Received this email from Geoff at Prestige Motorsport. While it is focused on GTR's there is mention of the 300ZX and increase in demand for turbo Japanese cars from the USA. Whatever way you look at it, the cheap grey import of the 80's/90's is soon to become history!
Low Kay pristine examples of anything are worth money. The common place 1990 unknown km Zx will never be worth big money. That's my view anyway. For owners of a 300zx in excellent condition, I think they are in a good spot because the good cars are so rare. They are probably worth reasonable money now and will be of course more desireable But how many people who own a really nice Zx has actually kept it stock.? Because that's where the big money will be if that time ever comes
I think the main point here is that we have likely seen the bottom of what our cars are worth. While we may not see one sell for big dollars anytime soon, it's good to know that to be able to just get one for chips will become less likely. Also there is nothing in Geoff's email about 'stock' examples, just low kay, pristine examples with no accident history. Fast and Furious die hards want anything but stock
I think in general though, stock is where the money will be. That's true of most classics. Even stuff like sierra and escort cosworths which are begging to be modified, the desireable ones are stock. 2 door range rovers in original condition are going nuts price wise in the uk. Worth literally 100 times more than a modified car On the subject of gtrs. I would actually love a stock pristine 32 gtr. Wouldn't be many around though.
I've posted production numbers on Z's which show why they'll never be worth as much. I'll paste it again to put things into perspective: Z31s will never go up much. They made nearly 300,000 of them. For Z32s there's apparently 164,170 produced. 99,286 of them exported and 64,84 kept for the JDM market (which means potentially available to us in Aus). Assuming half have survived and still kicking there's still 80,000 of them world wide, most of them in the states obviously. Not based on hard stats as I can't find anything locally but optimistically let's say there's maybe 10,000 in Aus? It's no commonwhore but still too many! Won't go up as much in value compared to say the below. - Only 45,223 JZA80 Supras ever produced. Less than a 1/3 of all the Zs out there... and you wonder why Supras are generally worth more than our cars. You want a investment? Buy a TT 6 speed Supra and wait for numbers to dwindle. The Japs were smart too, they exported only 11,239 to the US and kept the rest for themselves (more for us since they're all RHD). - NSX hold their value extremely well. Again because they're exclusive! Only 18,623 were made for its 11 year life span. Late spec NA2 Type R never dropped in value, they were collectible since new in Japan. - Didn't realise there were so few GTRs. Japan ONLY obviously but we've got a fair share over here. Those production numbers for the R34 suggest they'll be the ones that'll go up the most. I'm not one to buy a car to not drive it. If you have a spare spot in the garage, the R34 will be a sound investment (assume you don't drive it). IMO we've just hit bottom dollar on our cars. Few years ago the cheapest I found was an ugly orange NA (manual and running) going for $4500. Just a few weeks ago a nice red NA with 2k bar, manual but around 230,000 honest KMs was sold on carsales for $3600. Bargain. Should have bought it. Lots of 'projects' out there for $1500 - $2k. I've got so many spares could just buy one and transfer all my spare parts to it and make it a runner.
Good post there MikeZ32. Although, when it comes to what they're worth here, I don't think it matters how many went to the US or what they sell for over there. I don't think it even matters what they're selling for (or likely to sell for in Japan) - the owner of the only compliancing workshop that I know of told me he's complied just 4 of them in the past 5 years! If no one's buying them in Japan to bring here - what they're selling for over there would have little or no influence locally. And although there were 21 million VW beetles made - you've still got to pay big money to buy a mint one The way I look at it, Nissan sold bugger all Z32's here because the yen was so high during those years - you could buy a brand new BMW for less (or a house!). I worked at Nissan at the time & they were very coy about announcing Z32 sales figures because they were embarrassing. Who knows for sure, but I doubt there would be anything like 10,000 still on the road here. And the longer they're worth nothing, the faster they'll vanish. At the end of the day, if there's very few nice examples on the market and someone really wants a good one - they'll pay (regardless of how many were made and shipped elsewhere). Totally agree Z31's won't be go up in price but I'd say that's more because they're ugly than because Nissan managed to build a lot of them (Nissan sold more of them because currency rates were far more favorable) I know someone who's got a 12/97 TT Manual 2+2, as original as the day it left the factory with 55,000km on it with no wear anywhere (even the engine splash guards have clearly never been removed), drives like a brand new car. Reckon as the years roll by, someone would eventually be willing to pay good money for it. But since my son's keen on owning it someday, suppose we'll never know
When i was in the US a month back, met a guy said how he friend just got ahold of a R33 GTR....... I told him i can go buy them everywhere, he was surprised. With that I realized now they can get them the US market is gonna start lapping them up. With that the price will rise. It is purely the cult status that is coming with them R35 Skylines are selling there for 70k-80k. I have not seen one that cheap locally. For that kinda money why would you spend 30k on a 10-15 year old (or older) car?
Not sure I'd agree, that suggests to me we already have too many locally and there's simply no need to bring in fresh stock from Japan. Granted, 10,000 in Aus is optimistic, halve it and I might still be over estimating but if we have fewer than 5,000 and they're still worth what they're currently worth? Not a good sign of demand IMO. There's always an import vs buy local thread popping up once every 3-6 months. General consensus is there's much better buys locally than going to the effort to comply a FOB which is partly due to low aussie dollar as well as the expenses. Then there's the annoyance of having to perform routine maintenance that may or may not have been done. I've imported 3 cars before, on average looking around $7k all up to get a car landed, complied and registered. If you're going to the effort to do that with a $15k zed (which after all the fees becomes a $21k zed), most simply go local for something which already has all the servicing done. EvZ's car is a perfect example of a $60k all up car selling for $20k.
Rather than there being too many here already, I'd say importation of Z32's has virtually dropped to zero thanks to resale values. Why risk buying something pretty well sight-unseen at auction in Japan which costs $10k+ by the time it's here and complied when you can buy a fairly decent one locally for much less, that you can drive before you buy. Plus there's no insurance on the way over - if the auction car arrives damaged or gets dropped off the wharf, "it's too bad mate". With commission, shipping, wharf fees, import duty, compliance cost + tyres, it'd have to sell pretty damn cheap at auction for it to only owe you $7k once ready to slap plates on it!
Didn't word it well, $7k was the fees in pretty much all 3 cases! It doesn't include the cost of the car.
I hope prices do increase in the near future for our beloved 300zx's. There is still great interest for Z's that are stock right across Australia I had my 2+2 Twin Turbo AT with 200,000+km's up for sale last year with a blown gearbox. It has the factory options of the Navan Spoiler, Navan Shifter and blue interior. It was for sale for $4500 and I still had interest right across Australia for it and people were getting quotes to transfer it from Queensland down to Melbourne/Sydney. Luckily all my great Z pals convinced me not to sell it and the Z community helped put in a new gearbox at a techday. :zlove: It just goes to show, good examples will still fetch decent $$$
I KEEP telling you guys! One day I'll look at the prices of 300ZX Twin Turbo's and think "FARK ME!!!! I used to own one and NOW see what they fetch?????" And on that day I'll have to come back to this forum and remind myself that mine was a bit shit ....coz if it was mint......I'd be spewing. The Zed WILL rise. And there in lies the point. NO guys! NO Your zeds will NOT increase in value (not all of them). The GOOD un-molested ones will. The rest will slowley die off. This is the way of the car.
But what do u call good money? im curious to know how long it will take for them to go back to the values that a lot of us paid when buying these cars 8-10 years ago. i paid 15k for mine
Yeah I paid $14k and lightly modified ones were going for $18-$20 AND selling quickly. In today's market they just don't represent value at those prices.
I'm relatively new to the Z community, got my first non turbo Z32 back in 2012 for $2000. The current Z with all the Navan gear only set me back $4500 + flights to Melbourne and fuel to bring it back to the Gold Coast in 2014. I guess I got into zeds when they hit rock bottom in prices I couldn't imagine paying 15k for one and seeing them depreciate so much
I got mine for $16k ish. Spent a couple of grand over a couple of years (not bad really) and sold for $8500. Seems bad? Na. Not as bad as buying a new or near new 350 or 370. Ouch!!!
Well said ugame, Rarely are cars an investment. Sure the 300 cost more 10 years ago, but the cars were newer too which meant less to be spent. We're picking them up cheaper now but having to spend more on repairing and maintaining them. I paid $7750 for mine 6 months ago. Its in good condition an mechanically sound. But I know that to keep it that way will cost money. I know it'll be a grand here a grand there and so on. And this is all preventative maintenance, and I'm cool with that. This is after all a Japanese timeless classic. When I google stuff on the 300ZX, it's so highly regarded. Few cars look this good after 25 years. The 300Zx Z32 has been my favourite car for all of my adult life. I don't mind spending some money to keep this one alive. Like a few here have said the trick is to keep the car as stock standard as possible. I look at so many Zs that have been modified so much and have had so much money spend on them. You have to ask yourself, does any of it make the car look better than stock? In most cases I think the answer is no. These modified cars are the ones that are so hard to sell now.
I know your car. I did a 100k service on it about 8 years ago. The owner then, Gary I think had paid 15 or 20k for it when he bought it That was the going rate back then. I rarely buy a car from an investment point of view and I did expect the value of mine to drop a bit through my ownership. But I am a bit surprised at the extent of the depreciation.
