jonfor

i certainly feel your pain, however, every year that passes by means it will be harder and exponetially more expensive to find what you want: a brand new chrome bumper C3. any affordable car has "history" and that means damage, rust, and wear.

69tuxedocoupe

Here's the way I see it. Good C3 Vettes are hard to find.

I just bought a 69 350/350 Coupe. 4 speed, 4:11 rear, and nothing else.

Super nice body and very nice paint. Decent interior and a real solid frame.

$26,900

Very drivable but Rear suspension needs gone through and detailed, engine needs pulled and detailed, brakes, Upgrade redline tires, maybe sidepipes.

I'll have $35K into it easy.

Too much?

Probably. But by the time I'm done with it it will be detailed to the hilt, mechanically perfect and show ready.

I think anymore you should focus on a super nice body and frame.

The rest is cosmetics and maintenance details.

Their getting harder to find and it you want a perfect one, it's going to cost you.

Don't let suspension, brakes or maintenance issues scare you away. These issues will need addressed at some point anyway.

Chances are you can't, or don't want to pay for a Bloomington Gold car, so find the best body and frame you can and bring it to the next level yourself.

jet2vettes

Yes. In fact, its back on ebay.

Fastguy

A serious problem is that a lot of people have no idea that the car they have is rough. They honestly feel its a nice car until you point out the non-existant body bushings, frame rot, body issues, etc.

vettebuyer6369

That's quite a bit of money for a coupe.

69tuxedocoupe

I'm starting to see that. I just sold a 70SS 454 Chevelle LS6 non numbers matching Clone for $55K. $26K seems like peanuts for a numbers 350HP 69 Vette to me but I can see I may have spent a few grand too much. Should have waited for the Big Block.

I'll make it up on the detailing end though, and if not, I'll still have a nice Black on Black, Sidepipe/Redline 69.

If I had all the money back I spent on neat old cars I'd spend alot of Money on neat old cars.

Myself, I don't mind spending a few grand more if the car moves me. I love to dig into them, restore and detail them to the hilt.

I lost a few grand on that Chevelle, even at a $55K sale price, but there's something to be said for the 3 years of entertainment the car gave me restoring it.

Your right of course, but I don't buy them to flip them.

I guess my point is, if the car moves you, and you plan on keeping it, why worry about spending a few extra grand for the car you want?

I can remember passing on some cars that I wish to God I had bought now looking back.

A real, 1965 Black 327/365 Coupe and numbers for $30K. I passed on it for excessive spider webbing and paint checking about 4 years ago.

If it's the Color, options, condition and car you want, buy it.

Rally68

While this forum has been UNBELIEVABLY valuable to me as I begin the upgrades on my car, I have found one small thing I could nitpick about.

I've poked around a lot on here, both before and after I bought my car, and it seems to me that you could come away thinking you should be able to buy a numbers matching chrome bumper convertible, a car that needs little or nothing, for fifteen grand! I understand guys will be excited if they've made a good deal, and post it on the forum, but I see lots of threads where a guy is asking advice on a nice looking car with one or two problems, and posters on here either tell them to RUN AWAY, or tell them they should be able to buy the car for eight grand.

Think about it: That restored gray 1969 coupe from e-bay sold for $35K.

I don't have the experience of the guys on the forum, who generously share their knowledge with the rest of us, but I looked at cars around the midwest, and from coast to coast on the internet. I went to an auction which featured probably two dozen corvettes, including 5 or 6 '68 - '72 verts. IMHO, if you want to end up with a decent chrome bumper convertible, plan on having at least $25K invested. If you want a numbers-matching car you can show, maybe $35K? More for a BB.

I hate the idea of biting the hand that feeds me, but I'd also hate for somebody to NOT buy a C3 because they think they have to either steal one if it needs any work, or else buy an NCRS car.

Peace.

Rally68

Just to clarify, there is some very good and realistic advice in this thread; I simply question the "keep looking, you'll find it" posts in this thread and others. I feel a clean '69 vert with a few issues (electrical, suspension, etc) if they don't necessitate a complete rebuild, could easily be worth $17500

Frogday

I would have bought this Laguna Gray coupe for $35k. His bottom line was $38k when I was talking to him about it. I was thinking $35k was the most I'd pay, but he wasn't budging at the time.

Webineer

I think that this is a very good point, however the last two I looked at were clearly polished up and in my opinion grossly misrepresented.

Derrick Reynolds

I agree, and I meant my post on electrical problems to be an encouragement toward that car. If the only problems are electrical stuff and he can get it for $17,500, I would say go for it.

As far as your previous post, there are different folks here with different views and no car is perfect for anyone. Just because one guy says "run away" doesn't mean someone should. However, I think there is an underlying message to what you have posted, even though it doesn't come through so easily all the time, I think that is: You can't make a ton of money fixing up old cars like these. Or, said another way, buying a rusty car saves you money up front, but costs a lot more in the long run. You can't "save" money by buying a rusty car, and a car with a suspension that was completely overhauled 5,000 miles ago will cost more than one with a beat suspension, but the difference is in all liklihood going to be less than the cost of the parts to overhaul the system yourself so you are better off paying more now to get the better car.

I'll leave the money making to the professional restoration shops that have the tools and manpower to crank out restorations and the contacts and business size to get good deals on re-manufactured parts. If you aren't one of those guys, chances are you will not be able to buy a $15,000 car, put $7,000 into it and sell it for $35,000, the market just doesn't work that way, even though lots of folks here wish that it did. That, IMO, is the message.

Webineer

In my case, the car needed a lot more than electrical work. There were leaks from virtually every place that held liquid, the car smelled like gas, it needed ball joints, rear sway bar? I am not sure what you call this thing, it was bubbling under the front paint, the clutch was going to need a replacement, brakes needed replacement, exhaust was hanging and the list went on for a page and a half more. I would end up with close to 30k in it if I purchased the car and had all the work done.
For someone who can do their own work i would say go for it, it is a fair price, it was simply more than I could handle and it was listed as a car that needed nothing and could be driven anywhere. Also the brake lights and interior lights did not work.

corvetteload

Maybe get a new mechanic?!?!?!?!

gccch

Have you looked at this one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...3AIT&viewitem=

It looks like a very nice car and not hitting the reserve. I don't know the car or what the actual price is but it sure looks clean. I would like to see it as it is almost my car's twin.

Greg

Rally68

Well said.

Certainly if you can't do most (almost all?) of the work yourself, it's going to be MUCH more expensive to buy a rough car, particularly since it seems like for every issue you identify before you buy, another one pops up in the first few months. With the possible exception of a high-dollar resto, ANY 40-year old car is going to be a "project," to some extent. Best to go in with your eyes wide open...

Derrick Reynolds

I agree that this looks like a nice car. I am irritated that they don't show pictures of the underside in the areas I would be most interested in seeing, and that there is not a single picture of a number anywhere. But, if this car is original drive-train, and shows in person anywhere close to as nice as she shows on e-bay, I would offer up to $30K for her if I hadn't bought my car back in August. This car is not far from me either, so if anyone wants a relative newbie to go check it out for them and let them know how she rips around town, let me know

O.C.Barry

This Forum is a great place; I purchased my '99 vert here a few years back and it's still a great car. But one caveat; while most, probably 99.9% of the folks are honest, I did have someone steal $100.00 from me for a used core support he never sent and recently I traveled several states away to find 'a great chrome-bumper driver' only to find the car, how do I say this politically correctly; 'The car had LEGAL issues'; what a wasted trip. Moral of the story is you don't have to be a nice guy to own a PC.

Much as I love shark cars (I have a 70' vert), the problem is that they cost just as much to restore as mid-years, but usually if someone spends the money to restore everything, they wind up upside down in the deal. So people scrimp on the restoration dollars, make the cars nice and shiny, and people buy the cars for in the low 20's only to find they have a shiny vert with a rusty chassis and OLD suspension and brake and exhaust components that are suspect. So the question is do you pay in the low 20's and spend another 10K getting everything right, or do you spend in the 30's and have few or no hassles. (There are some nice drivers that pop up in the 20's from time to time, but they usually have some issues here or there)

I'm in Baltimore and OC, so if I can be of help, let me know. I can caution you on a few of the cars that are around here, but we can do that on PM or e-mail.

Barry

Webineer

Thanks for your comments, I agree with what you say. I plan to go cautiously so I do not end up spending top dollar then finding that the car has serious issues.
I may take you up on your offer to discuss some local cars. Are you tapped into Freestate Corvette Club?

O.C.Barry

Between Offshore Race boats, Corvettes, and other 'distractions', I don't really have the time for clubs. But you can always PM me or e-mail me.

ol55

I went with a friend several years ago to look at a Corvette in suburban Maryland. He had arranged someone knowledgeable about Corvettes (Corvette Specialties of Maryland?) to look at the car. My mouth dropped when the garage door opened and I figured it was a done deal. The expert (no quotes) went over the car front to back and top to bottom and found many problems with the car. He eventually purchased another Corvette in Maryland, inspected by the same guy, that turned out to be a better buy. Maybe your mechanic was being picky on some items but maybe he was also missing some Corvette specific problems. Caveat Emptor!