value in the years to come

[B_Pay]

Do any of you out there think this car is possibly going to be collectible in the future. It is relatively rare. Opinions?

[bsparks72]

I think it may be a niche collectable, but won't be a modern-day LS6 Chevelle or split-window Corvette.

[CrashTestDummy]

Probably along the lines of a nice 94-96 9C1, or something along that lines, with a little bump in value due to the rarity. Probably not in B4C 1LE range, but probably better than most 20-teens vehicles.

[leadfart]

Rare, but no.

[sardillim]

not likely

[gregc]

Highly unlikely. Only value is what the Caprice PPVs enthusiasts values it to be. The enthusiasts of Caprice PPVs are pretty small.

[GammaFlat]

Any car with a nice LS engine (aluminum and 6.0 or greater) is going to have some wow factor for a long time. Couple that with a great transmission and excuses for your wife... honey, it's got a huge trunk, four doors and luxurious legroom.
I don't think I'll be needing to learn the value of my car as I have no plans on selling any time soon.

[storm9c1]

I agree with the others. Generally speaking, even though these are rare, they aren't going to be known to anybody except the enthusiast market.

Most 9C1s came out of police service and are not desirable.

I've been driving 9C1 cars for most of my adult life (25+ years) and while a few enthusiasts give me a thumbs up, most of the general public has a very negative view of people who drive used police cars. Especially ones that are left stock (ie: black/white with spotlights), they immediately think anyone who drives one is some sort of a-hole or impersonator. Or they wonder why someone would want a car that's been beat to death, etc. With the demise of the B-Body platform combined with the general public's attitude, that convinced me not to buy a used police car ever again.

Then the PPV came out in 2011 and I had the opportunity to buy a 9C3 brand new. And it looked nothing like a police car. And it met all of the specification in my head for a perfect sedan. So yeah. I made an exception.

People that judge don't understand that some of us don't buy these cars for looks at all. We buy them because they are a heavy duty, rear wheel drive, V8 sedan that can outrun typical civvy cars all day long, and the car can take a beating and come back for more. I always felt like a 9C1 was maximizing my bang for the buck. They were cheap and easy to maintain. Since the 90s, I always felt like GM made 9C1 cars that had the edge over Ford and Dodge. Now in the 60s and 70s, Dodge had the edge then, or so it could be argued. Anyways, I digress.

Back to the PPV... The 9C3s are more rare and have more civilian desire. So if anything, it's possible they will have more value later.

A few never made it into police hands and those may be more valuable to a collector. Documented Criswell cars may give those some niche value, considering what Criswell tried to do (giving GM the middle finger). With their dealer-installed upgrades. But alas, I know of only 3 that got sold, according to the sales manager, before that got shut down.

Using past history as an indicator for the future... Over the past 25 years, I'd see a "Rare B-Body Caprice 9C1" up for sale on eBay for 5 figures because it has low miles. I've also seen plenty of decent 9C1s that people asked 5 figures for and never got it. Some 94-96 Impala SS cars have held their value, and I see way more of them than 9C1s anymore (sadly). To get 5 figures for a B-Body 9C1, it would have to be rare, low miles, and kept mint. And even then, it's a crap shoot unless you find an enthusiast. I think the 94-96 B-Bodies have a lower cost of ownership than the PPV. As the PPVs age, I expect the computer bits not to age well and will require special sources of parts to keep them maintained perfectly. This may steer away collectors.

One thing that surprised me was the value of B-Body station wagons. Those still demand quite a bit of money over sedans. I do see very low-miles versions of those go for 5-figures fairly regularly and blue book values are much higher than sedans.

Not sure I can equate that to the PPV, maybe only if we compare the 9C1 with the 9C3. And that's a big maybe. Or compare it to the SS. Of course I expect the SS to retain much more value than a PPV. Maybe. If either car ages well.

Ask me in another 20 years.

Also, one should never buy a car for investment. One should buy a car to enjoy it. Cars typically make terrible investments.

You never know when the tide will shift and a once valuable model becomes worthless. On the flip side, looking through history, some worthless cars are now worth huge money ('69 Chargers were worthless in the 1980s, and are now commanding 5 figures just for a non-running roller). But you never know when that interest will run out. In another 10 years, maybe there will be zero interest in '69 Chargers and the values will plummet. I've also watched the value of completely useless Mopar C-Bodies climb. Twenty years ago, a mint C-Body was considered an engine donor. Pickup trucks are another example. Back in the day, a '69 Chevy C10 had little value. Now they are selling like hotcakes and demading big dollars in some cases.

So in short, nobody really knows. Buy the car, if you like it, drive it. If you want to save it, save it, and if you get nothing for it later, then oh well. As a car collector myself, I know that going into it. I collect cars that I like. Not cars that I expect others to like.

[kevink]

A few never made it into police hands and those may be more valuable to a collector. Documented Criswell cars may give those some niche value, considering what Criswell tried to do (giving GM the middle finger). With their dealer-installed upgrades. But alas, I know of only 3 that got sold, according to the sales manager, before that got shut down.

Other dealers sold new cars to civilians, too. I know of three brand new cars that were sold to civilians in 2013 by Karl Chevrolet in Iowa. My 9C3 is one of them.

[storm9c1]

Other dealers sold new cars to civilians, too. I know of three brand new cars that were sold to civilians in 2013 by Karl Chevrolet in Iowa. My 9C3 is one of them.

Cool.

Yep I agree. I know some other dealers let them slip too. In various ways. Demo cars. Cars that sat on the lot too long. Cars that were refused by fleet managers for some reason. And so on. They exist out there. I've heard the stories. Some of them are fish stories. But some are definitely true. These ones might be more valuable than ones that were in fleet service. Be sure to retain your paper trail.

Back in 2012, I had a friend who liked my car so much that he got a really nice blue 2012 V6 PPV that had 30 miles or something on the clock. Apparently that was a demo... from some dealership a few hours away... can't recall where. Then about year or so ago, he offered to sell it to me. The car had ridiculously low miles, like 4K. Timing wasn't right for me, so he sold it on eBay for more than he offered it to me. I was surprised he got top dollar for a V6 car. Granted top dollar today can be 50%-75% of what they were worth new, and that's why it's a terrible investment. I don't see this changing much, even in another 20 years.

I'm sure the "first owner" PPV club was a small one during the entire model run. And I have no idea how many "first owners" are even left now. Many have probably sold their cars and moved on. And only a small percentage of those owners are on this forum (it would be nice to start a new thread about that someday asking for "first owners" to report in).

I think the Criswell cars were interesting because they were a viral publicity stunt by the dealer. They came with dealer installed options to civilianize them. I didn't want the $2000 Caddy wheels, so I had them removed. But I kept all of their other options. And it's neat to have the matching paperwork. Who knows if that will add any value later. It is what it is.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/chevy-c ... ivic-duty/
https://jalopnik.com/chevy-dealer-will- ... ar-5815228

Neither article quotes actual numbers. But I know for a fact that they had 13 on the lot. I was told they sold 3. And sent back the other 10 because the sales contract was voided by GM. Makes me wonder what actually happened to the other 10.

A car's heritage may give a little extra value to it in some cases. Or maybe not. Who knows. I know I like a [documented] story to go with a car. I don't mind being a curator of heritage.