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Unfortunately, NADA Guides is highly inaccurate in my experience, and I'm in the business. Their values are nowhere near what I see buying and selling for in the real world marketplace.
I find them all to be behind the curve by several months, but CPI tends to be less so than most. And forget Old Car Trader. That thing isn't worth the match to burn it to ashes. Totally worthless.
I read two counterpoints but no solutionss or references to guide potential buyers/sellers in the "right" direction. Being 'in the business' what are the altermatives? Craigslist, eBay, Corvette Forum?
NADA is merely just what it says it is, a guide. Barrett-Jackson is certainly not the bechmark by which values are to be established. Nor are car dealers with inflated prices and less than honest descriptions.
I been really looking also the last several months and have used that site to compair prices out their. NADA seems to be 15 to 25% higher than market price the last couple months.
I don't think N.A.D.A. is an accurate guide at all, and neithe is the Old Car Price Guide. I think you have to do a comparison on what they are actually selling for TODAY and in TODAYS MARKET then decide if its worth it to you. I wouldnt go by any asking price either, try to find out an actual price the car sold for. There seems to be so many factors that can make an individual car worth 5K more than another of the same year. It has to be close to the others but it can still fluctuate.
I think prices are too high on Manheimgold too. I looked up prices on a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner, and they seem way off to me. Anyone paying $52K (Show) or $44K (Excelent) for a base model Roadrunner is crazy. Even muscle car dealers near me sell excellent cars for $30K. And they also have Hemi and 440 6-Packs selling for almost identical prices.
I looked up 1969 Corvette, and it seemed fairly close.
Not only is NADA generally too high but its option lists are wrong. You can select options that did not exist and options that did exist often add value incorrectly. Here's an example: For 1965 coupe NADA adds 30% for a 327 engine. There were 4 different 327s in 65, including the 250hp base. They can't alll be worth 30% more.
Some price guides are better than others, but they are all flawed to some degree. IMO it is very difficult to make a guide for classic cars, particularly corvettes, because there are relatively so few on the market and so few buyers at any given time. Prices can vary greatly based on options, condition, documentation, history, even color. I'd stay away from guides like NADA and use corvette or classic car specific guides.
I agree with NMT1957. You have to watch the market with the assets available to you and make your own judgement.
1971 LT1 with air would be not only rare but non existant from the factory.
Yeah that was the joke. But if you go on their site, they list the LT-1 Specifically in 1971 and show Air as a $2K add-on to LT-1 cars.
1971 CHEVY/CORVETTE LT1 Dsp/HP Eng Fair Good Exc Show Loan
CONVERTIBLE 350/330 V8 15,500 28,500 49,000 55,000 S 25,500
COUPE T TOP 350/330 V8 12,500 23,000 40,000 45,000 S 21,000
Add: AC $2k
I read two counterpoints but no solutionss or references to guide potential buyers/sellers in the "right" direction. Being 'in the business' what are the altermatives? Craigslist, eBay, Corvette Forum?
NADA is merely just what it says it is, a guide. Barrett-Jackson is certainly not the bechmark by which values are to be established. Nor are car dealers with inflated prices and less than honest descriptions.
I think what you can buy a car here in the forum for is a pretty fair indicator of a close street value, just real people, buying fairly described vehicles. BJ's is so far fetched, egos cloud many values imho.
I put this same post in the C-1 Cars For Sale section and there was a lot less criticism/comments. However, I copied my response on the C-1site here is the copy of my response:
Counterpoint: First of all it's just a guide, not the gospel of all Corvette pricing. You do make some valid points. This guide is used primarily by lending insitutions such as banks and car dealers so that a person who is in the market for a Corvette, for example, will likely get a loan. Let's say that someone is in the market for a '63 Corvette Fuelie convertible and the asking price is say $70K. The potential buyer, who is drooling, takes photos, gets documentation, and gets it appraised at $80K. The potential buyer takes all this information to the bank to get a loan and the loan officer refers to that NADA book. He/she sees that low book is $86K. Well, to the loan officer he/she sees that as a valid reason to process the loan because the asking price is $70K, appraisal is $80K, and the Corvette's low book value is $86K. [The potential buyer is now a happy Corvette owner]
I definitely would not use this book to base all Corvette pricing nor would I use Barrett-Jackson auctions. In my opinion the best pricing guide is what you find in the completed sections of eBay on those sold.
You can draw your talons back and retract the venomous fangs. It's just a guide, Forum readers. Like the Kelley Blue Book. If there weren't these guides around and all market prices on collector vehicles were based on all our subjective opinions there would be pricing all over the map and most of us collector vehicle owners wouldn't like that, either.
Manheimgold might be a little closer in some parts of the U.S.
1971 CHEVY/CORVETTE LS5 454 4sp/HP Eng CONVERTIBLE 454/365 V8
Fair Good Exc Show Loan
$15,000 $27,500 $48,000 $54,000 $25,000
That's about right. Mine is somewhere between Good and Excellent. It has AC, power, two tops, etc. Mechanically rebuilt front to rear three years ago and driven less than 1000 miles since.
Manheimgold might be a little closer in some parts of the U.S.
1971 CHEVY/CORVETTE LS5 454 4sp/HP Eng CONVERTIBLE 454/365 V8
Fair Good Exc Show Loan
$15,000 $27,500 $48,000 $54,000 $25,000
That's about right. Mine is somewhere between Good and Excellent. It has AC, power, two tops, etc. Mechanically rebuilt front to rear three years ago and driven less than 1000 miles since.
It's hard to gauge mine, it's not rebuilt...AC, PS, Tilt/Tele, Two tops. I bought it in 1975 with 27,000 miles and it now has 55,000 miles. Original paint, soft top, interior, etc., garage kept. Pictures are in 'My Corvette Photos'.
Corvette Store
NADA Collector Vehicle Value Guide
NADA guides is whack on the high side for everything! Maybe they base their guide on asking price rather than actual sales price.
$65,040 
$102,140
