eBay prices are far better than book values, particularly for lower end classic cars and such. The book value on that car is over $15,000 on the low end.
As for percentage of total price and such, those cars started at $46,000 in 1984 (and were up to $64,000 5 years later when they made the last ones), which was enough to buy 2 new corvettes and still bring home some change.
The highest end cars drop the most, which is why a 1984 corvette costs about as much as a 1984 Rolls Royce today.
The secret to driving the "bargain" high end cars is realizing that they are going to eat a few grand a year in maintenance and repairs, and that you can't just expect them to act like a 1994 Honda. However they don't tend to go through any further depreciation as long as you keep them up, and may actually raise in value.
Also, a lot of people shoot themselves in the foot financially because they don't realize that most of these low end supercars have been sitting around in garages being babied for years and thus have a few problems that have been ignored by their previous owners because they didn't drive them much. So they assume that the problems that crop up when they first buy the car are indicative of what their total experience will be, when in reality they are just seeing all the problems the car has likely developed over the last decade.
I'll post some real pictures as soon as I get it out of the two shops. Right now it is snowing out and it has a door bashed in, not exactly the best time to take pictures.
Also, I am not really all that worried about repairs or maintenance, as I do have a motorcycle and that suburban I got from Drew 3 or 4 years ago is still ticking over miles. Well technically it isn't ticking over miles anymore since the odometer broke on it, but I am still driving it every day.
Ebay prices? Is this really better than Kelly Blue Book?