Why is it that the Starion crowd is so cheap?? I certainly wasn't, but then again, all the work done was in the span of 16 years, which is how long I've had it.....

 

After doing a lot of research, the Legacy GT/OutbackXT seems like the best choice for a good, multi-purpose vehicle for me. It's very hard to find one I want with low miles, and I got the money!! Sheesh....I've been frequenting the forums looking for one and some good mods, doesn't seem like it takes a lot to get 'em in the 300-350HP range.

 

Zack K.

[Komeuppance]

That is just the facts for the used car market, no need to blame "The Starion crowd". You will almost never get the same amount of money that you put into it. Even a boring stock vehicle, that's had a $2700 engine and trans rebuild will not me the value of the vehicle will be increased by $2700. The used car market just doesn't work like that.

 

Flatties are the least in demand, regardless of mods, that's just the way the market is at the moment.

 

-Robert

[jszucs]

Wow, 4-5K I got more than double in it. I've done all the work myself (with the exception of block maching and balancing, and the tranny, which was $2700 by itself)

The lowest I would probably take is $6K. Why is it that the Starion crowd is so cheap?? I certainly wasn't, but then again, all the work done was in the span of 16 years, which is how long I've had it.....

 

After doing a lot of research, the Legacy GT/OutbackXT seems like the best choice for a good, multi-purpose vehicle for me. It's very hard to find one I want with low miles, and I got the money!! Sheesh....I've been frequenting the forums looking for one and some good mods, doesn't seem like it takes a lot to get 'em in the 300-350HP range.

 

Zack K.

 

You NEVER unless going into the situation with the idea of getting yoru money out of it, and choosing a main stream collected car, with a known good collectable market, and do all the work top notch get close to what you put in it (especialy labor cost) with cars.

 

Now of this rare exception ^ you even more rarely get more then you put into it (especialy with labor factored in) That is just the way cars work. Unless you started off with something rare, sought after, and with a current demading market. You know something like split window vets, 5 window chevy pickups 54 early 55 I think they are..... ECT

 

Like I said "My formula has always been (for cars other then the main stream collectables) Take the money you have put into it, and if you or you paid for good work to be done devide by 2-3 If you suck at work or didn't pay for good work (does not look to be the case here) take the money you put into it and devide by 4-6"

 

While I have noticed the starquest crowed is cheap...... Id say 4-5K is going to be about on par. And you might need to wait a bit for the right person to come along for that offer even. Your never going to get anything out of that car you put in it, it's just the way the car game works.

 

Now as for the subi..... What year you eyeing? Be cautious depending on year of the 2.5's they have there problems that will need to be corrected if not already. Also unless your looking are the very newest one's understand your going to take a hit in MPG (weight and turning the AWD parts all the time) And understand for the most part I call the insdies utilitaria (other then the very new ones maybe like 2010 and newer) You will find most with the bassics inside. They are functional, they do lightly offroad well, they last long and are fairly easy to work on. If you got a horizontallyapposed one and need to do stuff to the motor your have to buy most stuff twice IE 2 head gaskets, 2 exaust manifolds ECT ECT it's esentuly 2 motors butted together at what would be traditionaly the bottom of the motor.

 

also note they are adicting, most people who get one will get another. My girl has loved both of hers, and she currently has the outback wagon

[FijiPhil]

Wow, 4-5K I got more than double in it. I've done all the work myself (with the exception of block maching and balancing, and the tranny, which was $2700 by itself)

The lowest I would probably take is $6K. Why is it that the Starion crowd is so cheap?? I certainly wasn't, but then again, all the work done was in the span of 16 years, which is how long I've had it.....

 

After doing a lot of research, the Legacy GT/OutbackXT seems like the best choice for a good, multi-purpose vehicle for me. It's very hard to find one I want with low miles, and I got the money!! Sheesh....I've been frequenting the forums looking for one and some good mods, doesn't seem like it takes a lot to get 'em in the 300-350HP range.

 

Zack K.

 

You very well may find someone who is willing to pay that.. but I wouldnt count on it. Being a flatty, and an auto, you are probably appealing to a smaller percentage of would-be quest owners (which is a small group already.. lol). Ebay may be your best bet, to see what kind of ballpark you could get for her.

 

Yeah, it is tough to find the Legacys and OBXTs without a bunch of miles. I dunno what your looking for, but I bought mine with 124k on the clock and its been great, with the exception of replacing the valve colver gaskets and the right rear wheel bearing assembly. I bought an up-pipe, turbo back exhaust, intake, and accessport, and it absolutely flies. The gas mileage isnt awful either, if you arent on it too hard. Im sure you have read this on the forums, but I would stay away from a car that has had the turbo replaced, especially if it is recently. That seems to be a pre-quel to a bottom end rebuild more often than not.

[zactek]

I don't get why spending money on mods other than the value of a stock car doesn't add to the overall selling price, but it seems to be the trend, it's a buyer's market.

Oh, I've got $2700 in the tranny alone, not tranny AND engine. Overall, probably around $12K

 

Anyway I'm basically looking for either black or silver 2005-2009 Wagon with black leather interior and under 90K miles. I probably won't do too much in the beginning other than maintenance and keeping her running well, but in time some mods will follow. I wanted to start with another turbo platform, there will always be power to unleash later.

 

Zack K.

[Komeuppance]

Daaamn, that's a fancy transmission.

 

On another note, my daughter is just over 1 1/2, she loves riding in my Starion. I have a Recaro baby seat that fits well in the backseat:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KAK5MCCML.jpg

 

-Robert

[zactek]

Daaamn, that's a fancy transmission.

 

On another note, my daughter is just over 1 1/2, she loves riding in my Starion. I have a Recaro baby seat that fits well in the backseat:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KAK5MCCML.jpg

 

-Robert

 

It is fancy, lol. It WILL handle 700HP

My daughter is 7 months old and loves riding in the Starion. It's my wife that hates it. On long rides with a carriage, shopping bags, etc. it gets crowded. Plus, no AC

 

Zack K.

[Komeuppance]

Damn, that no AC is killer. Throw it back in... someday I will...

 

-Robert

[zactek]

Damn, that no AC is killer. Throw it back in... someday I will...

 

-Robert

 

Hell no, even if I wanted to, I couldn't. EVERYTHING from it is gone, including the mounts for the bracket on the engine block. Whoever gets this car, all they have to do to make it a track car is gut the interior and throw a roll cage in. It's that close to being strictly raced,lol

 

Zack K.

[jszucs]

I don't get why spending money on mods other than the value of a stock car doesn't add to the overall selling price, but it seems to be the trend, it's a buyer's market.

Oh, I've got $2700 in the tranny alone, not tranny AND engine. Overall, probably around $12K

 

Anyway I'm basically looking for either black or silver 2005-2009 Wagon with black leather interior and under 90K miles. I probably won't do too much in the beginning other than maintenance and keeping her running well, but in time some mods will follow. I wanted to start with another turbo platform, there will always be power to unleash later.

 

Zack K.

 

It works that way on all vehicles.... the reason being. Someone buying it for the parts you put on it... is buying it just for that a bulk of parts in a lot purches. Someone buying the vehicle is buying just that, the vehicle and would rather see everthing bone stock..... If they want mods, they want to be the one to add them, do it there way, to there style ECT. Once you customize something it's yours and yours alone. Someone else who wants a custome, or wants to customise wants theres and theres alone, not yours. It's very rare you will find someone that wants exactly what you did. Basicly if you customise you will never see the money out of it unless rare rare cases. If your looking to get money out of a car, you need to choose something with a biger following, add no money other then OEM items (and generaly not even remans, or remakes but true OEM items). And it will still be reall trickey to make the money out of it.

 

And for 12K I don't see no MPI, no huge turbo?

 

Works the same way for bikes too, and something to really consider if you have regualr insurance on something you customize. Lets say you buy a new Harley 20K you add 10K in goodies... know what your bike is worth? 20K.

 

 

O and on the new subi..... do all the fluids (mainly drive line fluids) Every single one I have seen, the drive line fluids are always neglected. Use good fluids in them, they will thank you for it. Go as close to 2009 as possible. You will have a better chance of finding lower miles (subi owners seem to really drive them to death) and also give you a better chance finding leather inside. Also will give you a few more MPG, they got better with the computers over the years and the drive line don't drage it down as much. If you put really aggressive tires on it you will loose a good amount of MPG too.

Edited March 20, 2013 by jszucs

[IntercooledFlatty]

i'd give 5k for this flatty if i was in the market, it's nicely modded and it has an auto trans, it's perfect

[Tim_C.]

I'd say it is worth every bit of $7K. Getting that out of it will take time to find the right buyer. It may need to stay listed for a while.

Your time listening to my ranting is worth more than that! LoL!

 

In my mind, I'm with you. It is really worth more than you have in it. People don't understand what it takes to get the car where you have it. Cash for parts, time in research, time in labor, trial and error, years of learning curve, etc... All of which add up to a lot of cash. Some of which are hard to even put a price on.

 

If you take what you can get in a few weeks, you might not see any offers over $2K or so. That is one reason I haven't sold any of mine yet. I love driving these cars and hope to get my money back by driving the wheels offf of them with no car payments. The average person has over $200 per month payment on their car alone. I haven't made a car payment in years.

[zactek]

I'd say it is worth every bit of $7K. Getting that out of it will take time to find the right buyer. It may need to stay listed for a while.

Your time listening to my ranting is worth more than that! LoL!

 

In my mind, I'm with you. It is really worth more than you have in it. People don't understand what it takes to get the car where you have it. Cash for parts, time in research, time in labor, trial and error, years of learning curve, etc... All of which add up to a lot of cash. Some of which are hard to even put a price on.

 

If you take what you can get in a few weeks, you might not see any offers over $2K or so. That is one reason I haven't sold any of mine yet. I love driving these cars and hope to get my money back by driving the wheels offf of them with no car payments. The average person has over $200 per month payment on their car alone. I haven't made a car payment in years.

 

EXACTLY Tim, you hit it on the head 100 % People really don't understand the level of care and the actual time that goes into it, especially one-off items. I think that it's worth more than the sum of its' parts. I have a lot of restored things that are not listed. I just don't agree that if you have a car with mods that the mods are not worth anything, I couldn't care less what the "market" thinks. I already got 2 offers for $6000 and the other for $6800 with the lower being a friend of mine that has wanted it for years. I might go that route because I can still have it within reach in the future, possibly even getting it back some day.

 

Zack K.

[patra_is_here]

cars and part depreciate value, it's just the nature of used cars.

 

if anyone could just buy parts, modify a car, and sell it for MORE or even equal, then every car guy would be swimming in cash from all the cars we would sell.

 

It's next to impossible to come out ahead as a builder, unless you manage to start with a car you got got for next to nothing, and manage to build or buy all the mods for very little cost (doing everything in-house)

 

 

good luck though, would be nice to see you get at least 3/4th the money you put in to it.

[Burton]

Daaamn, that's a fancy transmission.

 

On another note, my daughter is just over 1 1/2, she loves riding in my Starion. I have a Recaro baby seat that fits well in the backseat:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KAK5MCCML.jpg

 

-Robert

 

 

 

Good call on the Recaro bay seat! We got a blue one in the Benz and a red/black one in the Kia

It works that way on all vehicles.... the reason being. Someone buying it for the parts you put on it... is buying it just for that a bulk of parts in a lot purches. Someone buying the vehicle is buying just that, the vehicle and would rather see everthing bone stock..... If they want mods, they want to be the one to add them, do it there way, to there style ECT. Once you customize something it's yours and yours alone. Someone else who wants a custome, or wants to customise wants theres and theres alone, not yours. It's very rare you will find someone that wants exactly what you did. Basicly if you customise you will never see the money out of it unless rare rare cases. If your looking to get money out of a car, you need to choose something with a biger following, add no money other then OEM items (and generaly not even remans, or remakes but true OEM items). And it will still be reall trickey to make the money out of it.

 

 

 

 

All that is very true, but I do have to agree with the others that SQ guys tend to be slightly cheaper than the average car guys.

 

 

 

That said, you have a better chance of selling a built car because you have built it more "mainstream", as in, the mods you've made are the ones that many people commonly do. It sounds like you've done a lot of those mods that people like, and not too much more. Take my car for instance... I got over $10k into parts and paying other people for labor on my car, and I have hundreds of hours of my time into it. If I wanted to "pay" myself my normal shop rate for my time, I'd probably have closer to $20k into it. Now, I have a lot of the performance mods that people like on these cars, but I also have $3k in equipment and about 100 hours into a huge stereo that I love, but about anyone else would not want. I got body mods and other accessories that purists wouldn't want, so that limits my pool of buyers even more.

 

 

 

I struggled with this recently myself... I've put less than 500 miles on my Starion in the last 4 years, and now with the baby have even less time for it. I could have listed it as it was for like $8k, taking a $2k money loss and lose hundreds of hours of my time, and it still wouldn't have sold for that. I actually had come up with a good idea to market it, but then decided to keep the car for now. What I was going to do was start a "Build your own Starion" sale. I would offer my car with all the mechanicals intact, but with an 87 leather interior and basic stereo, and OEM hood, header panel, suspension and 7/8" wheels. That would be the "base" model which I'd list for around $4k. From there, the buyer could add pieces... $XXX for meshies, $XXX for black and gray cloth interior, $XXX for the hood and header panel, $XXX for it repainted the color of choice, etc.... Whatever goodies didn't go on the car I'd either keep to use on Kate's or sell them and make better money than I would have if they just went with the car. Maybe offering something like that might get you more potential buyers, although it would require the work to put it to whatever specs were determined in the sale.

 

 

As a whole tho... VERY few cars will be able to recover all their investment when sold, no matter what make or model. Watch any televised collector car auction and you'll see lots of cars with documanted restorations that cost tens of thousands of dollars. You'll see cars with $50k restos selling for $50k, and the commentators will say something about "buy the restoration, get the car for free". Some cars will have $100k restorations, and turn around and sell for $60k. That's just the way it works. Of course, there are exceptions... If you have a car that will sell for half a million when finished, then it's worth it to have the $100k resto. Also, if you do most of the work yourself... Say I bought a car for $10k, bought $25k in parts, and did the restore myself, only to sell it for $50k. I'd make $15k for my time. Not bad if I had less than 1000 hours into it. However, to try and make up for the $60+ per hour labor rate that most shops charge would be impossible.

 

Never build a car with the intent to recoop your money unless it is some super highly desired collector car. Even then, you'd likely have to be extremely smart and frugal in you build to pull good money.