Grzldvt

My neighbor had a decent 76, white with black interior, and had a very solid 350 in it. It was a pretty decent car, I drove it and it ran strong and was pretty smooth. The fuel line broke at the rear axle. I tried to convince them, to fix it then, but they never did anything.
As time went by, the seals dried up, on everything near as I can tell. There was a pretty good oil slick running down the driveway for about a year. For sure the rear main has dried up and I assume the rear seal for the tranny is gone.
Bottom line it has been sitting covered for 12 years. I have no clue what the mileage is, but at this point it is probable irrelevant. It is a hardtop(T-Tops), automatic and the interior still looks decent. Well as much as I could tell looking into the windows
So knowing it has not been moved for 12 years, any clue what it is worth?
Thanks in advance

ryan92663

a 76 hardtop? maybe a 75, but the last convertible were in 75. but by the way for the car, figure on spending alot of $$ to get it ready, as it will need paint (3-10k depending) weatherstripping (200) suspension (1k) engine and tranny rebuilt$$$ and even if it looks good, be casutious about the interior as the replacement pieces are expensive and dont fit.
Also the biggest thing, check for winshield frame rust, as it is $$$$$ to fix. all in all i if its a 75 i think maybe 2-6 thosand depending on the real condition of the car.

Grzldvt

Ok I lifted the cover and it has removable tops, but it is a 76 for sure.
I am not going to buy, I simply don't have the time to futz it with.
But I realy like your assessment. I was guessing at 3K. It is a California car, but I will take a look at the rust around the windshield just for my own curiousity. the cover has now gotten so rotten, it wil be asy.
I figured it would be a total rebuild of the engine, tranny, rear end, brakes and suspension and you have defintely confirmed it.

Funny, he was out pumping up the tires last sping, and I came by. I told him if it was me I would back up quite a bit. Those are some pretty old tires and likely to explode.
What ashame to let this car go to waste.
Thanks I appreciate the information

ghoastrider1

in this area ( indianapolis) the car would be worth about 3K, maybe even 4K. You can buy a running vette here for under 4 grand,easily under 5K.

VettePower

Was there any 76 verts?

MartyW

Nope, Never.

If it is a 76, I am thinking it has t-tops that currently somone has a 1 piece soft top on it.

Grzldvt

Yes it has T-Tops, not sure how we got down the road of this being a convertible. But I fixed the original description to say T-Tops.
Thanks

jr9170

4-6k give or take.

Budman68

$3000 or less.

stinkray

My friend spent $2700 on a '76 L-48 auto that was sitting (semi-inside)for 20 years. It started right up and ran nice. Never put it in gear because of the brakes were bad. The brake lines and calipers were shot, the interior was shot, there was rust in the drivers floorpan, the birdcage looks ok. The only leak he had was the shift lever seal.

RPOZ4Z

sometimes people don't completely read something.

even though you said "hardtop" I know that you meant T-top, because they all were T-top corvettes in '76

MartyW

So did you just assume he was WRONG when he said hardtop? If you mention hardtop and 76 in the same sentence, one of them has to be wrong. Instead of assuming anything, I suggest reclarifying so we can provide the correct information. Yes most of us knew when he said 76 that it HAD to be t-tops, but then again it could have been a hardtop that was a 75 and he was wrong on the year. I have a 76, and in the condition you described I would not pay more than 4-5K for it and that is if the interior is in good shape.

Grzldvt

Interesting, this car has been outside. Keep in mind it is California, but we still get a fair amount of rain from January through April. This year we had rain everyday for six weeks. I would think the block would be pretty rusty. I would be afraid to start it up.
I tried to convince them they should at least change the oil and run it once in awhile to keep the seals tight and the metal lubricated, but that did not happen. Might be interesting to pull a plug and get a look at the top of a cylinder.
And sitting in the driveway though all that weather, I don't have a clue if it was leaking into the interior or not. The cover they have is now rotting away, so I might be able to convince them to open it and see if there is any damage inside.

stinkray

We actually did one better. He's doing a frame off on it, so I suggested freshening up the engine; gaskets, seals, krylon rebuild. He decided to change the heads, and when we pulled the old boat anchors, we found that, aside from the massive carbon build up on the pistons, you could still see the honing marks on the cylinder walls. Also, the head gaskets were not the original steel shim gaskets that GM used. A good score!

KALAWAY

I don't understand the confusion over this thread. If I heard hard top and '76, I would think t-tops. I know my t-tops are pretty hard. Where did the convertible come from? I don't see that in his first post.

ryan92663

if cover is rotting, and the car as not been started in a while, RUN. the first problem you would have would be the rust in the car, and the next would be that even if you worked your *** off on the car, it would most likely not pass smog, which is big $$$. I could understand wanting the car for parts, or maybe if it was a 4 speed (they bring in a premium $). If the car has t-tops, i can guarentee that it leaked, as even ones that have brand new weatherstripping leak, and the interior will be in trouble, as well as the floor pans (4-7 hundred dollars in parts alone) and possibly the frame.

MartyW

You are right that a convertible was never mentioned in his post. I think that most knew that he meant t-tops but..... below is a copy from wikipedia on the defination of an automobile hardtop.

Hardtop
A style of automobile roof. Originally referred to a removable solid roof on a convertible; later, also a fixed-roof car whose doors have no fixed window frames, which is designed to resemble such a convertible.

Just a slight misuse of vocabulary. I'll be the first to admit I will use the wrong terminology ever now and then.

karioth

i would agree with maybe $4,000 or less, fact of the matter is cars were meant to be driven, for them to sit without properly being drained and maintenanced for that long destroys its value as whoever buys it is gonna have a ton of problems to fix.

Grzldvt

Thanks for the replies eveyone. I really appreciate it. I will let them know it is concensus that the car is wirh about $3k tops....
My wife aready gave me a rash of grief over even thinking about buying it....
I tried to convince her two was not enough...... I need one to work on..... to keep me from messing up the house.
Didn't fly.....

hey_obie

To me the car is worthless. I have an 82 that was in very good condition for about $7,000 (it was a good deal) and I had to put $1000 in new parts to take it to the next level. So you can get a nice vette for 10,000 and enjoy it.

If you buy that vette, you will never get it right and you will be in it about $20,000 if you sub out the work. If you do it yourself, you will be in it for $10,000 (on top of the cost of the car) and probably 500-1000 hours. That is a lot of time if you have a job.

I just finshed restoring an 82 jeep. I am pretty handy and have a lot of little skills that I wanted to test and wanted to see what I would learn. I learned a lot of new skills (welding, body work, painting, electrical trouble shooting) and I also learned that the time required to restore a car is never ending. I also have a lift in my garage which I think is mandatory if you are going to fix a clunker. And the thing is that a jeep is very basic. If you have wiring problems in the vette (you may not have much rain in CA but you have mice), burn it.

Buy a car that someone else has spent the time and money on and you are way ahead of the game. That is what I have learned working on three older cars. I have truly enjoyed the work, but I did everything myself to keep the cost down and I have the time to do it. If I paid someone to do what I have done, I would have paid tens of thousands of dollars and would be pissed. Just my thoughts on what I have learned.

Obie