Ryan Christbaum

Hi guys. Obviously a lot of knowledge around here and I'm hoping to get a little advice. Assume you have this car and decide to sell it. What would you expect for it?
1960 Corvette, white w/ white coves and top, frost blue interior and conv
top. 283 2x4 Hyd lifters, 4 speed, power windows, two tops, wonderbar radio, sun visors, heater. 150k miles, all parts original except for the heads.
Engine is apart (it was rebuilt once and is .030 over), only damage is a side swipe to the right cove, but damage is not major. Car is from Wisconsin, but the frame is sound. Chrome will need to be redone, but isn't bad. Seats were recovered and are in good shape, but carpet is original and worn out. This car has not been on the road since 1973. Did I forget anything? Oh, yeah. It was my mom's brand new, so I can say for sure it was never hit (other than the side swipe which my mom did backing out of the garage with the Suburban. Yeah, I know...)

I don't have any interest in doing a restoration myself, and don't know that I want to dump a bunch of dough into having someone else do it. Help.

Thanks,
Ryan

Curtis

From what I read, you have a one owner original car minus heads. Do you still have the heads around? Would be nice to have everything, but if not the next owner can get correct ones for a price. :eek:

It is hard to say what it is worth without seeing it, but I would imagine around 30K. I can't see it going for much less. If the car was done over it would bring a pile of loot. I'll give you $20K if you want a quick sale. :lol: Just kidding, well maybe.

Not sure what other people will say. Original vettes of that year are hard to come by. I don't know if it being .30 over is a problem. Who would know? Could be a Top Flight car if the right buyer buys it. You will have to market it right. ONE OWNER Original motor car. I have seen them go for over 40K if drivable and they needed restored, paint etc. So your car not drivable minus heads and a side swip should be in the ball park, I think.

Enjoy,
Curt

Katz

Wow.

That's probably one of the rarest color combos there is. Plus, the fact that it is 2x4 and original (your mom bought it new) will help increase the value to absurd proportions for someone who wants the #'s matching NCRS trophy...

The fact it needs some body and interior work will weigh in. It's been sitting for a while, so the suspension will need work.

I can't give you a number. Pick a figure you think is fair, add and subtract for what you feel works, and we'll tell you how crazy you are :)

396 RAT

Great car,
The biggest downfall is that its been sitting for 30 years.
.030 over is nothing.
150k in 13 yrs, then parked?
Has it been started in 29 years?
I wonder if its seized up? That's a long time for an engine
to be still.
Why was it parked? (buyers will ask)
And the brakes will need to be gone through, clutch, all fluids,
tires, batt, etc. The list could get pretty big.
If you were able to get it on the road, your selling
price would go up considerably. Buying a non running car
is a pig in a poke. I have gotten lucky 1/2 the time when buying
cars that cant be driven.
$30's? maybe, but the buyer would have to have big juevos,
or a big wallet. Or could just get lucky?
Not much help, just prepping you for what folks will be asking.
It could cost 10K+ to get it on the road. (real fast)
with an engine rebuild and above mentioned repairs.
But C1's are not my thing, others here will be able to help more.
Just throwing out the things that I would ask if I were looking at your car.
Hope this helps........

Hasbeen

The person that I work for, (taking care of his collection) just bought a 61 2x4, 4sp car in running condition, (barely), good Paint and int. good chrome, had been sitting for about 10 yrs. for $24 K, We are going to have 5-8K more in it to make it a nice driver, the buyer will have more if he has higher expectations!!

HASBEEN

GTs 58

Two years of my life were consumed searching for my 58. I checked out every one that I came across from sea to shining sea and in Canada. Anything from a basket case to a full 100% restoration. Price range was from 10K to 48k (non fuelie) with 35K the norm for a fresh resto on a non matching car. Prices are probably up from that time, so I would guess yours would be around 18 to 25K depending on how worn out the car is. A lot of decent drivers that needed work were going for 20 to 25K and I witnessed a beautiful 61 with an older resto trading hands for the total of 22K at the Pomona swap meet. Six months later I saw this same car at the Az. Good Guys car show with new tires,wheels, new steering wheel and a for sale sign in the window for 35K :mad At the time 22K was a smoking deal for a C1 in that condition and if I wasn't so picky about what year I wanted, that 61 would be in my garage.
I have traced many C1's bought by dealers and car dealing yahoos who turned right around and put them back on the market for 5 to 10K more than they paid, doing absolutely nothing to the car.
I would suggest you call a used vette dealer in your area and have him give you a price he would pay for it. Tack on 8K or so and that would give you a good idea of the current market value.
If you want to dump the car quick, I will give you 15K. :yesnod: :cheers:

Gary

Ryan Christbaum

Uh, well, the car sat for so long because the fuel pump died while my dad was on the way to work (he was an airline pilot. They have tight time schedules as you can imagine.) My mom had two kids by then and an unreliable 13 year old car that only sat two didn't work, so they got an Oldsmobile. Nobody had any interest in actually getting it running. My mom gave me the car 10 years ago, but I let it sit because I didn't want to do a half-way job on it just to redo it later. I'm surprised the power windows didn't make much of a splash. Seems I remember only 500 or so out of 10,000 that had it.


[Modified by Ryan Christbaum, 1:12 PM 4/13/2002]

Curtis

I see some post here comparing this car to a driver or a non match car. You can not compare the two really. Your car is a one owner car that needs restored. All there but heads missing. That is too bad, because that will cost the next guy some good $$. Rechroming and many other things that need to be done to make the car a Top Flight can be done. Most cars of this age would have a very tough time to get to the big time. Drivers can bring in the 30's. The buyer you are looking for is someone that wants a original car to restore. When done the car will be worth the big bucks. How many one owner original cars are out there? You could look at Pro Team to see what they are asking. You probably won't get there $40K because they are so exposed, but I still think you should get around $30K. Without seeing it, it is just a guess. I restored my car and if I was looking at yours I would be able to see what it really needs and go from there.

I think someone will pay pretty good money for that car. It is rare and rare means $$.

Here is a link to Proteam. You should only compare your car to a '58-'60. Forget fuelies they are out of site. Notice how few two four cars there are that are original. Keeping in mind Proteam asks quite a bit of $$. They get it on many occasions though.
http://www.proteam-corvette.com/1960.html

Enjoy,
Curt

396 RAT

From time to time I need a vocab tune up.
Help me out as these things do change.

Driver, = not a show car, can be driven on the street, presentable to the
average on looker. (Could be all orig., or nom)
(I consider my car an "orig" driver)

Non match car, (NOM) = Could be a show stopper but the owner is honest and does not own a stamp set.

Numbers match,= this has no real meaning (to me) Because it means something different to everyone. The way I look at it "today", the orig drivetrain was lost and someone went through great pains rounding up the correct parts as the originals were gone. (And does own a stamp set.)
15 years ago I would have told you it meant the car was all original.
But that has changed.

Then Original (Modern term / buzz word = "survivor" )
(the state this car is in) It is what you want, as it was easier to just toss in a new long block and re-paint , just as it is today. And there
is a smaller percentage of Orig. cars to choose from. Finding someone who is willing to invest 30k plus in this car bringing it up to top flight standards may be easy?
I have no idea. But the bill from the chrome shop will dwarf the cost of correct heads. Not to mention a complete drivetrain rebuild. I was not trying to insult anyone. I was just looking at it this way. This car plus 10 grand will give you an original driver. What's the value of an original 60 driver? Again, I am not up to speed on C1's current pricing. I do know one thing, you can buy a car at Pro Teams prices. But you cant sell a car for Pro Teams prices.
To me the fact that is has been sitting for 30 years is not a plus.
And although its not a high mileage car, its not a low mileage car either.
Ryan, Did you have a price range in mind?
(Just curious) Without a photo its really hard to guestamate. It being a rust free, garaged Ca. car is a big plus. And the odds of someone buying it from out of state are there. There may be a buyer that's looked at dozens of rusted out cars like yours just waiting for a deal like this to come up.
Good luck!

dropTopTx

I have no idea what the cars is worth in cash at this point but I would think long and hard about selling the family car...

There are very few people that get a chance at a basically all orig car that they not only know the history of but "have" history with.

If you really have no interest in the car or just need to get rid of it for whatever reason then best of luck. Just dont want you to look back in a few years and realized you made a major mistake.

Spend a little time in the forum and you'll likely get the bug to get it back on the road yourself. There is nothing like cruising in a C1 with the top down and yours has a great story to go with.

Just my 2cts...

-TP

Kid_Again

...if it's time to sell, it's time to sell...from what i've seen recently on this forum, the cars going on ebay are going for rediculously high prices so i woud take the fair estimates you've received here, add $10K and put it on ebay.....seriously

396 RAT

Agree, Sell it on Ebay,
you could get twice what its worth.

Vette60

Hi Ryan-

Hope that this isn't too late after the posting in this topic has died down.

My Dad bought his '60 Vette in '62 and drove it everyday in Pittsburgh PA.

It sat from 1981 to 1992 until we convinced him that it should be out on the road and not under a cover in our garage. If I remember, it was first parked because of the fuel pump.

It was unreal the number of things that we uncovered because of it's extended stay in the garage. Transmission fluid crystalized, huge ball of crap around the fuel pick up in the tank, brakes lines bad, etc, etc. Too bad for us to do much of the work ourselves.

Anything mechanical was gone over and rebuilt. All the paint and other cosmestic items (Chrome, interior) are as in on the car. Looks good from 25 ft. There was a ton of time and $$ to get it going again.

But, it was like yours an original car. Only thing Dad was missing was the horns.

In '92, all said and done it was appraised at around 25k. After it was running. More now, I think so. But, I don't think that I could ever sell the Vette-I know that my Dad feels the same way. I have a special attachment to that car-I remember the first ride I had in it, Dad can tell me about the time he backed into a '57 Chevy and did this to the left rear bumper...I eat that stuff up!

I don't know if you share some of the same sentimental things that I do...just keep them in mind...

I would love to see some pics of the Vette. I have a few on the link listed in the sig.

Ryan Christbaum

I understand the attachment factor, and I have been guilty of accumulating lots of stuff that I can't bear to part with, things have changed. I'm taking inventory and realizing that a lot of stuff just sits around not being enjoyed. Anyone want an indoor wooden '60s Western Electric phone booth for their display area? Got one of those to sell too.
Funny thing about it is my mom never had a second thought about getting rid of stuff she didn't use anymore. She even told me to sell the car when I got laid off last fall if I needed money.
Anyway, I think I'm going to move all the crap out of the way this week, wheel the car out, and shoot a bunch of photos to solicit offers. Anybody recall a thread regarding selling on EBay or have suggestions how to proceed? I'd sure like an enthusiast to restore it to new and enjoy it.
Thanks for your suggestions.
-Ryan

jerrybramlett

A very restorable '60 Corvette was auctioned on eBay a few weeks ago. From the photos, it appeared to have a never-hit, formerly red body. The seller implied it was essentially complete, had a good frame, and the engine was original. It was, however, completely disassembled and missing a few pricey parts like the soft top frame. It was also a factory automatic with the base engine.

Appraisals were offered by posters on this board during the auction. Some said it was overpriced at $10,000. I thought the bidding would reach the high teens. The car did meet reserve and actually sold at around $13,400.

If you're not a car person, you're about to have a great learning experience by asking for "offers" over the internet. I think you're going to discover the difference between long distance tire-sniffers and local buyers with cash. You're about to introduce yourself to one of these groups big-time.


[Modified by jerrybramlett, 8:17 AM 4/16/2002]