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Why are Galant VR4s undervalued?

bobbybdemented

Active member
Joined
Mar 27, 2016
Messages
37
Location
Magnolia, Tx
I've been in the automotive field pretty much all my adult life and have bought,restored and sold countless cars. I have driven pretty much every car out there, from super cars to electric cars. That being said I can say that the Galant VR4 in my opinion is a very well built car and the rarity and history/prestige of these automobiles you would think would have more value then a honda civic of the same year. From what I can tell most of the the vr4s have been wrecked, rusted away and heavily modified. They can't be to many clean stock examples left in the world? Maybe 30 years from now they might be worth a pretty penny.What do yall think, are these cars undervalued?
 
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gvr4ever

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Aug 6, 2002
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6,190
Location
central Indiana
Japanese classics in America are just now becoming a thing. Some early 90s Japanese cars are starting to become classics as well. I hope the Galant VR4 joins the list. I see two things going against it. The Galant VR4 never seems to be mentioned much in classic WRC racing. They skip our car and go for the EVO 1. Another issue is, the car was so limited and unknown, that most people don't seem to even know what it is. I'm sure video games have expanded the knowledge a little, but they still rarely get mentioned. In the end, if they ever do become desirable, anyone who has a non rusted non hacked POS will be in a good position. I'd personally just like to be able to get classic insurance on mine before to protect something that can't be replaced with a decent dollar amount for total loss or theft.
 

turbowop

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Apr 29, 2001
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11,971
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Yakima, WA
I think the rarity is a big part of it. Anytime I take my car to a meet, hardly anybody knows what it is. Once I explain it, those that didn't know say they've heard of them, but never really seen one. Their time will come. It's still too early yet, IMO.
 

FlyingEagle

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Mar 5, 2005
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THE Ottawa
Not enough exposure in Initial D. Shrug.

Should be much better, just like it's smaller sibling.

Mirage/Colt
 

Olson

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Oct 7, 2006
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1,237
Location
Moreno Valley CA
VR4 AKA DSM people are cheap so they will always buy cheap. In the rare case someone will spend the money to a decent one. Look at the classified adds theirs a nice stroker vr4 for dirt cheap almost the cost of a motor build and you get a whole car. Cheap people are cheap
 

89Patches

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Joined
Jan 30, 2013
Messages
723
Location
Ontario Canada
Quoting FlyingEagle:
Excitingly, these aren't overpriced Supras.



They're not overpriced, worth exactly what they should be. Wanna talk overpriced cars? How about Porsche...

Funny thing is everyone here would like these to be worth what? $30K for a nice one, but I guarantee not anyone here would pay that much to own one. I wouldn't, too many other cars to buy for that price. Realistically a nice one that comes up forsale is priced and sold for what? $10-$15K, I mean actually all around nice cars not just one that has nice parts. These things are priced where the should be for the exposure they have...
 

gvr4ever

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Aug 6, 2002
Messages
6,190
Location
central Indiana
Classic Porsche values might be ballooned, but they were cheap for so long. They will likely relax to a more realistic value at some point. 60s and below will probably keep going up.

I've never been in a Supra. It's my understanding that quality is top notch, but I've never shopped for one. I rather have a SC300 5sp anyway.

The reason these cars keep selling really cheap is because I'm seeing what looks to be decent clean ones going really cheap. I guess the owners need a few grand really badly or something. As long as people sell them dirt cheap, they will be worth nothing. Crazy a Mitsu starion with a weaker engine goes for more.
 

slugsgomoo

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Oct 16, 2003
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Tacoma, WA
I think it's increasing, and part of that comes from the fact that people who are holding on to them long term tend to be doing cleaner builds with nicer examples. I know in the PNW alone of at least 4-5 that would easily fetch a premium due to the rust free nature, good mods and solid history.

I know a guy down in TX recently sold one for ~10k, because someone wanted one and knew what they were looking for. If you offered me the opportunity to buy a clean shell for 3500, versus buying mine, mitsuturbo's, wops, or the infamous #3 for 15k+ and I had to have a built galant, i'd be stupid to not pay the extra $$.

Clean + good build is worth something, because it can't be replicated for that. It's so ridiculously expensive to build it yourself, even if these cars double in value, it's not even coming close to getting the money invested out of them.

That said, I don't think that there will be a huge market for stock barrett-jackson-y examples. Maybe a few, but in general I think the people who are going to be looking at these cars in 10-20 years will want clean and an OEM appearance, but they're not going to want the shitty suspension, power level and whatnot of the factory cars.

I do know that if someone walked up and offered me $10k in cash for my car in person I'd... well, I'd politely decline, but inside, the term "laugh in their face" definitely is the first thought.
 

Jesus_Negros

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Jan 7, 2012
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2,344
Location
USA
Please refer to my sig.
 

gvr4ever

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central Indiana
Your signature seems counterproductive to the goals of the forum. Do you WANT our cars to be worth nothing forever? I for one have been holding off on taking my car to another level because I have zero protection for doing so. I for one, will not invest in something that can't be protected.
 

Jesus_Negros

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Jan 7, 2012
Messages
2,344
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USA
Well here's your mistake:

Don't get into this car thing expecting to get your money back out of it. Definitely not with a mitsubishi. Should've went with old American muscle cars or jumped on the 911 wave before it swelled. These aren't investments, rare doesn't always mean valuable.

My sig, basically means. Don't expect your car to be worth something because it's rare. It's a turd because more than likely it's in sh*t shape or not running. Yet, you want it to go up in value. But, not willing to put anything into it. What a surprise....

Quote:
I for one have been holding off on taking my car to another level because I have zero protection for doing so.



^ This right here....is counter productive. If every VR4 owner thinks like this then these cars will never be worth anything. You're exactly who is being talked to in my sig.
 

gvr4ever

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Joined
Aug 6, 2002
Messages
6,190
Location
central Indiana
I bought my car in 98 to beat the insurance company because I was under 25. I'm older and wiser now and I am NOT going dump tons of money in to a car that is only worth a few hundred to my insurance company. That is just stupid. I actually met a guy years ago that had is GVR4 wrecked right after he built it. His sunroof actually lives on in my car, but he lost a lot of money and if I remember right, he didn't even get a month of enjoyment out of his car.

If one chooses to dump thousands in to a money pit, that that is personal preference. I for one, refuse to do it.
 

turbowop

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Joined
Apr 29, 2001
Messages
11,971
Location
Yakima, WA
I dumped a ton of money into my car because it was fun. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

That said, with these cars now at 25 years old, you can do stated value coverage through most insurance companies. I plan to have my car appraised within a month to do just that.
 

GSTwithPSI

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Jan 1, 2012
Messages
3,460
Location
SoCal
Quoting gvr4ever:
Your signature seems counterproductive to the goals of the forum. Do you WANT our cars to be worth nothing forever? I for one have been holding off on taking my car to another level because I have zero protection for doing so. I for one, will not invest in something that can't be protected.



I have a 15k stated value policy on my car, no appraisal required. That's more than it's probably worth, and also more than I have in it. Here's a thread with tons of info on the topic: click

Long story short, there are plenty of ways to protect your investment if that's what you're really worried about. Although, I'd say there are many other platforms that carry much better resale value if you're wanting to recoupe every penny you dump into the car. Most people build these cars because they like them, not because they are worried about what they are worth before or after said build.
 

JNR

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Joined
Apr 23, 2004
Messages
9,814
Location
ca
It comes down to how 'popular' something is at the time, really; if we're talking big % over others. Still, these cars are certainly undervalued and often overlooked...If the 'name' and/or image ever exploded, so would the prices.

Edit - but yes, I agree with a lot of it being the owners mentality and perhaps ignorance of what these truly are and they don't make things like this anymore, really.

I blame the video games /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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citymunky

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Joined
Sep 22, 2010
Messages
1,761
Location
Chesapeake, VA
Quoting GSTwithPSI:
Quoting gvr4ever:
Your signature seems counterproductive to the goals of the forum. Do you WANT our cars to be worth nothing forever? I for one have been holding off on taking my car to another level because I have zero protection for doing so. I for one, will not invest in something that can't be protected.



I have a 15k stated value policy on my car, no appraisal required. That's more than it's probably worth, and also more than I have in it. Here's a thread with tons of info on the topic: click

Long story short, there are plenty of ways to protect your investment if that's what you're really worried about. Although, I'd say there are many other platforms that carry much better resale value if you're wanting to recoupe every penny you dump into the car. Most people build these cars because they like them, not because they are worried about what they are worth before or after said build.




Good to know, I have USAA as well and this was something I was worried about.
 

G

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Feb 24, 2004
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zompton
image.jpg
 

383mazda

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Joined
Oct 10, 2015
Messages
61
Location
Gainesville, TEXAS
I don't think these cars had the exposure or made big enough waves when new. I've been a car guy my whole life (in my early 30's), and my dad has been into muscle cars since the 60's - neither of us had heard or knew anything about these cars. In high school a had a few friends into DSM's, but I drove a GN that was much faster, so I never pain much attention to my "ricer" friends, lol. Ironically, my GN hobby lead my to Turbo Tom's videos, which introduced me to the GVR4.
I'd love to see these take off in value, however, my younger brother has an '83 Volvo 242 group A car, one of only 500 ever made, and to the right person who knows what it is, it's maybe worth $3500, to anyone else it's just an old Volvo. When his car, or mine, roll away in 3rd gear from a BRZ or new Civic, people probably just think, "who in the world dumps a ton of money into that old dumb car to make it fast?!?"

Sadly though, as the DSM world shrinks / gets crowded out by newer stuff, our cars are becoming more and more expensive to maintain, let alone upgrade. The only early 90's imports I see going up in value are cars with an LSx swap option.
 

JNR

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Apr 23, 2004
Messages
9,814
Location
ca
The Galant VR-4 was in the magazines of the day, like Car and Driver, etc. I do recall reading about them and was impressed by its performance for the time period...Not overly fast or anything, but for a 4-door, since nobody cared about them still, other than some Honda accord's being lowered and fixed up (pre-ricer days). Plus, it was a clean design and Mitsubishi was in its heyday still and made some nice, newer stuff (eclipse, 3000GT, etc.) across the line back then. For some reason, always thought about the Diamante being the VR-4 and probably mixed that one up because it was such a clean design and even that had pretty good performance back then (again, esp for a 4-door).

Years later, remembered the car (VR-4) when I was looking for a 3rd vehicle. Wanted a Grand National or something like that, but already had RWD performance cars and wanted something different. Sort of wished I had gone with the GN though, being these things just aren't worth anything, in comparison. Almost bought a near new GN around 1989 for like $10k...and there was an 89 Turbo T/A that only had like 5k and Turbo City owner was selling (some good mods, but looked stocked and super clean) for $13k in 1992 IIRC. Ended up buying a GMC Syclone not too long after that for like $15k with real low miles (2 year old); they had just sold their last brand new one for $18k! They were stickered at $28k, which seemed like a lot of $ then, lol. Actually it was, esp during that recession and for basically a 2-seater. One of the few cars I made a good amount of $ on when I sold it a couple years later, driving it A LOT and having a great time in it (talk about a good stoplight racer to 60 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif )
 
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slugsgomoo

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 16, 2003
Messages
3,776
Location
Tacoma, WA
Quoting turbowop:
I dumped a ton of money into my car because it was fun. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

That said, with these cars now at 25 years old, you can do stated value coverage through most insurance companies. I plan to have my car appraised within a month to do just that.



Most of the companies i've looked at that will insure a modified car for stated value (some won't do modded cars) generally cap the un-appraised values at 25k. If you want to go over that you'll need an appraisal though.
 
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