value of s12's

[30psi]

The first thing everyone needs to realise is that S12's aren't rare. A rare car is one you never ever see around. Only 6 months ago I saw a white S12 parked outside a house 20 doors down the road from mine. A rare car is one where you struggle to get parts for. And I mean REALLY struggle. If you owned a Delorean and someone twatted the car, you really would be in the shit. But with an S12, you could easily find the parts. A rare car is one where you need to wait a few months to see another one for sale. When my 1st S12 was written off, it took me about 3 days to find another one.

Thats why I'm storing parts for my Datsun. I know that if someone smashed the rear screen I'd be proper fubared. There's only 5 or so registered in the UK compared to 600 registered s12's.

I struggled for ages to sell my FJ20 to the point where I could only consider scrapping it and keeping the engine. Luckily that didnt happen.

Now for some statistics:

There's 93,000 square miles in the UK. 600 taxed S12's. Thats one every 155 square mile. That means on average there is a registered S12 12.5 miles away from you (on average). Now naturally you won't find an S12 up the top of Ben Nevis or any other sparsly populated area, so I think it would be safe to assume that we could halve that, and say where ever you are in the UK there will be an S12 parked up in a road approx 6 miles from you.

This excludes the untaxed S12's as well. There's prob another 600 untaxed.

The S12 won't ever reach the value of the AE86. Never ever. The drifting scene is quite a poncy fashionable scene, where all the drifters want to be seen with the biggest handbrakes , 12" wide Advan Supers S's in an AE86. All because some of the original Jap drifters like Keichi Tsuchiya used to run cars like this. Then some drifters started using big cars like the Soarer and the Cefiro, and a few UK tarts have caught on and have bought them. I think they're pretty cheap cars to be fair but I bet they're value is increasing in Japan.

There's huge demand for the AE86, all because its 'the' car for a drifter to own. I can see why the AE86 was used in the 90's for drifting. It was light, had a nice revvy responsive engine and has an exellent LSD. I've been in a completely standard one and it was stripped. It was underpowered but managed the drifts really well considering. I would never own one though. Unfortunatley the S12 hasn't a very responsive revvy engine as standard, it isn't light and nimble and don't have the LSD.

If you look at equities. The price of a stock changes due to the balance of supply and demand. If there is a huge demand in comparison to the number of items for sale, then the price will increase as well. If there isn't much demand in comparison, then someone will just have to sell their equities at the lower market rate, or wait for the demand to increase. Just like an S12.

The price of the S12 is completely dependant on the demand for one. Which unfortunately isn't huge. Look at Gripo trying to sell his car. If he was selling that car for the price he wants for it now say 18 months ago, I would have bought it outright. Don't know if its sold now though. I would have expected it to sell very quick.

Now before everyone starts trying to flame me etc etc for dissing S12's and saying their worth nothing bla bla bla, I'm not. I haven't even mentioned the S13. I'm purely being realistic and talking completely from experience. It would be great if the S12 would increase in value, maybe it will a little but its not going to be material.

[TOMO200]

Im so happy with my S12, i belive it has character,its better than any of the boring new cars that all look the same and sound the same. You can do so much stuff to them with not much money.
People dont seem to appreciate them which is a shame, im 21 and mines going to be with me until it dies and unrepairable which should be after i die lol

[Draconis]

From what I've seen here in the States, the S13 has posed a problem for the S12. But in the past 3 months, I've seen more S12s on the road than in the past 2.5 years all together (not including the past 3 months). That and the average price of a S12 has gone up about $1,000 than it was last year or so. I think they will continue to go up in price, but until there is aftermarket for them or one of them gets put in a tv show or a high profile magazine, I dont think they'll ever get as much recognition as they deserve.

[s13eater]

mine had a full feature in the jap performace mag mate.i think it was issue 11,the cover page was a black gtir and the title was nitrous'ed nissans.

[red_s12]

i think the thing to remeber here is that car values all over have hit rock bottom,even new cars let alone used cars.but what we are talking about here is not your average hatchback and there werent millions made just thousands.all the real sporty nissans like to s12,s13,s14,s15 and skyline were all built in japan and not sunderland!.the silvia was also built to a high standard in its time and was over engineered,adding to this rear wheel drive and a turbo and you have one very special car.now the silvia is a near 20 year old car and really only known and enjoyed by enthusiasts and isnt even listed in the parkers guide so second hand values are really not market led because there isnt one just enthusiasts who know and respect them.
a very low mileage car with full history in excellent condition far outways a car with 2-3 times more mileage especially if its been looked after,and it doesnt matter wether its a mk1 fiesta or a morris minor the fact is these rare cars will always command a premium over older cars and really is just a case of finding the right buyer who wants that.

[Ronin]

As with all old cars it's only worth what someone is prepared to pay for one when your selling it. That's why at classic car auctions a car will go for a stupidly high price and the next week the same make and model in the same condition will go for half the price of the week before. So disscussing the price of an old car are pointless.

[red_s12]

yeah i think your right there to a point,it really only has value to the owner and whoever is prepared to own that car and if they want it bad enough.also values go up and down so it really is down to finding that right person for your car.

[red_s12]

perhaps the s12 club should arrange a concours event and display some prime examples on there stand at the next show or something as i would be happy to display my car,and im sure there are more than a couple of owners with mint silvias on here..