What's it worth?

[SynMan5.0]

Hey all! I'm a long time member of the site, but I don't think I've ever posted in this forum before today. Anyway, I figured this would be the best place to ask about a '93 Cobra.

My brother-in-law, Mike, works with a guy who owns a '93 Cobra. I guess the guy saw Mike getting out of his 5.0 T-Bird in the parking lot the other day and told him about the car. Anyway, he also told him he was thinking about selling the Cobra and wanted to see if Mike knew anybody that would be interested. Well, being the awesome brother-in-law that he is, Mike mentioned it to me. I'm not looking to buy a car right now, but I couldn't resist asking to see if he could get some more info on it.

So, I guess it's Vibrant Red with grey leather and has "every option you could order" (I don't know a lot about '93s, but I'm assuming that basically means it has a sunroof and CD player). He also said it has just under 60k miles and is 100% stock except for a pair of mufflers. He's the second owner and bought it in 1995. He said he used to park it in a friend's "barn" while overseas (he's retired military) and ended up just leaving it in there after retiring. That's where it's sitting for almost 10 years now. BTW, this is Wyoming, so "barn" could mean it's been parked in a nice heated garage, a storage unit, or an actual barn.

At any rate, now I'm kind of interested in buying it. The guy told Mike the tires are dry rotted, the battery is shot and the fuel pump is dead, but otherwise the car is in excellent condition. It's nice that the car is original and has relatively low miles, but I'm nervous about the fact that it's been sitting for so long. He obviously left old gas in it since it needs a fuel pump, and that means the injectors and the rest of the fuel system will probably need to be cleaned or replaced. Also, depending on where it's been sitting, I'm worried mice may have gotten into it (I've seen a lot of that around here). Adding up the cost of changing all the fluids, buying tires, a battery, bearings, brakes, etc. is starting to get depressing, and while I could easily get a loan to pay for it, I wasn't really planning on buying a car right now.

Overall condition will obviously affect the price, but assuming the body/interior/etc. is excellent, what do you guys think it's worth? He is asking $11k for it, but Mike said he thinks the guy would negotiate because it doesn't run and drive the way it sits. I did some quick research on these cars and it seems like most people are asking quite a bit more than book. What are they actually selling for these days? I was thinking about offering around $9k as-is, but I don't want to insult the guy. Is it worth more than that? Less?

 

[WillyB93]

That optioned car was the most made, as far as a value kinda hard to say for sure since it doesn't run and such. But I can honestly say most 100k mile cars sell anywhere from 8k to 10k all day long. Look at this car hit reserve already at 8k. Here is a website to get a little better pricing through research. 1993cobra.com

 

[Speedfreek]

Fixed if the car is all original paint and interior and looks nice it is a 13k car. Figure you will spend at least 1k in getting it back on the road 8-9k would be reasonable to offer.

 

[GT500662]

PM me your information...a friend of mine us looking to buy one right now thanks!

 

[GT500662]

Is

 

[buddha93]

Also keep in mind they suspect the FP is dead. That my or may not be the case. Fair assumption, but you just never now.

 

[WillyB93]

PM me your information...a friend of mine us looking to buy one right now thanks!

Did he look at this one since it's right at you back door so to say?
1993 Cobra Registry • View topic - Red/leather few mods 141k miles $9800 IN.

 

[SynMan5.0]

I talked to the owner of the Cobra today. The weather is terrible here, so he wanted to wait until next weekend to show me the car. It doesn't sound like it's worth anywhere near the $11k he's asking. I don't know if he has any idea what the car is worth, though, so he may be willing to negotiate quite a bit. He knows it has some issues and it doesn't sound like he's interested in advertising it. At any rate, I'm not going to talk price with him until I actually see the car.

He said it's been basically sitting since about 2000(!) and he's only had it out a couple of times since then. And it's been in a barn, not a garage. He said it's covered under a pile of dirt and dust. He did put a coat of wax on it before he parked it, though (lol!). There is some "minor" hail damage to the roof, the cat-back part of the exhaust sounds like it's been hacked up and the tires and battery are obviously junk. He sounded pretty certain the fuel pump was dead and bought a new one, but hasn't put it in yet. I wouldn't doubt it if gas has been sitting in it for 13 years. He said other than those few things the car is in "excellent" shape.

12+ years is a LONG time for a car to sit with virtually no maintenance. I'm sure mice have chewed up most of the wiring. And I doubt any of the fluids have been changed, so everything will likely need flushed before I would even attempt to start it. Most of the gaskets and seals are probably bad, too. At least it's been in our extremely dry climate here in Wyoming most of its life, so it's probably rust-free.

I'm still excited about the car and I'll take some pics when I look at it next weekend. But unless he's willing to come down a lot of price, I'm probably not going to buy it. Last thing I need right now is another project. Anyway, I'll let you all know how it turns out.

 

[93&99cobrasvt]

$9k seems really high without seeing pictures and imagining the worse. If you watch Ebay you can buy 93 cobras with good miles that run and drive and maybe have a few small cosmetic issues for around that price. I wouldnt pay anymore than 5k for it knowing all that. I wish you luck.

 

[SynMan5.0]

Thanks for the input everybody.

$5k 93&99cobrasvt? I know it doesn't sound like this car has a lot going for it, but that sounds pretty low. I haven't seen ANY decent fox bodies for $5k around here, let alone a Cobra. From what I've seen on the internet, I was figuring it was worth around $8-9k like Speedfreek said. If the car is pretty trashed I could maybe see $5k.

 

[93&99cobrasvt]

Everyone is entitled to there opinion, Seattle has a lot to pick from. I've had 4 93 Cobras all of which I didn't pay more than 6k for and they were all in better shape than you explained yours is . You can get a real nice fox here for 5k. It's your money I say go for it, personally I'd look on ebay for one that's running and driving for around the same price. I had an all original 80k 93 Cobra I was selling a few months ago and I had a hard time getting 10k out of it. You asked for opinions and that's mine, I'd keep looking.

 

[Kryckter]

Everyone is entitled to there opinion, Seattle has a lot to pick from. I've had 4 93 Cobras all of which I didn't pay more than 6k for and they were all in better shape than you explained yours is . You can get a real nice fox here for 5k. It's your money I say go for it, personally I'd look on ebay for one that's running and driving for around the same price. I had an all original 80k 93 Cobra I was selling a few months ago and I had a hard time getting 10k out of it. You asked for opinions and that's mine, I'd keep looking.

I need to come up to Seattle to buy cars...


I think your offer is close on the car. I would say maybe 8k, saying the body is clean and it really has low miles. Only risk is not knowing what all is wrong

 

[93Cobra#2771]

It's always a crap shoot when a car isn't running. For all you know, it has a hole in a piston. At the very least, would be a good idea to do a leakdown and compression test to see exactly what you might have.

As far as options go, very few:

Leather
Power drivers seat
CD
Sunroof
Rear window defrost
Engine Block heater
Million mile odometer

 

[SynMan5.0]

Ok, I finally went and looked at the car today. I didn't get any pictures because I actually dropped my phone when I got out of my car at the guy's house and the screen shattered :bash:. I probably wouldn't have been able to get good pics anyway. The car is kind of buried in the back of the barn with just barely enough room to walk around it.

The Cobra is everything he said it was. He is an older guy recently retired from the military and the car hasn't moved since '06. So it hasn't been sitting quite as long as I thought. That's obviously a good thing. It was covered in a thick layer of dust, but the body looked mint as far as I could tell. I couldn't find a scratch or dent on it. I blew most of the dust off the roof and I couldn't find the hail damage he was talking about. He said there were only a couple of dents and they were very minor. The interior is in great shape. The only flaw I could see was a little bit of wear on the upper side bolster of the driver's seat. The odometer reads just over 59k miles and I have no reason to doubt that based on the overall condition of the car. It was a little dusty under the hood, but very clean and original. The only non-stock parts it has are a K&N, plug wires and some Flowmaster mufflers with 3.5" tips welded on the stock pipes (nowhere close to straight oke. It also had a Uhaul hitch that he said he added so he could occasionally tow his motorcycle on a small trailer, but at least that was just bolted on.

I won't bore you with more details, so I'll just say it was one of the nicest, most original Fox bodies I've ever seen. The VIN is 1FACP42D9PF154736. It's obviously a real Cobra. It doesn't have "all" of the options. It has leather, a sunroof, rear defrost and a power driver's seat, but no CD player or million-mile odometer. Not sure on the engine block heater.

I talked price a little with him. He said he'd "really like to get $10k" for it, but that would be if he cleaned it up and got it running. Not sure if that would include tires. I asked and he said he would sell it as-is, but he seemed hesitant to give me a price, so I didn't pry. I really don't need to be buying a car right now, but I would like to "save" this one. It's too nice, too cool and too rare to be sitting in a barn. I'm still thinking $8k is a fair offer as the car sits. I think I'm going to call him in a couple days and see what he says.

Thanks again for the info and suggestions everyone. I'll let you know how it goes and maybe I'll actually take pictures next time.

 

[fobra00]

Ok, I finally went and took a look at the car today. I didn't take any pics because I actually dropped my phone and shattered it when I got out of my car at the guy's house where the Cobra is :bash:. I wouldn't have been able to get any good pics anyway. The car is kind of buried in the back of the barn with just barely enough room to walk around it.

The Cobra is everything the owner said it was. He is an older guy recently retired from the military and the car hasn't moved since '06. It hasn't been sitting for 12-13 years like I originally thought, though. That's obviously a good thing. It was covered in a thick layer of dust, but the body looks mint as far as I could tell. I couldn't find a scratch or dent on it. I blew the dust off the roof as best I could - I wasn't going to wipe it off and risk scratching the paint - and I couldn't even find the hail damage he was talking about. He said there were only a couple of dents and they were very minor. The interior is in great shape. The only flaw I could see was a little bit of wear on the upper side bolster of the driver's seat. The odometer reads just over 59k miles and I have no reason to doubt that based on the overall condition of the car. It was a little dusty underhood, but very, very nice and all original. The only "mods" were a K&N air filter, Flowmaster mufflers welded on the stock pipes, some 3.5" exhaust tips (also welded on - but not anywhere close to straight of course ), spark plug wires and a Uhaul hitch that he had bolted on to tow a motorcycle on a small trailer.

I won't bore you with more details, but I'll just say it was one of the cleanest, most original Fox bodies I've ever seen. The VIN is 1FACP42D9PF154736. It is obviously a real Cobra. It does not have "every" option as he said, though. It has leather, a sunroof, rear defrost and a power driver's seat, but no CD player or million mile odometer. Not sure on the engine block heater.

I talked price a little with him. He said he'd "really like to get $10k" for it, but that would be if he cleaned it up and got it running. Not sure if that would include tires. I asked and he said he would sell it as-is, but he seemed to be hesitant to give me a price so I didn't pry. I really don't need to be buying a car right now, but I would like to "save" this one. It's too nice, too special and too rare to be sitting in a barn. I'm still thinking $8k is a fair offer as the car sits. I think I'm going to call him in a couple days and see what he says.

Thanks again for the info and suggestions everyone. I'll let you know how it goes and maybe I'll actually take pictures next time. :beer:

If it was local i would buy it for $10k

 

[SynMan5.0]

If it was local i would buy it for $10k

Do you mean you'd pay $10k as-is, or after it's running and driving? I kinda wish somebody else would buy it so I didn't have to lol.

 

[buddha93]

Do you mean you'd pay $10k as-is, or after it's running and driving? I wish somebody else would buy it so I don't have to lol.

If you have a pretty good feeling that the engine is in good shape, and the car just needs a FP, $10k wouldn't be that bad of deal, but buy no means a steal if it needs tires ($600 at least) and a misc. stuff.

The question remains what else is wrong with it that you don't know about. For all you know, mice have made a nest in the wiring harness somewhere and that's why it won't start.

Think the owner would let you try and get it start on the property? You could grab a buddy, a spare battery, and a can of starter fluid to see if you can at least see if it will fire.

 

[SynMan5.0]

If you have a pretty good feeling that the engine is in good shape, and the car just needs a FP, $10k wouldn't be that bad of deal, but buy no means a steal if it needs tires ($600 at least) and a misc. stuff.

The question remains what else is wrong with it that you don't know about. For all you know, mice have made a nest in the wiring harness somewhere and that's why it won't start.

Think the owner would let you try and get it start on the property? You could grab a buddy, a spare battery, and a can of starter fluid to see if you can at least see if it will fire.

I'm sure the engine is fine. The car is bone stock and basically completely unmolested. The oil and coolant looked fine even though I would change both before attempting to start it. It will need a lot of little things because it's been sitting for several years. That's why I figured $8k might be a fair deal. I would probably have to put $1,000 into it to get it back in good, running condition.

The good news is that it looks like mice haven't gotten into the car. I checked every inch of it. I crawled all around underneath the car and even looked up under the dash with a flashlight. There are a few cats that live in the barn, so they've taken care of all the rodents. When I first saw the cats I was worried that they'd been climbing all over the car and scratching the paint, but there wasn't a single paw print on the car. It literally hasn't been touched in 7 years.

I thought about bringing a battery and starting fluid, but the owner only had a short window of time to show the car so I didn't have time to run home and grab anything. If I end up working out a deal with the guy I am going to get it out of the barn, hose it off and at least spray some starting fluid in the intake to make sure it fires before handing him any money.

 

[clean92lx]

This has been the most interesting "whats it worth thread" Ive ever seen.lol The way it sounds I would try to get it for 8k but I would go as high as 10K as is if he wouldnt go for 8k, when cleaned up and running good, it should be worth around 13k fairly easy.

C'mon and get it and dont forget to post pics!

 

[SynMan5.0]

It is pretty interesting. That's why I had to take a look at it. It's not everyday you come across a nearly mint '93 Cobra that nobody else knows about sitting in a barn in your home town. Due to our conflicting work schedules I haven't been able to get back with the owner, but I'm certainly going to try to buy the car. I can't go wrong. I know I can at least get it for $9k, and even if I had to put a couple grand into it, I could still probably sell it for a profit. I have a feeling that if I end up buying the car it will be in my garage for a long time, though.