Value

[Paul Crosby]

69 T-Top, L71,4spd,tilt with tank sticker and 79,000 orig CA car miles. Has flares front and rear and a CE block. New SS calipers go with the car and all the #'s match except the block of course. Runs and drives, maroon with saddle leather interior. Needs paint but interior looks avg and the frame looks great with the body also nice and straight with a good fit all around. It's on the 4th owner with history of past owners etc but no POP or handbook etc. Change the fluids, brakes and paint and this would be a great driver in my eyes. Whats your thoughts for a fair value on this car as it sits.

[Wayne P.]

Re: Value

About $7,500 or less if you can buy it.

[Paul Crosby]

Re: Value

Geez, I was thinking about 20, 7500 would be a parts car! This is a survivor car except for the butchery on the body. Paul

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Value

You came to the WRONG place to get a value of a car like that. The CE block is nearly worthless in NCRS. You would think that the history of it being replaced by Chevy under warranty would be something special, but not in NCRS.

To replace the flares and repaint, you are looking at about $10,000. That will make the "average" interior need replacing, so add another $1000 or so.

You see how you quickly get the money involved to nearly $20,000 (paint & bodywork, interior, the $7900 offer) real fast. Then there are the miscellaneous items that get you. You can easily hit a few thousand on the miscellaneous items faster than you thought possible.

And you still have an NOM car.

Now on the NCCC board or Corvette Forum or alt.autos.corvette, you may find a different value and one more to your liking. It all boils down to different strokes.

[Paul Crosby]

Re: Value

Thanks Mike, I thought that maybe a CE block car was maybe going to gain some small portion of acceptance in the future but you set me straight on that. And I never considered restoring the car but only to make it a 20 footer and drive the darn thing. I apologize to everyone for wasting space, time and will only post appropriate questions and replys that deal with originality etc. from now on. It's great to have an org. such as this to preserve the history of Americas greatest sports car.

[chris burbage]

Re: Value

Paul,

There are a number of L71's that have sold from high teens to low thirtys depending on originality, condition, etc. Assuming a CE motor and all else being in "good" condition (i.e. paint, interior, mechanical) then 20K could be a good figure. However a modified body and poor paint means an investment if you want to return the car to stock appearance. Figure $5000 to $10000. Then freshening up the interior for a few more bucks and your looking at a $10K car as it sits today. Of course price/value is very subjective so there are many that would not share my opinion.

[William V.]

Re: Value

Paul

If you can get the car for around 6-7k and do not intend to restore but just pant and fix mechanicaly as needed to make it a nice driver, I say go for it. But beware of getting into the restoration trap where you invest 4 times what the car is worth.

The estimates on a paint job are accurate. However, you may be able to strip the body and repair the flares your self and then take it to a good shop for just paint. This should save you some $$$. I would work twards having the value once completed equal the up front cost plus the parts and paint. It's easy to get trapped and spend way to much.

Good Luck

[Tom D.]

Re: Value and Color Combo

Interesting discussion. I considered buying that color combination (NEW) in the winter of 68-69. That was at Barnard Chevrolet somewhere west of Rochester, NY. So, for me, the color is right on...




Michigan Chapter Web Site.

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Value - more to it than that

Paul,
The CE engines probably will never gain acceptance in NCRS because NCRS doesn't look at history, with extremely few exceptions, but at the car the way it sat on the factory lot waiting for the transporter.

The CE engine occurred after the car left the plant, left the dealer, and was with the customer, so to NCRS judging, that is meaningless.

You weren't wasting anyone's time here. However, you need to realize that Corvettes are in several groups - restorers, racers, customizers, modifiers, status seekers, and so on. You came into a restoration group with a car that is modified and you can't expect a great review of the car. If you present this car in one of those other groups, you will get a different view on the value.

Posting questions about unoriginality, and even those questions that question the way NCRS works, IMHO, is good becasue they make people think. They may get mad, they may not like you, but it makes them think. When those fenders were flared, the owner and most of his friends were in heaven. Instead of a narrow, hard fiberglass tire, they could stick 10 inch wide wheels on back, have 12 inches of rubber on the ground, and finally have a bit more control at getting power to the ground. The 435 hp engine could now shove that car through the air in a way that presses your ribs back against your lungs and shoves the breath right out of you. In roughly 12 seconds, you had traveled 1320 feet, be around 115 mph, and no where near running out of steam, all with a delivery that is nearly as smooth as fuel injection.

When those flares were done, that was a car worth maybe $2000 to $2500. No sacrilige was done. It wasn't a travesty. It was art. It was American hot rodding. It was the racer coming out. It kept the dream alive and it made it possible that Corvette is still here today. Many seem to forget that Corvette was moving rapidly to being a dog in the mid '70s. They were sitting in the dealer showrooms unsold. They were the transportation of the gold chain set who were too poor to afford a Porsche. They were not considered seriously by many as a sports car or even a desirable car.

What changed that was the continuation of the love affair Corvette enthusiasts kept and held and they did that by wild paint, wild bodywork, wild engines, drag racing, road racing, and street racing. The value of old Corvettes began to CLIMB, something unknown in used cars. And this hit the peak in time to go with the '78 Silver Anniversary and the '78 Pace Car. The Corvette clubs are what brought those two events to insanity and the people who were jumping in so as to not be left behind.

So don't be ashame of this car. Just don't expect acceptance in NCRS. Check out NCCC and you will find many there who will like this car.

Join a local club, get some friend to help you strip and repaint, and keep your costs low to have an interesting ride.

[Patrick H.]

"Just don't expect acceptance in NCRS"

Well, not entirely true.

"Just don't expect to receive the 350 points assigned to the engine block casting, date and suffix" might be more appropriate. I think that's what you were getting at with your first comments with regard to the CE engine.

I think it's too bad that we don't give some value to CE engines, especially if one could somehow be documented. While it would be nearly impossible to get a Top Flight without driving this car significant distance (to gain back points) and having the rest of the car perfect, it could be done. But if he leaves the flares on it, then forget it.

Paul, don't think that everyone on the Board here has only perfect numbers-matching cars, either. I'll bet there are plenty of NCRS members with modified rides like yours. They just don't bring them for Flight Judging. It would be fine for Sportsman, though.

Thanks for asking about the car. FYI, I turned down a similar 32000 mile original motor car at $10k that also needed a full restoration. By the time I added the $20-30k restoration costs and my time, it wasn't worth it.

Patrick

[Reba Whittington]

Re: Value - more to it than that

As Patrick stated, the Sportsman class was added a few years ago for non-original Corvettes like these. Owners of these cars are just as proud of them as we are our "original" Corvettes. The car might not be acceptable for Flight judging, but so long as the body still looks like a Corvette, it can be registered for Sportsman. And if it is displayed enough times, a plaque can be earned in that classification.

[Kelly Burnside]

Re: Value - more to it than that

FYI - there is an un-restored 69 convertible with a CE block going for $30,500 on EBAY. Item number 2463920890. Just a little paint, a new interior, detail the engine and you will have a $25,000 car. What are these people thinking???