Looks great in the pics, however it's just a V-6.
If it was a 5.0 I could see maybe $ 5,000.
http://louisville.craigslist.org/cto/2582138198.html
I would love to have the money to buy it and put a 5.0 4V Coyote in it !
nice and clean, but definitely not worth 5800 with a py 3.8.. would be worth it if it was a tc or 5.0 'specialty' car
Yea, that's too much for a 3.8.
I'm starting to question if it really is too much. I mean, these cars are getting harder and harder to find, especially in great shape with really low miles. You may look back in another year or two on that "too much" statement and and think twice.
Yeah. I'd pay $5k for a near perfect example of a four eye Bird regardless of engine. It's getting so it'd be worth $5k for me to have a rust free body and spotless interior to start out with, and the engine would be immaterial because no matter what it was it'd be yanked and replaced with something decent (because, unfortunately, these cars were not available with a decent engine in any form - sorry, TC guys, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it)...
Mind, the car I'd pay that much for would have to be "ideal", meaning it'd have certain things in addition to the rust free body, such as TC bumper (if not a TC), vent windows, leather, and most certainly A/C. Being already upgraded to at least an HO and T5 wouldn't hurt either...
good to know these things are seeing some appreciation in terms of value.
i'm sticking with not being worth what he's asking.. the 3.8 cars won't see the value that the 5.0 and TC's will.. maybe in 5 years or so it will be worth that much for it's clean body and interior, but i just don't see it now.. me and david (MY83T) had a convo about this before.. the base cars are only going to be worth a fraction of what the TC's and 5.0 cars will be
You see more super low mile 3.8 cars than the 5.0 and Turbo Coupes. The Sports, I believe, were the rarest of them.
Well, by rare, I mean they made less of them than the rest.
There's a 20th anny in I dunno Illinois or wherever it's in that's been listed on ebay like 4 times in a row, the last couple of weeks he hasn't re-listed it. But each time the bid went no higher than $3k. I think the last time it faltered at like 2,500!! 50k on it, claimed never seen rain, etc. A low-optioned one but really nice. There's one in about the middle of this state that seems in about the same condition, on CL, for the last year and a half I've seen it listed for $3950. Just dropped his price to $3700. I'm kinda surprised these two aren't asking in the range of that T-bird. I'm thinking of snapping up that one near me pretty soon, once some space becomes available.
sports will more than likely end up with about the same value as tc's at some point, especially since you'll see a sport in the junkyard before you see a tc.. most tc's are saved by people who have some common knowledge of fords
A tc using kelley blue book actually deducts value for being a 4 cylinder. We all know this is not the case.
one day when i'm loaded i'll bring a mint TC to aus, people would freak that its a 4cyl turbo.
would be much fun :D
KBB is inaccurate, NADA is better.. but the problem is, to the average used car buyer, at this point and time, it's just an 80's car. that's what those sites are based on, what the average consumer should pay,ask for. to us, the bird/cat enthusiasts, the cars have more value, especially our personal cars. luckily, the fan base is starting to grow as some ford guys are getting tired of their mustangs. that is both a good and bad thing for us. the more people interested, the higher the prices go. on the good side of things, more of these cars will be saved from the crusher.. unfortunately, it's a little late for some that have already met their demise
I have spent the last month t-bird shopping. I almost settled on this bird T-Bird Link (http://"http://nh.craigslist.org/cto/2595705428.html") Before i bought mine but i couldn't get past the read interior.
IMO $5800 is more than i would pay for a 3.8 considering what you can get in that price range.
^ agreed.. i've come across some decent, easy resto TC's and 5.0 birds for around 2k less, that wouldn't take much more than a week or 2 at a body shop to be mint.. maybe not AS low of mileage, but still under 70k on the clock.. for someone to pay 5800 for a 3.8 bird to just swap a 5.0 or 2.3T in, is just non-sense in my book.. 5, 10 or 20 years from now, you'll be lucky if the car is worth what it was as a 3.8 because it's no longer numbers matching. and to keep the 3.8 in it would just be stupid in my eyes.. 3.8's suck.. that's not my opinion, that's a cold hard fact. they have nearly no power and aren't that great on gas.
say you want to show the car. most people are going to walk up, say ' that's a clean bird,' then basically shun the car because it's a 3.8. at least that's what i'd do :p lol it's my strong belief that the 3.8 shouldn't have even been considered for the birds until 89, when the SC/XR7 was introduced. i also believe it was a bit stupid of ford to squash the 3.8 SC motor for the XR7 for the 91 model year.
I think the right way to look at these cars is simple math. Could you find a clean rust free car with a super clean interior, and have only a motor swap to do, or join the throngs of us endlessly searching for things as simple as a console plate or a moulding? I like the search and find, but its not for everyone. I had a easier time rebuilding my front clip on my 70 Torino vert, (now sold) with NOS parts than locating the most basic parts for my 83 Heritage. So, a mint original paint job, with a rust free body and mint interior for a 83-86 Bird/Cougar is worth at least 6K if you want your sanity. We are so used to stealing these cars for parts and such, that it seems very high a price to pay. But its really not..... JMHO.........
+1. I think that's around a realistic price for that nice of a T-bird. I'd rather start with a car in good condition than one that needs a bunch of work to make nice before it gets modified. Think about it. If you have to do body work, repaint the car, and then restore the interior (which is a pain since there are no reproduction interior parts) you'll end up close to a $5000 clean car when you ad up the cost. Then again my T-bird never degraded to "beater" status. It's been constantly maintained all these years. If something broke it was always fixed. It doesn't feel like a 24 year old car. If you can find a well kept one for less it is a great alternative to a low mileage car.
I've seen T-birds have greater asking and selling prices than comparable year Cougars. I think it has to do with T-birds having a larger following than Cougars.
In the big picture, how could you go wrong for that price for a like new car to jump in and have fun? A rebuilt smallblock will cost you that much. From the pictures it looks clean and I'm sure it would get a lot of attention even w/ the 3.8. You just don't find low mileage clean examples of these cars everyday. It might be a tad bit high based on some low mileage examples I've seen sold recently but not too crazy.
Just glad it's not close to me! :hick:
JMHO too.
Well a nice Bird that has near perfect paint and rust free is defiantly worth something... At 13K mi, should be able to sell the drivetrain and offset some of the cost... Yeah I mostly agree with Carm on his engine observation, though it doesn't take much to awaken the Turbo engines, but I wouldn't have anything that sounds like a old tractor when idling(4cyl with performance exhaust)... If I had to drive it with the 3.8, wouldn't want it at any price...
+10 Vinnie
For my 2ยข, it's a very reasonable deal ---- assuming that the car is what he says it is.
If I was serious about it, I'd probably show him $5k as an offer. Money talks.