Get Your A70 Supra Turbo Now Before Prices Go Bonkers

Long overshadowed by their twin-turbocharged successors, mark III Supras are still all kinds of awesome. Better get yours now while they’re still cheap
Get Your A70 Supra Turbo Now Before Prices Go Bonkers

So you have your heart set on a fourth-generation Supra turbo? I have some bad news, at least for petrolheads in the United States. Book prices show these cars selling for around $25,000, and if you want an original twin-turbo car in good shape, expect to pay more. A lot more, as in $35,000 to $50,000 all day, every day.

They’ve never been cheap, but the way they’re appreciating in value, it won’t be long before mark IV twin-turbo Supras leave the realm of street racing to become high-priced collectibles, traded amongst those who’ve probably never even seen a Fast and Furious film.

Get Your A70 Supra Turbo Now Before Prices Go Bonkers

Meanwhile, it seems those skyrocketing A80 Supra prices have led people to revisit its excellent predecessor, the A70 Supra from 1986-1992. And that’s the crux of this week’s found in the classifieds, because I suspect now is the time to buy one of these 1980’s icons. I say that because they’re still cheap, but prices are starting to bounce all over the place. That usually points to something that could go up a little bit in value, or go to the moon. I’m not sure A70s will ever get to the moon, but they’re going somewhere.

Get Your A70 Supra Turbo Now Before Prices Go Bonkers

To show you what I mean, here’s a white 1987 Supra Turbo selling in New York for $19,500. It’s listed as being in “outstanding condition” with only 56,000 original miles.

Per the description the car sounds amazing, and it’s a manual which is rather uncommon in the States. Unfortunately the quality of the photos leaves much to be desired, and the seller’s only had this car for six months so I suspect this is someone trying to make a quick flip. That doesn’t matter because it won’t bring anywhere near the asking price.

Get Your A70 Supra Turbo Now Before Prices Go Bonkers

But it could in the near future, and here’s why I say that. Browsing both eBay and Craigslist you’ll actually find quite a few A70s, both turbo and non-turbo, for sale with similarly high asking prices. Here’s another eBay example, this time a 1987 naturally-aspirated Supra from Pennsylvania with 40,000 original miles. It’s listed as a one-owner car with ABS, a factory LSD, and Toyota’s Electronic Modulated Suspension (TEMS) system.

Get Your A70 Supra Turbo Now Before Prices Go Bonkers

The asking price is $13,950, which is quite the chunk of change for a non-turbo A70. Yeah, it’s a five-speed, and there’s no question that it looks positively amazing, but it’s still a base model without the targa top and they’re relatively common throughout the States for half the price. Granted they probably won’t be as nice or with as low mileage as this one, but neither are they piles of junk. And yet, this isn’t the only A70 listed for sale with an eyebrow-raising price.

Get Your A70 Supra Turbo Now Before Prices Go Bonkers

With all that in mind, here’s why I say the time to buy is now. This 1989 Supra Turbo with 77,000 miles only brought $6600 on an eBay auction where the reserve wasn’t met, and it looks to be every bit as nice as the two above. The dark red interior represents everything awesome about the 1980s, and is there any white car that doesn’t look great with tinted windows?

Get Your A70 Supra Turbo Now Before Prices Go Bonkers

Granted this Supra is an automatic and it doesn’t have the removable targa top, but it’s still running the 7M-GTE. This particular car was on the block through a dealer in Florida, and if you follow book values, it should have a high retail of around $13,000. I don’t know what the reserve was, but the former car salesman in me says they’re probably looking to get around that price. Call them up and offer $10,000, then meet them at $10,500. If they balk, remind them it only managed to pull $6600 on a worldwide auction website.

Get Your A70 Supra Turbo Now Before Prices Go Bonkers

So we have all these A70s listed for some lofty prices compared to just a year ago, and some of those prices are backed up by book values. That tells me these cars are headed up, but here’s the important part. Asking prices are not the same as selling prices, and It seems most buyers aren’t terribly interested in sealing the deal at the higher dollar level - at least not yet.

That means a bit of smart shopping can still net you the A70 Turbo you’ve always wanted, and it won’t take a Wall Street bailout to cover the cost. And if you make a smart purchase, you won’t just have a cool piece of Japanese automotive history, you’ll have a bonafide investment.

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Comments

GIA_MKIII

Got mine for 9500$ 58 000km exterior is mint but interior need some work since the leather on seat cracked

01/11/2016 - 03:09 |
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Anonymous

I got this lovely 1986.5 Supra for $2000 and been in love since then.

01/11/2016 - 03:22 |
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FrankNStein

Serious question,isn’t a TT 300zx better value tho?

01/11/2016 - 03:40 |
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Anonymous

These beauties costs around 1000-2500 euros in my country. Wish I had money to buy one of them :(

01/11/2016 - 03:48 |
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Pooft Lee

Ehh. The SC300 from a year or two later is the better chassis, better straight 6, better suspension geometry, and more reliable

The 7m is a train wreck, transmission can’t handle much power, and the JZA70 has iffy suspension geometry. Camber goes POSITIVE on compression, and there’s a lot of weight in the car

If prices go up, it’ll be for scarcity of running examples. Its already extremely difficult to find a straight turbo mkIII

01/11/2016 - 04:05 |
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Anonymous

….Or just get Supras brother - the SC300, with a simple gte swap or just turbo the 2jzge you’ve got a supra with a little more luxury and sleek lines.

01/11/2016 - 04:53 |
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Anonymous

Is it just me or does this look waaay better than the MK4..

01/11/2016 - 05:45 |
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MrGovenator

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Yeah, the looks of the mk4 don’t thrill me.

01/11/2016 - 14:15 |
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Rogue86 Photography

Prices in the UK have already risen sharply on these and other retro J-tin cars over the last five years. In fact the classic car market as a whole has grown massively and for the moment at least continues to do so. If you’ve got a substantial amount of cash to invest at the moment you could do a lot worse than to invest it into a retro supercar (F355 for example) from Japan and sell it into mainland Europe. With shrewd buying/selling you can fairly easily double your money at the moment.

01/11/2016 - 07:04 |
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nik_d13

I got mine in May last year by swapping it for my Mercedes W202 C200, one of the best decisions I ever made. They’re great cars and I was lucky enough to get a targa top as well. Unfortunately I’ll be selling mine soon though :(

01/11/2016 - 09:25 |
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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

01/11/2016 - 14:12 |
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Anonymous

As an owner of the Mk2 I hope these price rises seep downwards further!

01/11/2016 - 10:24 |
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