Pricing my Grandpa's Tacoma

I'm hoping you guys could help me with pricing my deceased Grampa's Tacoma. I've seen adds for same generation tacomas with 150k miles for $10k, which I thought was a lot. Turns out I don't have a clue.

95 Tacoma
3.4 v6
4x4
4 speed automatic
42k miles
rest is on window sticker in the pictures
1 cigarette burn on drivers seat
1 dent on rear passenger corner under brake light
In Golden, CO

pics:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yfbK2bTvDTcxFVS4A

 

Thing looks pretty mint, for how nice it looks and the mileage i think 10k would be a fair starting point but im thinking the right buyer might even give you close to 15k for it. Only thing that would concern me is frame rust but it looks pretty mild for being a CO truck. If you're posting on craigslist i would just list it for the highest price you feel is reasonable everybody is going to try and low ball you anyways. Good luck with the sale

 

My condolences.

It all really depends on how quickly you want to sell it. You could likely put it up for sale for 6-7k and have it gone tomorrow. I know there are likely tons of people here who'd throw money at you for this truck in a heartbeat, you have quite a low mileage gem.

The frame doesn't look too bad, just some surface rust.

Don't look at the same generation though, that's nearly a 10 year span. Look around for 95.5-98ish trucks and see what people are asking for them.

It very well could be a 10k truck, but you're going to need to put in the time and effort to reach that right buyer.

Lots of people who are looking for a truck of this age, however, are looking for a trail truck that will end up being modified, so likely aren't going to spend a ton of money on something they will just start cutting up and welding stuff to it.

A "premium" buyer will be one of those enthusiasts who want it as more of a "collector"

 

I bought a very similar truck, just 1998, with the same exact dent for 8k. Everything looks to be the same, mine had 97k miles when I bought it this summer. Hope this helps. You've got a serious gem.

 

Your in Denver pretty much.
This one sold at auction here in Denver 6 months ago for 7100.00 with 65,000 miles.

Pretty much the same truck as yours.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...er-no-reserve-3-hours-left-at-6500-00.605030/

 

there have got to be many people out there, just like me, that wants a compact truck with 4x4 capabilities that you DO NOT NEED a step stool or small ladder to shuffle stuff around in the bed!
2nd gen I can not reach the middle of a stock 4x4, and its a strain to even touch the bed in certain spots with my fingers!
plus rather easy peasy maintenance for the most part
i certainly would not put the 1st gen on some trail truck pedestal like that!

 

+1. Again, my condolences.

At the expense of being a little morbid, I'm not sure how recent his passing is, I would make sure you are very familiar with the probate process in your state before jumping to selling the truck.

I think that truck will sell for the higher end of the market value and because of that you should make sure your ducks are in a row.

Again, I dont CO rules well, but hopefully you have the Title in hand and the truck was willed to you or you might have some issues with registration at the DMV for the new owner.

 

For sure, size is one of the main reasons I prefer a 1st gen over the 2nd and turd, I mean 3rd gens. Part of that is because of the off roading I do with it, and I prefer the smaller platform for tight trails. The other thing I dislike about the non 1st gens is the plastic bumpers. My bumpers? I use them, lol. Even on my daily driver tow rig '17 4Runner the stupid plastic bumpers have caused more grief than they should. One little tap and they crack and fall apart. I was rear-ended on the freeway in my '04 Taco, and all I got was a little scratch. See post #6 of my build thread for how the other guy faired, lol.

But I like to crack jokes and tease people who spend a bunch of money on old 4x4 pickup trucks and don't *use* them like pickup trucks and are afraid to get them dirty. It's part of my sarcastic charm, lol.

I wouldn't say I'm the one putting these trucks on a pedestal. They are great reliable trucks that IMO should be driven hard and put away wet. Not polished and babied like a classic show car. I don't even baby my '17 4Runner the way I see some people spend countless hours polishing and waxing their 20 year old pickups. I care about how they function, not how they look.

But that's just me. I can certainly appreciate the effort that goes in to the trucks that are babied and highly polished. They are beautiful trucks, but just not for me.

 

you probably need to take your next family vacation to the great lakes region and do some old truck sight seeing lol
i know how trucks of all shapes and sizes in my winter area straight to the east get to be if not kept clean!
you should've seen some of the old detroit trucks i saw in the U.P. (where the winters are brutal) with the rear fenders half rotted away and totally gone on the side
but those were mostly the full size trucks, which are VERY easy to replace with something new when the time comes to do so

so the [OP] has a wider market to sell to than just the off roaders i think, people in the snowy places can use the 4x4 to get around easier in the winters

 

Where I grew up, "wood" was a common bumper material. People had more gears in their transmission than teeth.

In highschool, my best friend's truck burned more oil than gas.

We didn't really have the rust buckets like the places back east that salt the roads. I grew up "in the hills" but not high enough where salt or road chemicals were used a lot (still CA). But we did have easy access to the snow just up the hill.

 

X2, I run my truck hard and it keeps on ticking like a clock
“Iwouldn't say I'm the one putting these trucks on a pedestal. They are great reliable trucks that IMO should be driven hard and put away wet.”

 

what do you mean by "put away wet"
if I take that to mean just park it in the garage or on the street with all the winter sloppy slop caked all over from where I am out east to the atlantic ocean then no wonder i saw so few on the midwest highways this summer, they either all rotted away or are living their days in the ethnic latino communities, which in my town is whom i see driving the real old beat up Tacomas with body panel perforations,etc. because they like the trucks too!

i usually don't run mine too hard RPM wise but I did have to last week in Minnesota, i was getting tired of the endless road construction and needed to pass in a hurry when the passing lane opened so I downshifted into 4th and put the hammer down. I was quite impressed with the peppiness when the RPMs topped over 4k in 4th gear, I usually never go much more than 3k RPM unless in 5th gear

my experience with old Toyota's from the late 1970s models (i had 2 of them used) is when they are nearing 20 to 25 years of age they are about toasted and have run the course without some major upkeep I was not interested in doing 20+ years ago. My truck just feels a total difference now with same age and very similar mileage as the 2 cars I had in my teens/early 20s

the pedestal comment was regarding that the only purpose and use for these old Tacoma's was to mod them out and go 4 wheeling off road and not much use for just a small compact truck to haul assorted loads and maybe a light trailer
and the only people interested in these old trucks and wanting to pay twice what a near-similar Detroit compact truck are the people that want to modify them to go offroading, I just don't see that being the only purpose, but what do i know i am old...

 

you can perhaps evaluate with this table of values...

https://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/1995/Toyota/Tacoma/Pickup-Base-X-Cab-4X4/Values

but for some reason it does not specify whether 3.4 v6 or the 4cyl
https://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/1995/Toyota/Tacoma

so maybe go with the 1996 model year that has a v6 option

 

When are coming though Denver?
We need to meet up.

 

I'm not sure if you're trolling or not lol. Either way I ain't explainin' it!

 

confused about trolling comment

 

eric9taco
I almost thought this was your listing here in craigslist where I am (but this one is in wellington and not golden and the topper is different), but this could give you an idea of where to list at
https://fortcollins.craigslist.org/cto/d/fort-collins-1997-toyota-tacoma-sr5-4x4/6981580596.html

 

Wow she's pretty too bad you aren't keeping her around. Tacoma's seem to have stupidly high resale value so like the others said probably teens.

 

except for the color, topper,lift and transmission type it looks similar to mine

why did they need the front wheel bearings done at 146k?
somebody (other than a mechanic) mentioned this to me that those are probably going to need replaced soon but I don't know what the signs are to look for, everything pretty much seems to be in tiptop working order other than some weird rattle at a specific RPM under certain conditions that has yet to be diagnosed

 

it is on the todo list
definitely will like to check your truck out
most likely its much cleaner than mine is at the moment