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How many stock VR4 owners out there?

vtecds1

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 16, 2004
Messages
1,705
Location
Las Begas
Quoting blacksheep:
I would love to find a stock gvr4 in mint shape interior wise. Almost impossible anymore...



I can probably try to put mine back to stock. My interior is actually pretty good with just a little rash on the driver side bolster. I used velcro and double sided tape for my gauge pods so not to hack the interior. 57k miles on the chassis...how much is it worth to you? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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Launch

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Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Messages
350
Location
Texas
My "stock" one finally roasted its OEM clutch over summer, I thought I'd keep this one stock but oooh noooo i can't seem to leave things alone
 

Ian M

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Joined
Jan 11, 2002
Messages
2,348
Location
Martinsburg,WV
Bone stock GVR4s are booorring. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Waaay more fun to drive once it's making some power. Restoring a '67 SS Chevelle,a '57 Chevy or something like that is rewarding and fun to show off at a cruise-in,but not a $3500 early '90s Japanese car. I could never totally leave one alone. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

Quoting Proto:
Mine is ALL stock except the speakers.




Do you plan on keeping it like that or building it up?
 

Quoting Launch:
My "stock" one finally roasted its OEM clutch over summer, I thought I'd keep this one stock but oooh noooo i can't seem to leave things alone



It's easy to steer away from doing anything to my VR4 because I have my talon to Modify. I know VR4's make perfect sleepers but before too soon theyre wont be many stock ones left. The ones that are stock will climb in value, more so than someone trying to sell their modified one.
 

Bone stock GVR4s are booorring.

Waaay more fun to drive once it's making some power. Restoring a '67 SS Chevelle,a '57 Chevy or something like that is rewarding and fun to show off at a cruise-in,but not a $3500 early '90s Japanese car. I could never totally leave one alone.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, some people find stock ones boring. But 10 or 20 years down the road they will be like an old Chevelle or Camaro, you won't see many clean examples of them anymore. If you had one and ended up selling it you will probably regret it, and if you had the means later in life would pay top dollar to get one back. Heres some other 90's cars that will eventually be collectors some day, Supra TT, GMC Typhoon, GMC Syclone, MR2 turbo, 3000GT VR4 Spyder, Celica All-trac, 1993 Mustang Cobra, and probably plenty others that I can't think of off the top of my head. Import or domestic doesn't make a difference.
 

Quoting Proto:
I plan on doing some bolt ons but nothing major yet.




Thats good to hear, in the end each owner can do what they please with their cars but I'm thankful for the handful that choose to keep theirs stock.
 

fuel

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Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
2,165
Location
Toronto, ON, Canada
yeah the bone stock ones certainly aren't much special right now, after driving my E46 BMW for some time and then jumping back into the GVR-4 it feels like a bit of a chore to drive at times (but still puts a big smile on my face most times), but in another 5-10 years when there will be basically none around in stock standard condition, the value of them will begin to sky-rocket as the people who had them when they were younger and are now older with alot more cash and wish to reminisce, will pay moonbeams for them. It's basically what's happening to the 60s and 70s cars today, all the special ones which were worth not a great deal in the 80s and 90s are now silly money these days. The only mods I'm doing to mine will not be visual and will be totally removable and easily put back to stock.
 

Gizmovr4

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Joined
Nov 18, 2009
Messages
366
Location
andover,NJ
--Quoting Sleeping1g --"""""But 10 or 20 years down the road they will be like an old Chevelle or Camaro, you won't see many clean examples of them anymore. If you had one and ended up selling it you will probably regret it, and if you had the means later in life would pay top dollar to get one back""


You must be joking …. Unfortunately the gvr4 will never be comparable to the collector cars of the 60s. I know that all of us gvr4 owners have that desire however it will never materialize.

I have to agree that people that have owned these cars in the past and have sold them will eventually return to owning one again mainly because they are “very affordable”. I for one am one of those people. I bought my first gvr4 back in 1991 off the showroom floor and was an active member of this board back in the 90’s. In 2002 I sold my gvr4 for a more reliable means of transportation… low and behold my old car came up for sale last January on NY craigslist… I contacted the owner and we talked for over an hour – the car was as if it had been in a time capsule – with the same mods that I had sold it with back in 2002. For some of the members that have seen the car it was and remains one of the cleanest gvr4’s on Long Island. Even though this was my original car in excellent condition which I still have emotional attachments for I couldn’t justify paying the sellers asking price of $5,500… There is only so much that people are willing to pay for a gvr4!!!


So I searched for a replacement car and found 431/1000 at a pawn shop in Alabama which I bought in January… not only is 431 now faster than my original gvr4 but it also looks just as nice or nicer at 1/3 the cost???


Having been around these cars since they were new – there really is no demand for them… so go on and modify them or not- to each his own- but at the end of the day they will only be collector cars to the people that own them.
 
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Ian M

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Jan 11, 2002
Messages
2,348
Location
Martinsburg,WV
There are tons of clean Chevelles and Camaros out there,way more than the number of GVR4s out left...the difference is the demand.

The special models like the SS,LS6,Boss,Hemis,etc have always been desireable,albeit not as much so as post Barrett Jackson. They were cool stock,and had racing pedigree. Kids rode their bikes to the dealership to lust after those cars back then. I don't think anyone did that for the VR4...they could barely sell the things.

It's true that the lesser trim level cars are gained serious value,say a 6cyl '69 camaro,but generally its due to the demand to make a SS clone or just a otherwise just clean example to modify. Lots of cars like Ramblers,or weird stuff like '70s Laguna S3,etc were not desireable then,and still aren't as desireable or valuable now either. Even though they are hard to find,other than to a small cult group of people like us with our cars they aren't worth a lot.

The gas crisis killed the musclecar in the '70s,and for years we had to deal with 180hp Corvettes and other anemic shitboxes that wouldnt pull the skin off a rotten bananna. Like a musician that dies before his/her time,it helped seal the legend of those cars. Our cars don't even have that advantage,cars have gotten more and more potent out of the box since '91. The EVO has overshadowed the GVR4,and will likely be the Mitsubishi collectible of the matured fast and furious generation.



Obviously the Syclones,Supras,Evos,3000gts etc were performance cars from day one and marketed to a different demographic,unlike the Galant-not at all suprising they would become valuable. I commend the guys who have the self control to keep GVR4 bone stock and preserved,and IMO it's kinda cool and will make a cool conversation piece someday,but I wouldn't do it with the expectation of making a ton of money in the process.

I'd have to say most folks who have bought a GVR4 (other than when they were new)was for the cheap and easy modding,and for the sleeper appeal. If anything, someday guys will wax nostalgic about launching on unsuspecting Honda at a light or stomping a V8 at the track and how easy and cheap it was to do it than how slow and lousy handling the car was stock. I almost see more of a market for clean period mods like the HKS stuff,VPCs,etc than a stock car.
 
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i am new to the site and new to the vr4 world just picked mine up last month #48/1000 had 98000 mi on it and everything was in pretty good condition and all of the mods that the guy did before me he still had all the stock parts such as air box exhaust paid 5500 for it so i got a good deal oh and he threw in a bunch of parts with it probly end up selling them
 

vtecds1

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Joined
Jan 16, 2004
Messages
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Las Begas
With all the the discussion in this thread with the Galant being a collector car in the distant future...it has me wondering if the people from the 50s, 60s, 70s have said the same thing you guys are saying now.
 

Ian M

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Joined
Jan 11, 2002
Messages
2,348
Location
Martinsburg,WV
Sure.

Take '32 fords for example. After WWII,people were finally past the depression and could'nt wait to junk their old cars. Thats when guys kids were picking up dueces from the junk yard for 15-20 bucks. They were plentiful and only worth scrap value then. They were going and ripping the fenders and lights off,putting a hot flathead in and hitting the dry lake beds and salt flats.

What started out as cheap transportation and project material became the hot rod of choice. Pretty soon they were on the streets,jalopy tracks and dragstrips everywhere. Over the years,the love for those cars hasn't faded,but the supply of cherry steel bodys have. Price a solid original '32 coupe or roadster body? Ouch!


But a lot of cars from the '30s,'40s,50's,60's and 70's that weren't popular then still aren't really now either. Compare a '32 Chevy or Plymouth to the Ford. Not even close.
 
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Whoodoo

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Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
927
Location
Binghamton, NY
Quoting blacksheep:
I would love to find a stock gvr4 in mint shape interior wise. Almost impossible anymore...



got mine for 3400 2 summers ago. The drivers side bolster isn't even worn /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

blacksheep

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Joined
May 1, 2002
Messages
15,485
Location
Urbandale, Iowa 50323
Quoting Whoodoo:
Quoting blacksheep:
I would love to find a stock gvr4 in mint shape interior wise. Almost impossible anymore...



got mine for 3400 2 summers ago. The drivers side bolster isn't even worn /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif



pics or go home!
 

People have been saying the value of these car will sky rocket in 5-10 years for........15 years. LOL How long have you been around these cars?
 

fuel

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Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
2,165
Location
Toronto, ON, Canada
I don't know what the case is in the States but here in New Zealand when these cars were first beginning to be imported by the shiploads and readily available (my old man had one of the very first which came into the country in 1989, was a 1987 model), the prices sat at around $8,000-11,000 on dealers yards in the mid-late 90s, with tidy unmolested standard examples being sold privately for as little as $5,000, as a I recall a high school buddy of mine buying an '88 model for approx $5,000 around 2001/2002.

Now you can't even pick up a tidy unmolested example for anything less than $7,000-9,000 these days - no dealers sell them because they cannot be imported any longer and they are just too old to be dealing with. They basically sunk to their bottom dollar in the early 2000's and ever since the mid-2000's they've picked right up in value and have held strong. I've been offered $9,000-10,000 many times to buy my car and have obviously refused them. I paid $7,000 for it off a good friend beginning of 2008, and even then that was a steal considering it was probably one of the few unmodified tidy examples in the country, let alone the fact that it is an Evolution VR-4 too.

In Australia as they are 'grey imports' and are faced with a heavy tariff, the imported JDM examples will set them back about AU$10,000+, while the domestic AUDM examples probably aren't fetching as much, but their values haven't really dropped in recent years.

In Japan a tidy model will probably set you back a massive $2,000-3,000 but then there's the costs involved with getting them out of Japan. They were a very popular car in Japan when first released and have a bit of a cult following there, no doubt in years to come their values will shoot up just like what the early Skylines did - for example a C110 GT-R Skyline in Japan sells for MORE than a brand spanking new R35 GT-R.

They may not be worth a great deal now, but in due time they will be.
 

I have a nile black 91 that is completely stock and the interior is near mint
 
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