Kingtal0n's Unofficial guide to buying a 240sx

[OBEEWON]

What age is appropriate to give your kids the sex talk? Is 3 too soon?

[dbeiler]

In my experience, the interior does matter a lot. It was beyond impossible to find a new interior in Texas (where the sun beats down on everything) and haven't had much better luck in PA. Anything I do find will cost a liver and a left testicle. Obviously, shipping large interior pieces will cost a right testicle; leaving me no choice but to waste a weekend and a few tanks of gas picking stuff up myself. And lets not forget, a new driver's side window switch will cost $250, headlight stalk is $100 and wiper stalk is another $70.

Originally Posted by Kingtal0n

As to the interior. You can replace the entire interior for under $1000 and make a 240sx look new again inside. That was one of the key features of my guide, I pointed out that we do not care about the interior plastics/panels because they are readily available.

Uhm............ NO. I'm starting to question your credibility here. How about this: lots of parts for our cars are no longer available, ESPECIALLY the interior panels. Besides the fact that these parts were outrageously priced to begin with. Ever lookup the cost of the individual parts of a seat? Its insane. Parts like the dash or door panels have been discontinued forever now.

Originally Posted by dbeiler

In my experience, the interior does matter a lot. It was beyond impossible to find a new interior in Texas (where the sun beats down on everything) and haven't had much better luck in PA.

^ Spoken like a true prodigy.


While I think our cars will carry a value (and go up) with time, I dont think they will ever command the value of cars like the JZA80 Supra, FD RX7... and Z32-TT.

The problem with the 240SX is that in stock form, its a heap. And most of the cars you want to purchase, should be in stock form (ie: unmolested).

I think the only cars that will carry value will be the ones built by the renowned enthusiasts in this community who have documented their builds and put endless amounts of time and money into them.

[KiLLeR2001]

Originally Posted by ixfxi

Uhm............ NO. I'm starting to question your credibility here. How about this: lots of parts for our cars are no longer available, ESPECIALLY the interior panels. Besides the fact that these parts were outrageously priced to begin with. Ever lookup the cost of the individual parts of a seat? Its insane. Parts like the dash or door panels have been discontinued forever now.

All he does is buy '97/'98 automatic granny owned 240sx and thinks he's found a gold mine.

My opinion, S13's are more of a collector car than an S14 ever will be.

Now if you want a unicorn go find me a mint condition 1989 Lavender Frost coupe with less than 100k miles.

[Kingtal0n]

Originally Posted by KiLLeR2001

All he does is buy '97/'98 automatic granny owned 240sx and thinks he's found a gold mine.

hehe,

# of 240's owned with automatics: 15
# of 240's owned with automatics that generated a profit: 15

I'm telling you, buy one, wear the tires out, steal underpants .... profit

they are too rare though. If I find one every three years thats pretty good. And everyone is figuring it out so the prices keep going up. I had to jump out of my car at a stoplight and run through a busy intersection dodging cars, flailing madly I must have been running 18mph yelling "heyyyyy sell me your carrr!!!" to find the last one.

[Kingtal0n]

Originally Posted by ixfxi

Uhm............ NO. I'm starting to question your credibility here. How about this: lots of parts for our cars are no longer available, ESPECIALLY the interior panels.

I guess it depends where you live. Around me, there are at least 5 shops that regularly bring containers back from Japan filled with goodies, including seats and complete doors for instance. You also see for sale, used door panels for $100/pair and S14 seats for $100/pair all day long in the classifieds, carpet is $50~ just clean it up real good. I've done it more times than I can count. The hardest thing to find is a good dash. And this begets the real issue: even if interior were impossible to find, I would still rather buy a car that needs a dash than a new frame rail. The dash you can hold out for an eventually find; the frame rail will never be new again, no matter how long you wait.

I think the only cars that will carry value will be the ones built by the renowned enthusiasts in this community who have documented their builds and put endless amounts of time and money into them.

Ah, but see, carry value is different than create profit. Carry value is fine if we invest the time and energy to document our work, true. But that is not a profit margin unless you are buying all the parts at pure cost, going to Japan yourself and bringing back a high cube container full of engines to swap into cars you intend to sell. I've been down that road, you need employees and a shop, a lift, a 3-phase tig, tons of tools and warehouse space, a paint booth etc... and it is a full time job, to be able to swap a car, paint it, and sell it for a decent $3000+ profit, and you have to build five of them per month and actually be able to sell them too.