Made a trip south to see family, made a side trip to get parts for my 30 year old notchy from the Fiero Factory!
What's on my mind is finally upgrading the headlights to 2nd gen and removing the sunroof and changing it over to no sunroof. (Yes, fully aware and knowledgeable on the how to do such things) And I'll probably do this even if I do sell her .
I'm also very aware our cars are not worth much and after 30 years of owning them I don't see that changing!
And yeah everyone wants free. Same with old wooden boats that I used to restore with my son.
I'll be making some for sale posts soon, hope this post is ok in the general forum!
Thoughts appreciated!
------------------ Denise, Bristol PA (Ernie is my Brother) 86 SE, stock resto. Jasper reman, 5spd Isuzu
I thought maybe this thread was going to be about real estate. You cannot anticipate the tastes of your buyer. Maintenance?,,,,yes. Improvements?.....no.
Sunroof vs. non-sunroof car is totally a personal preference thing so changing from one to the other won't add any "value" to the car, unless your current sunroof roof section is in bad shape and the fiberglass separating around the opening. Depending on the future buyer and how picky they are about originality changing from one to the other could hurt the value in their eyes. In reality unless you have a super low mileage low production 88 with rare options such as T-tops, it really doesn't matter what you do to it, it will only be worth what someone is willing to pay for it and it will all come down to personal preference.
As for changing the headlights over to the second gen setup. I would say it is definitely a worthwhile upgrade but the only people who will even know what you are talking about would be Fiero people, and depending on the person they may appreciate the upgrade but would not add any $$ value to the price.
So in short I don't think it would be worth the time or money in parts to make the changes if you are just planning to sell it because I don't think you will see any additional money from the car due to the changes that you plan to make. Now if you find a interested buyer that looks at your car and says, "boy it's perfect I just really wish it didn't have a sunroof", then you can talk $$ with the potential buyer and see how much more they would be willing to pay for you to swap the roof out.
[This message has been edited by zmcdonal (edited 11-08-2016).]
You usually wont get the money back for any maintenance items you change. For example, changing all shocks and struts so you can say 'NEW STRUTS' in your for sale ad won't get you a higher sale price. The exception would be if the car is not currently running, it may be worth while to change out a few things to get it running, assuming the items needed aren't big ticket things. People would obviously pay more for a running car, than one not.
The show WHEELER DEALER directly contradicts my comments, but the very premise of that show is that they acquired the cars very cheaply to begin with.
[This message has been edited by edfiero (edited 11-08-2016).]
My bad for leading y'all to think she's a non running project car. 60 K on the Jasper 2.8 the paint will need a redo or repaint thanks to the painter using the wrong primer back then. How she looked around 2005 And just one of the many
------------------ Denise, Bristol PA (Ernie is my Brother) 86 SE, stock resto. Jasper reman, 5spd Isuzu
You usually wont get the money back for any maintenance items you change. For example, changing all shocks and struts so you can say 'NEW STRUTS' in your for sale ad won't get you a higher sale price. The exception would be if the car is not currently running, it may be worth while to change out a few things to get it running, assuming the items needed aren't big ticket things. People would obviously pay more for a running car, than one not.
The show WHEELER DEALER directly contradicts my comments, but the very premise of that show is that they acquired the cars very cheaply to begin with.
The one thing I noticed watching this show, is they fix just about everything wrong, and spend a week or two in time on it. Then theyre thrilled when they sell it for $200 over what they have in it plus parts... They dont include the labor time they spent when selling it. You couldnt get me to work for a week on anything for $200.
I've known for many years our cars were, are and will always be worthless to anyone but us. I love em! Always will! That is why I restored them. This ome is my last.. had five since 1986. If some of you are trying to make me feel bad, you aren't, I had a 30 foot sailboat.. you think cars are money pits?
------------------ Denise, Bristol PA (Ernie is my Brother) 86 SE, stock resto. Jasper reman, 5spd Isuzu
[This message has been edited by erniehawk (edited 11-09-2016).]
I've known for many years our cars were, are and will always be worthless to anyone but us. I love em! Always will! That is why I restored them. This ome is my last.. had five since 1986. If some of you are trying to make me feel bad, you aren't, I had a 30 foot sailboat.. you think cars are money pits?
They dont include the labor time they spent when selling it. You couldnt get me to work for a week on anything for $200. 
Why I don't own a boat.
