Sell or Part Out 98 M Roadster?

[Venom13132]

Just thinking out loud and seeking others thoughts..

So I have a 1998 M Roadster that was in pretty rough shape when I bought it 3 years ago. Since then I have done a lot of work to make it drive nice and look decent.

I am moving back to the 3rd Gen LS powered RX-7 world and the M needs to go. The exterior leaves a bit to be desired. Failing clear coat, scratches on the corners of the bumpers from the previous owner. Rear quarter panel is a slightly different color. But everything is in pretty good condition otherwise. The interior is pretty mint but all the blue has been professionally died black. The steering wheel is a custom flattened E30 M wheel, and the seats have fresh black leather on them. Has 135i BBK, Magniflow Exhaust.

I am trying to get the most money possible out of the car. I don't mind putting the effort in to part the car out, obviously selling it as is would be a time saver and I would take less in the long run to avoid the extra effort. My time line/goal is to have it gone (sold or parted out) by mid September. I already have an offer of $2000 for my hardtop and hardware.

Here is my craigslist ad. I have it listed high right now just testing the water. I have had a few emails but no one come to see it yet.
https://indianapolis.craigslist.org/...610581345.html
Yes I have it priced too high. At the end of the day I'd like to have somewhere near $12,000 back out of the car. That may be unrealistic, may not be?? I made a quick list of parts and kind of compared it to what same parts are listed for on ebay then subtracted 15% for fees and took another $1000 off for shipping costs and I think I can possibly hit my number for the car in parts.

some photos of the car. I need to take some good interior photos that show off the nice interior. Car is currently covered in Blue Quartz Plasti-dip. So that will need to be removed when parting out or potentially when selling.

IMG_8765.JPGIMG_3124.jpgIMG_1271.JPGIMG_9591.jpgFlatWheel.jpg

[Randy Forbes]

Keep it whole, please.

[bdavis385]

It is probably more valuable parted out, but it would be a shame to do that to the car, and I suspect it would take longer to get all the parts sold that to find someone with an interest in the whole car.

[BimmerBreaker]

Its worth as much whole as a parts car. Even if parting makes marginally more, its 1000x more work.

Sell the hardtop separately and sell the car whole. Be happy if you get 6k imo. Look on mroadsterbuyersguide - this is not a 12k car.
The ad lists a lot of mods (a lot of which are way overvalued lol) but you never get mod $$$ back when you sell the car. Its like you bought a 4k car and dumped 4k on mods into it and want 12k out of it? Not how it works. The plasti dip is also a huge detractor. Everyone says "itll peel right off" but it never does. If its that easy, peel it off. A car with honest bad paint is worth more than one covered in plasti dip

You also say here the seats were dyed but on the ad say that the seats have new leather to the tune of $1200. Whats the truth...?
Also my S52 has a LWFW but doesnt die when hot. That sounds like a tune issue to me. And no A/C - but thats ok cause its a convertible per the ad (even though it has a harstop on now?)

For reference, a subframe reinforced ~150k mile phoenix yellow S54 roadster sold recently for around 14k...

[pine1000]

Most mods are a negative when selling a car. If you are willing to put in the work to part it out, then just put in some time to return it to stock as much as possible. Put the old gauges back in, peel off the plasti-dip, etc...

[Venom13132]

Plasti-dip is coming off regardless. It was just temporary to make the whole car match. I will likely just sell the hard top, clean off the dip, and make the car look as good as possible to sell. It is a lot of work to part out a car, i have parted out probably 10 cars. Parting out a 318is currently. I think if I can get 10k total out of the car I will be happy. That may be a stretch but I don't have to hurry and can enjoy it while I have it.

[neopolymath]

It's tempting to part a car when tons of non-enthusiasts offer you significantly less than you can get parting a car, but I think the right thing to do is sell the car whole so someone else can enjoy it if it has life left in it. That doesn't mean you need to lose your ass, but I do think you need to be a little more realistic. Having parted cars, I'm sure you can understand that it is a huge pain and might not go as planned.

I'm selling a super high mileage car right now and am getting the same phone calls even though I have records for many, many years, but I just keep telling myself it isn't the right thing to do for this community.

[deni2s]

Don't look at e-bay prices, they are usually way overpriced and you will not sell much for those prices unless you have something rare and right buyer (but I don't see in your pics anything very rare).

[Venom13132]

everything takes the right buyer. Just have to be patient. Rare also depends on where you live. There are very few M models here in Indianapolis so they are a bit more rare and sought out. As far as parting out the market would be someone with a Z3 looking to upgrade or the rare local M owner that needs a clean part.

you can actually do ebay searches to see what things sold for not just what they are listed for. You can list shit for whatever you please but what it sells for is what matters. Plus you have to figure the 10% ebay takes and the 3% paypal takes then figure in shipping cost. You basically have to upcharge 20% for ebay selling. I have done a lot of it.