My neighbor has an 5-liter, 307-cubic inch V-8 with
70,000 actual miles. Mechanically in perfect shape aside from AC unit.
The car is in great shape on the inside no cracked leather or sun damage.
The outside has a few small spots of rust and would need a paint job due to fade. Overall with a paint job and a few badge repairs it would be a great 20 footer. He wants 3500 for the car (elderly guy). Do you think I should pay that? I'm young and don't know much about classic car values. Thanks!

There isn't much of a market for almost anything from the early '80s and even more so for landbarges like that Bonneville or the Caprice or Parisianne (sp?), so it's not an easy thing to pin a value on a car from that era. You do need to consider some things though.

1) Will I be able to get parts for this car in case something needs to be replaced?
2) Will this carburator last with ethenol blended fuel?
3) Can I afford the fuel for this beast?

Getting a car like this for just an occasional cruise is one thing, but asking it to do daily driver duty is another entirely. There isn't much aftermarket support for it, so parts (replacement body parts, interior, etc) will not be easy...or cheap...to come by. And unless the carburator has been rebuilt recently, it isn't going to last too long with this methenol-blended fuel...one of the first things to go are the cork or plastic floats, and as they disintegrate the fuel outlet to the jets will clog up.

I have a '77 LTD 2-door Brougham that's been willed to me by my neighbor in Tennessee and I can only pick it up when he passes, which is getting to be pretty soon. And even though I love that car, and I know he's kept the maintenance up on it, making it a DD would not only be unfeasible, it would also add wear and tear and a much lighter wallet.

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2005 GXP - White Gold Pearl, no mods...yet.
2000 SSEi - Resurrection in progress. Built L67 w/L32 fuel rail, ported heads, and cam. Camaro front brake system, GXP cluster, and much more in planning.

I very much agree with sandrock.

Although it is a G Body like the Malibu, Cutlass, Grand National, Monte Carlo, etc... it is a more rare one and even used parts are hard to come by except the common parts that are shared across the entire G Body lineup.

Best bet is to do a craigslist search for other G Body Bonnevilles and see what you come up with for price and condition. Also join up on a G Body specific site as well like www.gbodyforum.com I am on there for information on my 82 Cutlass and it is a great site with a lot of information and very knowledgeable people for those cars. They can help you out as well to know if you are getting a good deal or not.

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Ryan

2003 Bonneville SSEi - The Black Mirror SOLD!
2002 Bonneville SE - The Mutt Complete 2004 SLE interior, drivetrain, and body harness swap, ECC swap, HUD swap, black GXP wheels, GXP headlights and tinted tails - SOLD
2003 BMW 540i M Sport, 2001 BMW X5 4.4i, 2010 GMC Acadia, 2017 Grand Design Imagine 3150BH
1982 Cutlass Supreme - The fun one

Sounds like a neat car, but maybe a bit high on the price.
I'm paying a bit more than that for a '81 Bonneville Safari with around 22k original miles, and it's in pristine condition.