Not one car in particular, but now I know what kind of car, and where I’ll likely be shopping.
Ian is getting close to driving age, and the old Suzuki is getting a little long in the tooth, so shopping time is coming up in the next year or so. I’ve been thinking of maybe picking up a project car that Ian & I can work on next summer to have ready for him to drive to school next year, so I’ve been browsing Craigslist looking for deals. I haven’t found that perfect project car, but I have found some very interesting deals.
What’s been really surprising to me is how cheaply some of the older luxury/sports cars are selling in some markets. I’ve seen a couple of 10-15 year old BMW 750’s selling for less than $5,000 — that’s a V-12 powered luxury sedan that sold for nearly $100,000 new. Austin Craigslist had a 1996 750iL with 112,000 miles for $4,500; it’s got some issues, but good grief! And I was just looking at this very decent looking 1999 740iL in Minneapolis for $4,995. $4,995!
In some markets it’s nothing to see 5-series BMW’s selling for $2,000—3,000 on Craigslist; not around here mind you, but they’re out there. And Porsches… My goodness. Seeing a 924 or 944 or 928 around here is a relative rarity, but looking in the listings from some of the larger cities, they are a dime a dozen. Amazingly, there’s someone in Madison who has an ’82 928 listed on Craigslist for $4,900. Wow. Cars that sold for $50,000 or more new 10-20 years ago selling for the same price as a Honda Civic of the same vintage. That’s just a little hard to understand.
I would imagine part of the reason some of these formerly high-dollar machines are going so cheap has to do with dealer maintenance being pretty expensive, and seemingly compulsory. But with the explosion of sites like e38.org and many others like it that provide tons of information on do-it-yourself maintenance for these machines… Well, who needs dealership service anyway?
I know it’s one thing to see something that looks nice on Craigslist and something else entirely to find something that is nice, but at these prices it’s fun to look. Also dangerous; I just spied a 1988 BMW 638CSi for sale in Phoenix for $4,500. Must. Resist. Siren. Call…. The 6-series coupes are my all time favorite BMW form factor. And one from the desert…
