Suzuki started making these quads 28 years ago. In just a couple years they will be considered antiques. As some of you know these were not the first 4 wheelers, the 1982 QuadRunner LT125 was according to Wikipedia. However these were the first competition grade four wheelers debuting just three years after its first predecessor. Now today you can buy a worn out beat up for under a grand. With the better specimens selling around 3 to 3500. When you look at other early bicycles or motorcycles, you see them selling for ridiculous numbers, and I can't help but think that one day these quadracers will become the same. They are not rare yet, as you can still get them readily on ebay, however they are becoming more and more scarce. A lot of these quads are getting parted out as well. With that being said, and me being new to the quadracer market, I want to know what your predictions are for these pioneering pieces of machinery. How has their value changed in the past ten years and which models do you predict will be the most desirable?
In my area the zillas are already very rare. Max you see on my local CL at one time is like 3 and right now only two both over $2500 and only in fair condition.
There are pile of 85-86 complete rust buckets and roached out too quite cheap though I might add.
And the 87+ are actually not that common in my area im not sure why.
My vote if for the legendary 1987 LT500R Quadracer "Quadzilla" as named by the public. I think the 88-90 will be close but the 87 has long been rumored to be faster than the detuned later years.
Back east here the zillas are pretty rare. I looked for almost a year before i settled on a low hour stocker. All the modded ones were garbage. I had one guy drop his price to "only" 2500 AFTER I showed him the super loose flywheel and very badly worn crank pocket/ bearing. Im damned lucky it didnt blow a motor on the test ride. Air leakin like a mofo.
In the past 2 years in my area I have only seen 3 250 and 1 500. They are super rare in my neck of the woods.
WV im going down to trade a guy my kx for his 250 Saturday and hes in WV...
I think 87 500 and 87 250 will be the rare ones, seems to be what most ppl want
I have noticed in my area though that it seems more 87 zillas pop up for sale then any other years
What about the 85' and 86' models? If it weren't for them, there never would have been an 87'! I think the 85' model especially deserves some credit as well. It's funny nobody has mentioned the later years. Did those years have any major engineering changes?
I've got a really clean original 87' 500 except for a HPR motor and pipe. My question is wether to keep it original or update and customize it? It would be cool to have something original, but it would also be nice to update the shocks and breaks and add some custom parts, any thoughts?
Do what you want with it as long as you don't put a different motor like a 4 stroke in it. Just my
Thats around 80 miles north of me. Had alot of good times in Fairmont. College days! How far from Fairmont are you Dp
Up here in Ontario Canada not unusual to see "rebuilt/restored" 500,s in the $4500-$5000 range and that's with a stock motor and fmf exhaust.
I think the quadracers and TRX250, and other vintage trikes and quads from the 80's will eventually be like the 60's muscle cars of ATV world. The 85 LT250 will always have some nostalgia being the very first race quad, and to this day still the lightest full sized race quad ever made. (At 293 lbs dry, it weighed exactly the same as the 3rd gen Honda ATC250R's, and was actually lighter than a Tri-Z!) The 87 LT250R will of course be special because it was the first 6 speed powervalved motor, and also the only year of the large reed 250 motor.
The Honda TRX250 will also be remembered because it became so popular among MX racers and became the basis for so many aftermarket parts. But I think the quadzilla will be the most haloed and most valuable ATV simply because it had the largest high performance two stroke engine ever put in an ATV, and had a powervalve and counter balancer to boot (making it a more desireable engine for an ATV than someone simply putting a CR500 engine in a TRX frame.) The suspension was way ahead of it's time, and for the size of the machine, it was incredibly light. Similar sized machines that were made later (think DS650) weigh almost 100 lbs more. It was simply the baddest ATV ever. Period.
There will never be another ATV with a motor that has the power to weight ratio that the zilla had as long as 2 strokes aren't produced anymore, or until some sort of mini Wankel engine is developed for ATV's. That fact is what already makes these machines legendary, and their value will go up as people realize this when they look back years from now and 2 strokes are a distant memory.
As for which year of the Zilla, I'm not sure. 87's were the first year, and had the larger reed cage which is sought after for those trying to make crazy power. However, they also had some issues that were corrected in later years (extra head stud, larger hub flywheels, better carb). I've also heard there were about as many '87's sold as the other three years combined which makes them a little less rare. (It sure seems that way when you see them for sale. My experience is about half of them that I see for sale are 87's)
Thats around 80 miles north of me. Had alot of good times in Fairmont. College days! How far from Fairmont are you Dp
Im about 2 hours. 113 miles I think.
Now Im about 5 hours and 35mins from the buffalo mountain hatfield mccoy place (didnt pick that one for any particular reason just because its the first one i saw and wanted to get an estimate how far away I was). How far are you from hatfield mccoy place?