[V8] More thoughts on V8 pricing and value

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Well, the nice looking V8 Quattro in New Jersey did about what I expect it
would do when the eBay auction was completed.  It failed to make it to
$5000, and was pretty close to what I thought it would bring, which was
$4500.  This was a car that the used car dealer selling it had bought at a
local auction.  There was no history with the car and only one key.  

Last month I followed two auctions on eBay.  One was for a '93 V8 in New
Hampshire and the other for a '92 in Kansas City (I think it was).  

The '93 had been repainted. Originally blue, it was now silver and the
paintwork appeared to be amazingly thorough from the pictures, as the door
sills and all surfaces had been done...made me suspicious, because a radical
repaint on one of these cars would likely cost more than the value of the
car itself.  

The 1992 was a one owner car that had been driven by a female its entire
life, supposedly.  Supposedly there was some sort of family estrangement
that kept the entire service history from being presented with the car.  I
turned off after hearing that there was a "story" that limited data on the
car, but it was clean appearing and relatively low miles...in the 80,000
range, as I recall.  Again, silver exterior with tan interior, which is not
my favorite color.

So, the bottom line in this is that all of these cars went for the low to
mid $4000 range.  

Now way out in La-La land...which all of us "right thinking" right coasters
know is code for Caleeeeforneeeeeyay, there is the amazingly gorgeous V8 at
a used car dealer.  Black and black, they are asking a huge amount:  twelve
grand.  Well, it is nice, but.....there are some tips here.  The ad is hyped
stating that the car "was obviously owned by someone who..." was proud of
the car, blah, blah, blah.  But the question remains:  was this one owner?
Are all the service records with the car?  What is the mechanical and
physical history of the car?  The ad is silent about this, of course, and
the asking price is so high that I am not sufficiently curious to venture
the time to write an email inquiry.

Then there is another Caleeeeeforneeeeyay car that is much cheaper, albeit
with more miles.  This one is the wrong color for me, but it is interesting
enough for me to ask for more information and more pictures.  We'll see.
It's cheap!

There is another black/black '93 that has surfaced in New Jersey, and the
dealer hasn't dared to post the asking price.  It might be nice, and I have
asked for the asking price, but I am not optimistic.  

So, it seems to me that the best bang for the buck in a high performance
sports sedan is the Audi V8 Quattro.  Let's say that I buy one for around
$4,000, and am prepared for a lengthy hospital stay in John's pristine auto
ward.  AND lets say without doing a lot of fancy stuff:  just correcting the
ills of around 100,000 miles, I end up with a $10,000 car.  What can you buy
for ten grand that will be what this car is?  

But the market for these cars is really around $6000:  figure $4500 at
auction, and another $1500 by the time it is sitting in the driveway.  

Works for me:  now where is the damned next V8?

Roger

P.S. For those wags out there who think that my Audi V8 withdrawal pangs
have resulted in major psychotherapy bills, worry not:  I just write about
it here, and the shrink gets zippo from me.  (Besides every shrink that I
have ever known drives some sort of Japanese s---box...they just wouldn't
understand!)