Not one bid has been cast yet for this mint-condition Chevrolet Lumina, which has a mere 15,967 miles on the clock. The opening bid is $100 and there is a reserve, but where else are you going to find a plain-jane grandma W-body sedan as nice as this? With the wire-style hubcaps and luggage rack on the trunk, every box is checked. Find it here on eBay and located in Fremont, California.
The body is incredible, with no major blemishes to report. I find the Lumina incorporates some nice design features, such as the subtle wrap to the taillights and center garnish, along with nicely integrated safety bumpers. The automotive press didn’t love the Lumina at the time, and it didn’t hang out long. This first generation lasted just four years.
The interior looks extremely comfortable, with a set cloth-covered buckets and a surprisingly simple three-spoke steering wheel. As a column shift car, there’s plenty of room to switch drivers should someone need a rest. The dashboard was nothing to write home about, and the analog gauges already seemed dated to me when in introduced. Still, this interior is practically mint.
The engine bay is spotless, and the 3.1L V6 is a familiar site. No word on maintenance history, but with such low mileage, I wouldn’t sweat it. The paint quality is exceptional, and the more you look at it, the more you’re convinced it should be in a museum. With so few Lumina sedans left in any kind of condition, this low-mileage example is a standout for sure. Would you lob a bid for a fully-preserved Lumina?
Crispy! Same power, but less style than the Z34, eh?
As usual, when taking photos, make sure that people are not in the background…..
The Z34 has a 3.4 liter twin-cam V6 with 200hp.
This particular Lumina has a 3.1 pushrod V6 with 140hp.
A substantial difference!
This would make a good daily driver and/or winter beater if you could pick it up for under a grand.
Found the pic with person in it. Is the place selling it a chop shop?
I’d love to meet the owners of the chop shop that would steal this. They’d be filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection within a month.
“I’m going to buy this fine automobile and put it away as an investment”
Weather some like it or not this IS a classic now 26 yrs old qualifies it for historical plates in most states. This is just the Ford Falcon of the early 90s.
Geeze, Halfdead, I hate to pick on you, but “classic” refers to cars that meet the criteria of the Classic Car Club of America. http://www.classiccarclub.org/grand_classics/what_is_classic_car.html.
I will never own a proper “classic” automobile, but I am bugged to death over the indiscriminate use of the term “classic”. After age 25, a car may be an “antique”, a “vintage” car, a “collectible” car, or a “historical” vehicle. That does NOT make it a classic. I don’t care what your state’s legal mumbo-jumbo says. A ’92 Chevy Lumina will NEVER be a classic.
I wonder how many designers of American cars from the 90s…decided to switch to furniture or kitchen utensils as soul saving therapy(?)
To follow up on my comments from yesterday’s Lumina, I think this is one of the ugliest car designs in American history. I know that is subjective but damn, it looks awful from every angle. Particularly from the side.Ugh! Ugggh!
Well, in my opinion the Ugliest Car Award still belongs to the Pontiac Aztek. In the early 90s, I thought Luminas belonged in the “least noticeable” category – along with most Chevy mid- and compact-car designs of the time. The one exception I thought was the Beretta. When introduced, it looked like Chevy’s BMW-beater, but alas, Chevy did not take it in that direction.
Actually, looking at it now, time has been kind to these Luminas.
Interesting that you should say that. In the 80s, under Roger Smith, GM hired marketing people from Proctor & Gamble. Those people were very good at marketing laundry detergent, but cars, they did not have a clue.
Whenever I hear the term “Brand Recognition”, as a Car Guy, I cringe.
My prediction: 20 years from now there will be a huge Lumina collectors group, and this will be considered their Holy Grail. Stranger things have happened.
Case in point, I do recall a Tempo and Topaz lovers’ forum some time back. My first car was a Celebrity…don’t think I’ve ever run across any discussion about those being collectors’ items yet.
The Eurosport seems to get a lot of interest here at BF.
I had a Celebrity wagon as a company car, not that interesting.
My parents had a celebrity wagon. If I ever meet the engineer who designed the engine, I’m going to wring his neck! Why would you EVER put the oil filter on the back side of the engine, in the most inaccessible spot???
My Mom had one of these new in ’92. It was the last car she ever owned. I loved it: tight steering, good power.
Had a 90 silver Euro model. It felt pretty modern and fancy in 1995. I really liked the wraparound tail light design. Interior was nice too. But yes, it was pretty plain jane. Very servicable, very reliable, and a good solid vehicle, but in the end, completely forgettable too. Traded it in for a 94 Astro van that I loved.
Count on replacing any gasket that came in contact with that nasty Dex-cool crap.
It’s nothing but a glorified Chevy Celebrity, and they were nothing special at all. Low mileage helps, but how has it been maintained in the last 26 years? (Yikes! Has it been that long? These were new like, last week!) For a fair price, it’s a decent driver, but nothing to squirrel away as a collectible anything.
I had a 1991 Lumina Eurosport 4 door and it was a real dependable car. The 4 wheel disc brakes wereproblems but the 3.1 and transmission were great.
A search of the VIN shows this car may have been sold at a Salvage Auction at the end of June.
https://autoauctions.io/app/5048754/1992-chevrolet-lumina
Good catch.
That means the Ebay listing is fraud.
It says it has a clean title and the other site says it has CA – Cert Of Title Or Salvage Acq
It does say that the Title is clean, which they describe as “unbranded and indicate no damage history”.
Still a mystery why a car like this would end up in a salvage yard.
Big time Buyer Beware.
A number of charities off-load their vehicles on Copart, that’s what this looks like. It’s a spotless car.
The Ebay listing says the title is clean.
The Copart listing said it has a Cert Of Title Or Salvage Acq
You can’t just clean up a title. Once a salvage title, always a salvage title.
Bid up to $1150, as of now nice car!
My ex- father in law had this exact car color options etc… I went with him to buy it new and, I’ll tell you in 5 years he had totally beat the crap out of the poor car, it ran good but to the Chevy gods it went
Had to take a look at this, my parents had a ‘92 Lumina that looked exactly like this when I was a kid, right down to the same wheel covers and luggage rack, only difference was theirs had a red interior. I remember it well from my elementary through early middle school years. Comfortable car, though I always wondered why my parents had to cheap out and not get power windows and locks. I think half of the residents in my hometown had one of these or some other W-body sedan from that time period. It was a decent car overall, though they had to have the intake gasket replaced when the car was 3 years old, when it was starting to have the same issue again around the 6 year mark they decided to trade it in for a ‘98 Malibu, which ended up having similar issues after a couple years. Interesting to see a lower trim level kept in such good condition. I wouldn’t be a taker at anything more than a couple thousand dollars, but it brings back some good memories from my childhood.
Good cheap car to drive and abuse and beat to death till scrap price is what’s left. Nothing else.
I’m not sure about this. Pass.
Old Cars Report Price Guide has a value of $6500.00 for this model in #1 condition. Will be interesting to see what the reserve is.
Might be a good buy if it has eBay buyer protection.
Be the nicest car at the demolition derby if I could get it cheap enough.
Hated the name. Hated the looks.
But the basic roots of the later Impala.
This is a nice one though.
Not getting the desire to take something this nice and tearing it up using it as a beater, though.
Like torturing ugly dogs and cats: not very good form.