the owner's manual does not recommend dropping the hood- I think it reads don't drop it from more than 6 inches or something or other. Its aluminum and there is a real risk that the drop will bend/crease the hood skin at the latch- my previous AP1 was dropped at some point in its life.

The billman250 method involves bringing the hood down to the latch level, then give the hood a little flip up.

darcy

So how much did the ap1 s2k sell for?

$49000 USD after fees.
darcy

Absolutely nuts.

Well, I guess that's better than no sale. Just thinking of the relevance and value, for the rest of us owners.

:)

Likely means a lot if you have under 4000 miles on your s2000 (say, 100-500 miles/year). This is adding to the trend for very, very low mileage, mint condition, clean title s2000's appearing at high profile auctions. It started with that $72,000 S at the Mecum auction last year- if you average the auction price of these cars, its safe to say that $50,000 is the going rate or starting price for these cars.

But...if you enjoy driving your car and have more than 30,000 miles, this high auction value will mean nothing and the value of your driven s2000 will just slowly increase or stay stable. Just because the speculators are paying lots of dollars does not mean that my 60K mile 2006 is worth anything close to that.

So, you'll put the car away, never drive it, never enjoy the visceral sensation of running to redline with the wind in your hair because every mile means fewer dollars on the tail end.

My opinion is that MY 2000 up to mid 2002 do not hold as much high dollar collector appeal. For me, 2003 is the AP1 to collect since they really worked out most all of the issues. To have a nearly zero mile s2000 in the garage would be full of win...but I'd drive it and that's not good for its collector appeal. After that, zero mile CR's will be collectable. And note, colour does not seem to affect these high auction prices.
I can't help but wonder if someone put a bug in these buyers ear and told them about that Mecum auction result - "Hey, if you buy that car at $50,000, you could turn around and sell it for $72,000." I don't think they really know what they're buying- they just see dollar signs.

Kind of like that automatic NSX selling for nearly $100K- again, I think someone said "oooo, NSX's with low mileage sure do command lots of dollars and the prices are just going up. I better buy one now."
But, that is really just my opinion.
darcy

I think this last post made by darcy is one of the most insightful comments I've seen on S2000 pricing as of late. The price people are paying these days for cars with only a couple thousand miles or less has little to do with the price my car would fetch. If I never drove my S2000 again I might realize only a slight gain in the price I could get for it a few years down the road, but what a waste that would be. In my opinion the fun found in driving one of these cars certainly justifies the cost in this case. As far as collectibility is concerned, I'd guess that the 2000 and 2009 year models will end up bringing the most money over the long haul (I'm not counting CRs in this equation).

I agree, and I think the problem is worse nowadays with brand new cars going into bubble wrap immediately - limited production runs, pre-sales, and then resales after a few years - there is a growing trend with buyers buying cars as investments, not vehicles, and they don't even really appreciate the vehicles for what they are - they are only seen as cash generators. It's a big change from maybe a decade ago when car values were driven by nostalgia and wealthy aging previous owners who wanted to reconnect with the cars of their youth. Basically the pollution of investors into the car markets.

At original MSRP plus inflation and lost opportunity to make money in the market for 1.5 decades he's selling it at a loss at 49k.

The new MSRP was about $34,500 if I remember correctly (and I am probably off) at 8% average in the market from 2001 to 2018 would have yielded $127,600. You'd have to pay 15% capital gains on that money, but you'd still end up with way more money than bubble wrapping your new car. You would also need to spend money to insure, minimally maintain, and license that car over that period. The seller, if they were the original purchaser, did not make much money. They could have made about as much putting it into a bank CD.