Well this is something not mechanical hahaha
About two years ago a friend of mine was trying to sell his GTA dirt cheap, its an 87 or 88. Lets just say he is a big truck kinda guy.
Sat for a good 6 months, needed minor paint work, tires, and steering collum work. Besides that amazing car, maroon, tan cloth, dealer installed t-tops on a 350 TPI car.
He told me he would sell it for $800, two days later I had my buddy there who also owns a lightly moded 00 V-6 bird and he bought it in about five minutes. As it sat we both think it was and is worth in the thousands.

87-88 Maroon 350 TPI GTA, still has the factory diamond looking factory wheels, t-top car (dealer installed), under 100k miles, come to find out it also came with the sound system but it was not in the car, tan cloth interior with all the gadgets.
So far is has got a new head, tune up and tires, fixed the steering collum and two years later still running good

For an 87 KBB says
Excellent $3,280
Good $2,920
For an 88
Excellent $3,365
Good $3,030

No option for the sound system so I am not sure how much that would add

Prices seem kinda low to me? What do you guys think, still a killer deal for $800, wish I would have had the money at the time.

 

Doesn't seem low to me, I am looking at an 88 IROC 'Vert and it HIGH books at just over 4 grand..........book value is VERY low on (most of) these cars.

 

Yeah I know of a 92 pace car Z that last I checked was near 7k on e-bay and a new paint and motor red 92Z going for 8k.

I allways thought KBB went rather low to begin with.
To me if I am looking at a third gen thats going for 2k I will be thinking that its pretty crappy.

 

ebay, Barret Jackson, etc all inflate prices to sometimes crazy numbers....not saying (at all) that KBB or NADA is the end-all, be-all answer to value, just had to laugh as they wanted more then double the highest value of either of these guides and had no explanation for it........it was just a 305/700R4 in dire need of paint and God only knows what else. 9 grand seemed a bit excessive to me.

Especially considering I can walk into any of 15+ used car lots around here and pick up a 93-95 LT1 4th Gen for $4-6k.........kinda puts things into perspective for me

 

Thats kinda the way I see it, when I saw the 92 for 8 I was like man.... you can get a killer LT1 car for that...

Guess its all about what cars you like

Me, I am an LT1 body guy lol and I used to own an 86

 

I have always said a car is worth exactly however much you can get someone to pay for it.......if you are DYING for that exact car, then you will pay more, if you are rich and don't care, you will pay more.....if you are like the rest of us, you will pay what it is worth and MAYBE a lil more depending on a few things.

I just get tired of seeing LT1 F-Bods left & right for $4-6k and then someone demanding upwards of 10k for a late 80's non collectible (in barely ok or worse shape) 3rd Gen. Yes, I LOVE 3rd Gens, but not THAT much.

Heck even some of the early LS1's are down to $8k or so.........let's see.......14+ yr old car (at best) for 8-10k with a whopping 230 max hp or a 320 hp hi-tech demon for the same price and almost a decade newer...........hhhmmmmmm.

Again, this is not a bash session on 3rd Gens, had 3, loved every one and want another, just an attempt to put things in perspective....it also has NO bearing or anything to do with the original post, that car or anythig like that.