Ultima values

[Andy1960]

Hi Guys, I had obviously heard of Ultima but, living in Aus, they had never really entered the radar screen. There is a 1999 Ultima GTR for sale on the Gold Coast which has a 351 Windsor with alloy block and heads and minimal reported km, 4,000. if anyone can give me some idea of what the car may be worth I would be very grateful. The asking price is $135k, around 56k sterling. Cars here tend to cost a bit more generally when you talk desirable ones, probably as much as 20% in most cases. This one seems to have been on the market for a while but it is road registered.

Cheers,



Andy

[GTRene]

Hi Andy, I saw that car too on the internet, looks good but the asking price I say its much to high, 56.000,-GBP and its 1999.
In GB there are some GTR for sale, a yellow as new one 2003? asking 45.000,-GBP and a new? red one asking 50.000,-GBP.

I'm looking for the Ultima GTR too but can't afford that kind of money and I first have to sel my car..
Do you also have to pay a premium tax above the normal tax in Australia when you import a car? we have to pay one of the highest premium tax on a car...

René

[Andy1960]

Thanks, René, prices here do tend to be a little inflated on interesting cars. I am not sure of the import costs on such a car, they decrease with age, but the shipping costs would be fairly high. I have not seen another Ultima for sale in Aus and I would not be at all surprised if it was the only one here. I got a reply from the ad and the owner is apparently open to reasonable offers. It is really difficult to compare values from country to country, with Aus being such a small market and there are a lot of factors to take into account, such as salaries and running costs. I currently pay around 50p per litre for 98 octane unleaded after the recent increases which I realise is low compared to European figures. Bottom line is, I like that car!

[crafty]

The problem in OZ is getting it registered. I understand that you have to pass ADRs, and I understand there are a few in OZ and they all have Ford engines. Ted told me the reason for this is that they passed ADR testing with Dick Johnson and got approval for a limited run. If they had done it with Brock it would have been a GM engine.

[GTRene]

Andy1960 said:

Thanks, René, prices here do tend to be a little inflated on interesting cars. I am not sure of the import costs on such a car, they decrease with age, but the shipping costs would be fairly high. I have not seen another Ultima for sale in Aus and I would not be at all surprised if it was the only one here. I currently pay around 50p per litre for 98 octane unleaded after the recent increases which I realise is low compared to European figures. Bottom line is, I like that car!

when its the only one, thats also worth something! but I say they can do 20% of there asking price! the car is now a long time on sale...so I think they will bite...
And 50p per litre is still cheap...we pay for 98 octane unleaded 1.49euro!...

good luck by bying that car....? 20%of..then go for it.
René

[Andy1960]

This one is registered, so no problems with compliance testing, but it is true that getting an individually constructed vehicle through the noise and emission testing is getting harder all the time. Here in Queensland, there is no compulsory roadworthy testing except when a car changes hands, so it only has to be compliant once in its life, if you get my drift.

[ezakimak]

Quoting
“GTRene Thursday
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Andy, I saw that car too on the internet, looks good but the asking price I say its much to high, 56.000,-GBP and its 1999.
In GB there are some GTR for sale, a yellow as new one 2003? asking 45.000,-GBP and a new? red one asking 50.000,-GBP. “

End quote

The price of the blue car advertised is not as bad as you make out. Bering in mind that it is in Australia and any other Ultima would need certain changes made in order to get it to comply with the Australian Design Rules (ADR’s)
The following might not be 100% correct but should give you an idea of what would be required
All prices are estimates in AUS dollars

• Shipping to Australia $2000
• Customs and taxes at10% of combined purchase and shipping costs
• New injected ADR compliant engine & computer –LS1 at $7500
• New fuel system incorporating surge tank $500
• Custom exhaust with catalytic converters and less than95dB $3000
• Custom fabrication of air intake and mounting of air flow meters $300
• Calibration of new engine, computer $200
• New clutch components and bell housing adaptors $500
• ADR compliant seatbelts and mounting points – four point harnesses can’t be used, inertia real retractors required - $500
• Re-plumbing of brake lines to convert to solid steel tube, braded line un-acceptable - $300
• Registration and Compliance costs – engineering reports $3000

TOTAL $17800 not including initial car purchase and tax !!!

Which is approximately 7200GB pounds ?
You would get a slight remuneration from the sale of the existing SBC - $500 to $15000 depending on spec

[jamieheasman]

Why would you modify an existing car? You'd build one from scratch to suit the regs.

I was under the impression that you could build one from scratch in Aussie without any problems providing it passed the necessary tests including emissions. I thought there was at least one car in Aussie running an LS1.

The main difference between the cost of an Ultima in Aussie and the cost in the UK is the extra tax added to luxury vehicles - not sure if this would apply to a kit assembled in Aussie though.

To put this in perspective there was a GTR for sale on Pistonheads for months with a Ford engine - good spec' too. It was last advertised for 28k GBP which was a bargain.

The Ultima may be rare in Aussie but the market to sell it is practically non-existent!