On the verge of selling my AE86; how much work to put in to increase odds of selling?

I have a long term project AE86 I’ve owned since 2001. I’ve dumped tons of money into this project (hard to guess, but $20k-25k) so unless values spike overnight, I’m waaay underwater no matter what. My heart just isn’t in it anymore...I have an FR-S that offers some of the same automotive thrills while being a better car, plus my heart, soul, and daily thoughts are fully consumed by motorcycles. When I ask myself if I’d trade the AE86 for a late model Aprilia Dorsoduro, or an older Bimota, or for certain Bubble-economy JDM sportbikes the answer is a resounding yes in my mind.

As the Corolla sits, it has some not-insignificant issues, including an intermittent fuel pump wiring issue, a high-rpm misfire, a cracked windshield, a partially-loomed but fully built wiring harness, a partially tuned MS3 Pro, a newish and totally custom big-brake kit that may need minor sorting once the car gets on-track, bodywork with very minimal rust, but undeniable dents and clear coat peeling, and a 90-some percent restored interior. I could fix many of these, but the time investment has me thinking I should strategize.

I want out. I want to recoup as much as I can. The vocal online local AE86 contingent jumps down the throat of anyone not giving AE86 E36 M3 away for rock-bottom prices as a non-enthusiast, shiny happy person, money-grubber. I have an issue with this because I was into this car back in the nineties, and bought this particular car ten years before any of them got into the AE86. I realize that my hangups do not obligate potential buyers, but I also can’t let go of the fact my car is developed beyond most and that  has to be worth something. I didn’t collect rare AE86 parts for twenty-some years just to be condemned as having overly-expensive parts by folks whose yardstick is junkyard pricing while my car is chock full of fully-rebuilt and upgraded parts.

If I damn the torpedoes and advertise at the high end of the market, am I shooting myself in the foot? Should I suck up shipping hassles and advertise on the east coast where a nice AE86 aren’t so horribly undervalued? 

Most importantly, how do you guys triage getting stuff fixed to sell? I’d be an idiot not to put a weekend in to net hundreds more, but I’d also be an idiot to try to fix it all in the name of fetching the highest price, and I feel like selling as-is would’ve a disaster.

For reference, local cars are priced at $1k and up for a shell, $2500 and up for a genuine Twincam, $3-5k asking for a rough runner, $5k-10k for a nice twincam runner...but all of this is asking...who knows for actual sale prices.

A brief overview of my car:

-Fresh 16V 4AGE with Group A rally port job, HKS 272 cams, TRD valve springs, Wiseco high-comp pistons, silvertop ITBs on custom intake manifold with Y-version stainless 4-2-1 header ($1800!!)

-The engine is run by MS3 Pro with all new sensors and wiring harness. Transmission is an Altezza six-speed with new clutch and new lightweight Cromo Toda flywheel.

-Custom extended control arms front with T3 aluminum adjustable control arms rear. Full TRD bushing set. Carbon fiber one-piece driveshaft.

-Crossmember, control arms, sway bars, and many chassis parts newly powdercoated.

-Custom Wilwood big brakes with alloy-hat rotors.

-Genuine TRD fiberglass hatch and rear spoiler. Cibie H4 headlights with new wiring and relays. JDM OEM zenki bumpers and bumper brackets plus factory lip, brand-new!

-New alternator, starter motor, lightweight Shorai battery with custom box and more. Two sets of period 15x7 wheels, one never installed... and the list goes on.

Needless to day, it isn’t your neighbor-kid’s SR5. Am I simply missing the mark with advertising? Am I delusional as to what I have? It seems the neighbor-kid SR5 is often at least as ‘overpriced’ as the the built GT-S, but that might just be the chip on my shoulder showing.

Advice? Harsh truthful words? How do you guys get out from under a long-term project where your personal goalposts have moved so far from when you started that they are in a different state, if not a different country? Am I condemned to meekly accept $5k-6k for this thing because that is what the online local AE86 price police had decided is ‘fair?’

I have no insight on approximate value, but I can say that as a buyer I'd be looking for things that give me a reason to avoid your car or use as bargaining chips to get a lower price. The hardest part of selling is getting the buyer to contact you. If you want top dollar, you should focus on eliminating things that would deter your buyer as your first priority.

To that end, the car needs to photograph well to get people to reach out and contact you, so clean it up, take decent pictures, and address the messy wiring. You don't want people to think that you haven't taken care of the car, and you don't want people to think that it's hacked up. When buyers see messy wiring, most see "electrical headaches" or "shadetree hackjob". I think completing the harness loom would benefit your selling price. If the "90% restored" interior is missing pieces, then I'd try and take care of that too if you've got the parts laying around. IF the interior is complete, then I wouldn't worry about it.

Now that you've gotten interested buyers to reach out to you, they'll want to come see/drive the car. A car's primary function is to move under it's own power. $5k-10k will buy tons of cars that do this very well, so if your car can't perform it's primary function then that could be a big turn off for buyers, or at the very least something that would knock the value down. So the misfire, the fuel pump issues, and possibly the MS3 tune would be my next priorities. Make it driveable without any bugs.

The peeling clearcoat, dents, cracked windshield, etc aren't going to help your value, but they're also things that can kind of be expected with an older car, and they don't stop somebody from enjoying the car as a car. I wouldn't prioritize them too highly, but a wash and wax of what's left can't hurt to make what you've got look a little better.

Your marketing needs to focus not on the features of the car, but on the Benefits to the buyer. Why would it be a good idea for me to buy your car?

Pete

2 years ago I paid $6500 for a car somewhat like yours (heavily modified, lots of big $$$ parts). My friend who I bought it from was having people interested at $8-9k but I got the buddy price.

While your local group seems to think they are still cheap beaters that just simply isn’t the case anymore. I say get some really good photos and just put it out there. Never know who might be looking.

A car like this will need national exposure.  I recommend that you put the car up on ebay.  When you list it, take the longest auction listing that they offer (which used to be 14 days.)  Place a high reserve on the car, maybe even too high.  The car might not sell but this should get you engaged via questions with one or two serious potential buyers.  If you can not come to a post sale agreement with that potential buyer after the listing ends than relist it on ebay again, for the long period again.  

Keep in mind that ebay bids on cars are not a binding contract to buy.  Some kid or dreamer might bid a huge price but never follow through.  What you really want from ebay is the exposure.  You might have to fan the flames of this exposure too with a multi-faceted approach.  An example would be then to get the car commented on some FB groups like Obscure Cars or '80's car fan pages.  Similar to what you see here on GRM with NMNA type postings to draw attention to, "have you seen this?"  

Like said above, great pictures is the best thing you can do.  If a picture really is a 1k words then use all the pictures that you can. 

It does indeed sound like you're somewhat boned. I feel fixing the misfire and intermittent fuel pump to be top priority.

As someone who could loose money on something I was given, my advice is mostly worthless, but maybe advertise in GRM/CM classifieds? It seems like you need access to the Puerto Rican(?) market. Somewhere these are highly sought after, because your car is a shining example, albeit with flaws. Good luck with the sale. Just rip the band-aid off. It won't hurt for long.

I wish I had the scratch to buy it. But I Definitely Don't!

they used to love these things in Ireland so much so that a Brit car mag used to listed most of them as living there in their price guide.  International sale maybe?  I know steering wheel wrong side and such but hey. 

You talked about the good and the bad of your car. 

You talked about how you have overspent and will certainly loose money. 

You talked an awful lot about what people might think of you. Who cares?

You didn’t talk about what you would take for it. 

Its time to walk away. What would your life feel like if it was gone and there was a clean empty space in the garage where you could park your FR-S and enjoy it?  Focus on that. 

You're gonna loose money. Oh well. It was well spent- you had a lot of years of enjoyment. 

Sell it as quickly as you can, and sell the upgraded performance parts separately (as quickly as you can).  Don’t worry about maximizing your money- you’ve already accepted that the money is gone (and was well spent). 

Consider zero as your starting point. Anything you sell it for is more money than you have. 

Then you can get on with life and enjoying your FR-S. 

We have an AE86 that autocrosses and drifts locally.  His car is HUGELY popular even though it looks (and was) like it was dragged out of a junkyard.  For the right buyer I'm sure this thing will be a winner but you really need to sort out the minor issue.  As mentioned above it's an old car so clearcoat peeling is understood, misfires and fuel pump issues aren't.  Sort out what you can in a weekend and get it out there nationally.

My wife sold my MPV van recently for $100. Clean and rust free with a new trans. Needed a head gasket. 

Pissed me off because the car was easily worth $3500. Over $5K with a head gasket. 

But it sure felt good to have it gone. 

Selling a project car is always tough. Having it running and drivable should be priority 1. If it's not readily drivable, that kills half your market, and the other half can smell blood in the water when a non-driving car is for sale. They know your market is small for it, and that they can get a bargain if they're patient.

Forget what you have into it. I don't mean that in a scolding way - I've lost plenty of money on projects (cars AND a house) before. I just mean, for the sake of your sanity and to face up to reality, just don't think about or worry about what you have into it. What matters is what it's worth, not what you spent.

Hopefully you can get a good price that makes you happy!

Think of building the car as money spent on a catch and release fishing trip.  You have recently figured out you prefer frozen fishsticks, (No disrespect intended to Toyobaru fans) and now you can get some money back by selling your tackle box and rods.

You'll never get the money you put into it back, but the right buyer might make the deal easier to swallow. Ignore any outside voices, it is your car and you can sell it for whatever you want.  Get the word out about it, present the facts without making judgments whether things are "good" or "bad", don't list how much you paid for things but do list if things were professionally built. Wait for the right buyer and you should be happy. 

pinchvalve said:

You'll never get the money you put into it back, but the right buyer might make the deal easier to swallow. Ignore any outside voices, it is your car and you can sell it for whatever you want.  Get the word out about it, present the facts without making judgments whether things are "good" or "bad", don't list how much you paid for things but do list if things were professionally built. Wait for the right buyer and you should be happy. 

^ this. the key words being 'wait for the right buyer'. It doesn't sound like you're hurting for the money and need a quick sale. So get it cleaned up the best you can and list it, you'll get 100's of low ball offers and crappy trade deals. There's a big enough following for AE86's that I'm sure you'll get an amount you're happy with, it'll just take time. I've seen what people will spend on ragged out 240sx's, a well build AE86 with a few kinks should do just fine.

Do whatever you can in half a Saturday to spruce it up -- clean organize, etc. List everything out with lots of detailed pictures.

Advertise it for 2weeks on CL, here, enthusiast forums,etc.  Then put it on eBay and let the market speak.

Making up your mind to cut and run is the hard part.  If you've made that decision, then don't waste any time.  Life is short.

The fuel pump and tune need to be taken care of immediately. 

To me a car that doesn't run, or doesn't run properly is worth exactly "scrap value."

Even if you have to pay a pro and a few hours of dyno time. You put a nice engine into, not having it run right is a waste. And who knows, once you have it running like it should, that may motivate you to finish the project!

Agreed. It has to run and drive and any low hanging fruit needs to be taken care of. Aesthetic stuff you can ignore. "It'll totally run awesome once someone tunes the MS" to me says "this thing hasn't even seen the minimum amount of effort and probably has rod bearings in the oil pan".

Fix the fuel pump, the misfire and tune the ECU properly. A fully tuned MS says far more about a car than a shiny paint job does.

If people sold their cars to make money, nobody would sell their cars.

I don't envy you right now. Selling an AE86 I owned once was a huge pain because the only people that ever contacted me were broke teenagers dreaming after an Initial D bender. 

It seems like vintage JDM car buyers are extremely dedicated, and extremely broke.

Got any pics of the car?

Thanks for the comments so far, lots of useful advice. It is always hard to think about moving on when you are so emotionally invested in a long-term project. Just posting about it really helped me realize that I need to forget the peer pressure and the AE86 community while thinking about selling. The worthwhile AE86 friends will stick around, and the naysayers aren’t worth maintaining a friendship with.

Today I also had a bit of renewed vigor for thinking about working on the car. If my motivation is the eventual sale it makes it easier to get things done to a nice standard. When I had it in my mind that it was going to be the ultimate automotive fulfillment of my dreams, I tended to get bogged down in needing to do everything to perfection.

I have some pics I can post soon. I just got a new phone, so I don’t have many “on me” at the moment.

Here’s a few photos:

That’s sweet. 

Nice car - I'm surprised nobody has tossed out the "I'll give you $1,200 for it" yet.

I'll give you $1,500 for it.  

I'll go $1550 and a pack of Haribo Sour Bears .

Actually, if it was running I might be a bit more seriously interested than that.