I'm selling a 1999 GS400 and wondering if as a 25 year old vehicle it has any special collectable value, other than just being a nice used car.

I'm reminded of a friend who had a mid-1980's Oldsmobile that I thought was worth nada, but he ended up selling for way above blue book to a woman who had about 20 of them.

Thanks for any input!

 

Based on the market, not really, not yet. If it's CLEAN - One owner, No paint work, an almost showroom body + interior, and low miles (well under 100k) -- it should find a buyer in the $12-15k range currently.
But I can say the amount of these cars still on the road that are not beat to ***** is very low.. so, the longer someone keeps a minty one minty.. imo, the greater the store of value + appreciation to come.

 

An average "daily driver" condition GS400 with average mileage but no issues and a clean interior and exterior is a maybe... 5-6k USD car at the moment. A nice low-mile Aristo V300 or GTE-swapped GS300 should be mid-teens. A mint manual GTE car could be in the low 20s.
I'm sure prices will continue to climb, but they're not really "there" yet.

 

This is the standard for stock, immaculate, and with all sales and service documentation. Chances are that most people won't have cars that come close to meeting this threshold, but this is where I'm starting if I want anything even vaguely described as a collectible. Otherwise, it's just a car.

https://bringatrailer.com/lexus/gs/?...98&yearTo=2005

Also, not necessarily applicable here, but since I constantly see comically overpriced reminders in forums and on Facebook from 2GS sellers who are too slow to figure it out, I wanted to say this:

You mod it, you keep it. Nobody wants your project unless it's been famously published, and even then, it'll be for pennies on the dollar. If you half-*** the mods or it looks like it was used for transporting Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan? Pennies on the Zimbabwean dollar.

 

Thanks, all, for contributing. My car does not meet all the above criteria, it is just a 25 year old with 166k miles in very nice (not like new) condition. I wasn't really expecting much but was certainly surprised over the Oldsmobile incident so I figured that it would not hurt to ask.

Thanks again!

 

In line with firelizard's comment, what you've described should safely go for $5-6K.

Not knowing what the typical market is like for these cars that are in very good but not immaculate condition, it's hard to be more specific. With how the used car market has appreciated since the pandemic and the effects of inflation, it's possible it could be worth a little more.

I saw an awful Facebook listing last year where the owner was delusional about his car's condition and wanted $5K for it. The exterior looked trashed and he tried to downplay it. He unironically claimed the interior was "probably the best condition 98 you'll find" while including a pic of this dry lake bed of an armrest:



There were so many issues apparent in the listing description and photos that I'm sure it was a disaster in person. As far as any intelligent buyer should have been concerned, it was worth the cost of a 240K-mile 1UZ engine, black interior parts, and scrap metal.

 

Wow! That is terrible. Mine has a few lines on the leather seats but no cracking like that.

There is a local "car nut" who in retirement has started an auto brokering service, where for a commission he handles all the marketing etc. and also handles the details at the sale. I once used him for selling another car, and I expected based on KBB and other online sources to get about $8k. He sold it within a week for $12k. It will be interesting to see what he gets for the GS400, but I'm not going to expect over about $5-6k.

Thanks again for all of the help!

 

Interesting - Good luck, and please report back on this thread...

 

I’ll say at $4-5 people are getting a steal of a deal if they are willing to put in the time to keep the car.

The problem is… most even good condition cars have major differed maintenance. So you buy it and then right away drop a timing belt and lots of bushings… at the dealer you may have totaled the car.. DIY more like $1000 and you have another 90k.

On the other hand… I feel like only the Aristo V300 will be collectible. The issue is needing time and gen z largely hates cars, and the gen pop is moving to electric. So who will really be the person that wants to collect? Just Millenials that have a thing for this particular car.

So roll your fenders and don’t look back. Get that ugly wing and VIP camber. You’re likely the last owner that will actually care about it.

 

OK I'm at the point of putting up a listing and had assumed that I could post it here (I sold a Miata once by posting in the Miata forum), but it turns out that I do not meet the criteria for a "For Sale" post.

I'm wondering if there are any other "specialty" Lexus spots on the www that I should consider? Otherwise it will be FaceBook Marketplace, and possibly Craigslist.

I appreciate any suggestions!

 

Facebook Marketplace seems to be the biggest location of older Lexus, with Craigslist having a few that don't pop up on Autotrader/Car Gurus. I bought both of my GS300's off of Facebook Marketplace.

 

Great, thanks! I'll focus on FBM.