[Capt.Kirk]

Hello all,

Hope everyone is well! I have a 79' 280zx that has about 240k miles on it. Over the past five years, I've replaced loads of things, rebuilt the tranny, rebuilt the suspension, and tackled electric issues. The only thing that doesn't work on the car is the cruise control and rear defroster (which I plan on getting squared away before I sell it. I rebuilt the HVAC system so it's powerful - cold in summer and hot in winter with the manual vacuum operated system working correctly.

I rebuilt the power steering gear and so the system works great.

It runs and drives fine - I re-did the floor pans by cutting out rust and welding in new sheet metal. The car has a new carpet and the dash has a molded plastic dash over it (because the original was cracked).

I want to be reasonable with price and not post some stupid number thinking I'll get it; or expecting people to agree with my number.

The outside needs work and probably a repaint (as I'm sure most people don't want to drive with speed yellow).

With the above info, what do you all think is a realistic asking price?

I have the original brochure and warranty card from Redlands, CA, where it was bought - - two photos are of it a year after the owner bought it.

 

[Capt.Kirk]

This is really a tough one to value. For instance, replacing floor pans with sheet metal instead of floor pans from another ZX is less desirable. There are a number of upsides and some downsides.

If you want to sell it, I'd suggest using a Bring a Trailer auction. Cost is $99 plus 5% of the selling price (there was an article about BAT in the Wall St Journal this morning...) and I think that would be a good value. And ad there will require a lot of description, many good photos and truth-telling about how you rebuilt things. At a wild guess I think you could get more than $10K, but how much more is simply a guess.

Pilgrim,

Thanks for the info! I will look into BAT as it seems it's a good place to go.

I would like whoever gets it to be happy with it and appreciate it so the truth telling part helps that.

 

[Capt.Kirk]

Thanks for all the info! The bumpers are just weathered, so on the advice I've received here, I've found parts cars to just get replacements.

I was told reconstructing the lip of the hood would be expensive so maybe I can find another hood for that.
As for the paint, I would probably leave it up to the new owner as a good paint job is expensive and probably half the cost of the car when sold.