I need some advice on what a 86 C4 auto is worth, this car has been hit in the front drivers wheel and it took out the suspension on that side and bent the cross member and probably the frame. My son is a body man working for this shop were the cars been sitting for several months while the owner decided what to do with it. I guess he's going to sell it and I am some what interested in it for either as rebuilder or convert it into a race car or possibly even part it depending on how bad it really is after we would tear into it. Seems like you always find more on deals like this. My son said its going to need some work on the drivers side of the hood and behind the front wheel, besides the suspension damage but my son thought the hood was saveable. The rest of the car is not to bad, 90K+ miles, interior is not to bad but showing some wear, both doors will need new window regulators neither one work properly one window is part way down so it gotten some rain in it (what little we've had!). I was thinking its worth some were between 1-2K I know they can cost a lot to repair even doing it ourselves. Just looking for some other suggestions.
Depending on the damage I think you are right on at about +/- $2k. I have rebuilt several cars, including my '86 vette I owned for 6 yrs. It had 215,000 miles on it and a rebuilt title and still got $3500 for it last may, but I had also recently repainted it. If you look around I've seen hoods go for as little as $200 undamaged, just have to be patient. As far as suspension stuff goes you ought to be able to get that easily, might call to get estimates on the pieces from Vette-to-Vette before of purchase.
It might also be helpful to see a few pics to determine worth. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the help, I went down this afternoon and took a look at it. It's going to need a new hood and front bumper, some frame work and suspension parts. The bodyshop est was around 7K to fix but my son that that was high. The interior isn't to good both seats need recovering, carpet shot and one door panel is toast, the clear coat is peeling in a few spots so the whole car would have to be repainted. The glass top was ok as is the dash, so I made some notes and call the owner to see what he would have to have for it. We settled on a price of 900.00 which I though was a good buy there's that much in parts so I'm sending a check with my son Monday he's going to bring the title and I'll pick the car up Tuesday. When I get it home I'll post a few pictures. Thanks for the help!
$900? thats a great price, you should just part it out and make some $, you could prob get 4K in parts, and put 4K that you would spend on fixing it and buy a nice one never hit for 8-9K,
Just my 2 cents..
I thought it was a good price I just want to get it picked up and home. I am planning on picking it up Tuesday morning and I'm going to run over to a friend of mine that works a first class frame shop and get his option on the damage. Depending on what he says and what I determine after I get it home and have a real good look at it will determine what happens next, if its to bad I will probably part it. But if it not to bad to fix I might repair it clean it up and seel it or build it into a decidated race car and sell off the pieces I take off. I've been looking for one to set up for drag racing both NHRA and NCCC. Hopefully I have it home Tuesday and get some pictures of it to post. I did decodes some of the RPO's and it suppose to have dual tops, 6 way power seats, Bose stereo and perf. Axle.
You mentioned vette-to-vette to check on replacement parts do you have phone number or web addy??
Thans
They are a forum vendor, just scroll down on the left side of the page they have an ad. I have ordered things from them in the past and they have also gotten good reviews from many forum members.
Hey guys thanks for the posts the info is appreciated! Well I've got it home and here is a link to my website were I have posted a few pictures. http://www.ocsracing.info/86_vette.htm
No not really I have a 03 Z06 also, I just picked this one up because of the price. I have been looking for one to make into a drag car and I thought for 900.00 this one would be a good canidate. I figured there more than enought in parts off of it to sell to get my money back out of it. The frontend damage is not as bad as it looks replace the A arm, tie rod end and it might need a couple of tugs on a frame machine to bring the A arm mount back straight and it should be drivable at least for what I'm probably going to use it for.
you musta been real desperate to get a corvette. good luck though ....... :steering:
:confused: Why do you say this? For $900 I think he did real good. If he knows how to do the work and buys used parts from what I see it can be fixed and completely painted for $2000 or less, depending on the frame needing to be pulled or not. The part that would worry me is the interior, usually have to buy new interior parts cause used ones are just as worn as what you already have.
Anyway I would have jumped all over that if I had found it. Enjoy it.
Thanks for the reponses I appricate the feedback. I think I did ok on this one also, I've been toying witht he idea of making it into a dedicated race car but the more I look at it I'm moving away from that idea. It really to good of a car to cut up, I going to make up a list of stuff it needs and see what it would cost to fix it up and drive or sell. The only thing so far I really don't care for is the sport seats they are a lot smaller than my Z06's and were larger people expecally my sons who don't sit in the seat they sit on it. I can see why they sport seats have problems breaking the switchess in the bolster on the drivers seat. The drivers seat going to need recovering but I might see if I can find some one to make the cover rather than buy one they are really $$. Put in new carpet, fix the front end and some paint work and I think it would really make a nice car. I might sell it next spring and find something newer. Thanks again for the info guy's! :seeya
That is a GREAT buy! I would buy them everyday at that price. Just from looking at the pics, the motor and tranny would sell and make you a profit, besides the $150 a side headlight assemblies , the $400 top the $150 digital dash and the list goes on. If you part it you will make a ton.
Shawn
Just guessing from the photos, but is the hood repairable? It looks more like a bad scrape and some small missing chunks but not severely cracked. Someone very familiar with GRP might be able to fix that. Of course it might be worse than the pictures show.
New carpet and a little freshening up and you got a driver... :D
Yes the hood is fixable I had a body man who's good with fiberglass and he said it wasn't that bad. I have replaced the upper a-arm but the upper mount is bent as I suspected so its going to the frame shop sometime next week. I going to have to replace the front bumper cover and all the wheel house pieces. The rack and pinion is leaking so I'm changing it out next week with a rebuilt unit, upgrading the window regulators and it should be ready to drive. After giving it a good looking over I decided to repair it instead of parting it, the car is still to nice for that I guess I'm a softy I hate to junk out a classy car with more life still in it even though I could probably make more money parting rather than fixing it an selling it. I will be posting pictures on the web site as it's brought back to life. Thanks for all the good input! :thumbs:
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Whats a damaged 86 worth
