Greetings, I have a 1984 Toyota Celica GTS hatchback with sunroof(still works) with 218,000 miles on it. Body is in decent shape and it is a great around town car. I am deciding if I want to keep the car which means I would need to get it painted and some repair work probably amounting to about 1800.00. It would look very sharp at that point…My question is do you think I could get my money out it if I decided to sell it within say a year assuming it is running well with no major needs repair wise. Secondly, at what point do you think this car will be a real classic so it would be worth money.
If you like the car and want to keep it then invest the money and fix it up. If you want to sell it in a year after the repairs then forget about it. These cars sold for very little money 10 years ago and were often passed over at auctions so I really don’t think the market is there.
Agree; but if you keep it, you may be interested that there is a Celica running around town here with 1.5 million miles on it!!! It spent most of its life in Nevada, where it’s dry. Celica’s ar very durable cars when properly looked after. But the they have little resale value.
You’ll never get your money out of it. But, think of all the car payments you don’t need to make. $1,800 will pay for about 6 months worth of car payments. And, with a sharp looking '84, it will not be looked at as a ‘beater’.
I had two Toyota’s. One is a 1992 Celica with 355,000 miles on it. It runs fine, has some dings but looks pretty good, and still passes emissions. If I sell it, I probably cannot get more than $1000 for it. So I figure as long as I can keep it running, that is money I can bank. Plus, it is easy to work on.
The other is a 1988 Supra. 275,000 miles on her, but she is definitely a classic. I know I’ll never get the money out of her that I want to spend on restoring her, but the fun of it and the fun driving her will be worth it.
Personal Finance 101: Replace your car if 1) you need to impress clients (example: realtor) or 2) your repair costs exceed your replacement costs or 3) you have another overwhelming financial need (example: you cannot reliably get to work) or 4) you have money to burn. Cause if you’re borrowing money (or even not fully invested in your necessities), that’s what you’re doing. A new car is what? $500 a month? You can make an awful lot of repairs (remember, you’re only making necessary repairs) for that.
You have about 200,000 too many miles to make any money on it as a classic, if it ever becomes one. And you will never get your money out of it if you paint it and do the repair work if you expect to sell it. If you like the car and will keep it after the repairs and paint, then it might be worth it.
At this point ten year old used cars are 6-10k$. Do the math. If you can get a new $20K car and pay $4.5k per year for the finance then dump the old car. Cars are really quite expensive now. A working car has more than book value if you know the issues the car has. Up to a point. Personally I would go spray paint but thats up to you. You will get nothing at resale for this car unless iron prices peak again.
I would not count on getting your money back. However I think you look at completely wrong like most people with vehicles. For $1800 you a car that will hopefully last another year and look decent too beyond you enjoying it. If you get money back great, if not you got wheels for $1800 - the selling price.
I think you’d regret selling this car.