Determining value.. Gruppe M '92

Joined
2 March 2002
Messages
245
Location
Las Vegas
Many of you old schoolers may remember me from way way back in the day. I've had my NSX 17 years, and I think it's time to see what she's worth and potentially retire her from my garage.

Here are a couple of pictures, keep in mind these were taken a 5 years ago but she has only a couple thousand miles on her since then so she still looks the same.

sideleggera.jpg

chargerblue.jpg

headunit3.jpg

trunk1.jpg


Now that probably jogged a few old schoolers memories. My issue is I'm not really sure what this car is worth today. Blue book says the car by itself is worth $19,900 given its mileage and condition, so I'm going to just list what she has and maybe you guys can help me determine a fair price for it.

Things to consider: It's never been in an accident but it does have a minor scuff on the front right bumper caused by a cone being clipped on a track day. It also has a minor ding in the back left quarter panel where a deer (yes a deer) ran into the back of the car on a mountain road. No paint damage, just a ding that could be removed via a dent wizard without requiring a repaint.

Mileage: 120,191
Year: 1992
Color: Black/Black
5 Speed

Condition: Good, but could probably use a little paint love, the paint is original and it has 120k miles so it's seen its fair share of nicks on the front bumper from driving.

This car has been sitting, and driven maybe 2-3 times a year outside of the monthly short drive to keep everything lubricated and the gas flushed for the last 5 years (thus the reason I'm considering selling it, I just don't drive it anymore).

I had a recent checkup on it done and everything came back clean. Engine compression per cylinder was 90% or more across all cylinders. She's been very well maintained, many of the older members on here can vouge that I take very good care of my vehicles in general. The rear boots need to be replaced because they're cracked, but I'll get that done prior to sale, it's an inexpensive repair, a few hundred bucks to replace them and re-grease.

Modifications (Extensive)

Exterior:
Window Tint on Back window, no body changes

Engine:
Gruppe M Supercharger
Gruppe M Air Filter (Large, carbon fiber)
Gruppe M Engine Management
Comptech Headers
Blue Hoses/fittings
Gruppe M boost guage in place of factory volt gauge, looks stock in dash.

Transmission:
4:55 R&P
NSX-R Short Gears
Single Disc Racing Clutch
Aluminum Ultra Light Flywheel

Suspension:
Tien Type RE (The higher end ones) Coil overs
Comptech Sway Bars Front and Rear

Exhaust:
Comptech

Battery:
Ultra-light gel cell racing battery

Stereo:
Completely custom, including 10" fiberglassed reverse mount subwoofer in passenger footwell. Custom EMPEG MP3 stereo, with NSX logo programmed into display. Powered by an ARC Audio amp system. (See pictures)

Wheels:
OZ Racing Superleggera one piece lightweights.

Interior:
Custom dash for stereo, everything else is original. Seat condition is actually in much better shape than most NSXs, I will post pics of it later.

--

This is all of the current modifications. There are also a ton of "parts" to go with the sale.

The car at one point (for like 2 months) also had the RM Racing Nitrous kit, the kit is still fully built into the car, it's just disabled, meaning the electrical trigger/control switches and injection nozzle have been removed. I would leave all of this in tact for you to do with as you please. You can see the bottle and mount in the last picture in the trunk. I used a total of 3 bottles before I disabled the system and stuck with just the supercharger for power.

Original OEM wheels from 1992
Original OEM suspension
Original OEM sway bars
Any original part that was removed/upgraded I still have, including engine cover, original transmission gears, original transmission R&P, original headers, etc..

Everything below was purchased years ago because I intended on repainting the front of the car to refresh it from day to day rock/road abuse. It's all new, in original OEM packaging, never opened.

1 extra under front skirt plastic piece (older NSX owners will know how much fun these were to replace from scraping driveways).
1 set (left and right) of front turn signal covers (the clear plastic in the front bumper)
1 complete OEM front bumper cover (I bought this to have it painted to replace my current one after the track day scuff incident, and never bothered to do it.. it's still in its original OEM unopened box).
1 front hood emblem (same thing, I was going to repaint the front end to refresh the rock chips, and needed the emblem for the hood)
1 set (left and right) of rear under wheel well plastics. These tend to crack in old age, so I have a new set never installed to replace.

So that's the car in a nutshell... all said and done there's over $100k into the car.

I saw a car in similar condition/mileage with a Gruppe M selling for around $45,000, but I don't know if that's too expensive or about right.

So I'm looking to you guys to give me an idea of what she'd be worth, if it's a fair amount I might let her go.

Thanks

-BZ
 
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What type of figures is she putting out?

It's a very personalized NSX but very tastefully done in my opinion. Keep us up to date because Christmas is almost here.
 
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120k miles is not a lot, about average for a '92, but not a lot....
 
i agree a tracked car is not on my list.

I would buy a low mile salvage before a tracked car.

but with all that you have in it I agree max 35K
but prob would sell at a nice 29-30K

or return to stock sell car for about 25K
sell the aftermarket stuff
Super charger 6-7K
other stuff etc.etc 2-3K
so you could push it a little over 35K selling all the aftermarket stuff.

but my number could be way off.
 
I should have clarified, it's only been on a track twice. I'm not a big track guy, but I did go to a couple of NSX only events where we took our cars on the track.

I by no means beat the hell out of this car on the track, it was more for the social events than anything.

-BZ
 
BoneZ:
this indeed is a gorgeous engine bay, a reliable form of boost for the NSX, and certainly a piece of history that should be displayed in car shows.
I hope you get way north of $35-$40k...

chargerblue.jpg
 
I should have clarified, it's only been on a track twice. I'm not a big track guy, but I did go to a couple of NSX only events where we took our cars on the track.

I by no means beat the hell out of this car on the track, it was more for the social events than anything.

-BZ

Understandable but how did you go through 3 tanks of nitrous then?
 
Understandable but how did you go through 3 tanks of nitrous then?

Um, I would guess he was having some fun on the street. It is his car and he is being completely honest. How many people do you know that use nitrous road racing?
 
What Aaron said, I used it on the street. Mostly on long straight open roads where I could go from 20mph-140mph real fast :) I like to drive fast, but I'm not big on abusing my cars, which is why it's in the condition that it's in, most have no idea it's almost a 20 year old car when they see it.

I realized the Nitrous, although fun, wasn't really worth the investment and having to go fill the bottle sucked, so I just disabled it, and stuck with the SC, but never pulled the kit out of the car. So all the gauges, steel braided lines, bottle etc are all still just sitting in it.

-BZ
 
What Aaron said, I used it on the street. Mostly on long straight open roads where I could go from 20mph-140mph real fast :) I like to drive fast, but I'm not big on abusing my cars, which is why it's in the condition that it's in, most have no idea it's almost a 20 year old car when they see it.

I realized the Nitrous, although fun, wasn't really worth the investment and having to go fill the bottle sucked, so I just disabled it, and stuck with the SC, but never pulled the kit out of the car. So all the gauges, steel braided lines, bottle etc are all still just sitting in it.

-BZ

Thanks for the clarification.
 
The GruppeM SC unit is the most beautiful SC ever produced for the NSX by far. I find the other ones offered very bland and ugly, certainly nothing special to look at or see.

Would be neat to see one produced to function on the 3.2L.

Sorry, sidebar thought. Carry on. :)
 
I'm going to have the little ding removed this week from the quarter panel via a paintless dent remover (A local guy here did wonders on a nasty ding I got on my BMW, so I have faith it'll look good as new), and then probably put the new bumper/turn signal covers/skirt pieces (new OEM) on and also do the usual stuff too, ie: change the oil, get the cracked boots replaced and re-greased, so she'll be in pristine condition to sell.

Pretty sure I'm going to ask $40k for her and see if I can let her go. I will include all of the extra parts, wheels, stock exhaust, and everything that's been replaced/upgraded. Whoever acquires her is going to need a nice big crate to ship/hold all of the extra parts/pieces that she'll come with. (I keep everything, force of habit).

If I get a buyer at 40k, someone is going to end up with an excellent NSX... she's been a real joy to own for the last 17+ years, and I still love the way she drives but I think it's time to pass her on to someone else.

Once I get the little things done, and make my final decision, I will post an ad in the For Sale section here. If anyone is interested prior to me posting the ad, feel free to PM me and I'll shoot you a message once I pull the trigger to sell her. (I'm still a little on the fence about the idea).

Thanks again for your feedback everyone.
 
The GruppeM SC unit is the most beautiful SC ever produced for the NSX by far. I find the other ones offered very bland and ugly, certainly nothing special to look at or see.

Would be neat to see one produced to function on the 3.2L.

Sorry, sidebar thought. Carry on. :)
I agree, the GruppeM SC just looks MANLY in comparison to the SOS or Comptech kits, no offense to either.
 
*chuckles* was wondering if anyone would notice.

The stereo unit is an EMPEG (aka RioCar for the US model). It was one of the very first MP3 players ever made way back in the day well before it became the norm. The only way to update the internal hard drive with music, is via Serial or Ethernet.

To make life easier, I installed a Wireless WAP in the trunk when I did the stereo install so I could update the hard drive with music easily from my computer inside the house. Back then it only had a 20GB hard drive, so I would change it frequently. About a year ago I pulled the drive out and put in a massive drive and I haven't touched it since. (underneath the bumper above the license plate is a power adapter plug tucked away that you can pull down to power it).

There is also an ethernet jack in the passenger footwell, just underneath the center console panel that you can reach up and grab with your fingers if you want to connect directly that way.

This is what it looks like closed up:

trunk.jpg


And here's the jack:

powerplug.jpg


Door panel shot:

doorpanel.jpg


Sub in the passenger floor board

subwoofer1.jpg


Aux input + ethernet

rcaplate2.jpg


Same as above, from the front

rcaplate.jpg


Bear in mind all these audio shots were taken shortly after construction, hence the dust... it's obviously not that way today and is clean :)

-BZ
 
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It doesn't sound like your selling for financial reasons, so just keep the car, you've had it for 17 years. I guarantee your gonna regret it, just change it up a bit to bring some excitement back into it. Maybe new wheels, 02+ rear/sideskirts?
 
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And just because I said I would post them, here are the seat conditions. I took these pictures today. I also pulled the ethernet cable down from the console a bit (blue cable) just so you could see where it sits.

Driver seat:
driver_seat.jpg


Passenger seat:
passenger_side.jpg


Pretty good condition for being original seats :)

-BZ
 
Car looks great. Nice work.

I'd guestimate somewhere around 30-33k. Not to sound on the low side, but mileage and wear and tear factor in. If it were me, I'd just keep it and drive it more often!! Gruppe M SC is a great looking mod for sure.
 
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It doesn't sound like your selling for financial reasons, so just keep the car, you've had it for 17 years. I guarantee your gonna regret it, just change it up a bit to bring some excitement back into it. Maybe new wheels, 02+ rear/sideskirts?

You're right, I'm not selling it for financial reasons.. and I love the car as it sits, I don't have to bring any excitement back into it :) It's still a blast to drive.

I just find that I almost never drive this car, I have only put 4k miles on it in the last 5 years. And those miles mostly came from me driving it every 3-4 weeks just to keep the gas flushed out, and everything lubricated and operational.

I just have other cars I tend to drive daily, versus this one.

The only reason I haven't sold the NSX thus far IS because I love it, and because I've had it 17+ years... it was always my dream car back when I bought it, I'm just older and more practical now and it's just taking up space these days.

I'll probably sit on the decision a few more days, but I'll get the little stuff done either way.

-BZ
 
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