dbwade36

I am curious from fellow vette owners about the resale value of an older model C4. I have an 86 vette. Soon it will be 19 yrs old. Have prices bottomed out for this vette? When (if ever) do any of you see them becoming more rare and more valueable? I don't plan on selling mine anytime soon, but I have a friend who bought her 69 vette in 83 & she paid 5k for it. I know she can make money on it now. Must I keep mine for another 10-15 yrs before it is worth more than the bluebook?

Smokeysvette

IMHO I believe they have bottomed out. Lots of people say there won't go up but look at the C3's now. Wish I would have bought all I could back then when they were going for little to nothing.

bogus

The short answer, no.

The long answer... I don't see regular C4 Vette's ever becoming blue chippers; at least not in the foreseeable future.

They made SO many, and so many are still on the road. Many have actually been driven (how many C3s are out there with over 100k miles on'm?) and modified.

Perhaps time will thin them out, but the real trick is birthrates. The babyboomers are wealthy enough to buy their childhood dreams, will kids of today have the dream of a mid-80s Vette? As cool as they are, the performance isn't the attraction. To many of us, it's knowing how much performance the platform can sustain.

If I was investing in a C4, I would buy:

** Anything Callaway.

** ZR1

** LT4

** Grandsport

** 35th and 40th Anniversary

** CEs, but really LT4 CEs more than auto.

Those will be worth more... much more... but a regular L98 with an auto? Na. A few optioned cars... I could see where an L98, with the 4+3, Z51, base cloth seats, manual AC and base stereo could be worth money in the future... uber-rare.

Manual C4s will always be worth more.

Interesting, a newer forum member, a friend of mine, bought an 84 Vette. He really didn't know what he had gotten, but I was checking it and decoding the RPOs. It's a 4+3 (of 53000 made, only ~6500 came with the manual) and Z51! That car will hold it's value. When other 84s are worth only $4000, his is worth $6000 or more. And time will make his car even MORE valuable.

Your friend who bought the 69 did ok. But in the long run of an investment, she did only fair. Her car is now worth $20k (+$5k for 427), top dollar, but what about insurance and repairs? Keep it a few more years, it's really gonna go up.

My brother in FL, love'm to death, but he can be a dolt at times! in 1980, he bought a 67 L71 (427/435hp tri-power big block), paid about $8k for it. He sold it in 86 for like $10k. What a maroon. If he had even ASKED me... I had more info on the market than he did... in 6 more months that car would have been worth $30k. I could still smack him. grr.... if nothing else, I would have bought the car from him for his asking price (he didn't give me the heads up) and I would have resold it 6 months later for a tidy profit, or a year and made a killing.

oh, well... right place, wrong brain. he could have been rich. hell, I coulda been rich... but people don't always think.

You are thinking! That's GREAT! Sadly, C4s just aren't investment grade pieces, yet. And I don't know when they will be.

Wayne88

I'm sure that C4 prices are at or near their bottom.
Now the C4s in good condition will gradually start to appreciate in value.

bogus

Good point, but look how long it has taken. And mid-70s Vettes are still cheap.

It's the early C3s, the so-called "bumper" cars, that are worth bucks. A 68 bb is worth a nice chunk, but still half a 67 bb.

Bruthish

Kinda makes you wonder if people have an argument on how modifications degrade the value. Unless you have one of the "special" vettes, chances are modding the hell out of it will not degrade the value as much. I say mod it the way you want and have fun with it.

rocco16

You did...unfortunately, all the Corvettes you could buy back then was the same as I could afford to buy: zero. We were only making minimum wage, which was about $1.10.
Guess what...they NEVER went for little to nothing. The $2000 split-window that sold used in 1970 cost then as much as an LT-4 costs today (in 1970 dollars). Remember, back then our fathers were making maybe $12K a year, we were making maybe $8K a year.
Remember this, too: today is the good ol' days of 2030. So, buy up all the $18K CE's you can TODAY and store 'em.....if you can afford the cost of storage. Don't have the money for it? Me neither. And we couldn't afford to buy up the C2's back in the day, either....(sigh).
A buddy bought a new '65 coupe for $3600, and that was a HEAP of cash in those days for a car.
I'm blessed to be able to afford my used C4.

Larry

JrRifleCoach

I really hate when your so blunt!

amm0bob

No... they are still crawling down out here. There was an 86 out here just a few weeks ago for $3500, running with good interior and a smog cert...

JrRifleCoach

WAAAaaaa! You guys are killing me!!!!!

c4sforever

oh do i wish i was in ca right know that baby would have been mine

kenv

I had a friend who bought a `64 vert for $2000 in `84. Sold it 6 month later for $2500, so he could buy a used BMW. He thought he got a good deal

C-4 Now

As a guy who has done C-2 & C-3 restorations I think this cost will be a big $$$$$ factor in C-4 future values. I'm not sure a lot of these cars other than the super desirable ones will have enough value to justify the high restoration cost. But then as much fun as they are to drive this may not matter. Also some of this will be determined by how the aftermarket steps up with items that are already not available from GM. Just the way it looks from here having watched it all before.

Ike

bogus

sorry

tonymax2

I've been following prices and searching for "my C4" for over a year now after watching and searching for a '64 for 2 years before that. Watched the C2's go into the stratosphere-IMHO they are not worth anywhere near the prices some people with money pay for them!! I don't think C4's have bottomed out. For one thing there's still a lot of C4 ads out there with prices that are really ridiculously high for "nothing special" cars. When these guys get the message on prices, the supply is going to increase a bit on top of the 500 C4's for sale on Autotrader alone right now. I also don't think the C4 can be compared to the earlier generations since it's so sophisticated. Maintenance costs will keep out many who otherwise would buy one as a "toy" 'cause it's so expensive for an "old car". As far as keeping one or more until they become "classics", I think that will be a long time, if ever for the "common cars". I agree that the "special builds" will become pricey but the commoners may get stripped keeping these running. GM caught on to the "special build" idea and made a ton of them to pump up sales. That's gonna effect what happens. I'm still gonna buy a C4 but I'm gonna modify it to suit me. What happens to it after I go to the great junkyard in the sky isn't a concern.

bogus

That's the thing, Tony, they really didn't "pump up" the specials... over the 5 years of the Callaway, only 500 were made... ZR1, over 6 years, 6800, Grandsports 1000... none of the specials, in total exceeded 10k units.

That's nothing.

wildman378

I agree with you bogus...even though I perfer auto the manuals will be worth more since less were made. I also know verts will always bring more and be sought after a little more too.....they're kinda like the manual cars not nearly as many made not saying they're collectible by any means just saying like in 95 out of 22k or so made only 4k something were verts that a less ratio than the manuals have towards autos.

I doubt the prices have 100% bottomed out but I'll find out when mine does bc i'm never selling it.

*89x2*

I have been saying now for a couple years, Certain (C4's) Options, Condition, and mileage will affect prices soon, if not already - C4's such as Callaway's, Corvette Challenge series cars, Grand Sports, ZR1's. and 1989 ZF6 speed cars (yes - I AM very serious about the last one) and some other noteables will hold more promise in value than others.
I also agree w/ Bogus that ANY year 6 speed will hold more value over time - esp. in 1996 where power ratings were affected by the LT4 / LT1 variants.
I also believe that FACTORY Hardtop 'verts will be a decent car to get - esp. when combined w/ other options (like the aforementioned 6 spd.)

Cars such as CE's and even some of the 40th Ruby cars that for years have held more value, better have high options to go along w/ condition to maintain that edge over other years

GM flooded the market with their special edditions - making far too many to be collector cars over time -
Just my 2 cents on the subject

nato

Will a regular coupe be worth much one day? na.

As someone who has just bought a c4 not long ago I will tell you this it is dang near impossible to find a convertible compared to finding a coupe. Mine is a coupe and I wanted a convertible I just couldn't find one optioned with sport seats, and the 3.07 gears so I went with a coupe with those options. Trust me coupe no matter if it's 6sp or not will not cost near as much as a convertible I know this because I looked and drove many auto and 6sp coupes and the prices were always way lower than the convertibles if the convertibles would have only had my seat and gear options I wanted I would be in one today! but to find a 95 or 96 convertible with sport seats 3.07s and all the other options was impossible in my area.

tonymax2

Au contraire Bogus- If you count the Konners, Challenge cars, 35th & 40th annv.,ZR-1's, Callaways, IPC's, GS's, CE's and LT-4's you have 28,722 or 8% of the total C4 build. Counting fuelies, L88's and GS's in the C2 generation, it's 4% of the total. GM marketing learned how to tweak sales over the years.