I have a 1969 GS 400 that Im thinking about selling. The question I have is how do I find out what is the correct selling price for the car? My father bought it new, so Im the second owner and I owned the car for about six years now. It only has around 44.5 k miles on it. Its a convertible, with air-conditioning, automatic transmission, ps/pb, and power windows and locks. I believe this is a pretty rare GS. It needs some work to bring it back to original showroom condition. It needs repainted, a new roof (theres a rip), the front and back bumpers are dented, lifter noise, and the air-conditioning compressor needs replaced. Thats about it. This is the perfect car for someone who is looking for this specific vehicle to own. Im in no hurry to sell it if I do decide to sell it. I just dont have the time to devote to it. Im still kicking around the idea to just hold onto it and just restore it little by little over the next few years. The car has a lot of sentimental value. It has been appraised for insurance purposes, but that is not what Im looking for. Im trying to find out what the car should be sold for. Any tips or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Tony
A nice one would be about 15K. With the expense of the paint and top repair alone being 5-6k, it would be worth around 7-16k. Everyone will have an opinion and there are old price guides but the most accurate evaluation is derived from putting it up for sale say on ebay. Otherwise you will get opinions based on watching similar cars sell over time-- not to say that is not worth something.
Greetings Tony Lets start with the facts - 1,776 GS400 Convertables were made in 1969 so that right there makes it a rare car. I've heard #'s tossed around of a 20-25% survival rate bat thats just heresay. A/C, Power windows and locks are premo options where the PS/PB are more to be "expected". I dont remember the breakdown offhand on Automatics vs manual but Auto was more popular by far. Other rare options for a '69 Convert. would be Cruise Control, Bucket seats/center console W/ Shifter, front disc brakes, and the Wide chrome trim around the convert. top outside. As for value.....well thats not an easy thing to peg down. Vehicle condition is of course a major factor. You state it has 44,500 miles on it.....documented original which is pretty rare. If its been garaged its whole life and/or never rusted thats a big plus.....If the original paint was still good you'd be pretty high up the ladder. You haven't mentioned if the drivetrain is all original and #'s matching, as in the engine, Trans, Rear end.....without them the car looses ~ 20%.......and then things like the original distributor and carb., alt., etc.... These all add some value as they are all date coded. You also didnt state the condition of the interior, but again, I would think a car with this little mileage should have a near mint interior....... Im not going to slap a $$$ amount on this for you....thats too easy - and with all due respect to Jim, I think he's a little low.....but what I will tell you is that if you have any interest in the car hobby....and specifically Buicks then you have an under-rated car market wise. The 68/69's have never commanded the re$pect $$$-wise that the 70-72's have but this will only go up in the future. Add to that that its a Convertable.....and its even more desireable......add to that the family history and ability to ducment it and you have a pretty rare piece. .....Of course Im partial to '69s as you may have guessed. I had a '69 Skylark as my first car, and when my wallet could afford it, years later, I bought my '69 GS400 Convert. below......that was 10 years ago this month !! If you have any more questions please feel free to ask - Im not a Know-it-all but I've learned a bit over the past 23 years with these '69s and i have a LARGE library of useful info
Alan: I agree that evaluations are subjective and sensitive. Back on May 21 we went through the evaluation exercise with another 68-9 convt, verde green, with new paint and the thought then was 9-16k tops. I was taking that info and transfering it to what it would take to bring Tony's car up to really nice status and not have in it more than 15K. There is always the possibility that someone would just want that car and pay more. That is why I said that the only way you know for sure is to give it wide public exposure like on ebay. There is no question that the state of the economy, color and a lot of other things come into play.
