Fox Body 5.0 Mustang Valuation: Owners weigh-in on the buy/sell price today?

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jord

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Mar 15, 2019
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Seattle WA
I thought the owners past and present might have the best information to share on this subject. Hagerty Insurance has their own price guide and NADA has theirs, but as these models become scarcer, the word on the street from the guys who own them is the real value of the Fox Body Mustang today.
So as an example let's take the first of the 4-model years. A 1989 5.0 hatchback 5-speed. A standard base car with clear title. Purchased in WA State new in 1989 for $13,000, the original owner put 50,000 miles on the car and kept it completely stock. He had the car repainted a high quality original factory blue in 1998. At this time the second owner purchases the car for $6,500. and the second owner has 115,000 miles on the car today. Always garaged and adult driven on weekends. A stock interior with only the addition of the triple dash gauges. The original ford radio-cassette player moves down a little bit. The car has all the original owners manuals including accessory manuals in the glove box. At 100K brakes and shocks are replaced with stiffer Monroes and 4 new Goodyear Eagle GT's. The only modifications to the engine compartment include removing the AC, adding the larger aluminum intake, a 65mm throttle body, reduction pulleys, an oil cooler, a modified free-flow air box with a K&N filter, and a new Interstate battery. Aftermarket tubular headers were added with an off-road H pipe and stainless 2 1/2" Magnaflow exhaust. A big improvement in engine performance, milage, and a good current compression test is seen. A guesstimate of HP might be 275-290.
So what would be a fair market value of this example today?
 

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This subject comes up from time to time and is very subjective. A google search can give you price suggestions. A real world assessment can be done by a professional vehicle appraisal service.
The same car in one state can fetch a different price in another. Also being able to 'sit' on the price and wait for a buyer that will pay the asking price.
That is a very nice car and sounds like it was well taken care of hopefully the mods are well done.
 
What he said^

But two things that stand out to me when reading this... A/C removal turns me off. Second, was the car painted the original factory color, or a different factory blue than it came as? If different, although it looks great, can hurt the value to someone looking for a nice stock one.

It’s very subjective, but I would say if your car runs and drives nicely, and is rust free, you would be looking at $8-10k here in IA where clean ones are scarce.

Lastly, there were many more than 4 years of fox body Mustangs made. ;)
 
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Just to be clear
79-86 four eyed fox
87-93 euro nose fox
They can be broken down further
V8 model lx or gt + convertables (plus the early gl and they also had a I6 too)
first year 50 state maf
sticks and automatics
and then the specialty models (ssp/cobra)
And the hits keep on come'n!
i would discount a car by 1500 to 2000 bucks for the ac removed.
it is still a nice stang, you just buy it or are you looking to sell?
 
I don't think the mods add to the value on this car. They are fine and improve the fun factor of the car but are not extensive enough to add value. I even think the car might be worth more if it were bone stock and in the same good condition. The most valuable ones are unmodified pristine condition low mileage cars, or ones with well done extensive modifications. This car is neither of those, but still nice. And the 89 is a sought after year. Last year as a non airbag, first year for the MAF. Bonus for the LX and bonus for the 5speed. I'll stab at 6 to 8k in value on this one.
 
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Just to be clear
79-86 four eyed fox
87-93 euro nose fox
They can be broken down further
V8 model lx or gt + convertables (plus the early gl and they also had a I6 too)
first year 50 state maf
sticks and automatics
and then the specialty models (ssp/cobra)
And the hits keep on come'n!
i would discount a car by 1500 to 2000 bucks for the ac removed.
it is still a nice stang, you just buy it or are you looking to sell?


Thief loves his AC!! (and like I said, you can be the first “I told ya so” whenever a new one goes back in mine)
 
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This subject comes up from time to time and is very subjective. A google search can give you price suggestions. A real world assessment can be done by a professional vehicle appraisal service.
The same car in one state can fetch a different price in another. Also being able to 'sit' on the price and wait for a buyer that will pay the asking price.
That is a very nice car and sounds like it was well taken care of hopefully the mods are well done.
And although there was a very nice write up precluding the actual question,...it still didn't change the fact that this is still yet another.. " How much is my car worth" thread.
 
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What he said^

But two things that stand out to me when reading this... A/C removal turns me off. Second, was the car painted the original factory color, or a different factory blue than it came as? If different, although it looks great, can hurt the value to someone looking for a nice stock one.

It’s very subjective, but I would say if your car runs and drives nicely, and is rust free, you would be looking at $8-10k here in IA where clean ones are scarce.

Lastly, there were many more than 4 years of fox body Mustangs made. ;)
And you must've been tired after a long days work...He said, " let's take a look at the first of the 4 model years". Not they only made the car for 4 years...

Although I can't figure out what he's talking about..

( maybe he's talking Notch, Vert, LX Hatch, GT?.....uhhhhh....:shrug:.)
 
And you must've been tired after a long days work...He said, " let's take a look at the first of the 4 model years". Not they only made the car for 4 years...

Although I can't figure out what he's talking about..

( maybe he's talking Notch, Vert, LX Hatch, GT?.....uhhhhh....:shrug:.)

When he said first of the 4 model years, that made me think he was eluding to ‘89-‘93 as the only fox model years. Not model types, model years. Go back to bed old man.
 
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And although there was a very nice write up precluding the actual question,...it still didn't change the fact that this is still yet another.. " How much is my car worth" thread.


Not actually his car. I took it as one he was considering purchasing.


Regardless, location also plays a role here. Clean, 100K mile cars might be more common in the south, and rarer in the rust belt. What's a $5K car in Texas, might be a $10K in the northeast.
 
I don't think the mods add to the value on this car. They are fine and improve the fun factor of the car but are not extensive enough to add value. I even think the car might be worth more if it were bone stock and in the same good condition. The most valuable ones are unmodified pristine condition low mileage cars, or ones with well done extensive modifications. This car is neither of those, but still nice. And the 89 is a sought after year. Last year as a non airbag, first year for the MAF. Bonus for the LX and bonus for the 5speed. I'll stab at 6 to 8k in value on this one.
The ONLY time you will see one modified version of this car go for more then the other is when you have a stock block car that has almost identical work done as a aftermarket block car . You’ll see an aftermarket block car sell for 5-10k more
 
The ONLY time you will see one modified version of this car go for more then the other is when you have a stock block car that has almost identical work done as a aftermarket block car . You’ll see an aftermarket block car sell for 5-10k more

If the person buying the car understands how much better the aftermarket block is, I totally agree with you.

How much does a Dart block alone cost and how much would it add to the overall cost installed with the proper supporting goodies?
 
If the person buying the car understands how much better the aftermarket block is, I totally agree with you.

How much does a Dart block alone cost and how much would it add to the overall cost installed with the proper supporting goodies?
An SHP starts at 2-2200 not machined to build a real deal piece you’re taking 15k or better when you’re done with the long block . Plus the rest of the supporting stuff . Anyone looking to spend big money on a fox usually knows the deal with getting an aftermarket block car and what it takes to build one
 
An SHP starts at 2-2200 not machined to build a real deal piece you’re taking 15k or better when you’re done with the long block . Plus the rest of the supporting stuff . Anyone looking to spend big money on a fox usually knows the deal with getting an aftermarket block car and what it takes to build one

Wow! It's easy to see why swapping to newer platforms like Coyote or LS are appealing, at lest price wise.
 
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Wow! It's easy to see why swapping to newer platforms like Coyote or LS are appealing, at lest price wise.
Not really .
Doing a coyote is a 15k ordeal minimum to do it right and not half ass it . It just isn’t cheap to build a high hp capable version of these cars no matter which way you cut it
 
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