I'm looking for some help on the value of this car, do you think it's to high priced for a 78? What's the general opinion?
Corvette . 25th Anniversary Odometer was reset at completion of restoration, the car has 3,500 miles on it. 383 stroker motor, 3.90 rear end, custom rims, B&M shifter, T-Tops, Pioneer cassette radio, Speaker bar in hatch, lots of chrome under the hood. All original equipment goes with sale, the re-built 350 L-48 motor, AC, Radiator, Shifter, Rims, Oil pan, and many more miscellaneous parts. I have had the car for 3 years, barn stored in winter, garage stored in summer, have all reciepts. $18,000 Price Reduced!!!! $16,000 or Best Offer. You can see pictures at http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2156251/1
I think it's a little high. 1st, the odometer reset, that's bogus to claim the car has 3500 miles on it. I guess when mine rolls over it will be brand new again. 2nd, it's not a true 25th Anniversary car anymore than my 93 was a true 40th car. All the Vettes that year were badged that way, but only 15k were the SA Edition. With all that said, if the car is rust free & everything has been correctly rebuilt then you should get several years of daily driving w/o any problems. I'd offer $12-14k & tell him it was depreciated because of that ugly B&M shifter.
I don't think you are asking too much for your car at all. I will tell you why right after I tell this.
I am just finishing up a full restoration (not body off) on my 1979. It already has about 100 hours of my body guys blood, sweat, and just recently his anger in it. The blood and sweat come from the ungodly amount of time he has spent taking what was/is a black L82 and taking in manually down to the original fiberglass just to make some minor cosmetic repairs. Repairs that most guys and body shops would just spot sand, fill and paint.
Anyway, he took it down to all fiberglass, made the necessary repairs, painted it, and then let the car sit for a week to see if the paint sucked in anywhere (That's detail) and then he cleared it. Up to this point he has about 85-90 hours in to the car. That's figuring removing all the trim (and trying not to break it in the process), labeling it, taking the doors off, removing the rear bumper and trying to fit an 80's style on to it. He said that took him at minimum 10-15 hours to fit it, and get it to blend "perfect" with a 79 Vette. Point of that bumper was when the magazines or catalogs say "easy, exact fit, just bolt on" they either have never done it or they know any "average guy" like myself couldn't just "bolt it on". Like I said 90-100 hours seems outrageous but he is not finished yet. I mentioned the blood, sweat, and anger. Well the anger just came into play last week when an employee swore he could wet sand and had done at least 10 cars before. My body guy knew he had done body work and unfortunately trusted him to wet sand his own hard work. Well, he burned through the clear in 5-6 spots. I just felt bad for my body guy. He was afraid to tell me but he is actually an honest body guy and he told me. Now he has to paint the entire car again, after he wet sands it first. Then he has to reinstall everything he took off, plus all the new weatherstrips I bought for the entire car and on and on.
SO, by time he finishes my 79' Vette he will have close to 120-150 man hours of labor into my car. There is no way I can recoup that kind of time by selling it for what some of the "critics" on here would tell me I would be lucky to get $8,000.00 for.
I enjoy this forum with all my heart but when it comes time for someone to sell his or her car the so called "experts" on Corvette values shoot you down in a heartbeat, along with your car, and your price. I say go for $18,000.00 and take what you can get. I personally wouldn't have reset the odometer because a well restored Corvette speaks for itself. I will try to find the person on this forum who said this and give them credit but forgive me if I get the quote wrong right now. They said "Nobody (on this forum) wants to tell anyone that their Corvette is worth much and will nit pick it apart, that is until they want to sell their own Corvette and then it is worth top dollar".
I will be asking minimum $12,750.00 to $13,500.00. Is it worth it? Well, it is to me and I know my body guy will think at least that much. To tell you the truth I would much rather sell it to a person that just wants to enjoy a soon to be classic Corvette than an anal retentive "Corvette Expert" that will come and look at my car, tell me that I should have done a full body restore, and that a "true 79' doesn't have a CD player in it, then nit pick what will be a flawless car. At least to me!
Zen, I understand your passion, but the simple fact is that blood, sweat, tears, anger and dollars invested have very little to do with the final value of your Corvette. I have definately learned this the hard way after 30 years of buying and selling Corvettes.
Ever hear the ads or auctions for the cars with "$50,000 invested"? Guess what? If the market on the car is $15k, that's what it is worth. Happens every day. This is why it is critical that a Corvette owner take a good honest objective look at his car before he writes the big check and takes on the big project.
If an owner of a '79 coupe understands the finished product likely won't be worth more than $10,000, he needs to either 1. not spend $20,000 and 100 hours restoring it OR 2. accept the realities of the market and plan on keeping the car or not worrying about how much he loses when it sells.
Regarding the '78, yeah the price is way out of line. However, that doesn't mean you can't ask high and hope you find a clueless buyer. There's lots of them out there.
VetteBuyer,
Thank you for you wisdom and years of knowledge. I mean that with all seriousness and not sarcastically. I respect your opinion and will take it to heart. I do understand that there are many Vettes that are way over priced. When I wrote my little post I just kept thinking of a post here on the forum I read. I tried to find it but have not had any luck but I will post it when I do. You may know it well, if I am not mistaken I think you responded to it. The post was about a Vette a owner had who mentioned that the N.A.D.A value was $35,000.00 or $40,000.00 and he stated right in his post that he thought that their price/value was high and was trying to get a better opinion on its value.
Well, I thought all hell was breaking loose and people were telling him they wouldn't give him 15,000.00 for it and that they could buy them all day for 10,000.00-12,000.00. Remember he was only asking.
I don't hold any value to what NADA says and I just saw an 1980 or 82 or whatever it was that said the NADA Value in Mint shape was 42,000.00+. That's just nuts.
I guess my point was ask what you feel it is worth (within reality :-) and do your research. If you can sit on it and sell it in 5 or 10 years then hopefully you will have gotten your price.
Thanks again Vettebuyer!
P.S That vette owner did get his car insured for 35,000.00 :-)
I don't think you are asking too much for your car at all. I will tell you why right after I tell this.
I am just finishing up a full restoration (not body off) on my 1979. It already has about 100 hours of my body guys blood, sweat, and just recently his anger in it. The blood and sweat come from the ungodly amount of time he has spent taking what was/is a black L82 and taking in manually down to the original fiberglass just to make some minor cosmetic repairs. Repairs that most guys and body shops would just spot sand, fill and paint.
Anyway, he took it down to all fiberglass, made the necessary repairs, painted it, and then let the car sit for a week to see if the paint sucked in anywhere (That's detail) and then he cleared it. Up to this point he has about 85-90 hours in to the car. That's figuring removing all the trim (and trying not to break it in the process), labeling it, taking the doors off, removing the rear bumper and trying to fit an 80's style on to it. He said that took him at minimum 10-15 hours to fit it, and get it to blend "perfect" with a 79 Vette. Point of that bumper was when the magazines or catalogs say "easy, exact fit, just bolt on" they either have never done it or they know any "average guy" like myself couldn't just "bolt it on". Like I said 90-100 hours seems outrageous but he is not finished yet. I mentioned the blood, sweat, and anger. Well the anger just came into play last week when an employee swore he could wet sand and had done at least 10 cars before. My body guy knew he had done body work and unfortunately trusted him to wet sand his own hard work. Well, he burned through the clear in 5-6 spots. I just felt bad for my body guy. He was afraid to tell me but he is actually an honest body guy and he told me. Now he has to paint the entire car again, after he wet sands it first. Then he has to reinstall everything he took off, plus all the new weatherstrips I bought for the entire car and on and on.
SO, by time he finishes my 79' Vette he will have close to 120-150 man hours of labor into my car. There is no way I can recoup that kind of time by selling it for what some of the "critics" on here would tell me I would be lucky to get $8,000.00 for.
I enjoy this forum with all my heart but when it comes time for someone to sell his or her car the so called "experts" on Corvette values shoot you down in a heartbeat, along with your car, and your price. I say go for $18,000.00 and take what you can get. I personally wouldn't have reset the odometer because a well restored Corvette speaks for itself. I will try to find the person on this forum who said this and give them credit but forgive me if I get the quote wrong right now. They said "Nobody (on this forum) wants to tell anyone that their Corvette is worth much and will nit pick it apart, that is until they want to sell their own Corvette and then it is worth top dollar".
I will be asking minimum $12,750.00 to $13,500.00. Is it worth it? Well, it is to me and I know my body guy will think at least that much. To tell you the truth I would much rather sell it to a person that just wants to enjoy a soon to be classic Corvette than an anal retentive "Corvette Expert" that will come and look at my car, tell me that I should have done a full body restore, and that a "true 79' doesn't have a CD player in it, then nit pick what will be a flawless car. At least to me!
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