Lemillion

I bought this 5 speed 1996 240sx se from a neighbor of mine. He is 70 years old and can no longer drive so I decided to pick it up. He is the original owner and I am the second owner (only had the car for less than 2000 miles). I was wondering what I should do/ how much the car would go for? The car has no rust and original paint. It is not 100% perfect as the paint is fading on the roof and bumper. A repaint would make it 100%. Other than that, the car is in very good shape with everything working. Pictures below. Thanks

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/5799/pO8Aph.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/9726/gI5Q4C.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/8747/Uf1eJH.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/1498/XUXfye.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/2201/7TFIHG.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img921/9787/a4HWJM.jpg

Thursday7

I don't approve of playas trying to cash out on old people examples of cars, but I have to admit I'm jelly of this find, especially because we live in the same city.

I'd probably pay mid 5000's for it.

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jr_ss

It’s worth exactly what you paid for it. I’m sure you took advantage of a situation, knowing full well what your plan was.

Do your research if you want to know.

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Lemillion

Thanks for your input

Lemillion

Thanks for the response!

EFITTZY

I'd say about tree fiddy

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saiga488

If you find the right buyer then I bet you can sell it for $10K no problem. How much did you snag it for?

silviaks2nr

It's worth what someone else would pay. If you want to sell it, I would have it polished and detailed, compile all the service records, take a ton of photos, and post it to bring a trailer with no reserve. If you want an insurance value for a collector car policy you should be able to do some digging and find similar cars and what they sold for, or what they're listed for at dealers. This is how I was able to get a fair figure agreed value policy on my s14.

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'98 240sx 5spd

jedi03

sounds like you may have a buyer up top lol! I would just drive it and enjoy it...if you are trying to flip cars the GL, I do agree there is some moral obligation to not screw everyone over, but if you get a good deal and can profit from it while helping others then go for it!

Hoffman5982

Even though your pictures are absolute dog shit, it appears to be a super clean car. From what I've seen others going for, I'd say 6,500 minimum. But as the person above said, get it professionally detailed inside and out and take tons of quality pictures(quit with the artistic angle approach bs) and post it on bring a trailer. There was a near identical condition/mileage s14 that went for $10.5k last year in AL

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Kingtal0n

Few years ago, I saw a gorgeous 97 with 44,000 org miles. I saw it at an intersection during traffic.

I said to myself "WOW, if only I could buy that car. It would be perfect. "

Actually I said those words to my passenger who told me with absolute certainly "I would never be able to get that car" for some reason or other. When people say things like that, really gives me encouragement to prove them wrong.

So what did I do? Slammed it in park, jumped out in mid-rush our traffic, held up the light, and got that phone number.


Turns out it was for sale. And the owner had just acquired it, same deal old original owner garage kept never drove it.

And he was getting offers for it left and right, people just like me, jumping out of cars (probably not quite that dramatic)


He told me 6500 I could have it.
I sold my daily the next day for a reasonable price, came up with the total somehow, and went back to get it. With no car of my own, mind you.


I was told, "not yet" he wanted to wait. Or something. Some kinda crap.
So now I had no car, was waiting for this guy to sell his to me. yeah

I borrowed a Honda from my step father and drove that pos for almost a year before this guy finally decided to sell it to me.
$7200 he wanted now. Raised the price on me after months of waiting, after telling me 6500 and I sold my car...

bastard.

anyways. He let me sign the title at some point which made me feel better.
Then finally, it was mine. Months of waiting had paid off, sort of, I had finally managed to get the perfect kouki, the best 20 year old car I'd ever seen.
Leather seats were new to me. It was very comfortable and clean as you might expect.

I started driving it as my only car of course. My new daily driver. A gorgeous white 97 with just... 45,000 miles. How perfect?

It only took a couple of days for me to realize something fundamentally wrong about the situation. Personally, deep down, I like to modify my vehicle. Whether its a ship, plane, car, whatever- I like to do 'things' to them. You know?

Well. The problem was, this car was already 'perfect'. It had at last 150,000 more miles to go before there would be the slightest thing wrong with it.
And anything I did to it, between now and then (10+ years later) would render it no longer perfect.
Would reduce it's inherent value. Not just to me; to the entire world. You drop 20k on a car like this and it's value would barely budge.
It was already worth more than most modified cars in this class the way it sat.


It was the catch22 of a lifetime. Here I was, the most mod friendly owner on the planet, with the perfect car, the ideal canvas that we all search for daily, useful for any successful build, and I couldn't touch it for 10 or more years without ruining it and reducing it's value, even by pouring money into it. I had only two options: drive it, or sell it. Modification wasn't an option.

I tried driving it first. And was happy for the most part about that. It was a clean smooth ride, give you that.
The main issue was economy: 25mpg is a minimum for today's standards.
V8 6-speed 240sx can do 30mpg and 400rwhp and would even lighten up the car and balance it better given the aluminum engine.
An sr20det could provide twice the factory power and more miles per gallon as well.
So why should anyone suffer with around half the power and 5 less miles per gallon? Just to have a clean original car?

Couldn't handle it.

Sad but, I had to sell it, because what the hell was I supposed to do with it? After all that.

The lesson for me (as a college student budget) was. You can't really drive the cleanest, original cars; they are for looking at, and if the mileage is very low, you can't even mod them.
So it's just for looking at mostly.

Anybody that actually drives an original specimen like that- more power to you.
literally. I don't know how anybody could stand to be stuck with less than 200hp let alone less than 500 these days while also pulling a ~25mpg standard.
New 4-cylinder cars (VW) are doing 500 piece of cake, I've seen it. And those are what, 30-33mpg?

Its a relic until it gets 200k and ragged out so somebody can enhance it with a little swap action. Until then, show piece.

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5.3/4l80e/turbo 240sx playthrough:
https://tinyurl.com/turbo240

Lemillion

I actually appreciate this post a lot. I am in the same situation. I am a college student and had plans on just driving the car as stock but as you said it is very slow and the mpg that I get is crap. I honestly did not intend on selling the car but as a college student I need something else. If you dont mind me asking, how much did you end up selling it?

mav1178

if you're not sure, you can always post it on BringATrailer.com and see where it goes.

everyone's definition of worth is different but if I was looking for a clean S14 I'd pay more than $10k for it, given that it's one owner.

ixfxi

stop being a pussy, thats what you could've done with it. for fucks sake, its bad enough all your posts are pages long... now you're saying how you waited a year to buy the perfect car only to sell it because you didnt want to modify such a pure stock specimen?

this is the kind of shit that makes my blood boil. cars are made to be driven, and wine is made to be drank.


10k is not a lot of money. considering i paid 6500 back in 1996 for my s13, add inflation, 10k is a pretty minimal amount of dough. i didnt even want an s14 and i've got more than 10k tied up in mine

spooled240

Relax, it's a fucking Nissan with a truck engine

A DOG 406

A car is worth what someone will pay. Period.

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Hoffman5982

As usual you're spewing your bullshit as if it's fact and word of god.

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mav1178

like I said, everyone's worth will be different.

the only way to get a good answer is putting it up for auction with a reserve set. that's all.

ixfxi

alex, do you still own an s-chassis? whatever happened to your white coupe. man, that was ages ago.

S13SilviaGirl

Mike, I miss you!

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Thursday7

Threads pretty cringe regarding Mr. soliloquy, but I'm from Philadelphia and see the car in question for sale on marketplace. I'm not a poor dude but damn the exploitation of these cars is really disheartening. I know some people see theirs as investments as this points, which makes sense but gahh. RIP to affordable simple Japanese cars.

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Whitey13

These will never be good investments.

FYI he’s asking $9k for those who are in the market.

dizzariot

I disagree.

I also think $9k is fair.

I also think OP is a Mr.MeSeeks out of his box.

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Whitey13

Buying and asset 23 years ago for $22,000, which is now worth $5-10K fails every existing definition of what an investment is. This, without taking into consideration taxes, title, registration fees and operating costs.

If the OP gets his asking price, which approaches the ceiling for what an OBDII zenki is currently worth, then you'll be waiting a very, very long time for any demonstrable appreciation in value. Just drive the car and enjoy it.

The only person that will be able to call this a "good investment" is the OP, as he likely paid 1/3 of his asking price for the car, as I don't think any 70 year old knows what a drift tax is.

**disclaimer; I could talk about investments all day and in no way am I trying to discourage the sale of this car, at any price.

corkscrew

Sold a decent shape exterior, mint interior, 300k s14 for $3700 about 2 years ago

dizzariot

Oh yeah lol if you bought it BRAND NEW then it's not an investment. I mean nowadays they tend to be. S13 prices have gone up and mine will most likely net me at least double what I paid for it..if I ever grow the balls to sell it.

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Whitey13

When you talk about selling it at twice the value, do you mean in Japan or bringing it here to sell?

I'd apologize to the OP for the threadjack, but I think he's gone already.

dizzariot

Yeah he's for sure gone. Only wanted to peddle his car.

I think I can get close to double in the US. If not this year, then at least this time NEXT year. From what I've been told I can get almost three times what I've paid for it (before shipping costs here) for the car. Who knows man.

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Whitey13

srh666

whats the black piece behind the grill? that looks like half of a cooling panel.