Delusional Sellers? Or what's the real market on these cars?

XS29L9B

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Joined
Feb 25, 2018
Been looking. The ones priced what I would consider to be "fair prices" are all non-W02 blackout cars, or t-top, or bench seat cars. I keep looking...

Anyways, what's the real market for a 1987 50k-70k mi Turbo Regal Hardtop w/ W02?

Curious what y'all come back with.

No rust, some paperwork, but no stories. All stock, or close.

What's it worth? What should a 1987 Turbo Buick sell for these days?

Had a dealer tell me, "it's a hot market right now", as If I should buy right now, and at their inflated prices...


I feel terrible I cannot buy that gray car listed on this site, and tried talking myself into it. Can't, but love the price, and overall condition and mods look good.


Thanks for your feedback.
 
For what your describing anywhere from $25-$35k

The market has went up in the last year just since I bought mine.

You can find them out there for less but you have to look and be ready to pull the trigger when you find it.


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For what your describing anywhere from $25-$35k

The market has went up in the last year just since I bought mine.

You can find them out there for less but you have to look and be ready to pull the trigger when you find it.


I'm a buyer, ready and able. But for the right car at the right price. Seems like the same cars sit...and sit...


Here's an example of a 20k mi car, which was listed previously for about $35k and no buyers (for months). Now back on eBay @ $25k for an opening bid (just re-listed again):
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Regal-T-Type/223010517509?hash=item33ec767205:g:PR4AAOSwuyNbGpmb&vxp=mtr

The car above has a good description, amazing pics which show detail, yet they cannot seem to sell for $25-$35k. So what's the real number on that car?

(I am not a buyer for that car, due to the t-top roof, but using it as the example...)
 
I was referring to GN prices. T’s don’t pull the money.

He will be lucky to get $18-$20k which would be a fair price in that condition.


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I was referring to GN prices. T’s don’t pull the money.

He will be lucky to get $18-$20k which would be a fair price in that condition.

Yeah, I am referring to the 1987 Turbo Regal, vs. an 87 GN. It's interesting that even though the GN production numbers were far greater than Turbo Regals, they have a higher perceived value. Goes against supply and demand, or at least the "supply side" of that, right?


So I am looking at pin pointing a value on a clean, #1 or #2 condition 1987 Hardtop Turbo Regal with W02

T-top and "chrome cars" seem to be even less, right?
 
Ron Bailey always has some great cars and if he doesn’t have it he can usually track it down.




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The black out package generally gets a premium over the chrome trim. Like has been said , it has always been a search for the deals. The top end cars are no longer going to be in the sub $15k range and are getting harder to find in the $20-25k range.
 
IMHO, a 50-70k mile, nice condition W02 "87 Turbo T, should be in the $15,500 - $17,500 range realistically. Especially if it was well taken care of, was as close to original as possible and had some documentation. "86-"87 GN's in similar condition should be in the $18,500 - $20,500 range but they're not. They're much higher. The $20 - $25k range should be for the almost 100% original, low mileage cars.

That car listed above has some red flags to me. Let me explain.
A real 20k original mile Turbo Buick, should not need a repaint, unless the owner just couldn't stand the factory orange peel or the car was in a fender bender and needed a repaint. If it was kept in a non conditioned environment, yes the fillers would naturally degrade, start to sag and develop cracks, eventually crumbling and or breaking at the slightest brush of the water hose. I have never seen a low mileage car (to me low mileage is 20k and under) that had a radiator overflow bottle that looked like it came off of a 120k mile car. Every low mileage car I've ever seen, that bottle still looked like new. Most 20k mile and under cars look spotless underneath with the obvious surface rust areas, namely the exhaust and mild steel brackets, etc, etc. Most 20k mile and under cars still have the stock intercooler hoses and air box assembly, unless one of the owners hot rodded it a bit. And most low mileage cars, still have the original plug wires. These are all little details that jump out at me and cause me to question it's history. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to down that one in particular, as it is a very nice looking "87 T. My last one, "Sarah", was it's twin, sans the T-Tops. But something about it just seems a little off to me. I say these things because I have personally seen a lot of very low mileage TB's over the years. I have also seen many shady car dealers try to pull a fast one, with an obviously beat to death example, trying to sell it as 100% original. I'm sure there's reasons for all of those little things on that particular car, but I can tell you this, if I had money in hand and was looking at an under 30k mile car that was priced higher that the Weather Channel's satellite, I and my friends would go over it with a very fine tooth comb.

In today's market, you must be wary of the "Used Car" business that's trying to cash in on the crazy rise in Turbo Buick prices. It's not that difficult to take a 120k mile car, clean it up, repaint it, dress it up with new OEM replacement parts and try to pass it off as a much lower mile car at a ridiculous price. Get someone who's been into these cars and knows what too look for to take a very close look at it for you. True brothers and sisters in the Turbo Buick community will gladly help out in that regard, as none of us want to see a new owner get messed over with a lemon.

Unfortunately, the regular Turbo Regals just don't bring the money that the GN's do. I personally feel that it mainly has to do with public perception / memory. Everyone that's into cars, has heard of a Grand National at some point. Very few know about non Grand Nationals. It's been this way since they were new. Even the insurance companies played favorites back then. If you are in the market for your first Turbo Buick, one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is this.
Buy this book ASAP and read up. It is one of the best resources in print that have ever been made about these cars. Even though it came out back in the late 90's, the info it contains is priceless information.

https://www.kirbanperformance.com/product/335/KIRBAN'S+GUIDE+TO+1986+and+1987+BUICK+TURBO+REGALS+BOOK+#6757.html

Unfortunately, Dennis' other book, Kirban's Guide to Buying a used Buick Turbo Regal is long out of print and pretty expensive. But it also has a ton of useful info when buying.

https://www.amazon.com/Kirbans-Guide-Buying-Buick-Turbo/dp/0965844714/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1528861036&sr=8-4&keywords=kirban's+guide

Hope some of this helps, sorry to be so long winded and good luck with your search.

-Patrick-
 
Thanks. I have both books in their first editions, and appreciate your stance on the market.

Agreed, there's something "off" about that 20k mi car. Can't put a finger on it...

And there's another one I reached out to the dealer, who's looking to flip for a quick $11k profit. Wants $27k for a 60 k mi car. Said market is hot right now, which we know is not true.
 
Agreed, there's something "off" about that 20k mi car. Can't put a finger on it...

Look at the picture of the driver side sun shade. Look how worn it is. That wear doesn't happen after just 20Kmiles. They cleaned it up well, but that odometer has rolled over at least once.
 
Look at the picture of the driver side sun shade. Look how worn it is. That wear doesn't happen after just 20Kmiles. They cleaned it up well, but that odometer has rolled over at least once.
Agreed, again.

And then there's this clever way to state it's been "repainted":
"This hard-edged coupe's sophisticated Medium Emerald Firemist paint, upgraded to modern basecoat/clearcoat pigment, is decidedly contemporary. With that pigment comes a straight profile, which, throughout the car's four owners, has been carefully stored"
 
Agreed, again.

And then there's this clever way to state it's been "repainted":
"This hard-edged coupe's sophisticated Medium Emerald Firemist paint, upgraded to modern basecoat/clearcoat pigment, is decidedly contemporary. With that pigment comes a straight profile, which, throughout the car's four owners, has been carefully stored"

Yup, I didn't think that color was original. It's a respray with a really good detail job. Mostly stock.

Not worth $25K. If it runs right, $15-17K.
 
Header panel is not aligned with the filler on right side at the edge.
Missing at least on sticker on the core support

Car looks nice. However, I've heard of people "de-tuning" or returning cars back to original in appearance and representing them as original. Obviously, not cool.

I would want to see the car in person if I was going to pay that much.
 
I love these old threads and the pricing. These cars have done nothing but spiral up in price. But as pointed out above, if you don't know the history it is a crap shoot on a 35 yr old car. Some stuff can be "buffed out" but there are lots of odo rolled, repainted, "restored" junk out there and if you can't maintain one, it just becomes a deeper money pit when you start with a polished turd.
 
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