tomo67

In the January 2008 issue of Corvette Magazine, they provide a Market Report for midyears (1963-67). As I recall, my '67 427/390 roadster with hardtop, in Good condition, was valued at $91,500. The highest condition, Show Ready, was over $115,000.

Their report is supposedly based on actual market research, i.e., sales. I don't know and don't claim their figures are right. But look at Pro Team and the rest of the dealers and you will see higher prices than from the magazine. Oh, and per the report, the '67 roadster went up 9% from last year.

I STILL think it is a great and valuable car!

Tom

tls630

C-2'S ARE A GOOD VALUE. If you don't pay to much. As I said something is worth only what you can get for it. the cars on e-bay are not selling, it is the same ones week after week. The ones Pro- team is selling are rare or big block cars. And at that what are they selling for? The only thing I can say is if you are buying do your homework! My wife and I dabeled 55-57 t-birds. Well I don't have to tell anyone who knows cars what happened to them!

vettebuyer6369

Don't get caught up in the trap of trying to guess a pattern by tracking ebay (most sales happen offline) B/J (not real-world sales) magazines (fiction) or Mecum auctions like tomorrow, which will sell many high end cars that do not reflect the activity in the general market.

Corvette people will still buy Corvettes, especially nice clean correct old cars. There's probably a lot of people out there thinking because of the ''economy" cars are going to sell for less, much like many think prices come down dramatically in the winter. I think many potential "buyers" are disappointed when the sellers don't bite. I don't believe either of these common beliefs are rooted in reality, and I don't believe most legitimate C2 shoppers are deterred by gas prices.

HouTex1964Vert

The whole "lowball" thing has always been kind of offensive to me. If I'm selling, it's not because I'm desperate for cash. It has ALWAYS meant that I've had a car long enough to the point that I've lost interest. Don't insult me with some freakishly low offer......

FlaHP

Thats the whole reason I have been slow to get mine ready to market. I am thinking I will just nit pick it and point out every flaw I cab find and list for a fixed price and let the first one with the money have it. I was not very motivated untill I got door banged last week.

Slick64

Same here. I'm itching to get something different, but haven't really taken good pics and need to get it on a lift for underside pics. I'm don't think I'm out of the ball park at $32K either for mine. I've seen lots of "projects" asking for the same money.

hzz

Well, that's nice for you. Not the same situation for everyone.

Lots of people sell their cars because they have to, not because they want to.

An offer that offends you may be just what someone else needs to get out of trouble.

A buyer can't be expected to know whether you are desperate to sell or not.

If you don't want to be insulted put something like "price is firm, no other offers will be considered" in your ad.

recips

"There is the problem also of when you factor in the cost of restoration of one of these driver quality cars to a Top Flight restored car that's on the auction block to be sold. In most cases the quality car is the bargain and the driver is the overpriced car. Back out the cost of that quality restoration and you might just find out that your driver is only worth $3500-$15,000. If you think I'm full of it, just add cost of having a top fight quality paint job and interior restoration done to what you paid for a driver bought in last 4 years and see how close you are to that of a Top Flight car of like kind brings going across the auction block and your not even close to total of what Top flight restoration's cost was.""


I have to take issue with this reply, in a gentlemanly manner of course. The logic of this argument is somewhat flawed in my opinion. Using this logic I could buy a $3K Imapla and put $100K into it and think it was worth $103K. It doesn't work like that, we have all seen the BJ cars go for $20K with over $100K invested. A car is just like a house, it has a base value. Just because you put a 20K into a new front door doesn't make the house worth 20K more, the same applys to the car market. In my opinion a nice original driver of whatever the make and model is the base that a particular model will bring. Everything above or below that mark are due to the condition, options and obviously the economy. By the way I'll buy every original midyear out there that hasn't been "Nabors Brothers" restored for $3500 to 15K. Not starting anything, just my $0.02.

I hope I replied properly, we will see after this posts.

RichNJshore

I agree with recips. Why should you be personally insulted by a low offer. First of all it is a car...no one called your daughter ugly. I love my vette but it is a thing. Second, you don't know their motivation. Maybe I love your car and want it so bad that I can taste it. I know it is worth 30k, but all I can offer is 22k. So I offer 22k because ...who knows, maybe he'll take it.
Maybe the person really thinks the car is worth 22k. There is no reason that a seller's feelings should cost a buyer thousands of dollars.
I bought a house in 2002. My agent was constantly saying...you don't want to insult the seller. A couple of times I made offers that the seller didn't even counter. I kept my eye on those properties most sold near my price....eventually or came off the market.
These aren't new cars...there is no list price just what the market will bear. As someone else said , you can't get back every dollar you put into a car.

red 67

big money still flows,,hell if you cant afford gas,you sure cant afford a corvette.it in my oppion is only affecting a small majority of buyers.i know a few people who just sold cars in excess of 100k.. and a few just over 60k.. so a nice car is still going to be worth the money,and a ok car is just worth what the market will bare..lotts of just driver cars..in my oppion they are the ones hurting the worst.. although nice cars are off aprox.20% from 2 years ago..just food for thought..

Scheinbj

It's the old saying, listing prices might be be holding steady but what could you get for it if you had to sell it in 60 days or less? That's the market.....price. Oh, that's the real estate market. Sorry, we're talking about a piece of Americana. Totally different.

StingU2

Stay away from ebay. It will drive you to try and keep up with the prices there. You have to remember you pay a price to sell on ebay. If the C2's are not bringing a good $ there doesn't reflect the market elsewhere. Hang in there the $$$'s will come before long!

C.W.C.

Look Back Over The Last 42 Years And You Will See The Prices Rise To New Highs And Then Soften But Over The Long Term Mid Years Just Keep Increasing In Value. The Real Problem Is If You Are Soley Buying For Speculation Or If You Bought The Car To Enjoy It. Frankly Because The Prices Are Where They Are, Few People Buy These Cars Just To Drive Them And Enjoy Them.
They Have Become Investments Too Valuable To Take The Chance Of An Accident Or Getting A Chip In The Paint.
Last July I Had Bought My Same 427/425 Convertible Back For The Fourth Time. I Last Owned This Same Car 22 Years Ago And As Strange As It Seems It Just Keeps Coming Back. Each Time I Buy It Back I Have Paid Much More Than What I Sold It For Before. This Time I Am Doing A Total Frame Off Restoration And When It Is Done I Will Be Driving It And I Intend On Keeping It "till Death Do Us Part". My Situation Is Different Than Most As I Have An Emotional Attachment Rather Than Viewing It As An Investment. I Have Many Great Memories Of This Car And I Intend To Make Many More In The Years To Come.
I Had The Pistons Changed When Rebuilding The Engine So I Can Run Whatever Gasoline Will Be Available So I Can Drive It And Enjoy It. The "return On My Investment" Will Be The Thumbs Up I Get From Other Drivers As I Drive Down The Road. I Have Owned Cars That I Did Not Want To Drive Because They Were Too Valuable But I Do Not Have Any Really Great Memories Of Owning Those Cars.
They Were Just Possessions To Show Off And I Had To Worry About Losing Money If I Got A Chip In The Paint.
If You See A Grey Haired Guy With A Huge Smile On His Face Driving Down The Street In A 66 427 Milano Convertible That Will Be Me!

C2Driver

Sounds like a love/hate relationship! Better hold onto her this time.

Poorhousenext

Actually, if I'm reading your reply correctly, I think your saying what I'm saying, "It's usually cheaper (better value) to buy a top flight restored car than a non-original driver and then do a restoration to it."

In my case if I were to try and do a resto-mod to a $45,000.00 dollar driver, I would have more in it than if I bought a non-rare top flight restored mid-year and pulled the body off it and mounted it on the resto-mod chassis. I could keep the original chassis in case later on I wanted to put body back on it's original chassis and sale it, or I could sale off the chassis and reduce my cost in the resto-mod. No painting, no interior, no chroming, no buying replace parts, etc cost that would be required to make an average driver body and interior to look as good.

To come out as cheap or cheaper, I have to start with that $3,000.00 - $15,000.00 dollar car and pour the money into it to get it same appearance and quality.

I took a $16,000 dollar 66 driver I've owned since 1992 and sold off just over $10,000.00 in parts off it to date, so I'm starting off resto-mod with $6,000.00 dollars in it.

I took a $17,000 dollar 64 project I bougth in Nov of last year and sold off just over $5,000.00 dollars in parts off it to date, so I'm starting off resto-mod with $12,000.00 in it.

Now if I try to restore the bodies and interiors to top flight requirements, do you think I'll be in the $60,000 to $80,000 dollar range or in the $80,000 to $110,000+ dollar range on these completed resto-mod cars?

I'd like to think I'll be in the $80,000.00 or under price range, but odds are not in my favor even on the 66 since I don't do any of the work myself.

Now what will they be worth if I have to sell them? Like you and most have said they will be worth what someone is willing to pay and it may not be what I'll have invested in them, same as what happens with top flight restore cars, and this is even if the economy were growing and not slowing.

I really think we are on the same page but I could be wrong...LOL

woodchuck

Gas prices went up today here in Georgia, Just noticed 3.98 per gallon, I do not care what anyone says this is gonna hurt market even worst. I know nobody wants to here this but anyone that disagrees is eathier a multi millionaire or just crazy.

Outta here see ya.

rayvaflav

I agree with some of the previous posts here. When I started shopping for a Midyear coupe 3 years ago my budget was $30,000 for a nice NOM driver and they were out there in that price range. Fast forward three years and it would be a fluke to find a similar car for that price now and you would most likely have to spend $40,000 for that same car today. While the general market is soft, midyear buyers are looking to spend less money but the sellers are not dropping thier prices. So I say lowball all you want, the buyers don't seem to be letting them go and if they have a nice car, they are probably not in a situation where they need to take your offer.

Poorhousenext

My message is, It's not just the price of gas. That just a small part of what happening.

Think of it as inflation, as in everything is going up but home prices, wages and old people's fixed income. Those you can call deflated and stagnated.

With stagnated wages and deflated income, it's hard for people to makes ends meet when cost for all necessities keeps rising not just gas. It the cumlative total of all price increases to necessities that is going to hurt the market. Most can deal with just price of gas going up by driving less, carpooling, etc.

PS:You might want to keep and eye on your electric bill. That's going to keep going up as both coal and natural gas prices have been rising too and Jawga summer heat is on the way. Look for a $50.00+ dollar a month ($12.50 a week) increase in it's cost also.

Blk63Vette

Hello

I think its kinds interesting how people are worried about "their" investment's. I was told something a long time ago by and old man who had several nice cars to sell. I asked him how much for the 67 Camaro? He said it is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.

I told him 2k he accepted. That was 1984

Today's world.. I went to the local Chevrolet dealership to pick up my brothers SUV Cadillac. I was approached by three salesmen telling me I could have any used car on the lot I want for a "equal" trade. Of course, I declined the offer. But, the bottom line is "if you don't ask you will never know" if the guy is willing to part with his Corvette.

I have to be honest, I never thought of my Corvette as and investment. I lost alot of money on my 1968 Corvette I sold ten years ago. So, I think cars in general are a terrible investment if you go in with the mindset you are going to make alot of $$$. I hate to burst your bubble but thats not really how it works...My experience, If anything you will lose money or if you are lucky maybe break even.

Yes, I have had people approach me thinking that. I am going to have a "firesale" especially for them and sell my Vette at a ridiculously low price.

Yes its always interesting to hear stories that they can buy the same car you have for alot less because "so and so" has it hidden in a barn last 40 years...All they need to do is make one phone call...I always suggest why wait call now...

I like to see guys that drive up in Bentley, Ferrari ,Austin Martin,etc. look at your car and say they like it...or hear old stories about when they had a car like that back in the day..

Bottom line, life to short to be unhappy...Feel lucky and privileged you can afford a nice old Corvette to drive and enjoy every minute of it behind the wheel!!! I know I do!!!

Paul_DC

As someone in the market, I'd be curious to see what you consider a freakishly low offer and what you consider a starting point of a negotiation on the sale of the car. Assuming that you are aiming for a win-win negotiation vs. a win-lose negotiation.

In my experience (albeit not in the corvette market), low-ball offers MAY be either the result of "tire kickers," a seller's price being higher than the market will support, or the starting point of a negotiation. So, just looking for thoughts really...