Porsche 959 - selling, what to do?

[minichamps11]

Hoping someone who follows the Tamiya market can give some advice.

I picked up a Porsche 959 from a mate about 12 years ago for £20, complete with VGC Technigold, period Acoms radio gear + Tamiya SC1200 battery. Car had seen little use but the shell was battered and it had a broken wishbone which I replaced easily enough as parts were available to order back then (piccies here http://tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=74360&sid=23061)

I originally planned to restore it, so bought a NIP bumper/undertray set, wheels, tyres & genuine decals but couldn't afford a NIB Tamiya shell so held off until the Teambluegroove version became available. Original shell still has all the extras like interior, mirrors, spoilers etc so it's an easy job to add to the repro shell to make a very nice 95% mint 959.

I don't not a big Tamiya fan and don't plan to keep the car so am I better off:

1) eBaying the whole lot together as it is?
2) selling spares and car separately?
3) Restore the car as planned and then sell?

Advice welcome please..... (helpful advice preferred )

Cheers,

Ian

[michi]

Hi Ian,
If you have fun on a restoration, then do it. I guess, with a fully restored you will get the best price. Many people do not tinker, they only want to collect . If I were you, I would try to exchange this Porsche with someone for something what you prefer to have.

sorry, I can not help it . Keep him! The thing is too cool!

[jwscab]

I would guess a whole restored tamiya car would pull the best price. I am NOT intending to bash or offend anyone here, but I would say the tamiya 'collectors' in general don't scour for individual parts and more collect complete models. I could be completely wrong, and apologize if I am....especially for more sought after models.

this is unlike other makes and models where people are scrounging to put back together their vintage stuff that they used to run back in the day and bashed up to pieces......

[minichamps11]

Cheers guys, appreciate your advice

[michi]

I still have a question. Have you ever driven the 959 ? If not, you should do that before you sell it. May be that you're tamiya fan then The 959 is really very cool to bash. I had a friend back in the 90s ,who milled the battery box, and drove it to 8.4 V. Incredibly fast !! Fun, fun, fun !

But to answer the question clearly again. From my point of view >> 3) Restore the car as planned and then sell

[minichamps11]

Kind of driven one. When I was 14 my mate had a tamiya celica which we raced. I remember it being very fast but unstable and no good on any rough stuff. Also very fragile. Think the Celica had a centre diff which the porsche doesn't.Didn't impress me much after racing buggies for a few years but I love the engineering of it and the effort Tamiya put In to make it a scale model rather than just another RC car.

[lpddpd]

If you're looking to make money than restore and sell. If you just want to move it then sell as is with the stuff and expect that someone else will scoop it up, restore it and then make bank on it but they did the work. It doesn't sound like you have a whole lot of money into it so you just need to be honest with yourself about what you want to do with it and what you want out of the deal.

[minichamps11]

Sounds like restoring first is the way to go. Think jwscab is right - I hadn't thought too much about the difference between Tamiya collectors and the kind of enthusiasts here on RC10talk.

Anyone know what decent 959's go for? I don't have the box unfortunately.

[Synergy]

When you've worked out a price maybe you would consider advertising it on here first, you never know there could be some interested members

Check eBay completed listings for a current value but remember as with most originality and condition are king.

[minichamps11]

My issue with selling an item like this on RC10talk is that the BST forum rules aren't helpful if you don't know it's value, especially as you can't use "make me an offer" wording. Probably be more likely to put it on T.C.

[Synergy]

you can't use "make me an offer'

And all the better for it IMO, honestly a 5 min search of completed eBay listings is going to give you a better idea of value than any prospective / speculative buyer.

[jwscab]

yeah, Synergy is right.....







I'll give ya 5 bucks for it?

[minichamps11]

you can't use "make me an offer'

And all the better for it IMO, honestly a 5 min search of completed eBay listings is going to give you a better idea of value than any prospective / speculative buyer.

That only works if the stuff you're trying to value has actually been sold on eBay recently - if you're selling stuff that doesn't turn up very often, then you're out of luck and in that case I'd rather risk an auction than wrongly guess a price & sell on here....... OK, that's probably not going to be a problem with a 959, but you see my point.

"Make me an offer" makes life easier as a buyer but not as a seller - I've used it loads on Tamiyaclub and am usually surprised at what someone will offer to get what they want.....

[tesla33]

I just bought a battered one off ebay. My intention is to use it as it was my first rc car back in 86 until one fine day my mom thought I was too old for my toys and decided to throw it out...... Now I bought another one, spending an awful lot of money so if I were you I would use it for a while, then restore it and keep it because there might be a day where you regret getting rid of it! LOL!!!

[korky]

A 959 just sold on the bay for $280