silver78

Hello all,
I’m a newbie to this forum and I own a corvette, but the time has come to sell it. I’m looking for your advice/input before I head to the C3 For Sale forum or to my local auto classifieds.
I really am at a loss as how to price the vehicle. It’s not in pristine condition by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s certainly not a heap of junk that should be sold off as parts either. What should my asking price range be?

It’s a 1978 Silver Anniversary Edition. It’s an automatic transmission, it has roughly 85,000 miles on it. I believe I am the third owner. I purchased the car in 1990 and drove it until 1998. That year I moved cross country and had to leave the car behind with relatives…. so the car has remained garaged (but not maintained) since then. The front end was replaced and the car was repainted after an accident, so all the parts/paint are not original. There is currently some minor damage to the body/paint from an unfortunate run in with a relative who put their car into reverse instead of drive and hit the corvette – ouch! The interior is in fair to good condition. The engine runs fine, but I imagine that everything from the filters to the sparkplugs to the gaskets to fluids all need to be replaced at this point. I would love to keep the corvette but I just don’t have the money to restore it , so the only viable option is to sell… before the car becomes worthless. Honestly I think it would make a excellent project car for someone. Now I guess I need to figure out how much I can get for it.
Over the years I’ve received ridiculously low offers from friends and family for the car and for what it’s worth I’ve also had a corvette specialist tell me not to sell the car for less than $10,000.
With that said - I placed an ad in a local paper last year with an asking price of $10K… there was no interest generated from the ad, but then again the economy was bottoming out at that time.
So now – here I am asking for your input. I’ll answer any other question you might have regarding the car (to the best of my knowledge) and I look forward to your comments on pricing.

Thanks everyone,
Ryan

P.S. - I posted 3 exterior images in C3 Corvette Pictures under silver78 if you want to have a look.[/SIZE][/FONT]

hunt4cleanair

Ryan

My first thought as I read thru your description that I doubt this vette will get anything in double digits. Than I read about the "corvette specialist." Don't take offense, but when you come to the forum and ask opinion, everyone has one, which suggests you doubt the "corvette specialists" perspective. I say you have good reason to doubt the $10k minimum based on what you described.

Its probably a Corvette with base option, L48 with automatic and in this economic climate base option vettes aren't doing well.

I'll take a stab here and I'm sure others will comment as well but I think if you're serious about moving the car, consider the $7,500 range, perhaps even coming down to $6k. If you persist at the $10k, you'll dither around and people will offer as you have learned, ridiculously low offers. Show you're serious and you'll get some serious offers.

Also, on the basis of what you described, a buyer will have to put $5-$7k into it and thus have nearly $15k in the car for a nice daily driver. So in coming up with a value, my suggestion is to determine what a buyer will have to invest to make it a nice driver. You know the car well and seem to be realistic about its condition. That's a great starting point. Keep us posted on your results and good luck.

Spocc

it has been sitting for over 10 years ?

it will need a ton of $ & work

i paid $9000 , 5 years ago for my 80 , that had been sitting for 3 years

70,000 miles, all original

everything that could dry out was toasted

imo-if ya get $5000 you be doing good

brutle but honest

Pete

joewill

the need for bodywork, and therefor the need for paint, will really drag your car down in price, how many 78's out there for 10 grand don't need body work? you have to compete with that. look at EBAY completed listings.. a supposedly mint 78 sold for 10 grand.
a supposedly project car sold for 2700. figure at best about halfway between.

chstitans42

From the amount of work it is gonna need,
AND its been in a wreck
AND its has not been maintained
AND its interior is in fair condition

Id say 3K to 4K tops. Just my opinion of course

dgr72vette

...from April 2011 Corvette Magazine

Duke94

Collector Car Market Review Value Report
1978 CHEVROLET CORVETTE 350-185hp (8cyl-4V) AT
#5 #4 #3 #2 #1
Coupe 3575 6275 10500 14750 22200
Pace Car Coupe 4050 7475 11200 17425 24600

Add:
350-220hp (8cyl-4V) 15%
4spd manual trans 10%
Silver Anniv. 5%
Integral CB stereo 3%
Deduct:
No air conditioning -10%
Manual windows -3%
Steel Rallye whls -3%

CA-Legal-Vette

Some pictures would certainly help, especially of the damaged area.

I think that the key word that you included in your description is "project" and I think you have it exactly right.. Needs body work, needs at least some paint, interior, fluids, rubber (tires, hoses, belts, likely brakes). These cars don't do well sitting.

Assuming that there are no rust issues at all, I think you'd do well at $5k. Sorry.

Easy Mike

You're on the west coast; the car is on the east coast. My advice would be to haul it out to Cali and sell it there.

CA-Legal-Vette

The market out here might be a little better but a 78 needs to be smog legal. Sitting for years isn't a good place to start. Shipping across country might cost him a third of it's valuetoo.

kdf1986

I think the estimate to sell it for not less than $10k is unrealistic. Based on what you wrote about the general overall condition of the car, its a project based vette.

Its been in an accident and has had the front end replaced. It currently has some body damage. Its been sitting for 10 years and not maintained.

I think some people may see the 1978 Silver Anniversary issue and think it will bring a premium due to that issue. It will if the car is maintained and up to good standards. In this case it is just another project based vette that someone needs to restore.

My estimate is around $5k and both parties should be happy with that deal.

kdf

Easy Mike

I think $5K is possibly low ball, and $10K might be high depending on the car. If I was a potential buyer, attempting to work through a third party would be a turn off for me.

terry82

with out seeing the car ,from what you say i would look at the car for $5000.there are a lot of cars in good shape for $7-10 .jmo

Mark G

I'd forget what others have offered you in the past. People seem to think that a car that is sitting isn't worth anything to the owner and maybe they will get lucky and pick up a steal. I've got a couple cars sitting at my dads and he always gets ridiculous offers on them. I think you made a good assessment that it will make a good project car for someone. Problem is, there are a lot of cheap project cars in this economey. Fortunate for you it's a S/A. In the spring of '08 it might have been worth close to $10k, but I'd say $5,500 - $7,000 if you really want to be serious about selling it. That little garage incident could require more work than you might think. It's hard to say w/o seeing it. If you start at $7,000 or a little less, you can entertain offers and go from there. You might sell it right away or wait another year and eventuall come down. If you start at $5.5k you might have it sold next week. A lot depends on how quick you want or need to sell it.

Mark G

68/70Vette

Respectfully, I would disagree. To sell the car in California, it will have to meet the smog rules and regulations for 1978. The 1978 Corvettes were performance limited due to these rules and regulations. A 1978 Corvette, with a factory stock engine, will have a very mediocre performance. Keeping the car stock and renewing it, will be very expensive, and the car still will not be worth much and won't have a sports car performance.

I would think that the best market would be a state where you can upgrade the engine and still license the car; i.e. no smog testing. As a minimum, a prospective buyer might be wanting a ZZ4 for modern performance. If you want the ZZ4 can be disguised to look pretty much like the stock engine. Close to 400 real hp. If I lived in one of these states, and wanted a good deal on a high performance car, I would be very much interested in buying it. For a few thousand dollars to buy your car, and a modern GM Performance Parts catalog engine, I'll be able to run with the big dogs.

vettebuyer6369

If you would like better estimates, you really should post whatever pictures you have here, in this thread, rather than asking people to go find them wherever they are.

Until I see some pictures of the engine compartment, interior, body and underside, I'll reserve an opinion other than to say you need a new Corvette Specialist. My guess is he's read too many Corvette magazine price guides without ever actually selling a Corvette.

Maybe I missed it, but could you clarify whether it really is a "Silver Anniversary Edition" as in silver 2-tone paint... or a Silver Anniversary Edition as in "there's an emblem on the nose that says so?"

Also, not meaning to be disrespectful, but is it actually a numbers-matching motor? Much of the car's value will be tied to this. My question actually is, have you personally looked at the pad on the engine and verified that the numbers are correct and match? This is not a stupid question. There's actually a midyear on ebay right now I was looking at and the owners says "he doesnt know" if the numbers match. He's owned it 27 years.

Provide a ton more detail and photos and we can be more specific.

Mark G

Plus there's the whole issue of frame and birdcage rust that hasn't even been touched upon. My comments on the value [above] were based on there being no excessive rust. Hopefully the part of it's life before being garage was dry and the birdcage is in great shape.

Mark G

fauxrs

From the description given to be honest 5K is probably the best starting point and thats without looking at photos, it could be lower. Also clarification as mentioned by Vettebuyer as to wether the car is a B2Z paint optioned Silver Anniversary or if its just a regular coupe, all of which came with Silver Anniversary badging.

Even if you have a B2Z optioned car, something like 38% of all non-pace cars were so optioned (15283 of 40274), so its really not all that rare.

The biggest issue is going to be the extent of body damage, as bodywork and paint do not come cheap on these cars.

Easy Mike

All 78s are 25th Anniversary models.

Not all 78s are Silver Anniversary B2Z cars.

It can get confusing.

Texas Stinger

It's hard to tell from the pic, but is it just scuffed up paint, or is there fiberglass damage?