price of a used SC

scbird1

Registered User
Ok where to start. It just seems some of our members and gusts on this board just seem to de-value others that are trying to sell there cars. Driving down the price of our cars. Im sure everyone that has a SC would like to get some money back for there hard work and devotion to the car itself. I dont expect to get all the money I have spent on anyone of my cars as the new parts are not new when they were installed 4 years ago. I was just contacted by someone who said my 91 was only worth $2500
He didnt even see the thing. Book price says 3500 for well maintained but this car has new trans and a ton of new parts to make it new again. Im not looking to retire on what I make on the car but come on this is a classic car and the price should go up as it was the first production car to come with a supercharger. I must add that there are a lot of beaters out there with dents pealing paint or faided and not much works on these but if we are going to continue with this club we better start by not letting the bottom fall out from under our beloved SC. Nuff said!
 
Same thing here...

I posted a 93, 5 speed car for $2200 just to get it gone and the same thing [your car is too much, or I won't pay that much for that thing] Truth be known, did either one of them even have the $$ or the need for the car?? Maybe not, did anyone ask how many miles were on the replacement engine & trans ?? NO. You just have to keep going and sooner or later a real buyer will come along and the car will go away.....Rich
 
Lots of hits against the SC in the used car market.

#1 - It's a V6
#2 - It's not a "Classic Car", it's unique, but it's not classic.
#3 - Getting into a new car is easier than **** through a goose.
#3 - Nearly new is not new.

And I'll be honest with you. A new tranny and new engine hardly puts a blip on my radar, unless you can show the receipts from a known engine builder or transmission builder. Why? As many people have experienced, a rebuilt part simply means that it may, or may not fail 10 miles down the road. Rebuilders can be very spotty.

Yeah, I know it sucks. That's what makes Rich's comment so valid. You have to blow of the guys that low ball you and wait for the guy that feels like you do about the car. Joe 17 year old looking for a fun car for school is not going to have the same attitude as someone that feels the value of these cars like many of us.

And there are a lot of older guys that still think like Joe 17 year old.
 
It takes someone with a little knowledge about our cars to fully appreciate them. Anyone else doesn't deserve one!
 
HEY NOW :D

I'm 18 and have a deep respect for these cars...Yeah i may not know as many technical things about them as some do here, and may ask a lot of questions, but that's how i'm gonna learn. And about knowing how valuable these things are- i looked for about 2 years to find the perfect one for me. And about price...I will be the first to say i might have spent too much on my car, but i love these cars. Take a look at my post "Finally got pictures of the bird" and then tell me how much you would have spent on it. But PLEASE PLEASE don't catagorize all young people in the same boat. not taking any offense cuz i know people like this, but i just ask this. thanks
-aaron
 
What's it worth? It's worth what someone is willing to pay. As far as our cars being a classic, that's a personal opinion at this time. I think the SC's are still too new to fall into that catagory.

I'm going to drive my 1990 SC. It's not rare according to the production numbers so I'll enjoy it. I'm going to mod my 1989 XR7 even though the production numbers are lower. If I had an 89 XR7 5 speed it would be a different story.
 
Ya but mike here we go with all the negetives again. The same parts are on a mustang but that wont bring down the price. You know and I know that a rebuilt anything if not done right will not last but not everyone looks at it the same way. Im just saying we need to be more positive about our cars and yes If I was looking at a car and the guy said it was rebuilt I would want to see recips
to see who did the work but still some here take our cars as all 10 year old beaters and none of mine fit that bill.
 
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The market is what it is. It's not negative. It just is what it is. We feel different about these cars. But the general public has other thoughts. you just have to be able to wait for someone that feels the same way to come along.

The Hemmings Muscle Motors magazine had a great article on a recent auto Auction in Denver. It discussed how classic Mustang values are dropping dramatically and how the custom hot rods are also dropping below what it costs to make them. This is on the auction circuit. Only about 40% of the cars sold because people wouldn't take what they were getting. Their reserves were too high.

What is hot right now is apparently cars that are stock, the less massaging and customizing the better. So if we want to keep our cars for value down the road, it will be interesting to see if we see a swing back into the customizataion being in demand, or the more stock type car.
 
Mike8675309 said:
Hemmings Muscle Motors magazine had a great article on a recent auto Auction in Denver. It discussed how classic Mustang values are dropping dramatically and how the custom hot rods are also dropping below what it costs to make them.

So if we want to keep our cars for value down the road, it will be interesting to see if we see a swing back into the customizataion being in demand, or the more stock type car.

I have been involved in the Antique and Classic car market for over 20 years. I've built street rods and classic cars for myself and for some of my customers.

The bottom line in the collector car market seems to be this: When the stock market is up, classic car prices drop. When the market falters, people invest in collectible cars and the prices go up.

FYI, a classic car is defined as a vehicle that is between 25-35 years old and has NO major modifacations. An Antique car is a car that is over 35 years old.

Any 25 year old vehicle that has been modified is usually called a "street machine" or a "non-original collector car". Then that gets broken down into nastalga, muscle cars, and so on.

Because our SC's are a low production vehicle, the value will begin to rise. This will be because of atrition and other factors. (Just like some of the other low production cars of the past).

If you can hold on to one long enough, and keep it nise you will have a valueable car in the next 10-20 years ...
 
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I'm 18 and have a deep respect for these cars...Yeah i may not know as many technical things about them as some do here, and may ask a lot of questions, but that's how i'm gonna learn. And about knowing how valuable these things are- i looked for about 2 years to find the perfect one for me. And about price...I will be the first to say i might have spent too much on my car, but i love these cars. Take a look at my post "Finally got pictures of the bird" and then tell me how much you would have spent on it. But PLEASE PLEASE don't catagorize all young people in the same boat. not taking any offense cuz i know people like this, but i just ask this. thanks
Ditto... except i'm 15!! And i only looked for my car for 5 or 6 mos?
 
Yeah I'm with Mr. Albee on that one, the price on these cars will go up and down depending on the economy, and in the long run i think they're going to go up if well maintained. I'm just tired of people trying to pass supercoupes off as cheap cars that are worth nothing just because of the fact that most of them are 10+ years old. No matter what you decide to ask for your SC, chances are there's someone out there that will pay it, it's just a matter of finding them. just my .02 cheers
 
On a side note, the Supercoupe is not the first production car with a supercharger. There were earlier T-birds with them and there were supercharged Packards even before that.

But I do agree with you about the whole price thing with these cars.
 
Well as a SC owner and a guy who does my own work, I can see why the cars have hardly no value. The cars require a lot of billable hours for a lot of repairs. This means that unless you can do the work yourself the cars are too expesnsive to maintain for most buyers. If you are going to buy one of these cars you will need headgaskets, motor mounts, radiator or cooling system upgrade, and most likely some sort of trans work. If you don't budget for these repairs and upgrades then you are going to be in trouble. When I look in the classifieds section I look for these things to be done to the car. If none of the above have been done then the car will have to bought at rock bottom price. Sometimes you have cars that look great, but are at 100,000 miles and the owner never had any problems so he sees a near mint car. I see a car that needs some money and or time put into it.

Earlier this year I looked at a 89 XR7 that the original owner still had. The guy was wanting around $1000, but probably would have taken $500. The car needed everything, it had hail damage, slight rearend damage, shot black paint and all the fluids looked bad. Even if the guy gave me the car it would have cost thousands to restore. There are just too many $4000 SCs that are near mint to even contemplate that under.
 
ok so how about this, i have a 91 black exterior with black leather interior(no rips or fades) and its a 5spd. it has 10,500 miles on it. the only thing that is not original on the car is the battery and the wipers. still have the tires that the car came with.

has power everything, power adjustable mirror. the car came with a bra that has the tbird emblem emboidered on it. there are two minor scratches on the rear bumper.

car has won two awards at two shows

2002 ford nationals at maple grove 3rd place
2003 ford nats in carlisle pa 2nd place.

been thinking about selling it. what should i ask for it?

see my members page for the 91sc
 
I agree with shockwave. When I first got my 90 and couldnt find the spark plugs, I knew I would have my hands full. It takes lots of dedication to keep an SC in good shape, But it pays off with the compliments I get. I think a lot of people dont know about the SC, they think its a regular T-bird.
 
james5275 said:
I agree with shockwave. When I first got my 90 and couldnt find the spark plugs, I knew I would have my hands full. It takes lots of dedication to keep an SC in good shape, But it pays off with the compliments I get. I think a lot of people dont know about the SC, they think its a regular T-bird.

I agree ..... I have people come up to me all of the time and they say, "Nice T-bird"..... and when I tell them it's Supercharged they say, "No Shi+ ..... I didn't know they made them Supercharged!" .... Then I open the hood and they say, "Holy Shi+, how do you even work on it!" ..... I usually reply, "Carefully, and with a lot of paticence" ........ :D
 
danekejt said:
ok so how about this, i have a 91 black exterior with black leather interior(no rips or fades) and its a 5spd. it has 10,500 miles on it. the only thing that is not original on the car is the battery and the wipers. still have the tires that the car came with.
...
been thinking about selling it. what should i ask for it?

see my members page for the 91sc

Selling it now? 10k-18k

Another 10 years? 20k-30k depending on what Ford does with the thunderbird model.

Someone that would buy that should be looking to it as a small investment. Not as something to drive too much.
 
Heck no! Drive the car all over the place. What is the point of having a car if all your going to do is look at it. Might as well just get a picture of it.

I have owned some nice cars that are hard to find and I drove everyone of them. Lots of times the judges at shows love to see bugs in the radiator, no trailer queens for me, unless its on the way to the drag strip. :)
 
1BADSC said:
Heck no! Drive the car all over the place. What is the point of having a car if all your going to do is look at it. Might as well just get a picture of it.

I have owned some nice cars that are hard to find and I drove everyone of them. Lots of times the judges at shows love to see bugs in the radiator, no trailer queens for me, unless its on the way to the drag strip. :)

I'm with you there bro!
If it's trailered it's a trophy. It's not a hot rod unless you drive it!:D
 
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