Whatever is going on at Bring a Trailer—be it suspicious ways of moving money around or just too many people with way more money than sense—it keeps happening. Cheap, old cars are selling at or near their original MSRP despite decades of depreciation. This time, it was a 1997 GMC Safari which sold for $24,750.
What’s so special about this Safari other than the fact GM stopped making it and its beloved Chevy Astro brethren years ago? It’s the same thing that makes every person list a common vehicle model on a site that was originally meant for rare and unique cars: it has low miles and is in relatively good condition. Oh and it has all-wheel drive. Cool.
According to the description and the comments, the seller’s father purchased the van new and always had a lot of cars. When he passed the seller inherited the van and a few other vehicles. He’s selling it because he says it’s become too hard on his knees to get into and drive.
What I just don’t get, however is the price this thing sold for on October 20: $24,750. That’s just over $5,500 off its original MSRP of $30,266. And sure people in the comments were drooling over this van with praises of how reliable it is and it’s a unicorn.
Make no mistake, this is in no way saying that we don’t see the appeal of this van. This is definitely Radwood material. We all love a ’90s green van around here. I’d daily this in a heartbeat, but maybe I’m missing something here. Maybe the new hotness is overpaying for cars like this. Or maybe I’m just getting old and suddenly cars that seemed like nothing special back in the day are going for big money. It’s irritating in a get-off-my-lawn way that I’m still way to young to deal with.
