Josh Blair

I was driving back from Xenia, OH today after looking at a truck and I saw this dealership with a 1st gen for sale (by the way I own an '88 10th Anniversary TII). I stopped to see what it was and how much. It's a grey '81 GSL 5 speed, cassette, power windows, sunroof, good interior, no dents, but the black stuff on the window trim is coming off and the paint on the sunroof was pretty bad. It has 103,000 miles and he said it's only had three owners (and the last two had it for a while). I didn't drive it but he said that it ran good (but then again every used car runs good to a used car salesan). He said he was asking $1800, but nobody has looked at it so he's open to offers. I looked on the Kelly Blue Book website and an '82 (they don't list cars older than that) goes for $985 in good condition and $700 if fair. I'm not familiar with the rarity of 1st gens especially with this low of miles, but what do you think it's worth?

Josh Blair

Also, what should I look for in terms of common problems that 1st gens have? How reliable are they in the winter and how many miles can you expect out of them? Any help is appreciated.

Mr. ImportGuy

It's not rare just another first gen. But then again the number of first gen's is getting smaller. Drive it see how it runs. Then offer him $1500 or maybe less if you find anything else wrong with it. They are a blast to drive also.

Josh Blair

I was thinking about just printing out the blue book website values and maybe some ebay auctions for first gens that end with low prices and offer him like $800. Him saying that nobody has looked at it seems like it would benefit me.

wam

hi josh,
hmmm a 81 w/103k miles...well if its in good shape, offer him around 1200.00 tops.....first try 1000. bucks...im a car dealer and i know that some dealers are real pain to deal with... cold winter starting is ok for a carb, you just got to get used to useing a choke....it will take a while but you will get the hang of it! ive messed with these cars for many years...the reliable of the car depends on how it was treated in the past, so it is a gamble with all used cars!! ive allways had great luck and i put many miles on these cars...the hold up great!! so ..thats just my 3cent (tax included)

Josh Blair

Yeah, I've been looking around on ebay and the auto trader and have seen some of them with over 200K on them. I couldn't imagine getting that out of my TII. I'd be happy with 150K out of it (it currently has 118K). I'm thinking about low-balling him with an $800 offer (given that it's an average of the two Blue Book values and that it needs new paint). I'll definately drive it around first and see if it checks out. It having 103K is a big turn-on to me since that's pretty low. If I did give him $1000 or more I'd want him to have his mechanics change the oil, tranny fluid, and differential fluid. Are used car dealers usually up for bargaining like that?

JEC-31

In my experience, used cars dealers = evil

I wouldn't be suprised if he agreed to change the fluids and told the mechanic to just clean off the oil filter.

(I think this is the 5th time I've posted this) Bring a philips screwdriver and a flashlight. Remove the driver's side storage bin and peer at the unibody's inside. Orange = rust = slow death

Look carefully for oil leaks too, I mean crawl underneath the dang thing.

If it's all good try the $800 and bargain up to $1000.

Josh Blair

Here's what I planned on doing about the whole fluid change thing- ask him to print me out a signed sheet that says what was done. Then go home and check the tranny fluid to see if it's pink and such. If it's black then I know he lied and he'd be in violation of the law. I plan on calling him up sometime this week offering $800, possibly work up to $1000 and if he doesn't accept that then I won't bother looking at it.